Career Chronology: Bobby Allison
- 1959: Entered the Montgomery Speedway and finished in fifth place.
- 1978: Wins his first Daytona 500 race.
- 1982: Wins his second Daytona 500 and the Firecracker 400.
- 1983: Wins the Winston Cup.
- 1988: Wins his third Daytona 500.
- 1988: Crashes at the Miller High 500, and retires due to a lengthy rehab.
- 1993: Inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame
- 2011: Inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Video Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzDkdu00dDw
Career Highlights: Bobby Allison
- In 1972 Bobby Allison was voted national Driver of the Year for winning ten races and taking 11 poles.
- He won the Firecracker 400 in 1982, making him the fourth driver to take both Sprint Cup races at Daytona in the same year.
- Allison won the first Daytona 500 run with restrictor plates in February ’88, making him the first driver to win the Daytona 500, both with and without restrictor plates.
- He is also the oldest driver (at 50 years old) to win the Daytona 500.
Biography: Bobby Allison
Former stock car racer Robert “Bobby” Allison was born in 1937 in Miami, Florida. He began racing in high school, and then went on to work as a mechanic and engine tester for Carl Kiekhaefer in Ohio, who also owned racecars. While employed at Mercury Outboard Motors, he worked for the racecar division, and he went to 19 races, but ultimately decided to return to Miami. In 1956, he used a fake name in a race so as not to draw attention or disgrace from his family. When his father noticed and told him to race with honor, he went on to race in his own name. He had entered the Montgomery Speedway in 1959 and finished in fifth place. He talked his friend Red Farmer into entering into races in Alabama, and they gained success and soon answered to the Alabama Gang. In 1962, Allison won the national championship in the modified special division. He soon moved full-time and to the Grand National circuit in 1965, with his first victory at Oxford Plains Speedway in 1966.
He was the winner of the Winton Cup in 1983, and won the Daytona 500 three times, in 1978, 1982, and in 1988. During his career, he accumulated 84 victories (two not awarded), which makes him the fourth all-time winner in NASCAR. He also ran the Indianapolis 500 two times, with his best finish being 25th in 1975. Later, towards the end of his career in 1987, he was involved in an accident at Talladega that threw debris into the crowd and injured bystanders. In 1988, he crashed on the first lap at the Mile High 500, surviving a head-on impact and a T-bone hit that caused him to initially be declared dead, but ultimately recover from a vegetative state. Bobby Allison is one of eight drivers that won a career Grand Slam, with the four major races: the Daytona 500, the Winston 500, the Coca-Cola 500, and the Southern 500. He was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2011.
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