NASCAR News: Legend Bobby Allison dies at 86

Bobby Allison, founding member of NASCAR’s legendary “Alabama Gang,” the 1983 premier-series champion and winner of 85 races, died Saturday. He was 86 years old.

Allison gained fame and fortune during a racing career that lasted nearly three decades and earned the Florida native practically every racing accolade imaginable. But it was a career that also included more than its share of tragedy — Allison lost two sons in tragic incidents, and his own career ended after a nearly fatal on-track accident in 1988.

A member of NASCAR’s second Hall of Fame class in 2011, Allison currently holds fourth place on NASCAR’s all-time win list for its premier series. He was recognized for an 85th victory on Oct. 23, 2024, with NASCAR officials deeming him the winner of a disputed race in 1971 at Bowman Gray Stadium.

His 718 career starts are 14th in series history and his 336 top-five finishes are second only to fellow Hall of Famer Richard Petty.

Allison also earned 446 top-10 finishes and 59 poles during a career that began in 1961 and lasted until midway through the 1988 season. He was honored as one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers in 2023.

Along the way, the affable Allison won some of the sport’s biggest events on multiple occasions. He captured the prestigious Daytona 500 three times (1978, ’82, ’88), the legendary Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway four times (’71, ’72, ’75, ’83) and he was a three-time winner of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (’71, ’81, ’84).

His 1988 Daytona victory was especially memorable — the then-50-year-old held off a strong late-race bid by his son, Davey, to collect the win.

“I was having a ball out there,” an elated Bobby Allison told reporters post-race. “Coming down to the finish, it was really good to be in first and to look in my rearview mirror and see someone I really feel is the best driver coming up — and knowing he’s mine. It really is a special feeling.”

Nearly a decade earlier, also at Daytona, Allison had found himself in the headlines — this time with his younger brother, Donnie, and fellow racer Cale Yarborough.

“And there’s a fight!” CBS announcer Ken Squier excitedly told a national television audience, “between Cale Yarborough and Donnie Allison, the tempers overflowing. …”

“And Bobby Allison has stopped by his brother to help,” analyst David Hobbs added.

The post-race scuffle between the Allison brothers and Yarborough captured the attention of a nation — particularly those on the East Coast and Midwest where a severe winter storm had kept most folks housebound.

Richard Petty won the race, his sixth Daytona 500 title, but it’s the fight afterward that has remained etched in NASCAR lore.

“I think I questioned (Yarborough’s) ancestry,” Bobby Allison recalled, recounting the event while appearing on the FOX Sports program “Race Hub.”

“He lunged at me and hit me in the face with his helmet,” Allison said of Yarborough. “Cut my nose, my lip, blood is dripping in my lap and I thought, ‘I’ve got to get out of the car and handle this right now or run from him the rest of my life.’ So I got out of the car and the guy got to beating on my fists with his nose.”

Besides his ’83 championship, Allison finished runner-up in the title battle five times — to Bobby Isaac (’70), Petty (’72), Yarborough (’78) and Waltrip (’81-’82).

Allison was named NASCAR’s most popular driver six times. In addition to his success in the premier series, he was a two-time winner in what is now the NASCAR Xfinity Series and won the International Race of Champions (IROC) title in 1980.

Allison also tried his hand at open-wheel competition — he made two starts in the Indianapolis 500 for team owner Roger Penske (1973, ’75) with a best finish of 25th in his final start. He also ran Ontario (twice), Pocono and Michigan Champ Car races for Penske.

“Bobby Allison personified the term ‘racer.’ 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,” NASCAR Chairman and CEO Jim France said in a statement. “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. On behalf of the France family and all of NASCAR, I offer my deepest condolences to Bobby’s family, friends and fans on the loss of a NASCAR giant.”

Born Robert Arthur Allison on Dec. 12, 1937 in Miami, Florida, he had won back-to-back NASCAR Modified titles in 1964-65 before embarking on a full-time premier-series career in ’66. By then he and younger brother Donnie, along with veteran modified racer Red Farmer, had relocated from Miami to the Hueytown, Alabama, area where they dominated the short-track scene, earning the “Alabama Gang” moniker.

“We go to Alabama and find this little track, cute little quarter‑mile track,” Allison recalled after his NASCAR Hall of Fame induction. “(I finished) fifth, fifth, fifth. I go to the pay window (and) they gave me $135. I said, ‘Donnie, look at all that money. We have died and gone to heaven.’ …

“The people were good and friendly to us. The country was very beautiful in my eyes, lakes and rivers, mountains, lower into the Appalachian Mountains there. Really nice race tracks.

“I wanted to run pavement because I thought pavement was going to lead to NASCAR. The big tracks were going to have to be paved. Dirt style was different. … I felt like I had a really good touch for pavement. I could go to a place I’d never seen before, maybe win the race. You know, I felt good about that, so … that’s kind of how my attitude was.”

In 1966, Allison competed in 33 of the 49 scheduled races, driving for several team owners. His first win came July 12 at Oxford (Maine) Plains Speedway, driving the No. 2 Chevrolet for owner Donald Brackins. Allison started on the pole and led 238 of the 300 laps on the .333-mile paved track.

He won twice more in ’66, at Islip, New York, and Beltsville, Maryland, to end the season with three wins and a 10th-place points finish.

It was the first in a streak of 10 consecutive seasons that saw Allison win multiple times on the premier circuit, including back-to-back 10-win seasons in 1971 and ’72.

Allison was 45 when he ended his time as a bridesmaid in the championship battle, finally capturing the NASCAR crown in 1983. After finishing second to Waltrip the two previous years, he piloted the DiGard Racing No. 22 entry to six wins, including three in a row during the final months of the season, to beat Waltrip by 47 points.

A ninth-place finish in the season-ending race at Riverside International Raceway sealed the title.

He won five more times after his championship season, including the emotional Daytona 500 1-2 finish with son Davey in ’88, and finished in the top 10 in points three more times.

Allison was sixth in points in ’88 entering that season’s Miller High Life 500 at Pocono Raceway. On the first lap of the race, his No. 12 Buick blew a tire and slammed into the outside wall. The Stavola Brothers entry was struck in the driver’s side door when it slid back across the track into oncoming traffic.

Allison suffered broken bones in his left leg, broken ribs and a concussion.

The head injury left Allison with gaps in his memory — including winning the ’88 Daytona 500 that had occurred only months earlier — and he never returned to competition as a driver.

He fielded a premier-series team from 1990 through ’96 with various drivers with no wins and only marginal success.

Son Clifford Allison was attempting to make his 23rd career start in August of 1992 at Michigan International Speedway when he died of injuries sustained in a crash during practice. He was 27.

Davey Allison, 32, was a rising NASCAR star, winner of 19 races and one of the series most popular figures when he crashed his helicopter while attempting to land at Talladega Superspeedway. He died the next morning on July 13, 1993, less than a year after his younger brother’s passing.

Four members of the “Alabama Gang” have been elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, headlined by Bobby Allison’s 2011 induction. Davey Allison was selected for the Class of 2019, followed by Farmer (2021) and Donnie Allison (2024). Neil Bonnett, a fifth “Alabama Gang” member, was among the most recent list of Hall nominees.

The elder Allison’s win total had been a matter of dispute until the fall of 2024, when NASCAR officials opted to credit him as the official winner of a 1971 race at Bowman Gray Stadium. The event was staged as a combination race between Grand National (now Cup Series) cars and the Grand American division’s lighter pony-car models, with the move meant to bolster the field sizes of both series.

Grand National drivers expressed their displeasure after Allison prevailed in a peppy Grand American Ford Mustang, and officials vacated the victory from the all-time win list. NASCAR executives Jim France and Mike Helton restored the win on Oct. 23, paying a personal visit to Allison to inform him of the ruling.