This was the first race I ever attended in person, I was 14 at the time. Mark Martin became my favorite driver that day, and I'm glad he did. Mark's a class act, a true champion to the people.
Watching this after Dale Jr's Podcast talking about Mark Martin's rear shocks in this race. It's great how stories bring you back to reference different things throughout the history of the sport.
This was my first race working for Nascar. Went on to work at Talladega for another 19 years before hanging it up at the end of the 2015 season. If I'm not mistaken, this race was rained out in April and ended up being run in May on Mother's Day weekend. Will probably never see them run on Mother's Day weekend again.That day it was rained out was miserable. Cold and rainy... never got above 50 degrees I'm sure.
Other than the CBS crew lead by Ken Squire when Ned worked with him through the 80s into the early 90s, Bob Jenkins, "Gentleman" Ned Jarrett, the late Benny Parsons and Dr. Jerry Punch during ESPN's first stint of NASCAR coverage were the best TV broadcasters
@Holy shit, it's a talking muffin If we are talking that way, Petty won 4 titles under 4 different formats. It's the rules in place. Johnson might've drove more consistently in the summer months if they knew there wasn't going to be a reset. Dont trust my word? Listen to Chad Knaus on the Dale Jr Download. He practically said as much
Anyone here from the Mark Martin podcast ? He talks about how they ran qualifying shocks in the car and it was fast but rough as hell! Look at the in car view. He's bouncing around in there
Dale tried that in the fall race weekend according to Larry Mac but he couldn't drive it for some reason - Since that was the reason Mark beat him in the Spring
the best nascar race ever ;cars to the limit ! green flag all the way fastest driver and car of all time mark martin ; no stupid lucky dog pass or green white yellow or manditory yellow ; martin set the record straight ! you can pass me but first ya gotta catch me !!! martin out front with earnhardt; gordon on his tail and they still couldnt hook up to pass him ; plus a record over 188 mph ave speed which i think will never be broken because of the smaller fuel tanks and more pitstops ; its been a pleasure spending the years watching in my opinion the best driver and most classiest driver of all time ; congrats to mark martin ; hope you get into the hall of fame soon !!! you have definately earned it !!!!!!!!
I turned 6 years old the day this race was run. It's cool to see what race this was. I am hearing good things about this race. I was a kid and knew what NASCAR was but I never watched it back then. This seems like an incredible race. Back when America was still great; simpler and prosperous days.
My second race I watched on tv. Instant Mark Martin fan, instant NASCAR fan. To hear other drivers describe Martin, this is a man to strive to be. ☆MM4EVR☆ Still my favorite Martin win even though I there to see him win at California
The other two Talladega races that ran caution free were the 2001 Spring race won by Bobby Hamilton and the 2002 Fall race with Dale Earnhardt Jr. getting his third Talladega victory in less than a year.
I was at this Race. the Last 25 Laps Mark Martin was Leading Dale Earnhardt and the Guy standing next to me was yelling Go Dale Go, while I was Yelling Make that Ford Wide Mark. Back and Forth we Yelled. When it was over and Mark Martin had Won this Guy and I shook Hands and His Wife Hugged me and we Exchanged Numbers and Said we'd meet in the same place in the fall and walked away Friends. I got so Drunk and I didn't spend a Penny for Beer, everyone around me kept handing me one when I would finish one. What a Day.
I was there that day. I wasn't worried Mark Martin would get freight trained. I worried Earnhart would wreck him to win like he has done so many times before.
If it had been any other driver, Earnhardt may have booted him, but Martin was a driver who had the kind of attitude and respect that other drivers reciprocated in kind.
This was my first Talladega Cup Race. I was a regular at Atlanta and Bristol but I always said I had no desire to go to Talladega because I thought you could see it better on TV than in person. Man was I ever wrong. I was 31 and had just recently got divorced and I had taken my vacation in April and went to the Busch race at the Nashville Fairgrounds for Steve Parks first win and then the next weekend saw Mark Martin win the Busch race at Talladega with Steve Park right on his back bumper and we listened to Dale coaching Steve on the radio in the final laps but he couldn’t pull it off. Then the monsoon came and the rest of the weekend was ruined. I worked weekends and my boss was very upset that I asked for the weekend off two weeks after returning from vacation. For this race we just drove down the day of the race and luckily ate breakfast in a McDonalds with the Valvoline crew that morning then got to see them win the race. For the next several years I never missed a Talladega race. Awesome Memories.
Don't forget the infamous stage racing. Brian France should be very ashamed of himself. His Grandad, Big Bill France Sr is rolling around in his grave right now.
mark said not today !!!!!! jimmy fenig (martins crew chief ) said the tranny was only hanging on by a thread !! cracked main tranny shaft ; fastest nascar race ever with average speed set by martin at over 188 mph
Strange that they didnt just postpone this event to the Monday after the original race date. I'm assuming that more bad weather happened that week? Would be very odd if the delayed a race to a scheduled off weekend today
They did attempt on Monday,but it rained that day as well. So they pushed it to the Saturday of Mother's Day weekend which back then was an off-weekend for the Cup Series.
