Talladega Superspeedway to honor Bobby Allison ahead of NASCAR Cup Series race

TALLADEGA, Ala. (WIAT) — Talladega is a magnet for racing fans. The Talladega Superspeedway is an iconic track that many have come to know and love, along with its iconic racers like the Alabama Gang.

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race will start with a special tribute to the late Bobby Allison, one of the founding members of the Alabama Gang.

Allison died in November, and this is the first Cup Series race at the Superspeedway since his death. Allison’s grandson Robbie will be leading the racers around the track in his famous 1969 Mercury Cyclone. The car Robbie will be driving is the exact car Allison won in at Talladega in 1971.

“Talladega is built on history. It’s built on tradition,” track president Brian Crichton said. “It’s a really core, authentic racetrack in NASCAR. So to have one of the 1969 iconic racecars from way back in the day going around the racetrack is just special. We’ve done it before for some others as well, and so it’s obviously a fitting tribute to Bobby.”

It takes some work to get a car from 1969 in running order again.

“It was in a museum up in North Carolina,” Crichton said. “They had to put some new tires on it. They had to do some different things with the engine, but it pretty much fired up when they were ready to go. So it’s going to be a beautiful, beautiful sight down here going around the racetrack.”

Around 125,000 race fans are expected to fill the grandstands and the infield Sunday. Exterior groundwork has been done for campers arriving Wednesday. Crews are working on the infield to have everything ready by Thursday. Fans can look forward to some improvements in the infield this year as well.

“Talladega Garage Experience is a $50 million renovation that we did to our infield,” Crichton said. “The number one question we get is ‘How can I be in the garages?’ And of course, we can’t put all the fans in the garages, but what we did is we built this amusement park around our garages. Fans walk into one side, racecars and teams come in the other side. The only thing that separates you is about a four-foot-high fence and about five feet off the nose of the car, so you’re right there in the middle of everything.”

Practices and qualifying races will start Friday, and the NASCAR Cup Series race is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday.