NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Bobby Allison, who ranks fourth all-time with 85 NASCAR Cup Series victories, died Saturday at age 86.
An original member of “The Alabama Gang,” Allison won the 1983 Cup title and also captured the Daytona 500 three times, including in 1988 as part of a 1-2 finish with his son, Davey. Later that year, injuries suffered in a crash at Pocono ended Bobby Allison’s racing career, which started in 1961 and included 718 Cup starts.
“Bobby was the ultimate fan’s driver,” the Allison family said in a statement. “He thoroughly enjoyed spending time with his fans and would stop to sign autographs and have conversations with them everywhere he went.”
Allison drove for more than a dozen race teams throughout his career including wins for Holman-Moody, Roger Penske and Bud Moore while piling up wins and earning a Cup title for DiGard Racing. He couldn’t ignore that fact in his Hall of Fame induction speech — he was part of the 2011 class, the second five-member class for the facility opened in 2010 – and even cracked a joke about it.
“Just to try to put that into perspective a little bit — that was in nine different brands the cars for 14 different race teams,” Allison said. “The way I look at it now, I did drive pretty good most of the time. But, boy, I couldn’t keep a job.”
While he had so many wins, he admittedly couldn’t remember all of them because of the head injury suffered in the crash at Pocono.
“Had great times,” Allison said during that Hall of Fame speech. “As the career wound down, I got some really good wins. They tell me I won Daytona in ’88. … Went through a lot of things. Got involved with a lot of people along the way.
“I won some races. Struggled, got better, did poorly, got better and everything. But the bottom line, it was just an incredible career.”
Having earned Most Popular Driver five times for his competitive spirit, it was that determination that played a role in one of the sport’s most infamous moments. On the final lap of the 1979 Daytona 500, his brother Donnie Allison was involved in a wreck with Cale Yarborough. Bobby went over to help his brother and punches were thrown on a fight seen across the country as part of the first live flag-to-flag telecast of the race.
Bobby Allison’s line on the fight was always a form of Yarborough “beating on my fists with his nose.”
For decades, Allison was credited with 84 wins. But a couple of weeks ago, NASCAR recognized his Cup victory in 1971 at Bowman-Gray Stadium. It was a race that included both Cup cars and the smaller Grand American cars, and Allison opted to run a Grand American car in that race and won. For more than 50 years, that Cup race was listed as not having an official winner because a Cup car wasn’t the first to cross the finish line.
“Bobby Allison personified the term ‘racer,’” NASCAR Chairman Jim France said in a statement. “Though he is best known as one of the winningest drivers in NASCAR Cup Series history, his impact on the sport extends far beyond the record books.
“As a driver, he won races and championships across several NASCAR divisions. But as the leader of the famous “Alabama Gang,” Bobby connected with fans in a profound manner. In the most significant ways, he gave his all to our sport.”
Allison’s life was not void of tragedy as both of his sons died within a year of each other. Clifford Allison died in August 1992 from injuries suffered in a crash during practice at Michigan International Speedway. Davey Allison was killed in a helicopter crash at Talladega Superspeedway in April 1993.
“The world I hope never is that cruel to any other family again,” Allison said. “But it happened. We survived it. People helped us and supported us. I just really appreciate that.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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