[Angel Eyes]

I'm looking for four tickets to the May 6th race at Talledega. Please keep your eyes peeled and follow up with me as we get closer.

[pugmama]

is it sold out? Tickets in Allison are like $50 for the weekend...

[smitty]

Angel Eyes, on 07 February 2012 - 03:36 PM, said:

I'm looking for four tickets to the May 6th race at Talledega. Please keep your eyes peeled and follow up with me as we get closer.

Honest-to-god, I'd buy from a scalper about 30 minutes before the race starts, especially if the four of you don't have to sit together.

The stands haven't been filled there in several years.

P.S.

IMHO, Talladega is too big. IMHO, the best place to sit to be able to view as much track as possible is to sit high-up on either end of the front stretch. I'd pick the turn 4 end and not the turn 1 end. Although you'll be able to see the cars on the back stretch, you will not be able to see the pits from there; you'll actually be behind the pits. Scalpers probably won't have any of those tickets as they usually sell last. They'll almost certainly be available at the box on race day, but for the usual price.

Even if you don't sit up high and as close to turn 4 as you can get, you ought to walk down there to see the cars going around the curve from the angle that viewing position offers. It's scary!

P.P.S.

DO NOT SIT NEAR THE FENCE!

Repeat: DO NOT SIT NEAR THE FENCE!.....not even for free! It's not a safety thing, but a viewability thing. The wire of the fence is so thick it looks like a wall when viewed at an angle of about 45 degrees or more from straight ahead. My redneck fans and I used to sit on the front row because the seats were cheaper and you could see pretty good; no one ever standing in front of you.

Was it 1986? Anyway, we had just convinced some other redneck buddies to sit with us because of the aforementioned attributes. Well, the very moment we got to our seats we could tell that the fence had been re-doubled since the previous race. They had put new, much-much heavier chain-link fence over the lighter original one and had routed another of the thick wire ropes and new posts.

I was crushed by this. My friends would never trust me again and I apologized profusely. We had been Ray Charls-ing race; had just noted the announcer report that the fastest lap speed in racing history had just been posted, when on lap 22, I think it was, Bobby Allison blew a tire, got airborne and got into the fence a few hundred feet up track from us. We didn't know it as it was happening. I remember Allison spinning to a stop in front of us. With his car destroyed--the front was off the car--to see anti-freeze coming from the severed hose like a green laser beam was mezmerizing.

Allison had just relaxed--we could easily see him and recognize him--but stiffened again when what I remember was a yellow blur struck his stopped car. This happened about 30 feet in front of us; probably not that far.

It's a very good possibility that had Talladega's fence not been reinforced so fortuitously, that perhaps hundreds of people would have been killed or injured had Allison's car careened through the stands. I really do think it would have. It might have killed the sport with all those families.

If you ever get a chance to view Allison't super-wreck at Talladega, know that us rednecks were one the front row right where Allison came to his initial stop.

(Going to try to find the video and see what-all I'm remembering correctly.)

[SPORTS SOURCE]

smitty, on 08 February 2012 - 10:37 AM, said:

Honest-to-god, I'd buy from a scalper about 30 minutes before the race starts, especially if the four of you don't have to sit together.

The stands haven't been filled there in several years.

P.S.

IMHO, Talladega is too big. IMHO, the best place to sit to be able to view as much track as possible is to sit high-up on either end of the front stretch. I'd pick the turn 4 end and not the turn 1 end. Although you'll be able to see the cars on the back stretch, you will not be able to see the pits from there; you'll actually be behind the pits. Scalpers probably won't have any of those tickets as they usually sell last. They'll almost certainly be available at the box on race day, but for the usual price.

Even if you don't sit up high and as close to turn 4 as you can get, you ought to walk down there to see the cars going around the curve from the angle that viewing position offers. It's scary!

P.P.S.

DO NOT SIT NEAR THE FENCE!

Repeat: DO NOT SIT NEAR THE FENCE!.....not even for free! It's not a safety thing, but a viewability thing. The wire of the fence is so thick it looks like a wall when viewed at an angle of about 45 degrees or more from straight ahead. My redneck fans and I used to sit on the front row because the seats were cheaper and you could see pretty good; no one ever standing in front of you.

Was it 1986? Anyway, we had just convinced some other redneck buddies to sit with us because of the aforementioned attributes. Well, the very moment we got to our seats we could tell that the fence had been re-doubled since the previous race. They had put new, much-much heavier chain-link fence over the lighter original one and had routed another of the thick wire ropes and new posts.

I was crushed by this. My friends would never trust me again and I apologized profusely. We had been Ray Charls-ing race; had just noted the announcer report that the fastest lap speed in racing history had just been posted, when on lap 22, I think it was, Bobby Allison blew a tire, got airborne and got into the fence a few hundred feet up track from us. We didn't know it as it was happening. I remember Allison spinning to a stop in front of us. With his car destroyed--the front was off the car--to see anti-freeze coming from the severed hose like a green laser beam was mezmerizing.

Allison had just relaxed--we could easily see him and recognize him--but stiffened again when what I remember was a yellow blur struck his stopped car. This happened about 30 feet in front of us; probably not that far.

It's a very good possibility that had Talladega's fence not been reinforced so fortuitously, that perhaps hundreds of people would have been killed or injured had Allison's car careened through the stands. I really do think it would have. It might have killed the sport with all those families.

If you ever get a chance to view Allison't super-wreck at Talladega, know that us rednecks were one the front row right where Allison came to his initial stop.

(Going to try to find the video and see what-all I'm remembering correctly.)

I remember very vividly watching that wreck unfold on TV. I was living in PCB at the time and was HORRIFIED by the possibility of what could have happened. Of course being a fan of the Alabama Gang I was concerned for Bobby, too.

I believe as you do and have heard it said MANY times by those in the sport that IF that fence had not held Allison's car it would have been the end of NASCAR. Thankful it did hold - for the many lives and sport it saved!!!!

I LOVE Talladega and do not believe there is a track out there that compares to it. I remember the days when the only stands were the front stretch. The track would invite all the neighboring bands to come march in a pre-race parade JUST to have bodies in the stands!!! CBS had begun to televise the races and NASCAR did not want to show empty seats. Little did the people watching know it was filled with teen-agers. LOL. (Yes, I am OLD!) That began my love for NASCAR.

My how times and the number of folks attending changed.

This post has been edited by SPORTS SOURCE: 08 February 2012 - 02:48 PM