The killer growl these stock car engines made back in those days, as well as the loud echo trail they left as they flew out of the turns and charged down the back straightaway - truly awesome
'90s NASCAR...when the racing was amazing, the personalities were even better, and I didn't mind being marketed to every single week. Hell, everyone I knew had a sort of brand loyalty based off of their favorite drivers. I need a new battery? Screw Exide, I want Interstate! Dale supports Burger King? EFF McDonald's! (Even though, by '99 Burger King had switched to their awful homestyle fries and broken my heart).
Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Bobby (my fave) and Terry Labonte, Rusty Wallace, Jeff Burton, Dale Jarrett, Bill Elliott (on occasion, by this point)...I'd even add Tony Stewart to that list. MAYBE even Jeremy Mayfield. ...Darrell Waltrip always running at the tail end of the pack in a Tobasco car. Dale Jr. and Matt Kenseth would be coming in very soon. All of them retired, part-time, or no longer with us now. You have no idea how much I miss this. I thought maybe I just didn't care for racing anymore, but it turns out I can still watch these older races. Funny, that.
Talladega changed the layout of the infield about a year later to accommodate more RVs and ruined the tailgating for the loyalists and traditional fans. When Bill France sr. died Jr. made decisions that destroyed his base.We would camp outside the track all week and either party or family time. When weekend came partiers went to the infield and families went to the stands.
Say what you will about Jeff Gordon. I know Fans hated him around this time because he kept on winning but I always loved him. I cheered every time he won just to piss the fans off lol. But to my original statement. Jeff and Dale both did things for Nascar that helped the sport. The sport grew in popularity in the mid 90's because of those two you can't deny that. There both legends that deserve respect. Number 3 and 24 will live on.
Fans didn't hate him because he won.They hated him because he represented a new generation of drivers when changes old-school loyalists didn't like were being made. Dale represented the last of white-knuckled grease monkey weekend warriors and Jeff represented Young successful rich kids (as old-schoolers saw it) who didn't have to patch together a car to get their career going. And crying like a girl at the championship acceptance dinner didn't help. Original fans didn't want the change he represented.You can now decide 20yrs later if they were correct.
THIS is what plate racing should be. The draft is just right, not to strong, not to weak, the car dosent rely on "sideforce" so you can actualy slingshot by side drafting, and when you duck out of line with a run, you actually make progress for a bit with the built up momentum, instead of just stopping dead in your tracks unless you have someone behind you, this aero was absolutely PERFECT for this kind of racing
I loved this race. This was the last DieHard 500. The next year they made it the Winston Select 500. And moved it to October instead of July. Spent every race on the infield back then. 2 races a year camping in the same spot with the same neighbors for 10yrs. was an awsome tradition untill they baned tobacco adv. changed the layout of the infield and ruined it all. This race and the one in I think 85 or 87 when Rusty Wallace set the cup speed record B4 restrictor plates in his CoorsMelling T-bird are tied for best races ever.
This was the glory days of NASCAR. Now this sport has gone to crap and I don't think it'll ever be what it once was. I mean look at all the empty seats at Talladega now. I remember 10 years ago when you were lucky if you got a ticket on the back-straightaway.
This was back when there wasn't much bullshit before the race. Just a few comments from the pit reporters. No national anthem with potentially bad singers every telecast, either. Just the pit reporters, the command, and THE RACE. And this was when they really did race, and could really be aggressive without causing massive wrecks. And the cars looked and sounded better. Why can't they put the exhaust pipes back on the left side, away from the spectators?
One of the reasons why they put the exhaust pipes on the right side, was because drivers were complaining of the hot air coming out of exhaust pipes, going under their seats.
They removed the exhaust pipes from the drivers side because Rick Mast got carbon monoxide poisoning, forcing his retirement. So because of this they needed to find another solution.
I was a Gordon fan back then (and was until he retired) but at that time; I was the only Gordon fan where I lived, and hated it when they always cheered whenever he wrecked, or spun, or blew up. I even got picked on a lot in school for being a Gordon Fan. But then again; I'm from Kentucky, and that's the gateway to Earnhardt country there. However Earnhardt also is one of my racing heroes too.
I was at the race and since it was early on in the going, I can remember this part like yesterday. When Gordon got taken out, the crowed was going mad and all the Gordon fans in front of us, well they got up and went home. Too funny.
Well, the fans at talledega never really liked Jeff, but they’re not a smart bunch down there :). Nice that he won this race the next year just for them.
The crowd booing/cheering when Gordon is entering or exiting the track is hilarious. I also like that the Lowes car and the Home Depot car got in in a tangle.
Dale Earnhardt’s death way back in 2001 still remains a raw one for me. Raw enough that if I’m watching old nascar it’ll be post 2001. I almost can’t watch these old races. It’s relieving watching that black 3 in these old races, but it’s also haunting.
This is a very underrated race and of Earnhardt's final wins, his '99 Talladega sweep gets overshadowed by the others (1998 Daytona, '99 Bristol rattling his cage, the Labonte Atlanta photo finish, and his all-time drive at Talladega 2000).
I started following NASCAR avidly in 1999, this was the first flag to flag race I watched that Dale won. I will never forget that day... thanks for posting!!!
THANK YOU, TheRacingJungle...... I remember recording this when it happened, but the vcr doesn't work anymore.....heh heh. Brings back memories, Jeff Burton lol, he could've been nicknamed "Smoke" here lol.
I still to this day don’t know why NASCAR fans hated Jeff Gordon so much back then. I mean what did he do to deserve the hate so badly? Because he won all the time? Seems like bitter fans.
One day Jimmie johnson will end up being like Jeff gordon people will look back while Kyle Larson or austin Dillon r winning all the championships and people will be like remember the good ole days when Jimmie won
.....Let's see as of now Kyle Larson only has 5 career wins since his rookie year in 2014. While Austin Dillon has 2 career wins since his rookie year 4 or 5 years ago. To Austin Dillon's credit he did win the 2018 Daytona 500 after wrecking Aric Almirola. Also Austin Dillon has 5 career poles including this weekend's race at Talladega. This is the first race at Talladega or Daytona without a Restrictor Plate since 1987. .....My last observation is that the drivers dominating in 2019 are drivers who have raced since before 2010. The newer rookies from 2010 to now hasn't really lived up to the hype. Hey even Joey Logano, and Brad Keselowski (both are still relatively young drivers) won a race before 2010 winning in 2009. This is in hindsight of course, so I can't hold any of this against you. Especially since you wrote your comment over 5 years ago. Anyway have a great/wonderful day.👋😉👍
To be honest I hated Jimmie winning the championships as I liked Gordon and Edwards. Now I support the guy and what him to win and don't like the old guys. It's the same in Motogp I always hated Rossi at first now the last few years I love him. I guess we appreciate champions when everyone else retires we route for the under dog who they are toward the end of their career...
This comment didn't age well. Dillon only has two wins (mind you, they're huge wins), while Larson torpedoed his own career with one word. More likely, Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney will be the ones carrying NASCAR into the future.
they should really bring back the old points system. I seriously have tried to give it a chance for the past few years now and I still don't like it. To me it's more exciting overall if they are racing the entire season for points b/c every race matters not just 10 races.
Mike Skinner fucking sucked! Dude wrecked, or wrecked someone almost every week. Reminds me a lot of Robbie Gordon. "Well..... I seen a guy named Mike Skinner do stupid stuff his rc year...." LMAO! If that's the case, Skinner raced like a rookie his whole career.
I took note that the race was on ABC 28 Tampa Bay, Citrus County was shown under severe thunderstorm warning for much of the race, I'm from Citrus County FL nice little tidbit rewatching this race.
The extreme hatred of Jeff Gordon made the France family make rule changes to keep him from attaining 8 championships. The irony is that all those rule changes just killed their own sport and now they're just a shadow of what they were.
What is the theme music for the recap montage that starts around 2:44:00? ABC used it here and ESPN coming out of a commercial break at the August Michigan race this same year but never heard it again.
Yeah the 3 car wins again at Talladega and that was despite a few issues with that left front wheel Nobody could beat that dale earnheart at ristrictor plate racing RIP to one of the best ever nascar racing drivers
Back when the cars were awesome... Unfortunately I didn't see any of the action of Nascar in the 90s, only today... Can you explain to me what was the thrill in those days? I remember having a Sega Saturn with a Nascar game in it, it was awesome! Best regards from Brazil!
1:58:35 during the commercial break there was a pretty frantic sequence when Waltrip took the lead with Marlin pushing him; Earnhardt sidedrafted Marlin then Lepage stormed into it and Bobby Labonte scrapped past Marlin then shot into the lead.
I'm not referring to Brian Vickers. I was only talking about Jeff Gordon. Nowhere did I mention Vickers, and he's not the most hated, either. Kyle Busch was from 2008 'til last year, now IDK who it is.
Driving like that is exactly why skinner never won. It's less than 50 laps into a race at Talladega and you block a guy all the way into the grass. He was an idiot and I'm honestly surprised Earnhardt put up with having him in that car as a teammate.
I can watch these reruns all day even when I know who is going to win the race. I can’t hardly watch a race today makes me want to vomit! I was there that day. I remember when Earnhardt wouldn’t qualify so good at the super speedy races, Richard Childress and others would make bets on how long it would take him to get to the front. “Truly the good old days.”
