Talladega, 1969: A debut like no other
By Gaylen Duskey, Special to Turner Sports Interactive
October 18, 2001
1:25 PM EDT (1725 GMT)
COMMENTARY
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Gaylen Duskey
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The opening of Kansas Speedway this weekend should be an exciting event. But it will have to go a long way to beat the first race at Talladega -- then known as the New Alabama International Motor Speedway -- back in September 1969.
It was the race that wasn't -- although it was.
This may sound like a strange way to describe a race, yet it is a very accurate way to sum up the first race ever at the 2.66-mile monster speedway. It was, in a word, bizarre.
An unusual set of circumstances came into play for this race:
-- The track was brand-new and it was the biggest and fastest on the circuit.
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Richard Petty
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-- The track surface was new and rough.
-- Drivers were trying to unionize and had formed the Professional Drivers Association (PDA) which was led by Richard Petty.
-- Ford had come up with the Ford Torino Talladega earlier in the season to compete with the Chrysler cars that had been ruling NASCAR tracks. Torino had been successful and Chrysler was ready to respond with the Dodge Charger Daytona and the Plymouth Superbird, a couple of strange-looking cars with long, pointy noses and a three-foot spoiler on the back.
Those things all came together at Talladega.
The first Grand National (now Winston Cup) race at Talladega was Sept. 14, 1969, and won by Richard Brickhouse.
That the unknown Brickhouse won the event, his only Grand National career win, is probably due to the fact that all the top NASCAR drivers had refused to race and the field was filled by a lot of unknown and Grand American (now the Busch Series) drivers. So while it was a race, without the stars it really wasn't a race.
Before that race week at Talladega, word had filtered out that the track was fast -- extremely fast -- but that it was rough on tires. So rough, in fact, that tires reportedly were wearing out within a lap or two during time trials. But the times were oh-so-fast and speeds of 200 mph were not only possible, they were probable.
When the drivers arrived for the race and time trials got under way, all the rumors were proven true. First, Charlie Glotzbach scorched the track at 199.987 mph. Then came the reality that the tires were not going to hold up at the speeds possible on the rough surface.
Then, too, came talk about postponing the race.
Glotzbach took the pole as only nine teams decided to qualify. The rest decided to wait and see. The next day, Thursday, only four teams attempted to qualify.
On Friday, two days before the race, 14 teams went out for time trials. The tires were, once again, battered on the practice runs. As a matter of fact, one of the drivers, Donnie Allison, went public with a call to postpone the race.
But postponement was not something that was likely to happen, especially since NASCAR founder Bill France owned the track.
The two major tire suppliers -- Goodyear and Firestone -- brought in tires and had them tested by Allison and Glotzbach. The tires still showed severe wear, and afterward, Allison admitted to being the most scared he had been in his life.
While all this was going on on the track, members of the newly founded PDA were talking among themselves about boycotting the race if it was not postponed. Meetings between the drivers and France took place, but those meetings basically ended up with France telling the drivers there was going to be a race and if they didn't like it they should take a hike (so to speak).
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Bobby Isaac
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On Saturday the track held a Grand American race -- featuring smaller cars such as Mustangs and Camaros -- and there were no major tire problems. France said this meant tires were not a problem; but Grand National drivers countered that the larger, faster cars they drove would have problems.
After that, France announced that any team not willing to drive the next day should leave and make room for those that would compete. The diesel rig hauling Petty's car fired up and left the grounds. It was followed by a parade of Grand National teams leaving. The only notable drivers left were Bobby Isaac, who had not joined the PDA, Coo Coo Marlin and Tiny Lund.
The next day, the race was held but there were several things that set it apart from any other NASCAR Grand National race, including the most notable thing -- a mandatory caution flag every 25 laps to allow drivers to change tires.
Brickhouse, in his 26th Grand National start, was put in Glotzbach's car and he drove it to perfection in the highly unusual race winning by seven seconds. It was his first Grand National win. It also was his last.
The following year, the 200-mph barrier was cracked and Talladega took its place as one of the crown jewels of the Winston Cup circuit. Maybe someday the same fate will await the new Kansas Speedway. Hopefully, however, it will not have the same birthing pains of Talladega.
NOTE: Gaylen Duskey's column appears each Wednesday on NASCAR.com. The opinions listed here are those solely of the writer.
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