Bill Elliott, Chase Elliott win Talladega poles 29 years apart
Like father, like son. That applies to Bill Elliott and his son, Chase, at Talladega Superspeedway, where the two are both wicked fast.
On April 30, 1987, Bill set the all-time NASCAR qualifying record of 212.809 miles per hour to take the Winston 500 pole at Talladega.
And on April 30, 2016, 29 years to the day later, Chase captured the pole for Sunday's GEICO 500 at Talladega, running 192.661 mph.
Why the speed disparity between father and son?
It isn't because one is faster than the other.
Instead it's all about the differences in the cars between then and now.
In the Winston 500 in 1987, Bobby Allison cut a rear tire on Lap 22 and his Buick flew airborne and up into the catchfence in a horrifying impact. Fortunately, the fence kept the car out of the grandstand, but after that NASCAR quickly moved to cut speeds at Talladega and Daytona.
NASCAR soon mandated the use of power-robbing restrictor plates to cut down on the air-fuel mixture going into the engines. Over the years, NASCAR has periodically adjusted the rules, including adding roof flaps to keep speeds under 200 mph and keep the cars planted on the tracks.
So while Chase's is pole is impressive, chances are no one in NASCAR will ever approach Bill's record speed.
