Growing Up in Alabama – A NASCAR Experience
By Tommy Smedley – January 21, 2007
My mother will be 85 years old this year and she is obsessed with the fact that she may pass on soon and she doesn’t want to leave her house in a mess. I went to visit today with the promise of “fresh collards that have been frosted on.” An offer I couldn’t refuse. After lunch she asked me to help with some cleaning in the attic.
As “mature” as I am, I still have stuff stored in my Mama’s attic. My task was to go through my stuff and get rid of some of it or at least consolidate into fewer boxes. As a happy surprise I found a cache of old papers that I stuffed away years ago knowing they should be kept for one reason or another. I ran across tickets to the 1971 Winston 500 race at the newly opened Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega. Actually, the race track is probably closer to Anniston than it is the town of Talladega but it is located in Talladega County and within the Talladega National Forest. The track abuts the Anniston Municipal Airport and was constructed over old runways and taxiways from an abandoned military airfield.
The Winston 500 ran in May of each year and in 1971 the event took place on May 16th. The reserved seat tickets on center section E row 13 cost me ten dollars each. An estimated crowd of 21,000 spectators joined in our revelry. Today similar tickets (if you can get them) average $110. The stands now seat in excess of 150 thousand spectators.
It’s hard to remember the details of a race so long ago but I have learned that Google takes the pain out of senior moments. I do know that I went with my neighbor Rosie, a dyed in the wool southern girl with a passion for the boys with the cars. The track is only about an hour from the farm in Coosa County so the trip up wasn’t bad and the weather turned out outstanding for an early spring day – clear skies, sunshine, but not too hot.
The race was exciting with lots of action. If you remember, drivers at Talladega are required to use speed reducing plates lest they run out of control at speeds way above 200 miles-per-hour. The track is an egg shaped oval 2.66 miles around with a long straightaway. The average speed on this race was 147.419 miles-per-hour. For the five hundred required miles each driver had to complete 188 laps and the winner did it in 3 hours 23 minutes and 32 seconds.
Richard Petty, the Grand National Champion for that year, wiped out in a fiery crash on lap 42 leaving “The Alabama Gang” based in Hueytown to charge forward and win with ease. Donnie Allison driving a1969 Mercury won the race and his older brother Bobbie came in second. Bobbie would not win the Winston 500 until May 1993. Ironically Davey Allison, Bobbie’s grandson and Donnie’s nephew died on July 13, 1993 when his private helicopter tangled with a chain link fence at Talladega Speedway.
The total purse at the Winston 500 in 1971 was $145,040. Donnie Allison claimed $31,140 of that. Even Bob Strickler, the driver in last place who blew an engine on the first lap, took home $1000.
In true spirit, Rosie yelled above the noise of 50 engines for the whole race. She made the mistake of wearing makeup and her face was covered with tiny specks of rubber. I remember that she couldn’t speak for a whole week and her mother invited me to take her to every race.
After all these years thinking of it makes me smile – I like to smile.
By Tommy Smedley – January 21, 2007
My mother will be 85 years old this year and she is obsessed with the fact that she may pass on soon and she doesn’t want to leave her house in a mess. I went to visit today with the promise of “fresh collards that have been frosted on.” An offer I couldn’t refuse. After lunch she asked me to help with some cleaning in the attic.
As “mature” as I am, I still have stuff stored in my Mama’s attic. My task was to go through my stuff and get rid of some of it or at least consolidate into fewer boxes. As a happy surprise I found a cache of old papers that I stuffed away years ago knowing they should be kept for one reason or another. I ran across tickets to the 1971 Winston 500 race at the newly opened Alabama International Motor Speedway in Talladega. Actually, the race track is probably closer to Anniston than it is the town of Talladega but it is located in Talladega County and within the Talladega National Forest. The track abuts the Anniston Municipal Airport and was constructed over old runways and taxiways from an abandoned military airfield.
The Winston 500 ran in May of each year and in 1971 the event took place on May 16th. The reserved seat tickets on center section E row 13 cost me ten dollars each. An estimated crowd of 21,000 spectators joined in our revelry. Today similar tickets (if you can get them) average $110. The stands now seat in excess of 150 thousand spectators.
It’s hard to remember the details of a race so long ago but I have learned that Google takes the pain out of senior moments. I do know that I went with my neighbor Rosie, a dyed in the wool southern girl with a passion for the boys with the cars. The track is only about an hour from the farm in Coosa County so the trip up wasn’t bad and the weather turned out outstanding for an early spring day – clear skies, sunshine, but not too hot.
The race was exciting with lots of action. If you remember, drivers at Talladega are required to use speed reducing plates lest they run out of control at speeds way above 200 miles-per-hour. The track is an egg shaped oval 2.66 miles around with a long straightaway. The average speed on this race was 147.419 miles-per-hour. For the five hundred required miles each driver had to complete 188 laps and the winner did it in 3 hours 23 minutes and 32 seconds.
Richard Petty, the Grand National Champion for that year, wiped out in a fiery crash on lap 42 leaving “The Alabama Gang” based in Hueytown to charge forward and win with ease. Donnie Allison driving a1969 Mercury won the race and his older brother Bobbie came in second. Bobbie would not win the Winston 500 until May 1993. Ironically Davey Allison, Bobbie’s grandson and Donnie’s nephew died on July 13, 1993 when his private helicopter tangled with a chain link fence at Talladega Speedway.
The total purse at the Winston 500 in 1971 was $145,040. Donnie Allison claimed $31,140 of that. Even Bob Strickler, the driver in last place who blew an engine on the first lap, took home $1000.
In true spirit, Rosie yelled above the noise of 50 engines for the whole race. She made the mistake of wearing makeup and her face was covered with tiny specks of rubber. I remember that she couldn’t speak for a whole week and her mother invited me to take her to every race.
After all these years thinking of it makes me smile – I like to smile.
