Talladega Bred For Speed
by Steve Zautke
10/30/2009

The Talladega Superspeedway (originally called the Alabama International Motor Speedway) evokes thoughts of 30-car plus packs and the NASCAR cliché, "big one" a.k.a large multicar accidents. True, there have been many multiple car accidents dating back to the first "big one" which involved 21 cars on Talladega's 4,000' backstretch in May of 1973. However popular Talladega was bred for one thing, speed.

Talladega was built in 1969 by NASCAR founder, Bill France, Sr.. At 2.66 miles around it is the biggest track on NASCAR's senior circuit. With its 33 degree banked turns it was the fastest track on the NASCAR circuit, before restrictor plates which came in 1988 after Bobby Allison's horrific accident the previous year. In fact it was the fastest track in the world. In 1974 the track saw legendary driver, A.J. Foyt sans rear wing set the World Closed Course Speed Record of 217 M.P.H. in his turbocharged Ford-powered Coyote Indy Car. In 1975, Team Penske and their cornerstone driver Mark Donohue broke Foyt's record when Donohue went 221 M.P.H. in a modified Porsche 917/30. The track holds the NASCAR fastest qualifying speed of 212.809 M.P.H set by Bill Elliott on April 30, 1987. In June of 2004, Rusty Wallace unofficially went over 228 M.P.H. in an unrestricted NASCAR Dodge Intrepid.

Talladega is also known for surprise winners, ten drivers scored their initial victory there. In its inaugural race, Richard Brickhouse won in a Ray Nichels winged Dodge Daytona over fellow rookie Jim Vandiver after many drivers boycotted the race due to tire issues. Richard Petty and several other drivers who belonged to the recently created group called the Professional Drivers Association, with the initiative of having more of a voice in how the sport was operated and controlled withdrew after the tire issue. France gathered up the remaining cars and drivers along with several ARCA teams and the remaining Grand American teams (similar to today's Camping World Series, however ran smaller cars such as Mustangs, Camaros and Firebirds) and started 36 cars. No accidents occured due to tire issues during that race.

Others surprising drivers to taste the champagne in victory lane at 'Dega were James Hylton who held off Ramo Stott for the win in August of 1972. A year later Dick Brooks won by seven seconds over NASCAR powerhouses, Buddy Baker and David Pearson. In August of 1981 over 75,000 fans saw Ron Bouchard edge out Darrell Waltrip and Terry Labonte as they crossed the finish line three-wide. In 1986 Bobby Hillin, Jr. won a wreck filled race and two years later Phil Parsons did the same. The last race earlier this spring, rookie Brad Keselowski won after a blocking attempt by Carl Edwards sent him upside down into the fencing. With speed come big crashes. Interestingly, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. who is in a bit of a slump, won four races in a row there and his father has the most wins-ten (14 overall) and even one in a Ford (1983).

They're have been multiple crashes at the big track, including two marred by the deaths of Larry Smith in 1973 and Tiny Lund in 1975. Smith died in a rather routine looking crash which in 2001 eerily resembled the crash that took the life of NASCAR superstar, Dale Earnhardt. Many talk of a curse which supposedly due to a local Native American tribe which held horse races in the valley in which a chief was killed when he was thrown from his horse. Another belief is the site of the superspeedway was once an Indian burial ground or the local tribe was driven out by the Creek nation for collaborating with Andrew Jackson's Army.

In May of 1975, Richard Petty's brother-in law Randy Owens was killed during the race when an air tank in the Petty pit exploded. Later that year during the the August, 1975 race which Lund was killed saw Don Miller a crewman on Gary Bettenhausen's Penske Matador lose a leg in a pit road accident. Bettenhausen's car was hit in his pit box by the spinning car of Grant Adcox. The previous week, Adcox's crew chief, "Cotton" Lovell died of a heart attack while working on the car race morning. That race was postponed to the following week. Popular driver Davey Allison was killed in a helicopter crash in 1993 while visiting fellow driver David Bonnett during routine NASCAR testing. NASCAR legend Bobby Isaac abruptly retired during a race in 1973 because he said he heard voices. However Stanley Smith may doubt the curse as he was one of the lucky few to survive a basilar skull fracture and a ruptured carotid artery he received in a vicious head-on crash into the turn one wall in July of 1993.

However one no one predicted occurred on April 23, 2001 when there was a caution free race at Talladega. What will Sunday bring? That's why we'll be watching, we don't know.





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