Drivers will race this coming weekend at Talladega Superspeedway possibly nursing some injuries. But none are racing the way Davey Allison started the event in the summer of 1992.
A week after a Pocono crash where he suffered a broken collarbone and wrist, Allison showed up at Talladega ready to drive.
Was he ready to race? Not really. He had surgery on his arm during the week. But he would start in the back, earn the points and then give up the wheel to Bobby Hillin.
The team had to Velcro the shifter and his glove just so he could shift the car during the few laps in the car.
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His then-crew chief, FOX Sports analyst Larry McReynolds, remembers it well as far as what NASCAR told him:
“We will let you know when we want him out of that car,” McReynolds recounts NASCAR telling him. “It’s not going to be your decision. We will let you know. We’re not real crazy about having a guy out there that’s got his hand Velcroed to a shifter making laps at Talladega.
“And he will go to the rear. And if he so much thinks about passing a car, we’re going to black flag that 28 car.”
Current FOX Sports lead race announcer Mike Joy interviewed Allison prior to the race with Allison in the car and Allison was smiling as he was about to start. It showed Allison’s competitive spirit as well as that of the Allison family.
“I knew he was in his happy place,” Joy said. “At that point in time, being a championship contender and all that, the worst thing you could do to that young man would be pull him out of the race car.
“If there was any way possible, he was going to at least start that race and hopefully finish it. That’s part of his drive and determination, but I think also that is the legacy of his dad. His dad was the original ‘one tough customer.’”
The Legend of Davey Allison
Davey’s widow, Liz Allison, looks back and knows that Davey wouldn’t have been allowed to do that today.
“It is just funny looking back because that’s just where we were at that place in time — to Velcro your wrist to the shifter so you can get in the car and try to make a few laps to keep the points?” Liz Allison said. “That’s insanity. I knew it at the time. I really look at that now and kind of semi-laugh about it.”
Why did he do it? Liz Allison said with a shot at the championship, Davey didn’t want to give up those valuable points. There were no playoffs or any system back then that allowed a driver to miss a race. If a driver started a race, that driver was awarded the points for the event even if another driver finished the race in that car.
Allison actually took the points lead after that race as Hillin finished third.
“He had his eye on that championship trophy,” Liz Allison said. “He wanted that more than anything. … He felt like he had the hardest working team in the business, and he wanted it as much for them as he wanted it for him.
“And he didn’t want to do anything that would alter the opportunity to win that trophy in that championship. And so in his mind, that was in his control. Even if it was painful for him and even if it was not in his best interest, he wasn’t willing to not do those things for fear that he would be the one that would keep them from winning that championship.”
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including the past 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass, and sign up for the FOX Sports NASCAR Newsletter with Bob Pockrass.
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