Is Talladega Superspeedway Haunted?

There is a legend that Talladega Superspeedway, located in Eastern Alabama, is haunted. The name “Talladega” itself comes from an Indian word meaning “border town.” The track first opened in 1969, but they say the cause of the haunting goes back to before the Civil War. It is claimed that the high-banked NASCAR race track at Talladega was built on top of a sacred Indian burial ground, land which was stolen from Creek Indian Nation in the 1830s. The story goes that Andrew Jackson seized an area of land from the Creek tribe, and forced them to relocate to Oklahoma along the tragic “Trail of Tears.” As a result, a Creek Medicine Man put a curse on the land to last forevermore.

Now, nobody has proven or disproven this legend, but there have been many odd occurrences that have happened at this race track. Even from the start of the very first race on this track, built by NASCAR founder, Bill France Sr., Talladega had problems to crop up. Due to safety concerns over the tires provided by Goodyear and Firestone, most of NASCAR’s top drivers withdrew from the race. It ended up mostly being ran with drivers from the Grand American series, recruited by France so he wouldn’t have to cancel the event.

Long-time Team Penske executive Don Miller lost his right leg in a 1974 pit accident.

Nobody was ever caught after officials discovered cut tires, loosened oil lines, and sand in fuel tanks prior to a 1974 race.

In August 1975, driver “Tiny” Lund was killed in a race he didn’t even expect to run. His own car failed to qualify for the event and then the race was rained out and postponed for a week, when Lund would have most likely been home watching the race on television. That next week, another driver, Grant Adcox, withdrew from the field when one of his crewmen died of a heart attack. This moved Lund’s car, as first alternate, up into the starting grid. After just six laps had been completed, Tiny Lund was killed in an accident on the backstretch.

Also in 1975, a crewman named Randy Owens died in when a pressurized water tank exploded in brother-in-law Richard Petty’s pit.

The mother of ARCA driver David Sisco was hit and killed as she walked through one of the track’s parking lots in 1977.

Davey Allison was killed and Red Farmer was injured in a 1993 helicopter crash in the infield area.

ARCA president Bob Loga died in a 1996 traffic accident in one of it’s parking lots.

There have been several multi-car accidents, accidents involving 10 or more cars, at Talladega, these crashes being known as “The Big One.” 21 cars crashed in 1973; two dozen crashed in both the 2002 and 2012 races; and a track-high 27 crashed together in 2003.


Bobby Isaac

But, probably the strangest event to happen at Talladega SuperSpeedway took place on August 12th, 1973. First, on lap 14, 1972 Rookie Of The Year Larry Smith hit the retaining wall on the first turn at 180 miles an hour, which caused massive head injuries. He was taken to the infield track hospital and pronounced dead on arrival. NASCAR did not notify the other drivers of his death, so they had no way of knowning what had happened. Then on lap 90, the unexpected and unexplainable thing happened. Bobby Isaac, who had won 28 races in the past two years, suddenly radioed in to his pit crew boss Bud Moore. He requested a relief driver to fill in for him for the remainder of the race – he was quitting. When Isaac pulled his car into his pit, he climbed out and retired from racing on the spot. The first thing he did was to locate a telephone and call his wife. To quote Isaac’s wife, Patsy:

“As soon as he got out of the car and was able to get to a telephone, he called me and repeated to me exactly what had happened to him in the car. He said a voice told him that he needed to get out of the car. [Bolding mine.] I don’t know what that experience was. I don’t know if he felt it was an intuition or if it was actually a verbal voice. I know that it impacted him enough that he was not going to stay in the race car. He had always said that it was not because someone had gotten killed earlier in the race, and that person was from Catawba County, [where Bobby Isaac himself was from], and he knew them. That’s all I can tell you is what he told me.”

Patsy Isaac was supportive of her husband’s decision to get out of the race car that fateful day at Talladega, noting: “I said, come home. That was fine with me.”

Bobby Isaac did return to racing the next year, but died four years and a day later while racing. He pulled into his pit, again requesting a relief driver, and passed out next to his car. Due to the heat exhaustion he had suffered during the race, he died of a heart attack the next day. He was only 45 years old.


So: Is Talladega Superspeeway truly cursed and haunted? Or has it just experienced a lot of bad luck since 1969?

a reply to: Station27

Talladega and Daytona are the 2 fastest NASCAR tracks and back in those days, safety was not even a consideration. Speed was king and NASCAR was a full contact sport.

It was inevitable that many racers were killed or injured.

Not saying isn't haunted but.... fast track, fast cars and no safety equipment.....

a reply to: Station27

Creepy pasta, but not really.

Before I commented, I had to do some checking. So I searched, "Indianapolis Motor Speedway Deaths."

AI said:

As of April 2024, 74 people have died at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, including:
42 drivers
1 motorcyclist
13 riding mechanics
18 others, including a pit crew member, track personnel, and spectators

So... no more than any other.

originally posted by: Station27
It is claimed that the high-banked NASCAR race track at Talladega was built on top of a sacred Indian burial ground, land which was stolen from Creek Indian Nation in the 1830s.

Sometimes, slow is better.

The Indians knew that. They stopped using that racetrack when the ground went sour.

When it comes to hauntings, I always believed that enough psychic energy focused in one place and time can leave a sort of spiritual imprint or echo on the area.

Mental wards are high on the list of haunted places for this reason.

Not too far of a stretch to believe enough death and pure mental focus, such as NASCAR driving, concentrated in one spot would call for spooky happenings.

a reply to: Station27

You mention that's a legend, that settles it for me. Death and anger have happened on that piece of land. From my experience those two combined do not mix.
Fantastic thread!

a reply to: Station27

I don’t know about haunted but never underestimate the power of the Native Americans. My ancestors are from that area, Mississippi and Alabama, heck they could be buried in the burial grounds you speak of. My great grandmother was Choctaw Indian and walked the Trail of Tears as a child. She got lost and was found by white man and raised in a white mans world. They made their way to Oklahoma which is how my family settled in OK. I’m currently there now😂
Lots of Native American history made during that period.

But back to the racing, not sure about the folklore. Talledaga is the biggest track in NASCAR and also the fastest track on the circuit. Deaths are to be expected. Bill Elliot set a NASCAR record there back in the day at 212 mph. A lot of what I read just sounded like typical race incidents that happen at tracks like Tally.

The premonition of the guy to get out of the car in the middle of the race was a lil crazy. Personally I think he had a mental breakdown, maybe the speeds were to much for him? Probably wouldn’t have happened at a track like Bristol, Martinsville or Richmond. I’ve been racing Karts off and on most of my life. I did race shifter Karts which are extremely fast. We can reach well over a hundred in a few seconds pulling up to 3.5 -4 G’s in the corners, the weight to acceleration ratio is that of a formula 1 car so there can be a pucker factor for sure. I’ve had times where I was in the zone and times I probably should’ve parked it. I think that’s what happened to him but…who knows?

originally posted by: KrustyKrab
Talledaga is the biggest track in NASCAR and also the fastest track on the circuit.

Just a nitpicky thing, it was the fastest track back in the day (as you noted with Bill Elliott's 1988 record) but hasn't been the fastest for many years.

In 2023 three tracks recorded faster qualifying speeds than Talladega and its sister track, Daytona. The speeds were getting too dangerous so measures were taken to slow the cars down at Talladega and Daytona in the late 1980s, so they're no longer the fastest tracks in NASCAR. Qualifying speeds can be a little deceiving because drafting at Talladega and Daytona produces faster race speeds, but still not as fast as:

The fastest track on the current schedule is Michigan. Michigan has seen the fastest speeds since the 1980s, especially after it got repaved about 10 years ago. In 2014, the average speed for Jeff Gordon's pole-winning lap in qualifying was over 206 mph, with top speeds in the qualifying session over 220 mph, way faster than they achieve at Talladega and Daytona in the modern era.

To be fair though, if NASCAR removed the restrictions used at Talladega and Daytona, they would indeed be the fastest tracks.

And yeah it's probably haunted.

originally posted by: YourFaceAgain

originally posted by: KrustyKrab
Talledaga is the biggest track in NASCAR and also the fastest track on the circuit.

Just a nitpicky thing, it was the fastest track back in the day (as you noted with Bill Elliott's 1988 record) but hasn't been the fastest for many years.

In 2023 three tracks recorded faster qualifying speeds than Talladega and its sister track, Daytona. The speeds were getting too dangerous so measures were taken to slow the cars down at Talladega and Daytona, so they're no longer the fastest tracks in NASCAR. Qualifying speeds can be a little deceiving because drafting at Talladega and Daytona produces faster race speeds, but still not as fast as:

The fastest track on the current schedule is Michigan. Michigan has seen the fastest speeds since the 1980s, especially after it got repaved about 10 years ago. In 2014, the average speed for Jeff Gordon's pole-winning lap in qualifying was over 206 mph, with top speeds in the qualifying session over 220 mph, way faster than they achieve at Talladega and Daytona in the modern era.

To be fair though, if NASCAR removed the restrictions used at Talladega and Daytona, they would indeed be the fastest tracks.

And yeah it's probably haunted.

Restrictor plates is what changed all that it’s why we get the “big one”at tracks like Tally n Daytona. Tally is pretty insane at 2.6 mi, that’s a huge track. If they removed the plates speed would be ridiculous now and probably unsafe for stock cars, they’re not Indy or F1 cars😂. Big difference in handling.

I’ve talked to Bill a lot, Chase Elliot and my daughter raced in the same Kart class. My daughter beat him every time, she won the state championships 2yrs in a row, proud daddy moments. When Chase won the NASCAR championship I told her you can say you kicked his butt on the track all the time 😂. She was a great driver.

originally posted by: KrustyKrab

originally posted by: YourFaceAgain

originally posted by: KrustyKrab
Talledaga is the biggest track in NASCAR and also the fastest track on the circuit.

Just a nitpicky thing, it was the fastest track back in the day (as you noted with Bill Elliott's 1988 record) but hasn't been the fastest for many years.

In 2023 three tracks recorded faster qualifying speeds than Talladega and its sister track, Daytona. The speeds were getting too dangerous so measures were taken to slow the cars down at Talladega and Daytona, so they're no longer the fastest tracks in NASCAR. Qualifying speeds can be a little deceiving because drafting at Talladega and Daytona produces faster race speeds, but still not as fast as:

The fastest track on the current schedule is Michigan. Michigan has seen the fastest speeds since the 1980s, especially after it got repaved about 10 years ago. In 2014, the average speed for Jeff Gordon's pole-winning lap in qualifying was over 206 mph, with top speeds in the qualifying session over 220 mph, way faster than they achieve at Talladega and Daytona in the modern era.

To be fair though, if NASCAR removed the restrictions used at Talladega and Daytona, they would indeed be the fastest tracks.

And yeah it's probably haunted.

Restrictor plates is what changed all that it’s why we get the “big one”at tracks like Tally n Daytona.

A lot of people say that but I'm not so sure. The draft is what keeps the packs together. Back in the 80s and earlier, there was a big enough difference in speed between the fastest cars and the slowest cars that you only got small packs. These days, with the cars so close to identical, I think you'd still have big packs (and the associated big wrecks) even if they took the plates off. That's exactly what happens in simulators with the plates removed.

Of course to test it in the real world would be extremely dangerous, as you noted. Simulations show qualifying speeds would probably be in the 220s and drafting speeds could be in the 250s.

Back in the early 2000s, just for fun at a test, Rusty Wallace took the plate off his car and ran some unofficial laps. He was clocking in the 220s. And to my knowledge, that was without the car or the engine really being tuned to run without the plate. (These days I don't think it's actually a restrictor plate, since they don't use carburetors anymore. I'm not sure how it's done now, but they are still heavily restricted.)

That's awesome about your daughter's championships!

a reply to: KrustyKrab

I don't watch much racing these days and am not aware of most of the rules and regulations in Nascar. But I was under the impression the some tracks such as Tally many regulations are lifted for speed.
Am I incorrect or is that true? Seems dangerous to do so but racing in general is not really safe to begin with.

originally posted by: budzprime69
a reply to: KrustyKrab

I don't watch much racing these days and am not aware of most of the rules and regulations in Nascar. But I was under the impression the some tracks such as Tally many regulations are lifted for speed.
Am I incorrect or is that true? Seems dangerous to do so but racing in general is not really safe to begin with.

They actually restrict the gas and air to the motor at Daytona and Talledega to slow them down. Otherwise they’d probably be in the 230+mph range which in a stock car is dangerous, they don’t have the aerodynamics that Indy and F1 cars have. They used to be called restrictor plates now they redesigned them and they’re called spacers, same results, either or. 👍

a reply to: KrustyKrab

Thanks for the info!
Would be wild to see a race without those but like you said about the aerodynamics. That would not be good for the driver or those around.

originally posted by: budzprime69
a reply to: KrustyKrab

Thanks for the info!
Would be wild to see a race without those but like you said about the aerodynamics. That would not be good for the driver or those around.

Right. It was a crash that put a car up into the catch fence which threw car parts into the grandstands, if it wasn’t for the fence the car would’ve been in the grandstands. So, they slowed them down.

This is the crash.

originally posted by: budzprime69
Would be wild to see a race without those

Back around 1973, Marty Robbins (the country music singer who was a bonafide NASCAR Cup driver) ran a race where he had his mechanics do something to his car's engine that was akin to having his restrictor plate removed. He was passing all the top drivers, like Richard Petty, with ease. At the end of the race, he admitted this to the NASCAR officials. He said he just wanted to see what it felt like to be able to pass everybody like that.

originally posted by: KrustyKrab
It was a crash that put a car up into the catch fence which threw car parts into the grandstands, if it wasn’t for the fence the car would’ve been in the grandstands. So, they slowed them down.

This is the crash.

What's amazing about that accident is that Bobby Allison climbed out of his car after that wreck and walked away. Just yesterday, I saw the 1988 edition of that same race and Bobby Allison finished second in it. It showed the crash from the year before and, even though I've seen it many times before, it was still horrific looking.

originally posted by: Degradation33
a reply to: Station27

Creepy pasta, but not really.

Before I commented, I had to do some checking. So I searched, "Indianapolis Motor Speedway Deaths."

AI said:

As of April 2024, 74 people have died at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, including:
42 drivers
1 motorcyclist
13 riding mechanics
18 others, including a pit crew member, track personnel, and spectators

So... no more than any other.

Need to include non-fans from dying of sheer boredom at their friends party’s.

originally posted by: 38181

originally posted by: Degradation33
a reply to: Station27

Creepy pasta, but not really.

Before I commented, I had to do some checking. So I searched, "Indianapolis Motor Speedway Deaths."

AI said:

As of April 2024, 74 people have died at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, including:
42 drivers
1 motorcyclist
13 riding mechanics
18 others, including a pit crew member, track personnel, and spectators

So... no more than any other.

Need to include non-fans from dying of sheer boredom at their friends party’s.

Can’t turn right!

Or is it left?

originally posted by: KKLOCO
Can’t turn right!

What gets me is that people, when they don't like NASCAR racing, instead of just keeping silent, they'll try to say something cutesy like, "I don't like it because all they do is go around in circles." I'll counter with, "Then you love watching them race at Pocono?"

You see, Pocono is a triangle-shaped track and only has three sides. You can't go in circles on a triangle.

originally posted by: Station27

originally posted by: KKLOCO
Can’t turn right!

What gets me is that people, when they don't like NASCAR racing, instead of just keeping silent, they'll try to say something cutesy like, "I don't like it because all they do is go around in circles." I'll counter with, "Then you love watching them race at Pocono?"

You see, Pocono is a triangle-shaped track and only has three sides. You can't go in circles on a triangle.

In fact, none of the tracks are circles. None of them are actually ovals either, despite the term "oval racing."

My favorite is when people try to sound clever by saying they can't turn right (even though the current schedule is something like one-sixth road courses.) I challenge them to explain how turning right is fundamentally any more difficult than turning left. Obviously there's more to it than that.

Both oval racing and road racing require their own skill set, but I don't believe either necessarily requires more talent than the other. They're just different. I can enjoy watching both. I've enjoyed doing both on iRacing. I don't find one inherently more difficult than the other. Difficulty depends more on the particular car and track you're driving than on what type of car and track you're driving.

originally posted by: Station27

originally posted by: KKLOCO
Can’t turn right!

What gets me is that people, when they don't like NASCAR racing, instead of just keeping silent, they'll try to say something cutesy like, "I don't like it because all they do is go around in circles." I'll counter with, "Then you love watching them race at Pocono?"

You see, Pocono is a triangle-shaped track and only has three sides. You can't go in circles on a triangle.

I find it more interesting that people try to find intricate details in cars racing around in the same circle. But hey - this OP was dynamite!!!🧨 Because it has nothing to do with racing cars…

And BTW - I starred and flagged the sh!t out of this thread. Context.