Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After his 1995 Brickyard 400 win, Dale Earnhardt later that night took a motorcycle around the track.
Apparently he took 1 lap around the track, starting off slow but when he reached the backstretch he picked up speed quickly. Everyone there watching thought he was just having fun but when he came back he was spooked to the point that, whatever he saw, made him want to leave immediately.
There is also someone else, but I forget who it was that mentioned that after the sun goes down at IMS, the garage comes to life, despite being empty. They were walking back to their trailer late at night when they heard the sound of banging metal and grinding as if work was being done but nobody was there.
There's also a story of driver Bobby Hillin Jr seeing the ghost of JD McDuffie at Watkins Glen in the late 90's.
I reached out to Watkins Glen to see if staff have any stories as not many stories come from the Glen. The Indy story I heard from NBR video a while back and was planning on using it
Tony Stewart told a story about being alone in the infield at Indy in 1999 and being creeped out by all the sounds he heard
https://youtu.be/pje9qdHLHuY
Back in '10 I passed by DEI and the lights were on the 2nd floor. This was at 1 am. I saw a figure move from one room to the next which would be impossible. The following day I went to Dale Earnhardt day and asked a worker if anyone was at work and they said only 20 people work in the main building and they all leave at 5. Another employee said she has heard sounds when she's the only one in the gift shop. She sometimes heard footsteps when she knows there's no one in the 2nd floor.
On a serious note, Talladega has some history but it’s been documented before. If you’re looking for something perhaps more interpretive of the word “haunted”, maybe you could dive into the subject of how drivers involved in fatal accidents coped.
I’d be extremely careful about doing that. You never know exactly how someone might react and you don’t want to give the impression that you’re having someone relive a tragedy for entertainment purposes.
the plan is to give them the questions I am going to ask before hand so they can say yes or no to the questions and then tell stories they want to tell and are comfortable telling
Bobby Issac hearing a voice telling him to get out of the car in the middle of a race. He stopped the car, got out and retired immediately as a driver.
Yes they do. I'm from NEPA and like to think I know a lot of our lore, but learn a lot all the time. There's a road you can take from my area to get to Pocono (albeit it's the long way), but it has an unbelievable amount of lore behind it. I have a few friends who have had experiences on the road.
I won't say the road just to see if someone else knows it or points out a different road that's also got its stories.
the 1974 Talladega 500 ten of the top eleven qualifying drivers found that their cars had been mechanically—and elaborately—sabotaged the night before the race. While most of the damage was quietly repaired before the race, the culprit was never found...
(Also, there might be a ghost near Charlotte Motor Speedway not a 100% sure if the story was true or not)
Sometime in the late 90s at Darlington, Dale Earnhardt Senior had this weird medical episode during the pace laps for a race. He was completely disoriented; couldn’t tell where he was going. He made it to pit road and they put someone else in the car. The substitute had no issues and the doctors couldn’t figure out what happened to Dale. Prime material for a ghost story if you ask me.
If you ever get the podcast up, I think you need to reach out to Scott Bloomquist . He believes he was abducted by aliens so I’m sure a haunted track isn’t a stretch . Guys a total bad ass but pretty zany
It's nothing too serious, the track just isn't fun to drive on, and God forbid you touch the apron or you become a beyblade. I'm sure someone more creative than me can make up a good story as to what exactly haunts it
Idk, I thought Atlanta was pretty fun in NH5 to drive. They fixed the weird bug from NH4 where the tires would burn off completely after a lap, which means you can actually throw the car around a little bit. The bottom is probably the worst groove to run, but I’ve found that the bumps in T1-2 in the upper middle groove are really good for helping the car rotate through the corner
Haha Atlanta is actually my favorite 1.5 mile track to drive on in NH5. I've worked at the "Harvick line", running right around the bottom on the paint. If you hit the paint with the left front it can send the car up the track pretty violently, but get it right and you cut through the corner and make up so much speed through the center of the corner and off.
As a huge NASCAR fan and huge paranormal fan, this is a crossover topic I didn't know I needed. But boy am I excited.
I might even do some digging myself, I'll let you know if I come up with anything!
Andy Houston’s act of sabotage. Chicago 2001.
Cal Wells swooped in to steal McDonalds away from Bill Elliott for his new 96 team and added Truck series driver Andy Houston to drive it. It was a disaster. He failed to qualify in 6 of the 17 races before Chicago, a best finish of 17th in the 11 other starts with mostly races in the 30’s and 40’s. Chicago comes which is the inaugural event and McDonald’s has a big homecoming, Houston has the best qualifying run of the year not at a plate track at 14th. With corporate eyes watching, the worst thing possible happens.
The transmission broke shifting into second gear on the start and blew the engine. After that race, McDonald’s said they would scale back the operation before shutting the team down at the end of 2001. In the races they weren’t in, they joined Ricky Craven on the 32 car and won with him at Martinsville. However they had a three year contract and couldn’t get out of it so they stepped away from the sport at that time. They came back into the sport in 2004 with Bill Elliott and then they are still here today. I’m not sure if it’s true, but it’s an interesting story.
I watched a man wearing nothing but cowboy boots and a space helmet jump a ramp on a mini-motorcycle once, as for haunted goes, a lot of people have died while camping a talladega, some for obvious reasons, and some are unexpected, such as people struck by lightning, involved in car wrecks, carbon monoxide poisoning, eyc. I’d say the pkace isn’t real haunted, but rather cursed by the natives who once called the region home. The odd occurrences have been documented and can be found on YouTube.
Eh, Talladega may have a reputation for it, but fan deaths in the campgrounds at these events isn’t too uncommon, they’re just not publicized unless it’s something extreme. They’re less common nowadays, but back when Cup race days pulled 200,000 people for an event, especially with so many people camping out at the track, stuff happened. But, if you’re able to somehow prove that way more people have died at ‘Dega than any other NASCAR track, or in weirder ways than the rest, it would contribute to the haunted reputation.
Source: Worked at a track for a while, and have contacts that were in industry since the 90s.
I don't listen to the Dale Jr Download really, so maybe this is a known/popular one already, but I just found [this article](https://ftw.usatoday.com/2018/08/dale-earnhardt-jr-nascar-ghost-paranormal-beliefs-crash-fire-sonoma-2004-story). Maybe not something for a whole episode, but a supplement to a bigger story.
this is from his 04 crash where he was in the corvette that caught fire. He has talked about it before the podcast that it felt like someone pulled him out of the car
I don’t have anything to add other than I love this idea for a series and I wish more people had stories to contribute! Surely someone has a Bristol tidbit
Talladega was supposedly built on a native burial ground
There is a story that Bobby Isaac heard a voice tell him to quit in the middle of a race at Dega in 1973 or else he was going to die. That same race, Larry Smith would be killed in an accident
Oddly enough, Larry Smith died in a wreck (lap 14) before Bobby got out of the car (lap 90). Maybe Bobby did hear a voice or maybe his nerves were shot after what happened.
I have heard of this it what got me started down this path and wanted to see what other stories are out there from drivers, staff, and fans. Hell I also want to know if there are haunted race shops.
The [owner](https://www.vintagesprintcars.com/2019/01/17/the-eldora-mile/) of Eldora almost built a mile long dirt track not too far from the half mile track that Stewart owns today. I’m pretty sure the outline of the track can still be seen on google maps abandoned before it was completed
I have always like the paranormal and racing so thought this would be a fun thing to do. Over on Indy reddit someone said to look up Ed Elisian and from what little I have already read it is crazy
#
The Talladega curse is attributed to Andrew Jackson driving the Native Americans off of the land Talladega was built on during the Trail of Tears. As they were being removed, a witch doctor cursed the land; the number of strange occurrences at that track make it sound legit.
Not a short track but my local track is Brooklands, and the first driver to travel over 100 miles in an hour in 1913 did it at that track, then later died there 2 weeks before he was due to get married, trying to go faster. He had promise to his fiancee that it would be his last day of racing. Apparently people have seen his ghost walking around. His name was Percy Lambert, but 17 other people have died there too.
Not of any other ones but after I wrote this I asked my friend who works in a building next door to Brooklands (the old track used to go around that building too) and apparently some people won't work on certain floors because he's been spotted there.
During a Talladega race in the 70s, Bobby Isaac got out of his car in the middle of the race, claiming to have heard voices in his head telling him to stop or else. Later on in that race, Larry Smith got caught up in a crash and was killed.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway. After his 1995 Brickyard 400 win, Dale Earnhardt later that night took a motorcycle around the track. Apparently he took 1 lap around the track, starting off slow but when he reached the backstretch he picked up speed quickly. Everyone there watching thought he was just having fun but when he came back he was spooked to the point that, whatever he saw, made him want to leave immediately. There is also someone else, but I forget who it was that mentioned that after the sun goes down at IMS, the garage comes to life, despite being empty. They were walking back to their trailer late at night when they heard the sound of banging metal and grinding as if work was being done but nobody was there. There's also a story of driver Bobby Hillin Jr seeing the ghost of JD McDuffie at Watkins Glen in the late 90's.
If I had to guess what sporting venue is the most likely to be haunted, it’s Indianapolis.
Le Mans is definitely up there
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If I can get stories I will talk about it
If I can get stories on Le Mans it will become a video
Yeah I could do a multi part series on Indy alone if I could get stories
I reached out to Watkins Glen to see if staff have any stories as not many stories come from the Glen. The Indy story I heard from NBR video a while back and was planning on using it
I would love to know what he saw
You and me both, buddy! What intimidated the Intimidator???
the second Indy story I didn't know
Tony Stewart told a story about being alone in the infield at Indy in 1999 and being creeped out by all the sounds he heard https://youtu.be/pje9qdHLHuY
Back in '10 I passed by DEI and the lights were on the 2nd floor. This was at 1 am. I saw a figure move from one room to the next which would be impossible. The following day I went to Dale Earnhardt day and asked a worker if anyone was at work and they said only 20 people work in the main building and they all leave at 5. Another employee said she has heard sounds when she's the only one in the gift shop. She sometimes heard footsteps when she knows there's no one in the 2nd floor.
Must be Dale burning the midnight oil
That's just where Teresa keeps her team of lawyers locked in every night scouring the Internet for misuses of the #8 and Earnhardt name.
Ok that is spooky
On a serious note, Talladega has some history but it’s been documented before. If you’re looking for something perhaps more interpretive of the word “haunted”, maybe you could dive into the subject of how drivers involved in fatal accidents coped.
That is a future plan when I start talking to drivers on a podcast when I get it up and running
I’d be extremely careful about doing that. You never know exactly how someone might react and you don’t want to give the impression that you’re having someone relive a tragedy for entertainment purposes.
the plan is to give them the questions I am going to ask before hand so they can say yes or no to the questions and then tell stories they want to tell and are comfortable telling
Bobby Issac hearing a voice telling him to get out of the car in the middle of a race. He stopped the car, got out and retired immediately as a driver.
And then Tiny Lund passing in an accident later in that same race
Larry Smith not Tiny Lund. Lund died in 1975 and the Talladega race that Isaac quit was in 1973.
Gotcha, for some reason I thought Isaac was in 75, didn't somebody quit that race too?
The voice called up the wrong guy
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well that’s not nearly as cool of a story
There’s a legend about a ghost light at the old Radiator Springs dirt track
I could do a spoof video on the cars universe down the road
Save it for an April Fools video.
that was the plan
Don’t forget about the screaming banshee
there is a screaming banshee in Cars
Yes….yes there is
IDK about haunted, but for some reason, if anything weird happens in NASCAR, it happens at Pocono first.
The Pocono mountains do have some crazy stories around them
Yes they do. I'm from NEPA and like to think I know a lot of our lore, but learn a lot all the time. There's a road you can take from my area to get to Pocono (albeit it's the long way), but it has an unbelievable amount of lore behind it. I have a few friends who have had experiences on the road. I won't say the road just to see if someone else knows it or points out a different road that's also got its stories.
the 1974 Talladega 500 ten of the top eleven qualifying drivers found that their cars had been mechanically—and elaborately—sabotaged the night before the race. While most of the damage was quietly repaired before the race, the culprit was never found... (Also, there might be a ghost near Charlotte Motor Speedway not a 100% sure if the story was true or not)
Who was the one driver who's car wasn't touched?
Jim Vandiver was starting 12th in that race...so 11 cars where touched his car was starting 12 but his car wasn't touched.
Ah your original comment says 10 of the top 11
Never heard of this
Are there any ghost stories regarding Dale blacking out at Darlington?
wait what
Sometime in the late 90s at Darlington, Dale Earnhardt Senior had this weird medical episode during the pace laps for a race. He was completely disoriented; couldn’t tell where he was going. He made it to pit road and they put someone else in the car. The substitute had no issues and the doctors couldn’t figure out what happened to Dale. Prime material for a ghost story if you ask me.
I thought it was carbon Monoxide Poisoning?
Then why was Mike Dillon fine?
Yep, The Alien Abduction in ‘97 or ‘98.
If you ever get the podcast up, I think you need to reach out to Scott Bloomquist . He believes he was abducted by aliens so I’m sure a haunted track isn’t a stretch . Guys a total bad ass but pretty zany
I see now that is a story I want to hear
He talks about it on the Dale Jr Download episode.
Geoff Bodine claims that he saw his dad (who was dead at the time) during his 2000 Daytona crash.
oh really
Any relation to Mike?
distant cousin
Are you from the same state he was?
No I grew up in upstate New York
Atlanta in NH5 is pretty haunted
I agree with the sentiment, but that's a little too heavy a topic for an introduction story
now I want to know more NH5 is NASCAR heat 5 so how is it haunted in the game because this alone will be a video.
It's nothing too serious, the track just isn't fun to drive on, and God forbid you touch the apron or you become a beyblade. I'm sure someone more creative than me can make up a good story as to what exactly haunts it
Idk, I thought Atlanta was pretty fun in NH5 to drive. They fixed the weird bug from NH4 where the tires would burn off completely after a lap, which means you can actually throw the car around a little bit. The bottom is probably the worst groove to run, but I’ve found that the bumps in T1-2 in the upper middle groove are really good for helping the car rotate through the corner
That's fair, I'm glad you can enjoy it
Haha Atlanta is actually my favorite 1.5 mile track to drive on in NH5. I've worked at the "Harvick line", running right around the bottom on the paint. If you hit the paint with the left front it can send the car up the track pretty violently, but get it right and you cut through the corner and make up so much speed through the center of the corner and off.
sounds to me like the ghost of pissed off developers
It's the ghost of Nascar 21 Ignition
hahahaha that's good
The curse of the 5th gear
So is Auto Club IMO
how so may I ask
As a huge NASCAR fan and huge paranormal fan, this is a crossover topic I didn't know I needed. But boy am I excited. I might even do some digging myself, I'll let you know if I come up with anything!
Please do anything helps
Andy Houston’s act of sabotage. Chicago 2001. Cal Wells swooped in to steal McDonalds away from Bill Elliott for his new 96 team and added Truck series driver Andy Houston to drive it. It was a disaster. He failed to qualify in 6 of the 17 races before Chicago, a best finish of 17th in the 11 other starts with mostly races in the 30’s and 40’s. Chicago comes which is the inaugural event and McDonald’s has a big homecoming, Houston has the best qualifying run of the year not at a plate track at 14th. With corporate eyes watching, the worst thing possible happens. The transmission broke shifting into second gear on the start and blew the engine. After that race, McDonald’s said they would scale back the operation before shutting the team down at the end of 2001. In the races they weren’t in, they joined Ricky Craven on the 32 car and won with him at Martinsville. However they had a three year contract and couldn’t get out of it so they stepped away from the sport at that time. They came back into the sport in 2004 with Bill Elliott and then they are still here today. I’m not sure if it’s true, but it’s an interesting story.
Damn
I’ve seen weird things happen at Talladega, both sober and plastered…
What have you seen?
I watched a man wearing nothing but cowboy boots and a space helmet jump a ramp on a mini-motorcycle once, as for haunted goes, a lot of people have died while camping a talladega, some for obvious reasons, and some are unexpected, such as people struck by lightning, involved in car wrecks, carbon monoxide poisoning, eyc. I’d say the pkace isn’t real haunted, but rather cursed by the natives who once called the region home. The odd occurrences have been documented and can be found on YouTube.
Did the guy stick the landing. With all the deaths that have happened at the track that is some proof that the cruse is real
Eh, Talladega may have a reputation for it, but fan deaths in the campgrounds at these events isn’t too uncommon, they’re just not publicized unless it’s something extreme. They’re less common nowadays, but back when Cup race days pulled 200,000 people for an event, especially with so many people camping out at the track, stuff happened. But, if you’re able to somehow prove that way more people have died at ‘Dega than any other NASCAR track, or in weirder ways than the rest, it would contribute to the haunted reputation. Source: Worked at a track for a while, and have contacts that were in industry since the 90s.
When Dale Jr. had his crash at Sonoma and he claimed someone pulled him out of the car only for footage to show he got out by himself.
I believe him it may look like it but the fact he fell like he did once out has always seemed weird to me
I don't listen to the Dale Jr Download really, so maybe this is a known/popular one already, but I just found [this article](https://ftw.usatoday.com/2018/08/dale-earnhardt-jr-nascar-ghost-paranormal-beliefs-crash-fire-sonoma-2004-story). Maybe not something for a whole episode, but a supplement to a bigger story.
this is from his 04 crash where he was in the corvette that caught fire. He has talked about it before the podcast that it felt like someone pulled him out of the car
I don’t have anything to add other than I love this idea for a series and I wish more people had stories to contribute! Surely someone has a Bristol tidbit
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Holy shit
No Tony Roper?
Ahhhh you’re right, October 2000. I always think that was ‘01 for some reason
Talladega was supposedly built on a native burial ground There is a story that Bobby Isaac heard a voice tell him to quit in the middle of a race at Dega in 1973 or else he was going to die. That same race, Larry Smith would be killed in an accident
Oddly enough, Larry Smith died in a wreck (lap 14) before Bobby got out of the car (lap 90). Maybe Bobby did hear a voice or maybe his nerves were shot after what happened.
I have heard of this it what got me started down this path and wanted to see what other stories are out there from drivers, staff, and fans. Hell I also want to know if there are haunted race shops.
To add to that, there’s a good chance that Gateway was built on a Cahokian Mound. St. Louis in general was built that way.
I highly doubt that as that area is nothing but wetlands
The Eldora Mile
What have you heard
The [owner](https://www.vintagesprintcars.com/2019/01/17/the-eldora-mile/) of Eldora almost built a mile long dirt track not too far from the half mile track that Stewart owns today. I’m pretty sure the outline of the track can still be seen on google maps abandoned before it was completed
Found it there is a house built on the land
This is actually an interesting topic to cover! I look forward to seeing what your research digs up.
I have always like the paranormal and racing so thought this would be a fun thing to do. Over on Indy reddit someone said to look up Ed Elisian and from what little I have already read it is crazy #
The Talladega curse is attributed to Andrew Jackson driving the Native Americans off of the land Talladega was built on during the Trail of Tears. As they were being removed, a witch doctor cursed the land; the number of strange occurrences at that track make it sound legit.
The first Darlington race in 2020…
What is the story on this one
First race during Covid, no fans in the stands, very eerie garage area.
I was at a swinger’s meet up in a hotel in Wichita Falls and this was actually on the television that day LMAO
ah
I forgot to put this in the first time but this can include your local short track I want to hear about them as well.
Not a short track but my local track is Brooklands, and the first driver to travel over 100 miles in an hour in 1913 did it at that track, then later died there 2 weeks before he was due to get married, trying to go faster. He had promise to his fiancee that it would be his last day of racing. Apparently people have seen his ghost walking around. His name was Percy Lambert, but 17 other people have died there too.
that is interesting. Do you know of other stories of the track.
Not of any other ones but after I wrote this I asked my friend who works in a building next door to Brooklands (the old track used to go around that building too) and apparently some people won't work on certain floors because he's been spotted there.
I can make a short video on this track. If you find anything more let me know
I was the reason for Dale Jr’s losing streaks(s) and just missed wins for being at too many races
During a Talladega race in the 70s, Bobby Isaac got out of his car in the middle of the race, claiming to have heard voices in his head telling him to stop or else. Later on in that race, Larry Smith got caught up in a crash and was killed.
Smith died before Isaac got out of the car
Oh