WATCH: When a Fan Stole a Car and Ran Laps Around Talladega Superspeedway

The 1980s in the United States was a crazy era, especially for the likes of NASCAR. However, the 1986 Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway was the epitome of crazy. A drunk fan decided to make this race the most memorable one and took the pace car for a joyride.

As it turned out, nobody took security at the race track too seriously. This was especially true for a race track like Talladega, so a drunk fan took capital advantage to jump into pace car. Then, that fan decided to get a few laps of the superspeedway.

Speaking in a video, someone said, “That’s when ‘hold my beer and watch this’ was invented”. The scene was so surreal and bizarre that nobody could fathom that it happened. It got to a point where policemen on motorcycles and a car chased the runaway pace car.

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Did the authorities catch the person at Talladega Superspeedway?

Admittedly, the authorities took a while to catch the culprit because the track was quite wide. In the end, a roadblock proved to be his undoing, but the roadblock came from safety trucks instead of cop cars.

Eventually, the culprit got dragged out of the car, but he still put up a fight. Apparently, the thief was a Birmingham local named Darren Crowder. He wanted to have a good time at the track; therefore, he sneaked into the ceremonial Pontiac Trans Am before the race.

It was partly NASCAR’s fault, because the car was left unattended near the grandstand. Oddly enough, nobody suspected a thing while Crowder was on his joyride at the famed oval.

The NASCAR officials only smelled a rat when the then 20-year-old Crowder drove past an official. The eagle-eyed official quickly realized that the wrong person was inside the car, having a jolly good time.

Only then were the authorities notified and all hell broke loose. Truthfully, some felt sorry for the man, because once he got caught, he was manhandled while being dragged away.

Perhaps Crowder should have been approached by a team for leading the grid of cop cars and bikes in a drunken state like he did; for you rarely come across such gutsy drivers.