Wallace hits 228 mph at Talladega

Elwood · June 11, 2004

June 10, 2004

TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) -- Rusty Wallace got a chance to run his NASCAR Nextel Cup Dodge at Talladega Superspeedway without a horsepower-sapping carburetor restrictor plate.

The result was an eye-popping lap at more than 216 mph.

``We hit 228 at the end of the straightaway,'' an excited Wallace said of his run Wednesday on the 2.66-mile oval. ``It was a deal that I certainly will remember for the rest of my life.

``We'd all been wondering what it would feel like to run at Talladega again without the plates and now I know. I'll bet we could be running speeds up to 235 without the plates, if we spent time doing some tweaking.''

But the longtime Cup star and former series champion isn't expecting NASCAR to abandon the plates anytime soon.

``I'll tell you this: there's no way we could be out there racing at those speeds,'' Wallace said. ``It was neat to be out there running that fast by myself, but it would be insane to think we could have a pack of cars out there doing that.''

Wallace's speed easily exceeded the official Talladega and NASCAR qualifying record of 212.809, set by Bill Elliott on April 30, 1987.

Talladega race speeds reached close to 210 that year before a crash nearly sent Bobby Allison's car flying into the packed main grandstand. That prompted NASCAR to begin requiring carburetor plates to slow cars at Talladega and Daytona, its two longest and fastest tracks.

Speeds at both tracks since then have ranged from the mid 180s to the mid 190s.

Several NASCAR officials, including Nextel Cup director John Darby, witnessed the test runs by Wallace.

General Lee 01 · June 11, 2004

Man, was this on TV, I would really like to see it!

antig24 · June 11, 2004

That would be awesome to see

TROYROBO · June 11, 2004

thats my guy- - wish they would let them run that way for a couple of races---it would seperate the men from the boys

Hecktorx · June 11, 2004

---it would seperate the men from the boys

And maybe some heads from bodies

Seriously, could you imagine what speed they would be running in the draft. By the time the tuned up the cars to there maximum potential, in the draft, they'll would probably be hitting 240 mph down the straightaways. That would be sick to watch.

SteveCZ · June 11, 2004

Yes, but how fast do the Formula 1 cars get going??

I know, I know, TOTALLY DIFFERENT, .... but Racin is racin...

Hecktorx · June 11, 2004

Yes, but how fast do the Formula 1 cars get going??

I know, I know, TOTALLY DIFFERENT, .... but Racin is racin...

I think the only F1 race where the cars go close to 200mph might be Indy, but I'm not sure. They only race on road courses, so their average speeds are well below there top speeds.

Now that would really be a site. An F1 car set up to run Talladega. They could probably get one of those close to 300 MPH.

Let's try some stupid math here. A Cup car qualifies around 193mph around Texas. In 01', the Cart cars were running around 237mph before they cancelled the race. If I did my math right, that's a 22% increase. Using Rusty's average lap at 216 and 22% increase, that would mean the CART cars could run around 264mph.

O.K. it's Friday and I'm bored at work.