Coordinates: 54°31′37″N 1°33′09″W / 54.5270°N 1.5526°W / 54.5270; -1.5526

Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, part of the ceremonial county of County Durham, in the North East of England. It lies on the small River Skerne, a tributary of the River Tees, not far from the main river. It is the main population centre in the borough, with a population of 97,838 as of 2001. The town owes much of its development to the influence of local Quaker families during the Victorian era, and it is famous as the location of the world's first passenger railway. It is popularly known by locals as "Darlo". The railway station is an important stop on the East Coast Main Line.

The name Darlington derives from the Anglo-Saxon Dearthington, which seemingly meant 'the settlement of Deornoth's people' but by Norman times the name had changed to Derlinton. During the 17th and 18th centuries the town was generally known by the name of Darnton. Darlington started life as an Anglo-Saxon settlement. It has an historic market area in the town centre. Built in 1183, the Grade I listed St Cuthbert's Church is one of the most important early English churches in the north of England.

Richard Lee Petty (born July 2, 1937) is a former NASCAR driver who raced in the Strictly Stock/Grand National Era and the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. "The King", as he is nicknamed, is most well known for winning the NASCAR Championship seven times (Dale Earnhardt is the only other driver to accomplish this feat), winning a record 200 races during his career, winning the Daytona 500 a record seven times, and winning a record 27 races (ten of them consecutively) in the 1967 season alone. (A 1972 rule change eliminated races under 250 miles (400 km) in length, reducing the schedule to 30 [now 36] races.) Petty is widely considered one of the greatest NASCAR drivers of all time and is one of the most respected figures in motorsports as a whole. He also collected a record number of poles (127) and over 700 top-ten finishes in his 1,185 starts, including 513 consecutive starts from 1971–1989. Petty is a member of the inaugural class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Hall in 2010.

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949), nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter-performer who records and tours with the E Street Band. Springsteen is widely known for his brand of heartland rock, poetic lyrics, and Americana sentiments centered on his native New Jersey.

Springsteen's recordings have included both commercially accessible rock albums and more somber folk-oriented works. His most successful studio albums, Born in the U.S.A. and Born to Run, showcase a talent for finding grandeur in the struggles of daily American life; he has sold more than 65 million albums in the United States and more than 120 million worldwide and he has earned numerous awards for his work, including 21 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes and an Academy Award. He is widely regarded by many as one of the most influential songwriters of the 20th century, and in 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him as the 23rd Greatest Artist of all time.

Springsteen was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, and spent his childhood and high school years in Freehold Borough. He lived on South Street in Freehold Borough and attended Freehold Borough High School. His father, Douglas Frederick Springsteen, was of Dutch and Irish ancestry and worked, among other vocations, as a bus driver, although he was frequently unemployed; his surname is Dutch for jump stone. His mother, Adele Ann (née Zerilli), was a legal secretary and was of Italian ancestry. His maternal grandfather was born in Vico Equense, a city near Naples. He has two younger sisters, Virginia and Pamela. Pamela had a brief film career, but left acting to pursue still photography full time; she took photos for the Human Touch and Lucky Town albums.

Darlington Nagbe (born July 19, 1990 in Monrovia, Liberia) is a Liberian footballer currently playing for the Portland Timbers in Major League Soccer.

Born in Liberia, the Nagbe family lived in France, Greece and Switzerland before settling in the Cleveland, Ohio area in 2001.

Nagbe grew up in Lakewood, Ohio, where he attended Lakewood High School and then St. Edward High School, scoring 18 goals and adding 10 assists as a senior. He was a member of the Region II ODP team, was a 2007 adidas ESP All-Star and was member of the Ohio North ODP team, as well as winning four Ohio state club titles with the Cleveland Internationals.

Nagbe played college soccer at the University of Akron, scoring 19 goals and contributing 19 assists in 73 matches during three collegiate seasons. He was a Soccer America All-Freshman first team honoree, and was named the All-MAC Newcomer of the Year in as a freshman in 2008. As a sophomore in 2009 Nagbe was named to the NSCAA All-America Second Team, the Soccer America MVP Second Team, the Top Drawer Soccer Team of the Season Second Team, the All-Great Lakes Region First Team and the All-Mid-American Conference First Team. In 2010 Nagbe helped the Akron Zips to their first ever national championship, a 1-0 regulation win in the College Cup Final against Louisville; he was subsequently named to the NSCAA All-America First Team, the All-MAC First Team, the College Cup All-Tournament Team, and was honored with the MAC Hermann Trophy as the 2010 College Soccer Player of the Year. His coach at Akron was Caleb Porter, who played four games for San Jose in 1999.

Richard Allen Craven (born May 24, 1966, in Newburgh, Maine) is an ESPN broadcaster who works ESPN2's NASCAR Now and a race analyst for the network. Prior to his ESPN duties, he was a NASCAR driver who won in four different series—the K&N Pro Series, and the three national series. He occasionally served as a pit reporter when NASCAR aired on TBS in the mid-1990s. Craven is perhaps most well known for winning in the closest finish in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history.

Craven began racing at the age of 15 at Unity Raceway, winning twice as well as the Rookie of the Year award. The next year, he won 12 feature events and the track championship. After that, he began running in the Canadian-American tour, where he had rampant success. In 1986, he made his NASCAR debut at Oxford Plains Speedway in his own #12, finishing 25th after suffering engine failure. Four years later, he began running the Busch North Series, winning the Rookie of the Year award. In 1991, he was named the champion in that series, winning ten times in the #25 SpeeDee Oil Change & Tuneup Chevrolet, with two of those ten wins in "combination" races with the Busch Grand National Series, including the prestigious Oxford 250. In addition, he made his Winston Cup debut at Rockingham, starting and finishing 34th for Dick Moroso. He moved to the Busch Series full-time in 1992 in the #99 DuPont Chevy for Bill Papke, and once again was named Rookie of the Year. In 1993 & 1994, he finished runner-up to Steve Grissom and David Green, respectively, in the championship standings.