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Famed NASCAR driver Bobby Allison dies at 86

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

One of NASCAR's most popular and winningest drivers has died. Hall of Famer Bobby Allison was 86 years old. Allison's stock racing career spanned more than three decades and included a championship. Andrew Yeager from WBHM in Birmingham, Alabama, has this remembrance.

ANDREW YEAGER, BYLINE: For Bobby Allison, it started with his grandfather. He lived with Allison's family in South Florida while the future driver grew up in Miami.

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BOBBY ALLISON: He said to me one night, come on, Bobby, we're going to the car races. And I saw that car race at age 10, I guess, and really, really was enthused.

YEAGER: Allison began racing in high school. He left Florida in 1959, looking for better opportunities and settled in Hueytown, Alabama, near Birmingham. He became part of a group of drivers dubbed the Alabama Gang. A fierce competitor, Allison began racking up the accomplishments - three-time winner at Daytona, four-time winner at Talladega, series champion in 1983. He won 85 races. Allison changed NASCAR, although perhaps unintentionally. A fistfight at the 1979 Daytona 500 with two other drivers, his brother, Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough, helped catapult the sport before a national audience. Then during a 1987 race at Talladega, heard in a broadcast provided by NASCAR...

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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER #1: Oh, we got a problem.

UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER #2: ...Blown a tire.

YEAGER: Allison's engine blew. Ripping a tire, he went airborne.

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UNIDENTIFIED SPORTSCASTER #1: Bobby Allison with a horrible crash here on the front stretch. It has torn out a complete section of protective railing separating...

YEAGER: Allison walked away, and it's considered the prime reason NASCAR instituted restrictor plates to slow down cars. In a 2019 interview with WBHM, Allison said that was a good move.

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ALLISON: I feel like the restrictor plate is the best, most fair thing that they ever did because it did the same thing to everybody.

YEAGER: For all his success, Allison also suffered tragedy. His two sons, Davey and Clifford, followed him into racing. Clifford Allison died in 1992 in a crash during a practice run at a track in Michigan. Less than a year later, Davey Allison was piloting a helicopter and crashed at the Talladega Superspeedway. Bobby Allison's racing career ended in 1988 after an accident at the Pocono Raceway left him with life-threatening injuries.

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ALLISON: My biggest question was - why didn't I die?

YEAGER: Racing historian Buz McKim says Allison started in NASCAR before the days of big sponsorship money, when some drivers lived hand to mouth. He calls Allison a driver's driver.

BUZ MCKIM: He was an incredible engineer, too. He built a lot of his own cars, and his cars were very advanced for the time. But he would race anywhere, any time. If he could, he would race seven days a week. And I don't think I've ever seen anybody as diligent as he was or as good for the sport.

YEAGER: Allison had a stint as a car owner. He was a frequent personality at NASCAR events, meeting fans and signing autographs, quick to promote the sport he loved, a champion for racing, both on and off the track. For NPR News, I'm Andrew Yeager in Birmingham.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Andrew Yeager