1998 Diehard 500 - Talladega - Big One

[KA128183]

Ward Burton caused that shit.

[jasonolinger]

This was my first nascar race ever, it was awesome. i will never forget Earnhardts goggles melting to his face. Bobby Labonte dominated.

[Busch22Fan]

McDonald's was actually thinking about renaming their slogan after this, but "Get Wild! Get McRib! Get the Crap Knocked Out of Your Car and Injuring Your Sternum After Getting Turned Into the Wall at Almost 190 Miles Per Hour By Dale Earnhardt Who Got Turned Into You After He Was Turned By Ward Burton, Then Sliding On Your Side!" would have been too long

[XyL0Ph0n3]

Commentators makes racing so much better

[noonecfcf]

Burger Press!! lol i shouldnt say that should I?

[5inthehole]

That's Taladaga! It's been happening since I was a kid and will continue when they plant me in the ground. When you have cars going around corners at speeds of 160-175mph and then 3 a breast, your going to have crashes...just physics.

[NascarNixon]

Bill McFlipped on his side.

[24DupontWolf24]

wasn't this race after or before daytona?, where they got smoked out due to the wildfires in 98

[MOVIEFREAK802]

@24DupontWolf24 the daytona 500 i believe went on as scedueled but not sure when this race took place before or after the postponed july one

[tj47racer]

that may have been Mark Martin's car.

[Busch22Fan]

I agree with BP, how DID the camera live through that?

[149impala]

I miss Benny Parsons. One of the best commentators ever in nascar. RIP

[willsco76]

I miss Benny Parsons. Good driver, better comitator. RIP.

[Ultimate23Dragon]

I remember this! I was 7 when I first saw this. This was the day that I officially despised Dale Earnhardt Sr.... Remember, I was 7! As for Ward, It didn't take until I saw a replay several years later that he cause the wreck, but he was already on my bad side by then (After the 2001 Richmond Cup race in the Spring).

[00faceman]

Bill is one tough son of a bitch

[sethcorn]

Earnhardt actually got his Mustache burned off

[fighthazard]

Someone really needs to keep a tally of how many restrictor plate wrecks Mark Martin wound up in. I've already lost count.

[malcolmyoungi]

@fighthazard its up there to every other plate race he's been in. so for every year he's been racing, multiply it by two

[antz350]

@fighthazard now that would be interesting as hell. he always seems to get screwed

[mohawkman251988]

Man, Bill Elliott, Ernie Irvan and Earnhardt all had some of the hardest hits of that decade. I think Bill had another head-on crash the following race at Fontana that year.

[awz121]

benny parson was the man...nascar is not the same without him. him and bob jenkins need to show these guy how to announce a race the right way!

[15taz151]

get wild get the McRib! lmao

[RuneMacer55]

the good ol non two car draft racing.

[C0LL1N]

this crash was exactly like earnhardts crash in 96 but the fact that they hit about 300 feet behind where earnhardt hit made all the difference in the world for elliot from an injury standpoint.

[mreed91]

I bet dale was thinking...not this again.

[seaLIFFY]

@mreed91 ya like how many guys have i wreked allready?

[mreed91]

@seaLIFFY well I was referring to his 1996 Talladega crash two years earlier, but yeah, that's one way of looking at it.

[CobraPS3]

nothing but solid concrete then..damn..i'll never forget watching this live..thought it was a lot worse

[STP43FAN1]

SI had a great spread showing Earnhardt, Elliott, and Petty hard against the wall. The ultimate all-star NASCAR crash - Bill Elliott, Dale Earnhardt, and Richard Petty, both via his son Kyle and one of Richard's Pontiacs.

[ChrisHarrisX85]

@STP43FAN1 if you are talking about this race you should do some research as Richard retired from competition in 1992....6 years prior to this.

[ChrisHarrisX85]

@STP43FAN1 if you are talking about this race you should do some research as Richard retired from competition in 1992....6 years prior to this.

[STP43FAN1]

@ChrisHarrisX85 I was referring to Petty as a car owner. SI's spread was from this race.

[setoguchifan16]

Something tells me Ward Burton is a Burger King fan...

[cheese2507]

@setoguchifan16 Ward Burton IS the Burger King!

[CBright7831]

Dale Earnhardt's interview after this was hilarious:

"First of all, Dale, how are you?"

"Hot!"

*walks away*

[kearlyta]

Do you have any more replays on onboards of this crash?

[kearlyta]

Its Ward Burton his the one who caused this crash

[granturismo5101]

this is what superspeedway races are always like and I just love those wrecks as long as everyone is ok

[kylebst264]

If you go to Dale Earnhardt Inc in Moorseville, NC they actually have Dale's firesuit from this wreck on display there.

[rngooch]

I remember this one. In the interview you could tell that the fire burned part of Earnhardt's mustache off.

[tonip420]

that was a brutal wreck....its f'ing amazing MORE people didn't dies before they finally started making improvements...

[erasetoimprove]

@tonip420 well... really they've ALWAYS been making improvements. NASCAR was still quite safe before Earnhardt's death. At least at the time it seemed pretty safe. When I first started watching in the 80's there was 1 to 3 Cup drivers dying per season. By 1998, a Cup driver dying from a crash was a rarity... and then 2000 came about with Irwin and Petty dying, followed by Earnhardt's death in 2001.

[tonip420]

@erasetoimprove sorry for the late reply...but i totally agree that it was probably the safest form of motor sports anyway...i just wonder how many lives would have been saved if the SAFER barrier and HANS device had been thought of and/or applied sooner..thats all..but that of course is all hindsight...i am, however, very thankful for the innovations we do have now!...GO 88!!

[homergrand99]

still scary after all these years. i have a still photo from that from winston cup scene.

[TheRacer120]

Did Bill actually go fully over?

And that was hard for Bill, almost head onto a concrete wall at 180+ mph, the car going at least on its side and catching on fire. Glad he was OK.

[jouniortrucker123]

@TheRacer120 nope if you watch the replay on the onboard it just went on its side

[jjd896]

Get Wild! Get McRib!

[jasoncarby]

Glad Bill Was Alright !!!

[AMERICANPILOT2]

0:03 IS THAT COLE TRICKLE ON THE LEADERBOARD!?!

[Dalejr88rox]

@AMERICANPILOT2 its dick trickle. he was an actual driver

[acenace24]

They acted like there might be someone dead (Elliott), but it was the older cars and they were dangerous

[HilaryHaylieRocks08]

ha look at that white car in the far right @ 312 he just spins by himself 

[C0LL1N]

@HilaryHaylieRocks08 some ARCA driver probably :p

[3intimid8or]

Simaler to Earnhardt's 1996 Talladega crash.

[killpeople20]

scott riggs crash looked alot like this. what a difference those safer barriers make, scott got out of the car like nothing had happened.

[Gforcebond]

Benny was really concerned about Elliott that was a super hard hit he had to be going 190 mph when he hit that wall driver side even if that happened today with the all the safety that would be a really scary crash

[MONTESCHALLER]

damn... can't say Rusty didn't ever miss at least one big one. Would love to see the incar from him!

[myboyamp88]

at 3:18 Marks car gets a little airborne lol.

[clark38571]

The best broadcast team ever. Made races ALOT better in my opinion.

[kd4pba]

@clark38571 Amen

[jwdogfst]

Isn't it annoying how the driver responsible for the big one drives off unscathed and collects a good finish?

[pokemonrulz1231]

how the hell did bill elliot survive that? dale earnhart's car wuz literally on elliot's car WHILE upside down, and both got pushed into the wall at about 120 mph. HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?

[Gforcebond]

@pokemonrulz1231

because dale's seatbelts was on correctly when he hit the wall. I'm taking a physics class right now in colllege you wouldn't believe the difference in force exerted on the body vs having our seat belt on vs not having it on it's literally a 1000 times difference if not more depending on the speed of the car.

[barneynward]

2:41 I love that noise of a rumbling 750bhp Stock Car V8!

[ThomasJowers0]

@barneynward yeah that 750 hp V8 restricted to about 650. darn restrictor plates.

[skankuser]

@budwiesner1 In his crash at Daytona, it was straight on in the wall. He took the full force of the hit. Here, he hit at more of an angle and kept moving. While still a serious crash, he had some movement of the car, which kept some of the energy transfer off the driver.

[NYRambler]

Ernie Irvan, stupid iPod spell check...

[NYRambler]

@flyboy260 actually Ernie urban caused the 1996 crash

[singingkicker]

is that elliott's tire that blows at 2:49 like RIGHT BEFORE he hits the wall?

[mystrsyko]

@singingkicker I think that was the windshield leaving the car. that happened alot back in the 90's, especially at the restricted tracks

[tdiharold5265]

a 1998 camera can take that

[kornnut43]

Is it me, or are big ones just not as big as they used to be?

I mean, they're still big, just... they haven't been like this since about '05 or so. A good thing, too. :)

[cookieacdc24]

this wreck looks almost idendical to the wreck earnhardt had in 96 just he was the other car not the one flipping

[flyboy260]

@cookieacdc24 Ward Burton caused the wreck in '96 as well. He did the EXACT same thing. What an idiot...

[3fan4eva]

@flyboy260 Well in all fairness to Ward he was probably told by his spotter, clear high. The spotter's stand back then at Talldega was I believe toward the Start/Finish line so he woulda been looking straightaway at the car and it is very hard to determine if he woulda been clear or not. Ward was too good of a driver to make that type of mistake

[jwill239]

Ive seen this wreck 20bazillion times in my entire life..i just noticed that random car spinning by himself a half mile behind the crash..paused at 3:09.. who the hell is that and what the hell happened to him? Ive been rewinding thinkin im goin nuts

[HarvestmanMan]

@jwill239 It looks like it might be Ken Schrader in the #33...he raced in the Daytona Shootout this year, but wrecked late in the race. He was in Scott Speed's #82 Car, but he lost a full-time ride after about 2007.

[chameleone79]

@jwill239 i think it was mayfield in the 12 car spinning way behind the crash.

[HarvestmanMan]

Wasnt' this the crash that took out Bill Elliot for seven races, allowing Matt Kenseth to sub for him and place 4th in his first NSCS start? Or was that another race?

[jwill239]

@HarvestmanMan this isnt it..the next week he had that head on fiery crash at California..2 weeks in a row and the doctors and NASCAR "suggested" he sit out a few weeks..the California crash was twice as bad as this one..Kenseth turned out to be pretty consistent didnt he.lol

[sabbathbassdude14]

that seriously is an exact recreation of how earnhardt hit the wall in '96

[TheNascarcodfan]

it think burton thought he was clear and get behind dale and push him to pass elliott but he wasnt

[thekennady]

Ward Burton caused the crash by getting his Left side tires on the apron, this kicked the car back up the hill and into Earnhardt's right rear. The rest is History.

[TheNascarcodfan]

oooo i didnt see tht thx

[5inthehole]

I tell ya, if I was a driver I'd refuse to drive this track. Now you know why these drivers make so much money.

[mariokart6444]

way to go ward >.> was he drunk ? i mean oh i am going to go up and hit someone was he thinking?

bill got the worst of this

[83dalejrsr]

1:44 thats wht she said

[SammyFarkle]

Did his Tire Blow up at 2:47 , notice that before he even made contact with the wall something blew up

[nintendoboy90091]

thats the hood flying up.

[SammyFarkle]

How, He hasnt even hit the wall yet?

[raichiotto]

@SammyFarkle This is from '98.

[otacon1000]

@SammyFarkle looks like it

[MurphyMonster]

Yeah, poor Mark almost always gets the worst part of the big one

[jkbnumber1]

Earnhardt recieved some bad burns to his face on this one.... look at 1:39.

He wore an open face helmet.. one of only a few.

[setoguchifan16]

get wild. get mcrib. i don't remember "get flipped over" part of the slogan at that time!

[UltimateEEnEFan]

He he. Good one.

[Busch22Fan]

@setoguchifan16 I think they should have added it!

[18sux29rox]

there was soooo many bad crashes in the 90's

[Scrivener86]

Fuckin' Wuhd Buhtuhn.

[98TransAm4me]

back when abc/espn had some decent watchable coverage...another interesting point, mark martin won 2 dega races ironically enough one was caution free 1997

[pwnzor3000]

I miss Benny and Dale.

I was born in '94 and all I remember in NASCAR was Earnhardt, Martin, and Parsons UNMISTAKEABLE voice!

RIP Dale Earnhardt

RIP Benny Parsons

[HellBound8492]

I remember my jaw dropping in this one.

[awz121]

you know there is one thing in common about all there big wrecks in the 1990's, that mark martin was wrecked in EVERY one just about.

[Brodeur303030]

hahah yea i have said this before on another vid, every single big one from the 90's Mark Martin is in

[countryfan368]

Especially when he is running for a championship. Its like has to get through Talladega if he wants to win a championship.

[slayerdearly]

I remember this crash and I remember this race to(Bobby Labonte won that race)

[MurphyMonster]

get wild. get mcrib

[hiiwantpie]

bob jenkins and benny parsons forever!!!!!

[roryfixkar]

Ken Squire too!!!!!!!!!

[PhilipTheBigOne]

@hiiwantpie: Unfortunately, BP is dead and we have that SUCKY ESPN commentary... BJ is doing Indycar now on Versus, I like the commentary there...

Since Bob and Benny left, FOX is the best!!! Mostly because of Mike Joy... But Larry-Mac and DW are good as well... In my opinion...

[erasetoimprove]

@PhilipTheBigOne I think Mike Joy is actually the worst on Fox. He makes NASCAR sound like a little girl's sport. Dale Jarrett is currently my favorite personality in any of the booths. At least he's somewhat like his dad... not to shabby.

[NASCARWWEclubpenguin]

this isn't a big one.. this is called wild fild crash.. well maybe a small big one

[19trouble2]

Anyone note Mark Martin's car? He spins and basically his rear end falls apart.

[RazorRC3]

was this the incident that Earnhardt had his face partially burned because of the flames that entered his cockpit from Elliott's car? I remember the ceromony at the Nascar 50th banquet and he had to wear a neck cover to the black tie affair to not show his burn marks...he even had a couple of marks on his head as well...intense these drivers were back in the day..

[osubuckeyes14]

if you switched bill elliots car with dale earnhardt's car and earnhardt's car was in bill elliot's position, you couldn't tell the difference between this wreck and dale's similar wreck here. same part of the track, same way the car got turned, same way the car went into the wall, same way the cars were on their side but not flipped over totally, same way both drivers held their chest in pain. eerie.

[CAT31in09]

I just love Benny's commentary R.I.P. BP We miss you!

[setoguchifan16]

"how did the camera live thru that?"

[KKFan9]

Way too freaky that Earnhardt's 1996 accident looks eerlie simlar to this one...same way he got hit and spun, part of the track...etc. Thats freaky.

[winters19]

Elliott was also holding his chest like Earnhardt did also.

[kidleativy]

and marten spins in the same place too

[madddogg45rulz]

some real racing unlike today

[drummer4god4ever]

the last talledega race was pretty intense

[dolphinmagic24fan]

Earnhardt Sr. had some shitty luck at the end of the dega tri-oval.

[MIBFreakPack]

Unbelieveable. Elliot's camera went through the entire thing and got great shots. Wish they had that today with the new digital cameras

[myboyamp88]

at 3:19 the six car goes airborne and if you look bill had a fire and while the car was still touching earnhardts the fire went in earnhardts car and burnt half of his mustache off

[radio187]

That track is just nuts.

[KeystoneLight0209]

I miss Benny Parsons

[xxHockeyGuy91xx]

poor Bill : (

[mondaysmainevent]

I was at this race sitting on the backstretch. I remember almost being sick when they came around and I saw that Earnhardt wasnt with the cars taht amde it.

[homergrand99]

one of the hardest hits ever, of any crash.

i always remember this one. earnhardt got his 'stache burned.

[burtonfan2]

i wonder what the crowd was thinking as they saw bill elliot up side down with Earnhardt on top on the bottom side of Elliot. im getting confused just talking about it!

[abates2782]

He did win twice at Talladega though....in 1995 in the Winston 500 when I was there, there was no "Big One" that day....and he won there again in 1997 and the race went green from start to finish. Martin mighta won a bunch more of these plates races if not for getting in the "BIg One" so much.

[abates2782]

I swear Mark Martin has been in more restrictor plates crashes than any driver in the history of NASCAR!! Everytime I look up big Talldega crashes I always see that #6 car in the wreck somewhere,No wonder he doesnt like these tracks...

[philrox427]

When he wins Daytona, dude, its gonna be Epic. He STILL hasn't. I hope he doesn't turn out like Rusty and never win it.

[jb51083]

Yea I have noticed the same thing the #6, or maybe the #5 now is always in the big one, or so it seems lol

[manterica]

this began at the same point of 96 dei hard 500 bigone that hurt eanhardt

[creightonballa26]

wonder what it was like sittin in the front row where they smashed the wall

[dalejrfan123]

i was just thinking the same thing..lol

[nascar0809]

this was ridiculously similar to 96

[n0vaca1n3]

Dumb move by Ward, I agree, but other than that he was a pretty good driver; '95 winner at Rockingham, 4 more wins and top prospect from 1998-2002. If Bill Davis Racing had half the team Roush did I think he'd have run as well as Jeff even.

[Browntown12]

1:30 - Keep your eye on the No. 2 Miller Lite car of Rusty Wallace. Awesome!

[sirbristel]

haha rusty breezed right thru it

[malcolmyoungi]

good job on the camera's part

[singingkicker]

cool bill blew his right front right before he hit the wall

[alex7186]

this was the 1st crash. bill had a hard crash the very next week at California, that was a fiery one too.

[3fan4eva]

I remember but i might be wrong but Teresa, Dale Jr. Taylor Nicole and even Richard Childress tried getting him to quit racing after this accident or at least try to have him scale back after the two savage wrecks

[sivvybee]

This is the wreck that burned his mustache hairs he said. That is why Ward is no longer a cup driver.

[k0ehl3r]

ward was an alright driver, he won some races like the 500 in 2002

[codynascar]

sivvybee - "That is why Ward is no longer a cup driver. "

k0ehl3r - "ward was an alright driver, he won some races like the 500 in 2002"

derrike cope, michael waltrip, and dale earnhardt jr also won the daytona 500. that doesn't really say very much.

[n0vaca1n3]

Oh don't tell me you're one of those fags who hates Dale jr. because he's popular. He also has 2 nationwide championships, 18 cup wins, and a season best 6 wins, 16 top 5s & 21 top 10s where he placed 5th in points (3rd by the old system). Ward Burton was also good, for reasons I gave in an earlier comment, so go fuck yourself.

[wardaddy08]

ward chooses not to race in cup because he runs his wildlife foundation. he won the daytona 500 and 6 or 7 other wins, if that's not good enough you could always kiss his ass

[dolphinmagic24fan]

good job Ward, caused that huge wreck

[newcig90]

the crash that Earnhardt took in this race looked so similar to the one that he took here back in 1996... but the one that killed him in the 2001 DAYTONA 500, it really didn't look all that bad though... but it killed the man... if he were still here today, dale Jr., mickey, and Steve would've probably still be at DEI... and dale would have his 8th or 9th championship and dale Jr. would probably have like 2 or 3 championships already... I'll miss you until i see you bud....

[DaleReynolds24]

I agree man, I was just noticing that. This crash was so similar to the 1996 one, even though the crash wasn't as bad looking as the one in 1996.

[itsalleternal]

If you look closely, Elliott didn't flip completely...the car seemed to drag window-down...

[gadgefan48]

That is literally the same area that Earnhardt had that scary crash just a couple of years earlier.

[day500champ08]

yeah, Elliots wreck looks more like Dale in 1996. From the place where it hit to being hit by a car on the outside.

[whb1965]

CAUSED BY WARD... DUH... BURTON..

[trucks21]

man that was a scary hit

[e521soediv]

its so amazing how hard they crashed back then...you nevr see things like that these days

[n0vaca1n3]

Cars involved (20): 3- Earnhardt, 4- Hamilton, 6- Martin, 9- Speed, 10- Rudd, 13- Nadeau, 21- M. Waltrip, 26- Benson, 30- Cope, 31- Shepherd, 33- Schrader, 41- Grissom, 42- Nemechek, 43- Andretti, 44- Petty, 50- LaJoie, 77- Pressley, 90- Trickle, 94- Elliot, 97- Little.

[n0vaca1n3]

Edit: the yellow car that I thought was #26 was actually the 75 of Rick Mast. Other than that, those should be correct.

[timlinisabeast]

if you look at 3:11-3:12 you can see that 1 car spun all by himslef

[JRracing0116]

what car and he prolly didnt spin by himself he prolly got tagged from behind

[timlinisabeast]

the white car to the right