These vintage aero race cars brought a little sunshine to a soggy race weekend.
In what looked like a scene from 1969 or 1970, the infield at Talladega Superspeedway was filled with Plymouth Superbirds, Dodge Charger Daytonas and other aero-minded racecars from NASCAR's wilder days. These cars had all gathered to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the track's first race, the 1969 Talladega 500.
This amazing car show was part of the Aero Warrior Reunion, which assembled around 200 aero-tuned racecars from this era such as the Superbird, Charger Daytona, Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II, Ford Torino Talladega and even the super-rare Ford Torino King Cobra. While the majority of these cars were the street versions, there were a handful of retired racecars on hand such as the no. 42 Charger Daytona raced by country music star Marty Robbins, Richard Petty iconic no. 43 Superbird and the no. 71 Charger Daytona driven by Bobby Isaac, who sat on the pole for the first three Talladega races.
When the rain began to fall at Talladega, many of the vintage racers headed for covered garages, which then resembled the garages from the 1969 and 1970 NASCAR seasons. Seeing all of these priceless former racecars must have been about enjoyable for race fans as seeing the cars in action back during their heyday. While the weather turned out to be the biggest news at during Talladega Superspeedway's 50th anniversary, the aero racecars proved to be the true highlight of the race weekend.
These aero warriors may have looked amazing off the track, but another part of the Talladega celebration featured Richard Childress driving Dale Earnhardt's no. 3 Chevrolet Monte Carlo on the track during the pre-race pace laps. Childress raced for the first time at the 1969 Talladega 500, and Earnhardt's final win came at the 200 Winston 500 at Talladega in dramatic "Intimidator" style.
All images courtesy of NASCAR Digital Media.
