Memorable races at Talladega

This is a partial list of memorable races at Talladega Superspeedway, as almost every race there is memorable.

Early years

*1969: After a strike by the Professional Drivers Association, Richard Brickhouse, taking over the #99 Nichels Engineering car, wins his only career race in a field consisting of mostly Grand American drivers. Richard Chilress makes his Grand National debut.
*1973 (Spring): The 1973 Winston 500 featured the largest starting field in modern era, 60 cars. It was also the first race at Talladega that "the Big One" really took its toll. On the 9th lap of the race, a multi-car crash occurred on the backstretch, eliminating 20 cars in all, including a career-ending crash by Wendell Scott. David Pearson took the win by over a lap.
*1973 (Summer): Early in the 1973 Talladega 500, Larry Smith is killed in a freak accident in the first turn. His crew was fixing his car when they heard of his passing.
*1975: Tiny Lund is killed in the running of the Talladega 500 in a seventh lap crash. Dick Brooks takes a spectacular tumble down the backstretch later in the race. Buddy Baker would take the victory.

The 1980s

*1981: Ron Bouchard wins his only Winston Cup event after passing Terry Labonte and Darrell Waltrip in the tri-oval coming to the checkered flag. Labonte and Waltrip were so occupied with each other that they did not notice Bouchard sneaking to the inside.
*1982: In qualifying for the 1982 Winston 500, Benny Parsons qualifies at over 200 mph. His lap is the first 200 mph qualifying lap in NASCAR history.
*1983: Phil Parsons and Darrell Waltrip are eliminated in a massive accident that also eliminates seven other cars. Parsons was turned into the Turn 1 wall nearly head on at 200 mph, causing his car to barrel roll side over side down the banking before landing on Ricky Rudd's car. Richard Petty would take his 197th win in that race. Dale Earnhardt wins his first race at Talladega in the Talladega 500 later that year, another race marred by an early wreck on the 1st lap, after Neil Bonnett blows an engine in Turn 4 and the oil spilled on the track causes cars behind to lose control, as NASCAR rules in 1983 did not freeze the field immediately after caution. (Under current rules, NASCAR officials would wave caution immediately, cease racing, and the safety crew would start immediately on track cleanup.)
*1984: Cale Yarborough wins the most competitive race in NASCAR history, in terms of number of lead changes (75). Later in the Talladega 500 that year, Dale Earnhardt passes Terry Labonte on the final lap to win.
*1986 (Spring): In the 1986 Winston 500, the entire field of cars qualified at over 200 mph. Future greats such as Mark Martin and Alan Kulwicki failed to make the field. Before the race even got a chance to start, a drunk fan climbed into the pace car and took it for a few hot laps around the track, before being stopped by police and track workers. Bill Elliott had the car to beat early on, but on the last lap, Bobby Allison beat out Dale Earnhardt in a closely contested finish.
*1986 (Summer): In the Talladega 500, a then-record 26 of the 40 starters managed to lead a lap. Two-thirds of the field stayed in contention for most of the race, before multi-car crashes eliminated many contenders. Sterling Marlin triggered a multi-car wreck on the final lap that involved Bobby Allison, Joe Ruttman, Rick Wilson and Kyle Petty that allowed Bobby Hillin Jr. to take his only career victory, and second consecutive win for Stavola Brothers Racing, ahead of Tim Richmond and Rusty Wallace, driving in relief for Ricky Rudd.
*1987: Bill Elliott sets a new stock car speed record with a lap of 212.809 mph (342.483 km/h). On the 22nd lap of the event, Bobby Allison loses an engine, and the debris from the motor cuts a tire as Allison enters the trioval. The cut tire causes Bobby to spin, and his car lifts off the ground, flying into the fence just short of the flagstand. Several fans were injured, including a woman who lost an eye from the flying debris. This incident brought about the modern carburetor restrictor plate into NASCAR.

1991-2000

*1991 (Spring): After a troubling ARCA undercard where a driver would be killed in a late-race crash, and a rain delay postponing the race to Monday, Ernie Irvan becomes the center of controversy at the Winston 500 after triggering "The Big One" on the backstretch on lap 71, eliminating about 20 cars. The air catches Mark Martin's car and it and stands on its nose for a short time before coming back down on its wheels. Martin later commented on the accident, saying that "I don't like gettin' upside down, and I was fixin' to." Also, Kyle Petty suffered a broken leg in the crash. Harry Gant won the race with hardly any fuel left, receiving a push from teammate Rick Mast on the final lap, drawing some controversy as NASCAR requires cars to finish on their own power in the final lap.
*1991 (Summer): In the DieHard 500, Ernie Irvan apologized to the drivers for the wrecks he had caused that season (one at Talladega, one at Pocono) and was wrecked by Buddy Baker later in the race, triggering a 14 car pileup. Dale Earnhardt held off a group of Fords to take the victory. Rick Mast would get upside down in the tri-oval late in the race, going for a long slide into the frontstretch grass.
*1993 (Spring): In a wild Winston 500, a caution waves with six laps remaining because of a brief rain shower at the track. The race is immediately stopped, and track drying begins. After the caution, the race would restart with two laps remaining. Ernie Irvan passes Dale Earnhardt on the final lap as the rest of the field battles behind them. Earnhardt would drift back to sixth, and coming through the tri-oval, Earnhardt would give Rusty Wallace a shove, sending Wallace airborne and flipping past the start/finish line, his second consecutive restrictor plate airborne crash (having flipped his car earlier in the season during the Daytona 500).
*1993 (Summer): Two serious crashes marred the running of the DieHard 500. On the 70th lap of the race, Jimmy Horton gets tapped going into Turn 1, flipping over on the banking and going completely over the wall, the only time that has ever happened at Talladega (The only catchfences in place at the time were in front of the grandstands. As a result of this incident, fences were put around the remainder of the track). Stanley Smith was injured in the same crash. Later in the race, Neil Bonnett, in his first stock car race since 1990, goes for a wild ride, flipping end over end in the tri-oval. Neil was uninjured, and joined the CBS commentary team to call the end of the race,which was a close duel between Dale Earnhardt and Ernie Irvan, with Earnhardt prevailing by .005 second.
*1994 (Spring): Mark Martin gets spun and his car goes into the infield and ends up crashing into a metal fence in a multi-car crash. The incident, along with Rusty Wallace's 1993 incident brings the extension of the apron to help drivers regain control of their cars easier, and a stronger wall installed to prevent race cars from totally crashing into the infield. Dale Earnhardt wins, and dedicates the win to friends and fans of Ayrton Senna, who had been killed in Imola, Italy earlier that morning (US time). Earnhardt's comments after winning was, "(Ayrton) was a great racer and a great champion. What a shame."
*1995 (Summer): Ken Schrader takes a wild flip on the backstretch after Schrader got tapped in the left rear by his teammate Jeff Gordon and then gets hit by a couple of cars on the side and air gets underneath the car which causes "The Big One" and Schrader's car to flip over. Sterling Marlin went on to win the race.
*1996 (Spring): Ricky Craven gets in a near ill-fated wreck after Mark Martin cuts in front of Jeff Gordon and ends up getting into the wall and comes back down in front of Ward Burton and gets hits in the front of the car. Martin spins and hits Craven in the right front tire and tumbles in turn 1 and slams into the fence, comes back down onto the track and gets hit by another car. Craven was knocked unconscious and then flown to a Birmingham medical center. Bill Elliott also wrecked in a separate incident, as the back end of his car went in the air on its nose, and landed violently on its wheels. Elliott suffered a fractured femur and was forced to sit out of multiple races during the season.
*1996 (Summer): Dale Earnhardt takes a horrifying tumble down the front straightaway in "The Big One", after Ernie Irvan got into the side of Sterling Marlin which causes him to hit Earnhardt. After he hits the wall hard, he gets hit my multiple cars upside down and on the car's side. He ended up breaking his collarbone, and helped begin a winless streak that spanned the rest of the 1996 season and all of the 1997 season. The race is cut short due to the wreck, and a rainstorm earlier in the race, by darkness, with Jeff Gordon winning. With what happened, it helped push the DieHard 500 from the heat, humidity, and almost commonly occurring afternoon thunderstorms of late July to a much more cooler, and in the case of the weather, more stable early October date. This was the last Cup race to not be televised live because of the rain delay; the broadcast of the race aired one week later, as an abridged broadcast on CBS.
*1997 (Spring): The fastest 500-mile race in NASCAR history took place, with Mark Martin winning a caution-free race at an average speed of nearly 189 mph. (The record still stands).
*2000 (Fall): Dale Earnhardt earns his final Winston Cup victory in spectacular fashion, by moving from 18th to 1st in just 4 laps to win the Winston 500.

2001-present

*2001 (Spring): Bobby Hamilton wins the first superspeedway race following the death of Dale Earnhardt at Daytona two months earlier. The race was caution-free and run under the 2001 aerodynamics package which caused the cars to run in tighter packs than normal. It was the first Cup win for car owner Andy Petree, with Jimmy Elledge, who would later become the husband of Earnhardt's daughter Kelley. Because of excessive blocking in the Busch Series race, a new yellow line, designated as out of bounds, is enforced for the first time. Any driver intentionally going under the line to pass another car (with exceptions for being squeezed down or being a "victim" of an illegal block) is subject to penalty.
*2001 (Fall): Dale Earnhardt Jr won the first of five victories at Talladega. "The Big One" happened on the final lap with Bobby Labonte going over on his roof. 16 cars were involved.
*2002: (Spring) In a Busch Series race, "The Big One" occurs on lap 15 when Scott Riggs up near the front got into Johnny Sauter (who flipped down the backstraightaway), triggering a 27-car crash, biggest in all of NASCAR history in the modern era. Most cars were so damaged or uncompetitive to a point, that drafting was almost non-existent. Only three cars finished on the lead lap, a rarity at most any NASCAR event today (especially on a large superspeedway), and even for any other race that would otherwise be marred by "The Big One". Also, 22 cars out of the 43 in the race did not finish, including 9th place Kenny Wallace, due to a blown motor. The Big One happened the following day too, with just a fewer amount of cars involved (24), and with Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning.
*2003 (Spring): Dale Earnhardt Jr. won his fourth consecutive race at Talladega. The spring race also featured a 27-car crash on lap 4 (of 188) caused by a blown tire from Ryan Newman; the largest crash in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup in the modern era, and nearly equaled what happened the previous year in a Busch Series race. A controversy over the out-of-bounds line in the pass of Matt Kenseth also enrages fans. Kenseth seemed to violate the principles of blocking (changed lines twice on a straight), with being in one line at the start of the backstretch, then moving first to block Jimmie Johnson, and then later moving to block Earnhardt. In most motorsports series, that would be a blocking violation. Earnhardt makes a borderline pass later declared legal to win.
*2003 (Fall): Elliott Sadler (polesitter) goes for a terrible tumble into turn three with six laps remaining, and under new rules, the field was frozen at the moment of caution, permitting safety vehicles to immediately care to Sadler's situation (he was uninjured). Michael Waltrip wins his first Non-Daytona Cup win, costing Earnhardt a chance at a fifth consecutive victory at the track; it was the sixth consecutive "RAD" alliance win (a win by a Childress, Earnhardt, or Petree car). A wreck after the checkered flag occurred too.
*2004 (Spring): Jeff Gordon wins the Aaron's 499 in controversial fashion. Brian Vickers causes a caution after spinning while overtaking Dale Earnhardt Jr. with less than five laps remaining, freezing the field. A red flag could not be applied when fewer than five laps were remaining in the race when the caution waved, and there were about four and a third laps remaining. When NASCAR decides not to restart the race, owing to concerns of another incident similar to Rusty Wallace's terrifying 1993 crash on a two-lap shootout, and Mark Martin's injury in a one-lap shootout at Daytona in 1997. Fans littered the track with debris. This incident resulted in outrage by Fox commentator Chris Myers, and led to the July implementation of a green-white-checker rule.
*2004 (Fall): Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins the EA Sports 500, but is penalized 25 points for violating NASCAR's policy on obscenity following an interview where he mentions to Matt Yocum, "Well, (his fifth career Talladega win) don't mean shit right now, (Dale Earnhardt Sr. has) won here ten times."
*2005: Jeff Gordon won his second straight Aaron's 499 under the green-white-checker rule stretching the race to 516 miles, and won despite a 25-car wreck (the third largest in the modern era) brought out the red flag on Lap 132, in which started when Mike Wallace bumped into Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson causing a chain reaction pile-up in Turn 1.
*2006 (Spring): Jimmie Johnson wins, holding off Tony Stewart and Brian Vickers at the Aaron's 499 on May 1, 2006 (the race had been delayed from Sunday to Monday).When he stepped out of the car, Dick Berggren (FOX pit reporter) told him he is an uncle of new born Connor Johnson. Several drivers were blamed for causing two multi-car crashes in the race. Johnson also scores a Career Grand Slam by winning this race, becoming the eighth driver to win all four legs of the Grand Slam in his career.
*2006 (Fall): Brian Vickers wins under caution after bumping the car of teammate Jimmie Johnson into the car of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. during a last lap pass on the backstretch at the UAW-Ford 500 on October 8, 2006. In a repeat of the 2004 Aaron's 499, the fans expressed their disapproval of Junior not winning by tossing debris onto the track.
*2007 (Spring): Kyle Busch goes for a terrifying tumble on the backstretch during the 500km Busch Series race, after making contact with Tony Stewart. Numerous other cars are involved in other small wrecks during the race that whittled the field down, and Kevin Harvick, Inc. teammates Bobby Labonte and Stewart battle for the win, with Labonte winning in a tri-oval pass. Jeff Gordon wins the Aaron's 499 the next day, and, like the 2004 race, a few fans litter the track in debris in protest of Gordon passing Dale Earnhardt in career wins on Dale Earnhardt Day (April 29, which was Dale Sr's birthday). Fox announcer Mike Joy severely criticises the fans, and 14 spectators are permanently banned from the circuit because of the incident.
*2007 (Fall): Jeff Gordon had a pit-road penalty for taking pit equipment from his stall earlier in the race, went to the back, but made a charge to the front late in the race and on the final lap, he was running second behind teammate Jimmie Johnson until Tony Stewart led a group of cars on the outside, heading down the backstretch, Gordon went up in front of Stewart which gave him a draft push by Johnson and into the lead and helm him, Stewart and Dave Blaney off for the win. This was Gordon's 80th career win, 6th at Talladega and 12th restrictor-plate win, passing Dale Earnhardt for the most restrictor-plate wins, he also sweeps the races at Talladega for 2007, becoming the 6th person to sweeps both races at Talladega on the same year and wins the first Car of Tomorrow race on a Superspeedway. Gordon won the race with a special Pepsi paint scheme designed by a fan, quoting after he won that "they should do this again next year.", this is Gordon's 3rd win at Talladega with a Pepsi paint scheme. Toyota was the spotlight of the weekend, celebrating its first pole on a superspeedway courtesy of Michael Waltrip, five Toyotas in the top 6 starting spots, and drivers outside the Top 35 in owners points qualifying unusually well. Blaney's finish was the highest of any Toyota driver during the 2007 Cup season. The Big One also happened in the race, involving 11 cars.
*2008 (Spring): Kyle Busch gives Toyota its first win at the Superspeedway. The final lap of the race was calamity filled when after crossing the start-finish line for the last lap, Michael McDowell is spun out, but the Green Flag stayed out. Shortly afterwords, a 12 car pile-up occurs in Turns 1 and 2, effectively putting an end to the race, and giving the victory to Busch.
*2008 (Fall): After 9 years of trying, Tony Stewart finally won his first cup race at Talladega. With 4 laps to goJamie McMurray blew a tire and spun of turn 2 setting up a green/white/checkered finish. On the last lap the 01 car of Regan Smith passed stewart and finished ahead of him at the start/finish line, but he passed Stewart under the yellow line which is out of bounds therefore giving Stewart the victory. There were also 2 Big ones in the race, the first one involving 9 cars and the second one involving 12 cars.