talladega superspeedway
The talladega superspeedway or “Dega” for short is the largest and most steeply banked oval track in the Nascar Sprint Cup Series, with seating for more than 175,000 fans. Also known as the Alabama International Motor Speedway up until 1989 this track has far exceeded the need for speed by holding the record for the fastest lap ever recorded on a closed oval race course.
These fast speeds ultimately led to changes, when In 1987 during a talladga race Bobby Allison experienced a tire failure as he raced through the trioval portion of the track, which caused his car to go airborne. The car ripped out a section of the front stretch catch fence and almost flew into the spectators seating.
NASCAR imposed rule changes in 1988 that required cars running at Talladega and at Daytona to use restrictor plates. A restrictor plate reduces the amount of air and fuel the intake manifold on the car can take in, resulting in a reduction of power the car can produce. The reason for this change was a fear that the increasing speeds were exceeding the capabilities of the tires being used at the time.
