This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but the crowd at Talladega is one of the worst in all of sports. I’ve been to Kansas, Texas, and Atlanta with no issues, but Talladega is a different story. Most of the negative experiences I’ve had as a NASCAR fan came from the crowd at this particular track. It almost soured my love for this great sport.
When I turned 11, my parents got me tickets to the race at Talladega for my birthday. It was my first time going to a race after many years of watching on television. The race was the 2003 EA Sports 500, and it was an exciting day for me, or at least it should have been.
The day started with many drunks almost falling in front of the vehicle on the road in front of the track. In one instance, my parents told us to look away as a man tried to give a woman some Mardi Gras beads. For any Southerner, you know where this is going. She was in the back of a truck and luckily didn’t reciprocate his request. This man is doing this on a highway in the middle of a crowd, which is classless and tasteless.
Rebel flags flew everywhere at the track, another feature that soured it. NASCAR is for everyone, and I’m glad they banned it. I know many will say it’s our heritage, but as Southerners, we should be above it. It has no place at the track.
During the race, we should have been enjoying it. Instead, we had to watch out for others around us. One drunk man stumbled onto me and almost knocked me down 27 flights of stairs. It was a negative experience for me. I refuse to bring my family anywhere near the track, even though it’s the third closest track to me.
Although my experience was bad, Brandon Brown had it much worse. In 2021, Brown pulled off a shocking win at Talladega. The first of his career, and one that should have helped the team bring in funding. Instead, it turned into a nightmare. During Brown’s interview, the fans took it upon themselves to make a political statement. They chanted profanities about then-President Joe Biden. Many blamed the reporter for lying to Brown and saying the crowd said “Let’s go Brandon.” As someone with a degree in journalism, she was not at fault.
After Brown’s association with the infamous phrase, sponsors wouldn’t touch him. Through no fault of his own, his career was ruined thanks to the crowd, who couldn’t just celebrate his achievement.
Jeff Gordon suffered two separate incidents in which his car was pelted with trash after winning races in 2004 and 2007. This was a classless act by the fans. Buying a ticket doesn’t give a person the right to trash their surroundings when their guy doesn’t win.
Talladega is a fan-favorite track, and, sadly, many incidents happen there.
Image Credit: Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images
