Bobby Allison a living legend

06-29-2002

It has been 14 years since Bobby Allison last raced in a NASCAR Winston Cup event — his career ended and his life nearly taken in a brutal crash at Pocono. But with the big leaguers taking the weekend off in preparation for the Pepsi 400 at Daytona, perhaps it’s time to give a refresher course on one of the greatest stock car pilots who ever lived. In a Cup career that began in 1961, Allison would make 717 starts, win 84 races and finish second 86 times. When he was done, he had earned more than $7 million. “I always thought NASCAR would make it big, but I don’t know of anyone who thought it would get this big,” Allison said in an earlier interview with The Daily Home. “It has exceeded everyone’s expectations.” Talladega Superspeedway has been an integral part of NASCAR’s success, and it served as Allison’s home track after he moved to Hueytown from Miami. He won four times here and is tied for third on the all-time list. “For me, Talladega always required a lot of personal effort,” Allison said. “I had to make myself good at Talladega, because to be honest, it wasn’t one of my favorite tracks to race on. “It was great to be racing in front of home fans and everything, but the track just didn’t suit my driving style.” While Talladega runs weren’t a 500-mile pleasure trip for the patriarch of NASCAR’s “Alabama Gang,” he managed to win here three times and earn a pole. “Unlike a lot of tracks, like the ones at Charlotte, Atlanta, Michigan and even Pocono, I had to really concentrate at Talladega. I had to figure out what my mission was and how to accomplish it. “I never really dreaded going to Talladega — I saw the excitement that it generated among the drivers and fans. The thing is, what was so attractive to so many people was what I didn’t like. To win at Talladega you have to have help from someone else and be able to work the draft, and I like it better where if you had the best car and could run away from the field, you won.” The monster superspeedways — Daytona and Talladega — feature restrictor plate racing, a concept that didn’t exist when Allison was at his peak. Yet, it was a crash Allison was involved in here at Talladega that led NASCAR officials to come up with a way to slow down the cars. And while many modern drivers and crews detest the device that restricts the flow of gas to the carburetor, Allison says it’s one of the greatest innovations in the history of the sport. “Honestly, I think the plate is the best, most fair thing NASCAR has done — it just has a bad reputation,” Allison explained. “Today, everybody has the technology and the ability and the commitment to be competitive, and I think the restrictor plate simply levels the playing field a little. And let’s face it — without the plate you’d be having wrecks at 240 miles per hour instead of 190 mph. “The restrictor plate rule is done evenly and fairly, and if people want to continue to complain about it, then I say let’s just go back to the 426 Hemis and start over.” When Allison and his brother, Donnie, started out, they basically had a car and a trailer, and came to Alabama in hopes of making a living driving cars. “One time I won a race and got $300, and man, that was a big deal. That was big money,” Allison said. “In NASCAR’s early days, you had to race a lot and win a lot to make money, and there were times I’d race four times a week. “If I won those four races, I had a pretty good week. If I lost, I didn’t have any money.” Once NASCAR began to flourish, Allison flourished with it. By the time his career ended following a near-fatal crash at Pocono in 1988, Allison had one Winston Cup points title to his credit, was named NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver six times, and left a legacy as the greatest stock car pilot ever to come out of Alabama. His brother, Donnie, was also a star, winning NASCAR Rookie of the Year accolades in 1967 and finishing his Winston Cup career with 10 wins and over $1 million in career earnings. He was recently inducted into the Alabama Sports hall of Fame. “When I raced, there weren’t nearly as many good drivers as there are now,” Bobby Allison said. “Now, with all the sponsorship dollars out there and all the technology, there are probably 30 teams who produce a car good enough to win any race on the circuit.” Allison’s post-racing career has been marred by tragedy. His youngest son, Clifford, was killed during a practice run at Michigan, while his oldest son, Davey, perished in a helicopter crash near the media center at Talladega Superspeedway. Davey was on track to duplicate his father’s feats, if not surpass them. When he died, Davey had logged 19 victories, including the 1992 Daytona 500, and finished third in Winston Cup points in 1991 and 1992. Davey won three Winston Cup races, four ARCA events and one IROC race at Talladega Superspeedway to give him eight checkers here, second on the list behind Dale Earnhardt. Through all the adversity the elder Allison has managed to go forward, and today serves as one of the sport’s finest goodwill ambassadors. Both Bobby and Davey have been honored with induction into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, and both are remembered fondly by the racing community as two of the best there ever was. But it is the elder Allison who first put Alabama on the NASCAR map, and he remains as much a part of stock car folklore as 200 mile per hour runs down the backstretch.

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