There are tracks NASCAR fans love and respect…and then there’s Talladega Superspeedway.

Dega isn’t just another stop on the schedule: it’s a pilgrimage. 

At 2.66 miles, Talladega is the longest trioval in NASCAR. Cars regularly hit speeds over 200 mph, making it the fastest track on the circuit. Drivers battle in massive packs of raging machines, racing inches apart and desperately trying to avoid getting caught up in the “The Big One.”

Then there’s Talladega Boulevard, the epicenter of the rowdiest infield in the sport, combining the best of a Southern Rock festival, Oktoberfest, DisneyWorld and Mardi Gras.

Given all that, the 2026 race that takes place there Sunday marks the 40^th anniversary of the one of the most unforgettable moments in Talladega history — and it did not involve a famous driver, a beat-up race car or a checkered flag.

The great pace car theft

On May 4, 1986, just before the green flag of the Winston 500, a fan somehow slipped into the infield without a ticket, jumped into the official pace car (a red Pontiac Trans Am) and decided to take it for a spin around the track.

What followed looked more like a bad sequel to Smokey and the Bandit than a race broadcast: the Pontiac circling the track at high speed, cops in pursuit, announcers trying to make sense of what they were watching. 

For a brief, shining moment, the biggest show at Talladega wasn’t the race, but the chaos unfolding before it.

The man behind the wheel was Darren Crowder. And despite how the story has been told over the years, the reality was more complicated.

Crowder was just 20-years old. That morning, he wasn’t even planning to attend the race. He had driven from his home in Birmingham to Lincoln, Alabama, (site of the superspeedway) to look at a motorcycle he was interested in buying. He took the bike for a test ride and got caught in race-day traffic. Somehow, he slid through the gates of Talladega without a ticket and wound up in the infamous infield.

At the time, Crowder’s life was far from carefree. He was under significant personal stress as a young father with a partner battling cancer. So you can almost cut him some slack for the very public mistake he was about to make. 

From the infield, Crowder hopped two fences and approached the pace car sitting near the front grandstand. The keys were in the car, and he gave into temptation. Crowder jumped in the vehicle and took off around NASCAR’s version of asphalt heaven. 

Who’s that #$@& in the pace car?

Television cameras followed his journey around the track as the announcers struggled to find the words to describe the scene. In a classic case of understatement, one broadcaster said, “We think there is some unusual drama occurring here.” 

A NASCAR official noticed the wayward Trans Am and uttered these unforgettable words over the radio: “Who’s that fucker in the pace car?”

A police cruiser and two police motorcycles took off in hot pursuit, probably wondering what they would do if they caught the Pontiac. Meanwhile, Crowder was hitting 100 mph on the backstretch.

By the time he hit his second lap, race officials had set up a roadblock of pickup trucks coming out of turn 4. With 125,000-plus fans in the stands (the largest sports crowd in Alabama’s history) and millions watching on TV holding their breath wondering what Crowder would do…he slowed to a stop. 

Officials and police rushed the Trans Am, pulled him out, handcuffed him and threw him in the back of a squad car.

The memory lives on

Soon after Crowder was whisked away, the green flag dropped. Bobby Allison would go on to win the Winston 500 in dramatic fashion over Dale Earnhardt. But ask longtime fans what they remember from that race, and many of them will say it was not the finish. They’ll start with the legend of the stolen pace car.

Reportedly, Crowder was charged with multiple offenses but didn’t serve any jail time for his crimes. Tragically, he passed away at the age of 51 in 2016, not long after the 30^th anniversary of his wild ride.

So as you watch the race Sunday, raise a cold one to Darren Crowder. That day back in 1986, he reminded us all that Talladega is a place where the unexpected isn’t just possible, it’s inevitable.