Talladega Superspeedway’s upcoming NASCAR weekend, May 5-7, will mark a host of key anniversaries at the 2.66-mile mammoth venue. Perhaps the most memorable that are forever etched in Talladega lore are the first days of May 1987 when icons Bill Elliott and Hueytown, Alabama’s own Davey Allison both wrote their names into Talladega Superspeedway’s – and NASCAR’s – record books.
The then 31-year old Elliott, a native of nearby Dawsonville, Georgia known as “Awesome Bill from Dawsonville,” started the historic weekend by capturing the pole position at a blistering speed of 212.809 mph in his iconic No. 9 Ford, eclipsing his mark of 212.229 mph from the year before. The record still stands today – 30 years later – as NASCAR’s official all-time qualifying record, making Elliott the fastest driver ever in the sport. Allison, meanwhile, capped the weekend with his first career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) triumph, in just his 14th MENCS start.
For NASCAR Hall of Famer Elliott, his record run was part of a string of six consecutive top-starting spots from 1985-87 at the 2.66-mile facility. “To look back and think that I can say I sit atop the NASCAR history books as the driver to turn the fastest official qualifying lap in history, is still mind-blowing,” said Elliott, Talladega’s all-time winning pole winner with eight. “We’d hit over 200 mph at both Talladega and Daytona before, but I would never have dreamed of doing something like what we did at Talladega in 1987,” added the two-time Talladega Superspeedway winner.
During the race itself, Elliott would lead twice for 48 laps, but his engine expired with less than 30 circuits to go. Allison, meanwhile, who had qualified ninth, quickly showed he was a contender, heading the field six times for a race-high 101 laps. The then 26-year old would pass the Talladega King – Dale Earnhardt, Sr. – with 10 laps to go and win by just 0.65 second.
Talladega was also the site of Allison’s first career start in 1985 where he finished 10th. He would go on to win two more Cup events at his “home” track, in 1989 and 1992, but it was that first victory that helped him springboard to an incredible career in NASCAR, that included a total of 19 trips to Gatorade Victory Lane.
Elliott’s record-breaking qualifying run and Allison’s first career victory are just two of many memorable moments that the track – which opened in 1969 – will celebrate as anniversaries this race week. Other spring notable events in Talladega history include:
- 45th Anniversary: 1972 – A newcomer named Darrell Waltrip enters his first career MENCS race in a Mercury. Little did anyone know then, but Waltrip would go on to win 84 races and three championships in NASCAR’s premier series. At Talladega, the 2012 NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee won four times, including a sweep in 1981.
- 35th Anniversary: 1982 – Benny Parsons becomes the first MENCS driver to break the 200 mph mark in qualifying, turning in a lap of 200.176 mph, which stood as a record for five years.
- 25th Anniversary: 1992 – The NASCAR XFINITY Series makes its debut at Talladega with Ernie Irvan taking the win. Now, 25 years later, Elliott Sadler hopes to win back-to-back in the Sparks Energy 300 on Saturday.
- 20th Anniversary: 1997 – Roush Fenway Racing’s Mark Martin visits Gatorade Victory Lane. The race took only 2 hours, 39 minutes and 18 seconds, which made it the fastest race in Talladega Superspeedway history (with an average speed of 188.354 mph) and was the first caution-free race at the track.
- 10th Anniversary: 2007 – Jeff Gordon earns his first Talladega Superspeedway pole with a speed of 192.069 mph in GEICO 500 qualifying. He would go on to win the race, as well as the fall event for a ’07 Talladega victory sweep.
- 5th Anniversary: 2012 – Kurt Busch drives the No. 51 car for James Finch, with his paint scheme and fire suit paying tribute to the movie Talladega Nights. Busch runs the Ricky Bobby “ME” paint scheme, and even had the cougar painted on the hood, with a rear bumper tag which read “I Wanna Go Fast.”
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