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(004r.JPG) Attachments - (91KB - 1006 downloads) (80KB - 479 downloads) (83KB - 1327 downloads) (83KB - 532 downloads) Posted 2011-01-30 9:22 PM (#259024 - in reply to #258852) Subject: RE: Cloverleaf Speedway, Cleveland OH Expert Posts: 2613 Location: Parts Unknown Ever see the hillclimb bikes run up that huge hill behind (and to the right ) of the track? Rumor around town said one could climb the 'E' on the sign (Cloverleaf Speedway ) and sneek in to see the races. Posted 2011-01-31 5:34 PM (#259114 - in reply to #259024) Subject: RE: Cloverleaf Speedway, Cleveland OH Expert Posts: 1602 Location: Berea, OH / Maricopa, AZ. B/G 61 - 2011-01-30 6:22 PM Ever see the hillclimb bikes run up that huge hill behind (and to the right ) of the track?
Yes, I went to see the hillclimbs. I was at the first one they held. They had a marker about 3/4 of the way up the hill after which the riders were to shut down and bail from their bikes. Because there was a construction yard at the top of the hill. If you crest the hill (and it was steep ) there was about a four foot flat area, a stack of hay bales, then a chainlink fence with steel I-Beams stacked against it.
A number of riders did not get the word to shutdown (or maybe they just didn't see the marker, they were hanging on for dear life ) and they flew into those I-Beams. Bike and rider would tumble back down the hill. It was gruesome. One guy lost his finger which I found for him. Another was lying on the hill screaming with his foot dangling from his leg. I don't recall any kind of crowd control either.
Did you ever go see the boat demolition derbies? Dave Posted 2011-01-31 9:05 PM (#259148 - in reply to #259114) Subject: RE: Cloverleaf Speedway, Cleveland OH Expert Posts: 2613 Location: Parts Unknown. B/G 61 - 2011-01-31 6:05 PM EVERY model car I built as a kid looked like these cars - Me too, and I still have all of them.
The glue dried out long ago and most are just a box of parts. I someday hope to take the time and reassemble them. Those are great photos.
I like the reference to Bobby Allison's 'Camaro'. Check this out. Dave Edited by Swept57 2011-02-01 8:40 AM Posted 2011-02-01 12:21 PM (#259225 - in reply to #259198) Subject: RE: Cloverleaf Speedway, Cleveland OH Expert Posts: 2613 Location: Parts Unknown. (CLS02.jpg) Attachments - (97KB - 589 downloads) (68KB - 526 downloads) Posted 2011-03-10 9:16 AM (#264156 - in reply to #258852) Subject: RE: Cloverleaf Speedway, Cleveland OH Expert Posts: 1602 Location: Berea, OH / Maricopa, AZ So I was searching through the old Cloverleaf photos looking for other FL era MoPars and realized that ANY MoPar was a rare occurrence. It was 95% Ford vs.
Chevy with mostly other GMs filling in the rest of the pack. This is the only other MoPar I could find. (CLS03.jpg) Attachments - (91KB - 638 downloads) Posted 2011-03-10 5:48 PM (#264205 - in reply to #258852) Subject: RE: Cloverleaf Speedway, Cleveland OH Expert Posts: 1876 Location: Eastern Iowa darn.what a waste of a good bubble windshield!!! Dave S., That's not what I said.dam Edited by finsruskw 2011-03-10 5:49 PM Posted 2011-03-11 10:09 AM (#264258 - in reply to #264205) Subject: RE: Cloverleaf Speedway, Cleveland OH Expert Posts: 1602 Location: Berea, OH / Maricopa, AZ. Finsruskw - 2011-03-10 2:48 PM darn.what a waste of a good bubble windshield!!! Dave S., That's not what I said.dam Well there is always the chance that at the end of its race car days, it was parted and the windshield lived on.
Unlikely, but you never know. Dave Posted 2011-03-22 9:37 PM (#265579 - in reply to #264258) Subject: RE: Cloverleaf Speedway, Cleveland OH Expert Posts: 1602 Location: Berea, OH / Maricopa, AZ Here are a few more from the forwardlook era. I don't think there are any mopars but some of these things are so hammered flat that its hard to tell what they are. (CLS06.jpg) Attachments - (82KB - 579 downloads) (79KB - 437 downloads) (70KB - 442 downloads) Posted 2011-03-22 9:45 PM (#265580 - in reply to #258852) Subject: RE: Cloverleaf Speedway, Cleveland OH Expert Posts: 2613 Location: Parts Unknown Great pics! Gotta love the trunk popping open!!!
Posted 2011-06-04 6:19 PM (#275443 - in reply to #265580) Subject: Re: Cloverleaf Speedway, Cleveland OH Exner Expert 19,174 posts. Neil passed away 18 Sep 2015.
You will be missed, Neil! Posts: 19171 Location: bishop, ca Did 'Super Stocks' morph into 'modifieds'?
Notice the rust out on that Baccaruda fastback, above.demo-racing it was probably a fitting final-solution to its impoverished lifetime. That #10-Poncho, above, looks like it inflicted some serious bodily injury to some fans, too. Any such injuries would probably have been disallowed in court, because sporting event spectators are presumed to have 'Primary assumption of risk', meaning that their mere voluntary presence at an inherently dangerous event (like at a baseball game where they can get hurt from errant balls and bats, etc ) voids any claims for personal injury that they might sustain in the course of attending that event.nowadays, entrance tickets have express disclaimers of liability printed onto them. Tough Sh!t, kid.enjoy the wheel chair! Posted 2011-11-03 1:36 PM (#294918 - in reply to #275443) Subject: Re: Cloverleaf Speedway, Cleveland OH Expert Posts: 1602 Location: Berea, OH / Maricopa, AZ Haven't been able to spot any other FL cars, but her is a 66 Plymouth.
MoPars were super rare at Cloverleaf, unless it was a demo derby.
Aerial view of Talladega Superspeedway in 2007. Contents. History During the 1960s, wanted to build a track faster and longer than. After failed attempts to reason with local government in with the, he attempted to find a new spot for a race track and make his idea a reality.
After failing to secure a location near the research triangle around, France then looked around between and along. He would end up breaking ground on an old airfield on May 23, 1968.
The track opened on September 13, 1969 at a cost of $4 million. The track was named the 'Alabama International Motor Speedway'.
The name would remain for twenty years until 1989 when the facility's name was changed to 'Talladega Superspeedway'. In the first race at the track, all the original drivers abandoned the track due to tire problems, which allowed France to hire substitute drivers with the winner being. After the first race, Talladega hosted two Cup Series races a year, one of which would become part of the 10-race NASCAR Cup Series.
Since its opening year, Talladega has hosted many races and has been repaved four times. Talladega also has had many first-time winners, such as Richard Brickhouse, Ron Bouchard, Bobby Hillin, Davey Allison, and, in 2017, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
A 4-mile (6.4 km) infield road course was in operation from the track's founding until 1983. In the 1970s, six races were held at the speedway, including a 6-hour race in 1978. The museum was opened in 1983. Talladega Superspeedway after the repaving of the track.
In May 2006, Talladega started to re-surface the track and the apron. Construction started on May 1 and lasted until September 18. The first race on the resurfaced race track was a NASCAR race on October 7.
In December 2013, the ISC announced removal of the 18,000-seat Allison Grandstand on the backstretch, reducing the track's seating capacity to 80,000. The 4,000-ft backstraightaway was renamed the ' Superstretch' in time for the held in the spring. 'The Big One'.
Main article: Speeds in excess of 200 mph (320 km/h) are commonplace at Talladega. Talladega has the record for the fastest recorded time by a NASCAR vehicle on a closed oval course, with the record of 216.309 mph (348.116 km/h) set by 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 (212.809 mph (342.483 km/h)) set in 1987, but did not replace the record because it was a radio test and not a NASCAR sanctioned event. Was the first driver to run at a speed over 200 mph (320 km/h), with a 200.447 mph (322.588 km/h) lap during 'testing' on March 24, 1970. Bill France himself invited Chrysler to come on down to run a 200 lap for publicity for the April race.
The car was fully NASCAR inspected and certified. NASCAR sanctioned the event and Bill Gazaway was there with the official timing equipment. Baker's 200 mph lap was set while driving the No. 88 Chrysler Engineering Charger Daytona. It is currently undergoing restoration in Detroit, after being found in the late 1990s in Iowa.
Benny Parsons was the first driver to qualify at over 200 mph (320 km/h), doing so in 1982 with a speed of 200.176 mph (322.152 km/h). In May 1987, after contacting debris from a blown engine, cut his right-rear tire while going through the tri-oval portion of the track. The car was vaulted airborne. His car damaged a portion of the frontstretch, but did not enter the spectator area. NASCAR imposed rule changes to slow the cars after the incident, with a 1988 rule requiring cars running there and at Daytona to again use. 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 terrific 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 an extremely competitive style of racing at Talladega and Daytona. Allison's crash was very similar to 's airborne crash at the. Leading the alongside. 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 currently seen at Talladega is extremely tight; often in rows of three or four cars, and sometimes even five lanes 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 them, and the slightest mistake can lead to a multi-car accident – dubbed 'the Big One' by fans and drivers. It is uncommon, but possible, to see 20 or more cars collected in the crashes. Occasionally, cars go airborne and barrel-roll or slide on their roofs, although NASCAR has made several advances in safety over the years to lessen the chance of a car going airborne. The Talladega Curse Numerous strange occurrences at the track have led to rumors of Talladega being.
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 where a chief was killed when he was thrown from his horse. Others say that the site of the superspeedway was once an Indian. Still another version says that after the local tribe was driven out by the for their collaborating with the forces of, a put a curse on the valley. Since the construction of the track, many unusual events and untimely deaths have fueled the rumors of a jinx or curse.
In the, died of massive head injuries in a solo crash, one that was reported by commentators as a heavy hit, but believed by no means bad enough to be fatal. Later in the same race, driver parked his car and announced he was quitting racing; he did not participate in another 1973 race. Isaac explained, 'Something told me to quit. I don't know anything else to do but abide by it.'
At the time of Isaac's death in 1977, friend and colleague told reporters that the reason Isaac parked his car in Talladega was because he 'had heard a voice that told him to quit'. During the, Roger Penske crewman Don Miller lost part of his leg in a pit lane accident. Miller was helping service his team's AMC Matador, driven. The car was hit by another driver in pit lane, pinning Miller between the pit wall and Bettenhausen's car.
![Speedway Speedway](http://www.stockcarreunion.com/images/600_Ray_elder,_Jack_McCoy-4.gif)
In the a few months later, ten of the top eleven qualifying drivers found that their cars had been mechanically - and elaborately - sabotaged the night before the race. While the majority of the damage was quietly repaired before the race, the culprit was never found. In the 1975 Winston 500, Randy Owens, brother-in-law of and a crew member on the family team Petty Enterprises (father of current NASCAR Cup Series crew chief ), was killed by an air tank that exploded in the pits. To some, Bobby Allison's wreck in 1987 described above was yet another reminder of the curse.
In 1993, his son, died in a helicopter crash in the infield of Talladega. In 1996, president Bob Loga died after a traffic accident in a parking lot. This incident might not be considered part of the curse, but in 2002, during the Aaron's 499 (now the GEICO 500), Ken Schrader, while running in the lead pack, had a piece of rollbar padding in his car fall off and bump the kill switch on his steering wheel, causing him to lose the draft and almost go a lap down.
He would recover from that thanks to a caution, but would get eliminated in the Big One later on., a comedic short film about the Talladega jinx, was directed by and released in 2010. Scheduled races Talladega hosts many NASCAR events which include two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races, one Xfinity Series race, and one Camping World Truck Series race. The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races include the and the, which are both 188 laps each or 500.08 miles (804.80 km).
The Xfinity Series race has historically been a 311.2-mile/500-kilometer (117 laps) since its 1992 inception, but was cut to 300 miles (480 km) (113 laps) in 1998 due to a spectator's letter questioning the metric distance, but restored to 500 kilometers by its current sponsor. The Camping Series race is 250 miles (94 laps). 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. Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series records (As of 10/23/11) Most Wins 10 Most Consecutive Wins 4 Most top 5s 23 Dale Earnhardt Most top 10s 27 Dale Earnhardt Most starts 61 Most poles 8 Most laps completed 9777 Dave Marcis Most laps led 1377 Dale Earnhardt Avg. Start. 4.3 Avg. Finish.
5.6. from minimum five starts. Current races. The circuit's infield also hosts the Birmingham Association Mud Bowl tournament in the winter. Records. March 24, 1970: Buddy Baker, driving the Chrysler Engineering No. 88 Dodge Charger Daytona, officially became the first driver in NASCAR history to break the 200 mph (320 km/h) barrier by turning a lap of 200.447 mph (322.588 km/h).
This was also a world record at the time for any vehicle on a closed course. It was achieved using official NASCAR scoring and timing equipment. August 20, 1971: Paula Murphy, 'Miss STP' made a record closed course run for a female at 171.449 mph (275.920 km/h). August 3, 1974: set a closed-course exhibition record in an with a lap of 217.854 mph (350.602 km/h).
August 9, 1975: set a closed-course world record in a at 221.160 mph (355.923 km/h). It stood as a world record for four years, and as a United States record until 1986. May 6, 1984: The set a motorsports record with 75 lead changes in a single race. May 5, 1985: set a 500-mile race record, winning the at an average speed of 186.288 mph (299.801 km/h). Elliott won the race despite losing nearly two laps during a lengthy early pit stop to fix a broken oil line, and despite the race only having two caution flags. Elliott made up the entire distance he lost under one lengthy, green-flag period. The record stood as the fastest 500-mile race of any kind until 1990, when broke it by winning the at at an average speed of 189.727 mph (305.336 km/h).
Later broke the record for fastest 500-mile race (see below). November 26, 1985: set a record closed course run for a female, at over 200 mph (320 km/h). March 24, 1986: set a closed-course speed record for four-wheel drive vehicles with an 5000CS Turbo Quattro at 206.825 mph (332.853 km/h) with a top speed over 350 km/h (220 mph). The car was compliant with NASCAR rules. 1986: The – set 2 world and 21 international records with three series – 100,000 km (62,000 miles) with an average speed of 213.299 km/h (132.538 mph) and 50,000 miles (80,000 km) with an average speed of 213.686 km/h (132.778 mph).
James' female closed circuit speed record car. April 30, 1987: Bill Elliott set the all-time NASCAR qualifying record, winning the pole for the at a speed of 212.809 mph (342.483 km/h)(44.998 seconds). The record still stands due to the use of the, mandated after the 1987 season. October 11, 1988: Lyn St.
James set a record closed course run for a female at 212.577 mph (342.110 km/h), driving a Ford Thunderbird. December 14, 1989: set a record closed course run for a female at 216.607 mph (348.595 km/h), driving a.
January 23, 1990: Patty Moise set a record closed course run for a female at 217.498 mph (350.029 km/h), driving a Buick. 1996: set endurance and speed record-breaking runs in their. May 10, 1997: Mark Martin won the Winston Select 500, a race which had no caution flags, at a NASCAR 500-mile record speed of 188.354 mph (303.126 km/h), nearly ten years after the introduction of restrictor plates.
![Valley Valley](http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd21/simracingohio/Cloverleaf%20Speedway/story/thumbnail.jpg)
October 15, 2000: Dale Earnhardt set a record for the most wins at the track with 10. This was also his 76th and final win before his in the.
April 6, 2003: won his fourth consecutive Cup race at Talladega. The race also saw NASCAR's largest NASCAR Cup Series wreck to date, when 27 cars piled up in turn one on lap four. June 10, 2004:, while testing a stock car without a restrictor plate for series sponsor Nextel to test communication capabilities, got an overall lap time of 44.27 seconds at 216.309 mph (348.116 km/h), beating Elliott's old record by more than seven-tenths of a second. Wallace topped out at 228 mph in testing and said that speeds of about 235 mph were attainable.
April 25, 2010: The broke the 1984 mark of 75 lead changes with 88; it also set a new motorsports record with 29 different leaders. October 7, 2012: A crash involving 25 cars erupted on the final lap when and were battling for the win; Stewart made contact and went up the track in turn four; he flipped over as the field plowed into a suddenly blocked track. And escaped the crash as Kenseth went on to win.
The race lead changed a season-high 54 times. First-time winners A large number of drivers won the first race of their careers at Talladega. As of May 6, 2017, 11 drivers have won their first race at Talladega. As of 2017, this was their only career win in the series. Film and television.
1983:. 2006:. 2007: This Just In!
References. Talladega Superspeedway. Archived from on April 16, 2010. Retrieved March 27, 2010. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
Talladega Superspeedway. Archived from on April 16, 2010. Retrieved March 27, 2010. Utter, Jim (November 27, 2013).
Archived from on December 3, 2013. Retrieved November 28, 2013. Talladega Superspeedway. Archived from on April 16, 2010. Retrieved March 28, 2010. April 24, 2006.
Retrieved November 29, 2009. Racing Sports Cars. Retrieved November 29, 2009. Retrieved March 28, 2010. Retrieved April 26, 2015. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
Estrada, Chris (May 4, 2014). Retrieved April 26, 2015. NASCAR.com.: NASCAR Media Group, LLC.
March 27, 2016. Archived from on June 12, 2004. Retrieved March 27, 2016. ^ Hinton, Ed (April 23, 2009). ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved April 23, 2009. Archived from on March 31, 2016.
Retrieved March 23, 2016. Retrieved 2016-03-23.
August 15, 1977. Retrieved March 27, 2016. Retrieved 2016-03-23. [email protected], The Motorsport Memorial Team. April 27, 1996.
Retrieved November 3, 2013. The Indianapolis Star. August 4, 1974. Retrieved July 21, 2016 – via. Pockrass, Bob (October 7, 2012).
Archived from on October 9, 2012. Retrieved October 7, 2012. Further reading. Bolton, Mike and Jim Nunn (October 7, 2006) 'Talladega doesn't measure up.'
Birmingham News. – Updates previously published track dimensions with new measurements taken during 2006 repaving. Fielden, Greg. NASCAR Chronicle.
Lincolnwood, IL: Publications International, Ltd., 2004. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to. race results at Racing-Reference.
on. – Local area information, track specs, mapping, news and more. – Current and Past Talladega Superspeedway News.