(photo courtesy Leon Hammack)
(This is a guest post by by digital neighbor, Leon Hammack, from www.workingonmyredneck.com.)
This week NASCAR rolls into the Talladega Superspeedway, formerly the Alabama International Speedway. This racing facility is rich with NASCAR history.
Big Bill France built this track and opened up for business with the first race in 1969. Throughout those 41 years this track has witnessed some of NASCAR’s highest highs, as well as some of the lowest of lows.
When the track first opened and all the drivers got their race cars out on the track, the high speeds and the tire failures that occurred during practice led the drivers to band together and refuse to race on that opening weekend. The drivers voiced their opinion to Big Bill France, he got into a race car, proceeded to drive a few laps and announced that it was perfectly safe.
The drivers still refused to race and was told by Mr. France to pack up and leave, but he was running a race on Sunday! Richard Petty and most all of the “Sprint Cup” drivers took their race cars and went back home! But on Sunday Big Bill France did indeed run the first race at Talladega that Sunday. For that first race, most of the competitors were from what would now be call the Nationwide Series!
For two of NASCAR’s “royal” families, Talladega is forever intertwined in their lives and their legacies.
For Bobby Allison there are two distinct incidences that are intimately connected. The first impact came in May 1987. Earlier in the weekend Bill Elliott had set a qualifying speed of 212 MPH at Talladega. But that was only a fore-warning of what those high speeds would cause.
During the race that fateful Sunday afternoon Bobby Allison got turned around in the tri-oval. What was about to happen was going to change, not only Bobby Allison’s life, but NASCAR racing as well. When Allison’s race car cut down a tire and turned backwards it immediately took flight and flew up into the catchfence at over 200 MPH! The race car shredded over 100 yards of the catchfence and injured race fans. Fortunately for Allison he was not seriously injured.
The Allison family has a even deeper and stronger tie to Talladega Superspeedway.
On Monday, July 12, 1993, Davey Allison boarded his newly acquired Hughes 369HS helicopter to fly to Talladega Superspeedway to watch family friend Neil Bonnet and his son David test a car for David’s Busch Series debut. He picked up another family friend, legendary race Red Farmer, en route to the track. Allison was attempting to land the helicopter inside a fenced-in area of the track infield when the craft nosed up suddenly, then crashed. The NTSB blamed the crash on Allison’s inexperience in helicopters, coupled with the decision to attempt a downwind landing. Neil Bonnett was able to free a semi-conscious Red Farmer from the wreckage, but could not reach Allison. Paramedics arrived and freed Allison, who was alive but had suffered serious head injuries. He died the next morning, July 13, 1993, at Carraway Methodist Medical Center.
The other family intertwined with Talladega Superspeedway lore is none other than Ralph Dale Earnhardt, Sr.. There are two very memorable races at Talladega for Dale, Sr. The first was the 1996 race where Earnhardt was involved in a racing accident that broke his sternum. It was a horrible crash right in front of the tri-oval.
But the greatest memory that all race fans have of Talladega and “The Intimidator” was what was to be his very last NASCAR victory. That victory came in the fall race of 2000 at Talladega. Earnhardt was in 18th place with just four laps to go in the race when the magic started to happen! “The Intimidator” sliced his way through the field with Kenny Wallace on his back bumper to take the checkered flag, in what many historians believe to be the greatest racing fete in all of NASCAR!
The hardcore NASCAR race fans still talk about that Sunday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway, like it was yesterday. However, that Sunday afternoon was almost 10 years ago!
So it is with all these memories, both thrilling and somber, that the fans, the drivers, and the rest of the NASCAR world remember that will live on at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend and forever more!
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
