Talladega SuperSpeedway

Talladega Superspeedway is a motorsports complex located in Talladega, Alabama, United States. It was constructed in the 1960s in place of abandoned airport runways by International Speedway Corporation, a business controlled by   NASCAR'sfounding France family along with Daytona International Speedway and several other racetracks. At 2.66 miles (4.28 km) long, Talladega is the largest (and most steeply banked) oval track in the Sprint Cup Series and has seating provisions for over 175,000 patrons.

The start/finish line is placed after the pit exit because Bill France wanted to have higher ticket sales towards that side, as well as centered with pit road. The unusual placement has affected the outcome of several races (the start/finish line is normally placed across from the center of pit road). The track is adjacent to and visible from Interstate 20.

The International Motorsports Hall of Fame is adjacent to the Talladega Superspeedway.

n the early days of NASCAR, a one-mile, oval track was originally planned to be built in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Local religious leaders opposed the construction of such a large track, and NASCAR founder Bill France decided to instead build the track in Alabama at Talladega.

Talladega got off to a controversial start when the Professional Drivers Association, a union of drivers led by Richard Petty, went on strike the night before the inaugural Talladega 500. The union was concerned with the speed which could be attained due to the track's length and steep banking, and the perceived threat to driver safety that this posed. Bill France took to the track himself in a car and drove around it at high speeds. NASCAR also ran a successful support race, but it was not enough, and the PDA drivers went on strike. Replacement drivers from the previous day's race were asked to race, and tickets were good for future races. The race was the only win for Richard Brickhouse and was the debut race for six-time championship team owner Richard Childress.

Since 1970, the year after the track opened, Talladega has held two Sprint Cup races. Traditionally the first race was in the spring (April/May) and the second was at the end of July. In 1997, the track moved the summer race back to October, responding to the requests of fans because of the uncomfortably hot summer temperatures at the track and the unpredictability of summer thundershowers in the area. Since then, the fall race has become a part of the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup.

 Restrictor Plates and "The Big One"

Speeds well in excess of 200 mph (320 km/h) were commonplace at Talladega. Talladega Superspeedway has the record for the fastest recorded time by a NASCAR stock car in a closed oval course, with the record of 216.309 mph set by Rusty Wallace on June 9, 2004.. Wallace circled the 2.66-mile (4.28-km) trioval in 44.270 seconds, which surpassed the previous record held by Bill Elliott (212.809 mph) set in 1987, but doesn't replace the record due to the fact it was practice. Buddy Baker was the first driver to qualify at a speed over 200 mph, with a 200.447 mph lap during testing on March 24, 1970. Bakers record was set while driving the #88 Chrysler Engineering Charger Daytona, which is currently undergoing restoration in Detroit, after being found in the late 1990s in Iowa.

In May 1987 Bobby Allison experienced a tire failure while going through the tri-oval portion of the track, which sent his car airborne. His car tore out a portion of the frontstretch catch fence, nearly entering the crowd. NASCAR imposed rule changes to slow the cars after the incident, with a 1988 rule requiring cars running there and at Daytona to use restrictor plates. The most often cited reason is a fear that the increasing speeds were exceeding the capabilities of the tires available at the time, as high-speed tire failure had led to some gruesome crashes at slightly lower speeds. The plates limit the amount of air and fuel entering the intake manifolds of the engine, greatly reducing the power of the cars and hence their speed. This has led to the style of racing held at Talladega and Daytona to be somewhat different from that at other superspeedways and to be referred to by NASCAR fans as "restrictor-plate racing".

The reduced power affects not only the maximum speed reached by the cars but the time it takes them to achieve their full speed as well, which can be nearly one full circuit of the track. The racing seen at Talladega today is extremely tight; often in rows of three or four cars, and sometimes even 5 wide on the straightaways throughout most of the field, as the track is wide enough to permit such racing. Breaking away from the pack is very difficult as well.

Such close quarters, however, makes it extremely difficult for a driver to avoid an incident as it is unfolding in front of him, and the slightest mistake often leads to massive (and often frightening) multi-car accidents – dubbed "the Big One" by fans and drivers – and Talladega is notorious for such, and always has been. It is not uncommon to see 20 or more cars collected in the crashes. Such huge crashes are less frequent at Daytona, which is a more handling-oriented track.

The danger of "The Big One" not only can cause extensive damage to cars during a race, but it can affect points standings overall, especially since the second race was moved from July to October because of the Alabama heat, and the development of NASCAR's playoff system that incorporates the second race, currently the AMP Energy 500, although such big wrecks occasionally occurred even before the restrictor plates were introduced as well.

 

 The Talladega Jinx

The high number of crashes over the years, along with other factors, have led to rumors of Talladega Superspeedway being cursed. Stories of the origin of the curse vary. Some claim that a local Native American tribe held horse races in the valley where the track currently resides and a chief was killed when he was thrown from his horse. Others say that the site of the superspeedway was once an Indian burial ground. Still another version says that after the local tribe was driven out by the Creek nation for their collaborating with the forces of Andrew Jackson, a shaman put a curse on the valley. However, none of these rumors can be proven.

Since the construction of the track, many strange happenings and untimely deaths have fueled the rumors of a curse. In 1973, Bobby Isaac left his car during a race because of voices he claimed to have heard which told him to park his car and get out. Later in the same race, young driver Larry Smith died in a seemingly minor wreck.

To some, Bobby Allison's 1987 wreck described above was yet another reminder of the curse. In 1993, Bobby's son, Davey Allison, died in a helicopter crash in the infield of Talladega.

 

  Talladega facelift

Talladega Superspeedway went under heavy re-construction on the pavement of the racing surface and down on the apron (trouble lane). Construction began on May 1, 2006 and ended September 18, 2006. The first NASCAR race after the face-lift was the John Deere 250, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on October 7th. Mark Martin qualified on the pole for the race, and turned out to be the winner in the end after the hard crash on the last lap in turn 3 involving Mike Wallace in the GEICO Chevrolet and Derrike Cope in the Key Motorsports Chevrolet.

  Scheduled races

Talladega hosts two Sprint Cup Series races and one Nationwide Series race annually. Both of the Sprint Cup Series races are 500.08 miles (188 laps) (800 km) in length. The names by which the races are called now vary due to the purchase of naming rights, with the spring Sprint Cup Series race since spring 2002 (2002) being referred to as the Aaron's 499 after the Atlanta-based rent-to-own chain. The Nationwide Series race has historically been a 500 kilometer race (117 laps) since its 1992 inception, but was cut to 300 miles (483 km – 113 laps) in 1998 because of a spectator's letter questioning the metric distance, but restored to 500 kilometers by its current sponsor. The Craftsman Truck Series race is 250 miles (94 laps) and the ARCA race, once a 500 kilometer affair, was shortened to 300 miles in 1998, and to 250 miles in 2006 when it was moved to Friday.

The Aaron's 499, then sponsored by Winston, was known as one of the sport's four legs of the traditional "Winston Million", with the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600, and the Southern 500 being the other three. With the demise of the Southern 500 by a lawsuit, there are only three majors remaining. (From 1985 until 1997, a driver who won three of the four majors won a one million dollar bonus.)