buddy bakers first-- racing -- lap over 200 mph. not in a practice

I have a question that i need a documentable answer for. I know it was buddy baker that turned the first lap over 200 mph at talladega. I know it was done in a practice session prior to the alabama 500. However, who/what can absolutley document that Buddy baker set the record also "during the alabama 500? " Thus, the first actual nascar " race " that had a timed lap of over 200 mph. also ,i would love to verifiyif it was in cotton owens car that set the record " during the alabama 500 " as well.{ not the 88 practice car] Anyone? let's see how good the history buffs really are!

Buddy definitely drove Cotton's #6 winged Dodge during the 1970 Alabama 500. Exploded the thing trying to run down Pete Hamilton in the Petty Superbird. He probably moved at 200 MPH trying to escape the burning car! haha

I just went through about 15 or so newspaper articles by searching Google News Archive. Most of course were wire reports. But even with sidebar stories, I saw no mention of anyone - much less Buddy specifically - officially clipping 200 during the race. It probably happened though.

I only looked at articles from Monday papers following the race. I did NOT look at any articles from Tuesday and after. You might want to search yourself to see if any follow-up articles were written.

My hunch is you won't find any 'official' reports. Say what you will about NASCAR's records, but they and the media have been pretty consistent about 200 lap runs. Only things I've ever seen are Buddy's 1970 non-event lap of 200 being followed only by Benny's 200+ qualifying run at Talladega 12 years later.

I see on cotton owens website that the story about the "transmission test" was actually was a record attempt. what i also read on the owens siteis that baker officiallyset the record during the alabama 500 as he was timed at over 200 mph during the race in cottons car. where did they get that information from. some people on another website claim thatcotton and bakersrecord wasmade up yearslater to boost the value of the claimed origanl car.they say without the enginers building the car ,baker would never reached 200 mph.seems to me that i actually heard the radio broadcast of that race and they made comments about the cotton /bakers team speed.i guess now that cotton is gone ,it would take some one else to verifiy this?

I read in Bobby Allison's book that although Buddy holds the record, it was Bobby who hit 200 first but had to keep quiet about it so Ford wouldn't find out. I have scanned the 4-page chapter for you. Make sure you click and zoom in if your browser reduces the resolution of the scans.

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You won't find any documentation on an event that never happened.

They ran without side glass in the cars for that race. They were allowed to qualify WITH side glass.

Any of the cars would have needed 650 horsepower to get near 200 mph with no side glass.

ABC Wide World of Sports covered that event. They would have mentioned anyone doing laps over 200. That would have been a HUGE deal for Nascar!! There are no vintage magazine coverage mentioning any laps near 200, much less over that number. Check Stock Car Racing, Southern MotorSports, National Speed Sport News, etc. NOTHING - 200 never happened during that race.

I agree with the posters on dodgecharger.com that entire story was fabricated to inflate the selling price of the #6 Daytona. There is also proof posted on that same site the car was a show car only and never even seen a racetrack with Baker in it. There are photos of the REAL car Buddy drove at Daytona and Talladega showing photos of the dash and interior. TOTALLY different than the current show car Daytona #6.

It's amazing what people will do for money.

Bobby Allison ran 197. in the August, 1969 test at Talladega driving the #88 Daytona. He never got to 200 at that time. Nobody did during that test. That includes Baker, Glotzbach, Isaac and Hylton, who all drove the Chrysler Engineering test car.

Lastly, the ONLY reason they ran for 200 in March 1970 was because Bill France asked them to come down and do it. He wanted positive publicity for the April race to sell more tickets. (there we go about the $$$!)

Have you seen the record run on Youtube? Search: "Baker 200 Talladega"

Wide World of Sports was there, filming it!! Bill France was there, watching it.

Would those guys have been there for a "transmission test"? lol.....

yall forgetting about ole smokey and these practice runs breaking records aint ya