Fast times at Talladega: The year everyone reached 200 mph

When Talladega Superspeedway opened in 1969, talk in the NASCAR world immediately turned to the number 200.

It was a magical number then, a target of sorts and a new frontier.

As NASCAR’s biggest track, with turns so highly banked safety workers were breathless climbing them, speedway builder (and NASCAR founder) Bill France Sr. was convinced his newest baby would produce stock car racing’s first official 200-mph lap.

The sport didn’t have to wait long for that to happen. In March 1970, while testing at the track in a Cotton Owens-prepared Dodge, Buddy Baker ran a lap at 200.447 mph. The speed wasn’t recorded in competition or in a qualifying session, but it was officially timed and has been recognized as NASCAR’s first lap over the 200 mark.

In April 1982, in qualifying for the Winston 500 at Talladega, Benny Parsons recorded the first 200-plus time trial lap. In a Pontiac built by Waddell Wilson (and powered by a Wilson-built engine), Parsons ran 200.013 in his first qualifying lap and, with momentum built for lap two, reached 200.176.

Four years later, something amazing happened. Drivers who ran the first 100-mph NASCAR-related speeds on the beach at Daytona Beach decades earlier would find their accomplishment doubled. Every driver who qualified for the Winston 500 on speed crossed the 200 barrier. Bill Elliott won the pole with a NASCAR record speed of 212.229. Every driver in the top 19 ran at least 205.

Talladega had produced the speed – throughout the entire field – France had dreamed of years before.

Tim Brewer, then crew chief for Neil Bonnett and Junior Johnson’s No. 12 Chevrolet, stood along pit road with Johnson as Elliott bashed the NASCAR qualifying record with his 212-mph lap.

“Junior looked at me and