Talladega "Big One" wrecks through the years

SI Staff | Oct 17, 2014

Talladega "Big One" wrecks through the years /

Talladega "Big One" wrecks through the years

2013 Aaron's 499

The leaders were running in a large pack heading into Turn 1 when Kyle Busch, charging up through the middle groove, hit the rear of Kasey Kahne's No. 5 car. The contact turned Kahne into the outside wall and set-off a chain reaction that involved 16 cars. Was a 16-car pileup. Later Kurt Busch was involved in a large wreck going into turn three in the final laps of the race that involved 12 cars.

2009 Aaron's 499

In the last lap of the Aarons 499, Carl Edwards tried his best to prevent upstart Brad Keselowski from getting a coveted first place in his fifth Sprint Cup race. He failed miserably and ended up running on foot the rest of the race to the finish. There wre two other major wrecks, one a 14-car incident and one a 10-car pileup

2009 AMP Energy 500

With five laps to go, Ryan Newman’s car flips over three or four times. Lands on Kevin Harvicks hood and finally stops still upside down. Tony Stewart pushed into the wall. Almost all the cars were touching in the backstretch.

1996 Winston Select 500

Ricky Craven takes a scary ride in this wreck in turn one at Talladega during the spring. His car was launched into the catch fencing as the pack passed him below. Mind boggling wreck.

2008 Aaron's 499

Kyle Busch was the winner of the race when "The Big One" occurred in the backstretch off Turn Two and the yellow flag flew on the final lap. Kyle Busch was passing Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the inside, and got loose, bumping into Dale and causing him to spin out. The winning car was also noted to have a large "donut" on the side. This happened after hard contact with the #26 of Jamie McMurray. Both cars finished in the top-five, though.

2005 UAW-Ford 500

Two cars flipped over in separate accidents. Michael Waltrip was hit by Mark Martin and flipped after being involved in a wreck that began when Jimmie Johnson spun Elliott Sadler. Not long after, Ryan Newman spun Casey Mears, which started a chain reaction resulting in Scott Riggs flipping several times before being hit by Jeff Burton. The race was incident-filled, and Dale Jarrett took his last win in the race. Scenes from this race were used in the movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and actors from the movie were introduced in driver introductions.

2008 AMP Energy 500

...The second occurred with 16 laps to go. Carl Edwards bumped Greg Biffle into Matt Kenseth. Edwards appeared to have gotten through, but Biffle and Kenseth came back up the track, tapped Edwards, and Edwards crashed into Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick. 18 cars were involved. When the race was extended due to the green-white-checker finish rule, it appeared that Regan Smith had won the race. However, Smith had made an illegal pass below the yellow out-of-bounds line, an off-limits area at restrictor plate tracks Talladega and Daytona, and NASCAR awarded Stewart the win, his first in 43 races, and his first win in 20 attempts at Talladega.

1993 Winston 500

Former Cup champion Rusty Wallace took the wildest ride of his career in a one-car accident. Earnhardt snagged the Wallace’s left rear bumper near the finish line, turning him around and flipped on the car’s nose, and rolled more than a dozen times down the frontstretch as Earnhardt and Ernie Irvan raced to the checkered flag. Wallace suffered a broken wrist, concussion, facial cuts and a chipped tooth. Earnhardt drove down to the scene of the crash after the race and helped assist rescue workers. Earlier in the race, there was a big that featured a 9-car pileup.

1987 Winston 500

This is the 10-car crash that was the impetus for restrictor plates. Allison blew his right rear tire, spun on the frontstretch and then flew up into the catch fence, tearing up a large section. After taking out 150 feet of fencing and nine heavy support posts, Allison's car spins back onto the track. The race was red flagged for 2 hours 38 minutes and 14 seconds. Allison is not hurt.

1995 DieHard 500

With 50 laps to go Ken Schrader gets clipped by teammate Jeff Gordon off of turn two and flips wildly through the grass. In the ensuing mayhem, Bobby Labonte, Chuck Bown, Ricky Craven, John Andretti, Todd Bodine, and several others pile up on the track. In all, 13 cars are involved.

1996 DieHard 500

This chain-reaction crash starts when Mark Martin drifted up the track and hit Jeff Gordon, sending Martin’s car spinning down the track, where it hit Ricky Craven. Dale Earnhardt gets involved and hits the wall hard, breaking his collar bone. It marks one of two large wrecks during the race.

1996 Winston Select 500

Ricky Craven takes a scary ride in this wreck in turn one at Talladega during the spring. His car was launched into the catch fencing as the pack passed him below. Mind boggling wreck.

1998 DieHard 500

Ward Burton nudges Dale Earnhardt into Bill Elliot and then all hell breaks loose. What was an orderly race a few moments earlier is suddenly nothing more than a flock of wildly spinning cars in an impenetrable cloud of smoke. Amazingly, the only injury was Earnhardt's singed mustache.

2000 DieHard 500

Dale Earnhardt Jr. charged by Bobby Labonte on the last lap, leaving Labonte and a 16-car wreck behind while racing to victory.

2003 Aaron’s 499

The Big One did not take long, collecting 27 cars on the fourth lap — the largest crash in a Cup race in the modern era. as the field entered turn 1, Ryan Newman blew a tire smashed hard into the Turn 1 wall and almost turned on his side. Mayhem ensued as cars behind him checked up trying to avoid Newman, who spun across the middle of the track and collected an additional 26 cars. Cars involved ranged from no damage to severe damage: Hermie Sadler, Casey Mears, Johnny Benson and some others were out immediately. Rusty Wallace and Jerry Nadeau returned but retired after making a limited number of laps following repairs. Matt Kenseth and race winner Dale Earnhardt, Jr. also had damage, only 16 cars finished with now damage at all.

2003 EA Sports 500

Elliott Sadler's horrific blowover flip happened after contact with Kurt Busch.

2004 Aaron's 499

The "Big One" came on lap 84 when Tony Stewart tapped the rear of Kurt Busch's car near the bottom of the banked track, sending Busch sliding sideways up the banking right in front of a huge pack of cars. Before the crashing and spinning was through, 10 cars were scattered around the fourth turn. The cars driven by Busch, Derrike Cope and Kenny Wallace had to be hauled off on flatbed trucks. There were no injuries.

2004 EA Sports 500

Elliott Sadler sliding backward through the grass and flipping once before sliding across the finish line on his wheels on the last lap.

2008 AMP Energy 500

The big one in 2008 happened on lap 68, when Brian Vickers cut a tire and tapped Martin Truex Jr. into the middle of the field….

2014 Aaron's 499

On lap 137, Brad Keselowski, who was six laps down, got loose in turn 4 and caused a multi-car wreck that collected 13 other cars that included Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Trevor Bayne, Tony Stewart and Brian Scott. Some had issues with Keselowski racing at the front with being so many laps behind the leaders. & With 14 laps to go, Jimmie Johnson got loose and started another multi-car wreck that happened in the same place that the lap 137 wreck occurred. This wreck collected Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Michael McDowell, Ryan Newman, David Ragan, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Reed Sorenson.

2010 Amp Energy Juice 500

A.J. Allmendinger got a little wiggle, and a little nudge and he suddenly was no longer in contact with the ground. The crash ended the race immediately.

2011 Good Sam Club 500

Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and others get caught up in the melee when A.J. Allmendinger gets loose in the pack.

2012 Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500

The Big One hit the field on the final lap, collecting 25 cars in turn four, with Tony Stewart flying in the air after being tagged by Michael Waltrip.

2012 Aaron's 499

The race saw two crashes in the last 60 laps: one on lap 142 involving five cars in turn 3 cause by some cars running out of gas, and another in turn 1 during a late restart on lap 186

2007 UAW-Ford 500

Bobby Labonte lost control up high swerving all the way down the bottom hitting Kyle Busch and causing a chain reaction from there. Two Big Ones.

1983 Winston 500

An 11 car tangle in the first turn of the 71st lap sent two drivers to the hospital. Darrell Waltrip and Phil Parsons slapped fenders and both went into the wall. Parson’s Pontiac went airborne and flipped about a dozen times and landed on the roof of Ricky Rudd’s car. Among the contenders taken out were Tim Richmond, Cale Yarborough, David Pearson, A.J. Foyt and Jody Ridley.

Published Oct 17, 2014

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