close
close

Association-anemone

Bite-sized brilliance in every update

    • Bobby Allison, the legendary NASCAR driver, has died at the age of 86
    asane

    Bobby Allison, the legendary NASCAR driver, has died at the age of 86

    Online Niel Posted on

    Jeff Gluck
    | USA TODAY

    Bobby Allison, whose life in NASCAR included both great triumphs and untold heartache, died Saturday, NASCAR announced. He was 86 years old.

    Through NASCAR, Allison became a champion driver and a Hall of Famer. But the sport also robbed him of his two sons, who died in tragic accidents less than a year apart.

    He was a member of the second class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, placing him among the top 10 legends in the history of the sport.

    As the leader of the so-called “Alabama Gang”—a group of drivers in Hueytown, Alabama—Allison was part of a talented racing family. His sons Davey and Clifford both competed. So does his brother, Donnie.

    Bobby, however, won most of it. He won three Daytona 500s, the 1983 Cup championship and 84 Cup races — though he continued to insist the number was actually 85 (NASCAR didn’t properly credit him for a win in 1971, he argued). Regardless, that total ranks fourth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list, tied with Darrell Waltrip.

    Although already an established winner by the late 1970s, Allison—and NASCAR—emerged together on the national stage in the 1979 Daytona 500.

    In the final lap of the race, Cale Yarborough and Allison’s brother Donnie crashed during the race for the lead. Richard Petty won the race and Yarborough began arguing with Donnie Allison. Bobby stopped his car on the grass near the crash site and promptly attacked Yarborough.

    Or, as Bobby’s version faithfully put it decades later, “Cale started punching me in the nose.”

    He went on to win after that infamous fight, including the Cup championship. After five runner-up finishes in 18 years, Allison finally won his only title in 1983.

    In 1987, Allison was involved in one of the worst wrecks in NASCAR history. During the race at Talladega, Allison’s tire blew out and sent the car flying. He hit the fence with tremendous force, breaking off a section and almost going into the stands.

    Allison did not miss a race despite the crash, but it did prompt NASCAR to put restrictor plates on the cars at both Talladega and Daytona.

    The following season’s Daytona 500 was Allison’s biggest moment in NASCAR; but one he never remembered. With son Davey second, Allison won the 500 for the third time; the two celebrated together in Victory Lane.

    But four months later, Allison blew a tire early in a race at Pocono and was boned by another driver. The accident nearly killed him and left him with severe head trauma along with broken bones. Moreover, he was robbed of his memories of everything that had happened in the previous months – including the father/son triumph at Daytona.

    “That race, the one I know must mean the most to me, is the one I don’t remember,” Allison told author Robert Edelstein for the book. NASCAR Legends. “It’s still covered in dust over there.”

    Allison never competed again, nor was he ever able to fully recover from his injuries; he walked with a slight limp for the rest of his life.

    But the pain he suffered in the years after his retirement was far worse than anything physical.

    In 1992, Allison’s youngest son, Clifford, died in a crash while training for a Busch Series race in Michigan. Less than a year later, Davey Allison was killed while trying to land his helicopter at Talladega.

    Just like that, both of Allison’s sons were gone.

    “I don’t know if it’s ever going to get any easier, that it’s going to get any easier any day, less painful,” Bobby said in 2011. “It did. It is our duty to continue.”

    The pain was overwhelming and eventually led Allison and his wife, Judy, to divorce. But when Adam Petty, nephew of Richard Petty and son of Kyle Petty, was killed in a crash in 2000, Bobby and Judy decided to comfort the Petty family together. They reconciled and remarried two months later.

    In his later years, Allison was revered as an ambassador for NASCAR. His Hall of Famer status brought him great joy, and he was almost always seen with a big smile when making appearances at plays or talking to fans.

    Online Niel
    View all posts

    You Might Also Like