|| *Comments on the 1974 Talladega 500:* View the most recent comment <#31> | Post a comment <#post> Tweet 1. ron p posted: 12.20.2004 - 3:59 am Rate this comment: (3) (0) This was a super race. Richard Petty was still stinging from the Firecracker 400 loss to David Pearson, particularly from the method Pearson used to get Richard to pass him on the last lap. David repassed Richard in the final turn to take the win at Daytona. At Talladega, Richard faked a high move entering the tri-oval and when David moved high to block, he slammed his Dodge to the bottom lane and won by roughly a half car length. As a 14 year old Petty fan, I was very happy with the outcome that day. Looking back, 2. ron p posted: 12.20.2004 - 4:00 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) I was fortunate to witness a classic duel between two of the greatest. One of my favorite memories! 3. jay posted: 02.05.2005 - 4:45 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) Have never heard this before, but there was car sabotage that happened the day before the race that someone damaged the top 10 cars by punching holes in tires, changing stuff in the engines, and damaging the sheet metal. Heard this on the satellite radio today on the replay of the race. 4. DaleJrFan15 posted: 09.08.2006 - 7:55 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) yes its true a mystery asslaiant sabatoged some cars. 5. Mike Daly posted: 03.29.2007 - 10:54 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Yes, there was mass-sabotage before that race - half the field was found with cut lines, dirt clogging lines, etc. NASCAR waved several competition yellows during the day and several wrecks happened due to undetected sabotage. As a result the lead changed a comparatively measely 35 times. 6. biffle16 posted: 05.20.2007 - 8:29 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) Buddy Baker was quoted as saying, "Somebody tried to commit mass murder!!!" The culprit was never caught. 7. SK posted: 12.27.2007 - 4:08 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) 1970 Grand National champion Bobby Isaac leads the final laps of his career. 8. Anonymous posted: 01.22.2009 - 10:18 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race was held two days after President Nixon resigned from the white house on August 9. 9. bigjohnson posted: 06.12.2009 - 1:26 pm Rate this comment: (1) (3) Way to go Petty! That'll learn Pearson a lesson. Bet he never sandbagged on Petty again. Buddy Baker and Walter Ballard must have had personal problems. Don't cars have rear axles and women have rear ends. Coo Coo Marlin had brake problems so he quits? Buddy Baker never had brake problem at Talladega; in fact he probably never used them other than on pit stops. Lastly, Jim Vandiver - a "lug bolt?" A "lug bolt?" It's the middle of August in Alabama. That's all I have to say about that. 10. Anonymous posted: 11.16.2010 - 1:41 am Rate this comment: (1) (0) "9. bigjohnson posted: 06.12.09 - 1:26 pm Way to go Petty! That'll learn Pearson a lesson. Bet he never sandbagged on Petty again. Buddy Baker and Walter Ballard must have had personal problems. Don't cars have rear axles and women have rear ends. Coo Coo Marlin had brake problems so he quits? Buddy Baker never had brake problem at Talladega; in fact he probably never used them other than on pit stops. Lastly, Jim Vandiver - a "lug bolt?" A "lug bolt?" It's the middle of August in Alabama. That's all I have to say about that." This is honestly one of the most insane things I've ever read. 11. Timberwolf Frenzel posted: 09.20.2012 - 7:52 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Yeah seriously. Could you please explain what all that meant? 12. MarkMartinFan posted: 10.22.2015 - 6:39 pm Rate this comment: (5) (0) When a guy posts as "bigjohnson" you can't expect something smart to come out. 13. Scott B posted: 10.27.2015 - 2:04 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Bob Burcham led two laps this day, the only two of his Cup career. 14. RaceFanX posted: 11.15.2015 - 6:37 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) This was King Richard's first win at Talladega. 15. bigjohnson posted: 04.04.2016 - 4:24 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Explanation of prior post: In the Firecracker 400 Pearson, fearing Petty would slingshot past him on the final lap, intentionally lifted coming through the tri-oval taking the white flag allowing Petty to go past him. Petty later said it was a dangerous move and that he almost ran into him. Pearson got a run, slingshot by and won. So this race was revenge. "Rear End" is a misnomer. Many people say that but technically speaking cars do not have them. Some women have nice ones. Coo Coo Marlin: How much do you really need the brakes at Talladega? Not at all really. Pit with someone in front of you use their car to slow you down. I've seen it done before. Buddy Baker was known to have a "lead foot" never slowed down needed the brakes etc. And Vandiver, how can his crew not be able to fix one lug bolt and get the car back out there? Pull the rotor and hammer it out and a new one in. Geez. Mid-August in Alabama can't be very nice weather wise. 16. RaceFanX posted: 05.01.2016 - 11:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Richard Petty records his third win in a row. This was his 162nd Cup victory. Bobby Allison and his AMC Matador recovered to finish third despite breaking a windshield and having to pit to change it out for a new one. Terry Link blow his motor and went for a spin in spectacular fashion on the frontstretch. He was out of the race but managed to avoid hitting anything with his #66 Pontiac with a nice bit of driving. This was the second of just three Cup starts for the Florida firefighter, he didn't finish any of them and his 37th here was still his best Cup finish. 17. ricky posted: 05.04.2016 - 8:42 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) those were the best years of racin..it was the first race I ever got took to and had the time of my life as a 14 yearold foster care kid from south Carolina..to bad times aren't like that anymore 18. KW posted: 06.15.2017 - 1:07 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Buddy Arrington and Dean Dalton were both hurt in a practice crash before this race. 19. Ivan Balakhonov posted: 07.03.2017 - 8:40 am Rate this comment: (3) (0) I would like to note that the sabotage was first discovered by Roger Penske's crew. Because of several cases of attempted sabotage earlier that season (NASCAR didn't pay ANY attention to the reports from teams affected by it) Penske had been disconnecting the filler line every time the car was impounded after the final practice. Because of that when somebody attempted to put soft drink into the fuel tank, the liquid got into the trunk instead. Thus, the fact of sabotage was easily detected. Penske informed other teams and after all entrants made inspections more than a dozen of cars were found tampered with. Buddy Baker was the most upset driver, because his car was the one that had one of the tires punctured potentially leading to the most serious consequences at the track. He had a marvelous quote in regards of this: "When they catch whoever is responsible, they shouldn't take him to jail. They should just bring him to a drivers' meeting and close the door". Baker had a dominant race car but retired with 3 laps to go with what was reported initially as a rear end problem (it began after his pit stop at lap 160 and slowed him down considerably). However after the race Bud Moore discovered that oil cooler pump was filled with gravel and no oil could go to the transmission. This was regarded as another case of sabotage. 20. KW posted: 08.03.2017 - 2:47 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) A sports car race of some kind (IMSA, SCCA ?) was run as a support race Milt Minter was the winner in a Corvette, followed by Michale Keyser, George Dyer and Peter Gregg. 21. Rob posted: 02.01.2018 - 11:23 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) It was an IMSA race on the day before. Minter drove a Job Greenwood Corvette to the win. 22. Turn 4 posted: 11.02.2018 - 2:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) How long did IMSA ran races at Talladega. 23. Canadianfan posted: 11.02.2018 - 6:43 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) @22 SCCA in 1970 IMSA in '71 and 72, '74 to '78. FIA in '79. 24. Seibaru posted: 03.09.2019 - 6:21 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) WD: Dean Dalton and Buddy Arrington Dalton and Arrington were involved in a practice crash which sent Dalton 'cartwheeling' through turn one. 25. Rob posted: 10.22.2019 - 8:12 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) This race was just recently added to the classic race list at MRN.com. About half of the broadcast is missing (around lap 70 to 140). 26. Anonymous posted: 10.22.2019 - 9:12 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dean Dalton was #7 and Buddy Arrington #67 27. saltsburgtrojanfan posted: 10.25.2019 - 12:59 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Caution 1: Lap 3-7: #07,09,53 accident turn 2 Caution 2: Lap 12-15: competition Caution 3: Lap 21-29: #95 spun turn 3 Caution 4: Lap 64-70: #66 spun tri-oval Caution 5: Lap 88-96: Caution 6: Lap 177-182: #93 engine 28. Jim posted: 02.19.2020 - 10:11 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) I have a Neil Bonnett trading card from this race and the car doesn't say Coca Cola anywhere on it. Sponsor was Roy Buckner Chevy. 29. MSportRev posted: 02.20.2020 - 8:54 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Two more WDs: Jimmy Crawford in a Plymouth Gary Myers in a Chevrolet Source: Ultimate Racing History 30. rateus posted: 02.19.2021 - 6:08 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Carl Adams qualified for Elmo Langley. Jimmy Crawford had qualified 41st and Gary Myers 50th before they withdrew, they were not replaced in the line-up. 31. RaceFanX posted: 04.04.2021 - 7:25 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Dan Daughtry led a few laps here at Talladega in the spring and again had a solid run going as he raced up through the field into the top-10 early on only to again have a mechanical failure sideline his #35 Ford. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: