81 Facts About Davey Allison

David Carl Allison was an American NASCAR driver.

Davey Allison was best known for driving the No 28 Texaco-Havoline Ford for Robert Yates Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Davey Allison became a regular winner at BIR, and by 1983 was racing in the Automobile Racing Club of America series.

Davey Allison won two ARCA events at his home track, Talladega Superspeedway, in 1983, and was named ARCA Rookie of the Year in 1984, placing second in the series title.

Davey Allison continued racing in the ARCA series in 1985, winning eight races in the series, four at Talladega Superspeedway.

Davey Allison later substituted for injured racer Neil Bonnett in Junior Johnson's No 12 Budweiser Chevy, starting and finishing 7th in the Talladega 500.

On qualifying day, Davey Allison signalled that he was in Winston Cup to stay when he qualified an unmarked, but Texaco-Havoline painted No 28 Thunderbird second for the 1987 Daytona 500, becoming the first rookie ever to start on the front row for NASCAR's most prestigious event.

On lap 22 of the event, Bobby Davey Allison ran over a piece of debris, cutting his right-rear tire.

Davey Allison was ahead of his father at the time and saw the crash unfold in his mirror.

Bobby Davey Allison was not injured, but the crash slightly injured several spectators and the race was red-flagged for two hours and thirty-eight minutes.

In winning the race, Davey Allison became the first rookie since Ron Bouchard in 1981 to win a Winston Cup event.

Davey Allison again started outside the front row for the Daytona 500, the first modern day race utilizing the NASCAR-mandated carburetor restrictor plate.

Bobby Davey Allison would go on to hold off his son and win his third Daytona 500.

Back at Talladega, the No 28 Ford again suffered engine failure but Davey Allison would drive his father's car later in the race when relief driver Mike Alexander was overcome by heat.

The car made one slow, complete, roll-over with Davey Allison eventually restarting the car and driving it back to the pits.

Davey Allison drove the damaged, hood-less car to a 25th-place finish and had a heated exchange with Bodine following the race.

Davey Allison started on the pole at Talladega and got his first win of 1989, his second victory in Talladega's spring event.

Davey Allison slipped to 11th in the final Winston Cup standings.

However, Davey Allison would marry his second wife, Liz, during the season, and their first child, Krista, was born prior to the 1990 season.

The 1990 season did not start much better than the 1989 season and by the sixth race at Bristol, Davey Allison was a 17th in the Winston Cup standings.

Davey Allison won the fall event at Charlotte Motor Speedway but finished the season 13th in the final Winston Cup standings.

Davey Allison again posted two wins, but only five top-five and 10 top-ten finishes.

Davey Allison won the pole for the Daytona 500 and was in contention for the win until the final laps.

Davey Allison tried to follow Irvan around Earnhardt but could not make the pass and the two drivers battled side by side for a few laps.

Davey Allison finished 12th at Richmond, 16th at Rockingham, then crashed hard early in the Motorcraft 500 at Atlanta, finishing 40th.

Davey was openly feuding with crew chief Elder, and Allison threatened to quit the team if Elder stayed.

Two weeks later, Davey Allison dominated The Winston all-star race at Charlotte, and continued his domination by winning the Coca-Cola 600 the following week, leading 263 of the race's 400 laps.

Two races later, Davey won his first road course event at then Sears Point International Raceway where he was awarded the victory after Ricky Rudd was penalized by NASCAR for spinning Allison out on the final lap.

Davey Allison won again at Michigan then finished third in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona.

At the halfway point of the 1991 season, Davey Allison had climbed to fifth in the Winston Cup point standings.

Davey Allison scored back-to-back victories at Rockingham and Phoenix and entered the final race at Atlanta second in the Winston Cup standings.

Davey Allison started sixth in the 1992 Daytona 500 but was probably not quite as fast as the Junior Johnson teammates of Bill Elliott and Sterling Marlin.

Davey Allison was the only driver to lead the Daytona 500 at halfway and go on to win, until Denny Hamlin won the 2016 race.

Bill Elliott would rebound to win the next four events, but Davey Allison was not far behind in each event, posting four top-five finishes to maintain his lead in the points.

Davey Allison managed to race through the pain and go the distance, winning at North Wilkesboro after beating Rusty Wallace and Geoffrey Bodine off pit road with a fast pit stop and leading the remaining laps en route to victory.

One year removed from his domination of that event and the Coca-Cola 600, Davey Allison was ready to take the spotlight again.

Davey Allison took advantage of this and jumped into the lead.

An unconscious Davey Allison was taken from his car and airlifted to a Charlotte hospital.

Davey Allison claimed to have awoke to see his crashed car below him as he rose away from it, and to have turned his attention away from the frantic work of the emergency workers to a bright light above, which faded and left him in darkness until he awoke later in the hospital.

Davey Allison finished fourth in the Coca-Cola 600 the following week despite the injuries and maintained his points lead.

Davey Allison then finished 11th at Dover, 28th at Sears Point, and fifth at Pocono.

Still hanging onto the points lead, and his body healing, Davey Allison won the pole and dominated the Miller Genuine Draft 400 at Michigan, leading 158 of the race's 200 laps.

The first half of the season ended with Davey Allison posting a 10th-place finish in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona.

At the halfway point of the season, Davey Allison had a 46-point lead over second place Bill Elliott and a 134-point lead over third place Alan Kulwicki, and had held the points lead since the first race of the season, despite the injuries and setbacks.

Davey Allison won the pole for the event and led 115 of the first 149 laps.

On lap 150, Davey Allison was charging back through the pack, followed closely by Darrell Waltrip.

Davey Allison was airlifted to the hospital with a severe concussion, along with a broken arm, wrist, and collar bone.

Davey Allison drove to a fifth-place finish in the Champion Spark Plug 400, then went home to Hueytown for Clifford's funeral.

Davey Allison led 72 laps of the event and was in contention to win, but soon after the leaders pitted for tires and fuel, rain halted the race with 69 laps left.

Davey Allison was declared the winner as darkness fell and the rains continued.

Waltrip, who had long feuded with the entire Davey Allison clan, sat next to his car on pit road in lawn chair and held a colorful umbrella, gleefully joking that the rain shower was worth "one million dollars" to him as he became the fourth driver to finish a Career Grand Slam.

Davey Allison finished 30th in that event while Allison finished 16th.

Back at Charlotte, Davey Allison finished a 19th, but Elliott finished 30th and there were now four drivers within 100 points of Elliott.

Davey Allison finished 10th and Kulwicki 12th and entering the final two races of the 1992 season, Davey Allison was 70 points behind Elliott in second, with Kulwicki 85 points behind in third.

Davey Allison now had the points lead for the first time since his violent Pocono crash, and was 30 points ahead of Kulwicki, and 40 ahead of Elliott, who had slipped to third in the standings.

Davey Allison entered the race needing only to finish fifth or better to win the Winston Cup.

Late in the race, Davey Allison had finally managed to reach the top five and was in position to win the championship when Ernie Irvan lost control of his car on the frontstretch on lap 286.

That finish was followed by a 16th at Rockingham, but Davey Allison rebounded to win at Richmond the following week.

Davey Allison had debuted in the International Race of Champions in 1992, but his injuries forced him to miss the last two races.

Three days after Kulwicki's death in an airplane crash, Davey Allison finished fifth in an emotional race at Bristol.

Davey Allison followed that finish with a fourth at North Wilkesboro, second at Martinsville, seventh at Talladega, and 15th at Sears Point.

Davey Allison finished a 30th in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, but rebounded at Dover, finishing third.

Davey Allison was sixth at Pocono, but finished 35th at Michigan and 31st at Daytona.

Halfway through the 1993 season, Davey Allison was fifth in the point standings, but was 323 points behind leader Dale Earnhardt.

Davey Allison led 38 laps of the event and finished third behind Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin.

On July 12,1993, Davey Allison boarded his newly acquired Hughes 369HS helicopter to fly to Talladega Superspeedway to watch family friend Neil Bonnett and his son David Bonnett test a car for David's Busch Series debut.

Davey Allison was attempting to land the helicopter inside a fenced-in area of the track infield when the craft nosed up suddenly, then crashed.

Neil Bonnett freed Farmer from the wreckage, but Davey Allison was unresponsive and could not be freed until paramedics arrived.

Farmer went on to a lengthy but successful recovery, but Davey Allison never regained consciousness after sustaining a critical head injury.

Davey Allison was pronounced dead at 7:00 am the next morning by a neurosurgeon at Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham after a procedure to relieve pressure on his brain proved unsuccessful.

In January 1994, Davey Allison's estate filed a lawsuit against McDonnell Douglas claiming the cause of the crash was a failure of the collective socket on the helicopter.

The lawsuit sought $25 million and was filed on behalf of Davey Allison Racing Enterprises, Tommy Allison as Executor of Davey Allison's estate, and Red Farmer.

Davey Allison was buried wearing one of his black Texaco firesuits and wearing a racing hat.

Davey Allison is buried near his brother, Clifford, in Bessemer's Highland Memorial Gardens.

Davey Allison was survived by his wife, Liz, and two children: daughter Krista Marie and son Robert "Robbie" Grey.

Davey Allison was leading the IROC series championship at the time of his death, with one race remaining in the four race series.

Terry Labonte drove the final race in place of Davey Allison and secured the championship for him.

Davey Allison was posthumously inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1998, and in 2018 he was announced as an inductee of the NASCAR Hall of Fame where he was formally inducted in 2019.

Davey Allison became a figure in a controversy as his widow became involved with country music star Joe Diffie shortly after Davey Allison's death.

Davey Allison had his own brand of chili by Bunker Hill with his face on the can.

Davey Allison had a comic book printed about him during his racing days.