Allison, "Bobby" (Robert A.)
Auto racing
b. Dec. 3, 1937, Miami, FL
Before he had a driver's license, Bobby Allison was practicing spins in an empty field. He entered his first race during his senior year in high school, finishing 10th, but after a couple of accidents, his father ordered him to quit.
Allison then tested engines for a time, became a NASCAR mechanic, and began racing in the sportsman class. He won his first national championship in 1962 in the modified special division, won it again in 1963, and won the national modified title in 1964.
He moved gradually into Grand National (GN) racing in 1965. The following year, he spent a reported $8,000 and 384 hours of work converting a Chevelle into a GN racing machine, and he won 3 of 34 starts. By 1970, he had finished among the top five in more than 35 percent of the GN races he'd entered; that year he had his first major victory, beating Cale Yarborough by 50 feet in the Atlanta 500 and setting a new race record for average speed with 139.650 miles per hour.
He replaced David Pearson as driver for the Holman-Moody racing operation in 1971 and had a tremendous year. After a narrow loss to his younger brother Donnie in the Winston 500 at Talladega, Allison won the World 600, the Dover 500, the Motor State 500 and the Riverside 500. He lost another close race, to Richard Petty, in the Dixie 500 and then closed out the year with wins in the Michigan 500, Talladega 500, Southern 500 and National 500. His eight victories in races of 500 miles or more is still the NASCAR record.
Throughout his career, Allison had remarkable success in superspeedway races. He won the Mason-Dixon 500 and the Budweiser 500 five times each; the Southern 500 four times; and the Coca-Cola 500, Atlanta Journal 500, World 600, and Carolina 500 three times each. After going 55 straight starts without a victory, he won his fifth Winston 500 at Talladega in 1986, and in 1988 he won the Daytona 500 for the third time, just edging out his son, Davy. That was Allison's 84th GN win, third on the all-time list behind Richard Petty and David Pearson. He's fifth on the NASCAR career money list, with more than $7 million in earnings.
Despite all his GN victories, the Winston Cup championship eluded Allison until 1983, when he finally won it at the age of 46. His last race was the Miller High Life 500 at Pocono, PA, on June 19, 1988, when he was involved in a nearly fatal crash on the first lap. But he survived and received a standing ovation at the NASCAR annual banquet that year when he and his wife Judy received the association's Award of Excellence.
The Pocono crash ended Allison's career, but sons Davey and Clifford carried on. Davey, 31, won the Daytona 500 in 1992 and was congratulated by his proud father. Less than six months later, 27-year-old Clifford died of injuries suffered while practicing for a NASCAR race at Michigan International Speedway, and Davey was killed in August of 1993 in the crash of a helicopter he was piloting.