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Quotes and Trivia about Talladega
compiled by Jo Ann Hlavac
“There are a lot of “ifs” at Talladega” Jeff Gordon
“Talladega is all about air, and in more ways than one. The first part is how you get your car through the air – how well your aerodynamics are set up, how well you draft. The second part is how you breathe the air and, sometimes at Talladega, whether you breathe at all when things are going on around you." Kyle Petty
“I think the best part of Talladega is when you get out of there (laughing). It’s just so mentally draining. We are racing three and four wide all afternoon, and one little mistake can cost everyone. Mistakes are never small at Talladega and neither are the wrecks. If something happens, it’s going to be big." Jeff Green
"The only difference between that traffic jam (midtown Manhattan) and racing at Talladega is 190 mph. It is really hard to ask 43 human beings to be perfect for 3½ hours. When you have 43 guys on top of each other for 3½ hours, anything can happen. It's just a dangerous race." Elliott Sadler
“It's too easy to get caught up in someone else's mistake. You can have the absolute best car and still not have a good finish. One team's fate is in the hands of all 43 competitors."Dale Jarrett
"You can say you're going to stay out of trouble, but it's usually out of your control anyway. You're just along for the ride." Jeff Gordon
"It’s just a matter of staying out of the big wreck and finishing the race. Usually,
if you can do that, then you’ll have a decent day. It’s a lot easier said than done at Talladega, but obviously that’s our goal.” Dave Blaney
"Talladega is a track where you can't do anything on your own. You have to strictly rely on what everybody else around you is doing. It's still not real racing when somebody else has to go with you and somebody else can dictate how you run." Tony Stewart
"You're either in it or you're not. When it starts happening there is either going to be a hole for you or a way you can wiggle through, but more than likely if its not there you can't just make a hole. Its not like you can cut left or cut right and cut left that quick and miss it at those speeds. You either miss it or you don't." Ken Schrader
"Please don't ask me what happened. I don't know. It's Talladega. There are too many cars in one pack. It's ridiculous; it's way beyond being angry. It's stupid. It would be ignorant for me to be mad about it. I'll just be glad when I don't do it anymore." Mark Martin
"When I started out on asphalt and wound up on dirt, I knew I was in trouble." Jimmy Horton, after exiting Talladega the hard way (over the wall and onto a dirt lane outside and well below the track) in 1993
And Now for a little Trivia...
Talladega had it’s first caution free event in 1997 after 29 years.
The original name of Talladega Superspeedway was Alabama International Motor Speedway.
Crazy 8
Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s victory at Talladega in 2003 carried odd numerical coincidences along with it. Junior won his eighth career Winston Cup race in car No. 8 in the eighth race of the season. He is also the eighth different winner in 2003. By winning the Busch race and the Winston Cup race at Daytona over the weekend, Earnhardt became the fourth driver to accomplish the feat at Talladega. The others were Ernie Irvan in 1992, Dale Earnhardt Sr. in 1993 and Mark Martin in 1997
Talladega holds the fastest qualifying mark in NASCAR history with Bill Elliott’s 212.809 mph in April of 1987. He was in a Ford Thunderbird. He also holds the fastest qualifying lap at Dega with a plate. On May 1990, he went 199.388 (15/16th inch plate) However, Buddy Baker was the
first man to run over 200 MPH on a
closed course in 1970.
Talladega was the site of the fastest 500
mile race in Winston Cup history when
Mark Martin won the DieHard 500 in 2
hours, 39 minutes, 18 seconds in
May of 1997.
Richard Brickhouse won the first NASACR
Winston Cup race at Talladega in 1969 in
a Dodge. At that time many drivers
boycotted the new track claiming it was
unsafe. (It is now even more unsafe due
to the restrictor plates.)
Bill Elliott comes from nearly 2 laps down under green to win the 1985 Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway..with no Lucky Dog rule!
Phil Parsons won his only cup race at Talladega.
Darrell Waltrip was the first driver to win at Talladega in a Chevy
above trivia courtesy of www.jayski.com, www.phoenixinternationalraceway.com
above quotes courtesy of www.catchfence.com and us!
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