He was as good a pure racer as ever lived. Racing gave and took away from the Allison family. RIP, Bobby.
He and his brother always put on a good race at Birmingham International Raceway in the early 60’s along with a bunch of other names you would know. RIP
I hate to hear that because we are starting to loose all of my heroes and influences from my childhood and younger years. Prayers for the family and all the lives that he touched.
Those Allison boys raced hard everywhere they went, and Bobby was the leader of that pack. The hay day of most of the old school NASCAR drivers we remember, started gaining recolonization in the mid 1960s. Those guys were my heroes when I was a young man. It was 50 years ago, that I graduated from high school in 1974 (I'm 68 now, to save you from doing the math). Those good old boys are getting up there in years, every time another on passes, it reminds us we are getting older too.
RIP Bobby was a big Davie fan one of the smoothest drivers ever took me a while to get over his death
Listen to the Hank Willams Jr. tune "Hueytown." It really sums up the Alabama Gang. They were originally from the Tampa area. Hanks says a fast crowd man. Indeed.
Such a smart, hands-on racer. I put him up there with Smokey and Junior Johnson as far as pure mechanical geniuses. These guys pushed the limits long before answers to technical questions were readily available on the internet. Their skills and driving were seat of the pants, experience learned the hard way. The Allison Family has known such incredible tragedy, maybe now Bobby will rest in peace. Sad news to hear for sure.
I posted on this here a week ago today, and it come up on my Facebooks memories today- Bobby Allison's hat from his 1983 Southern 500 Victory! Mom and Dad saw him coming out of the press box and asked if he would hold me for a photo. I was just under two years old, I reached out and started playing with his hat he handed it to me. After a few minutes Dad said, "Give Bobby his hat back." Instead, Bobby autographed it and put it on my head! Bobby Allison was a great fabricator, chassis builder and a great guy as well! When my dad was building his 64 Chevelle late model he had a Bobby Allison rear suspension set up. He saw Bobby at Daytona, and they spoke at length about chassis set up and handling.
I was just looking at pictures of the Cup cars from the last Winston Cup race at Islip Speedway. Bobby's 12 Coke car was in the pile they were taken by a departed friend if mine. I raced at Islip the same night Davey made an appearance, we were in different divisions I met Bobby at Flemington, they had Miller Beer DIRT modified for him. All of those drivers of the era were tough. I saw an article years ago and drivers like Allison, Petty and others were wired for heart rate, breathing, etc. And this was under racing conditions, at speed. Allison and Petty were the only 2 whose numbers were the same, racing or resting.
Remember when Bobby made an appearance at Fonda Speedway. Took my dad with me. Rumor was anybody that put a fender on him during his appearance race was going to catch hell. If I remember he looped it but recovered. Was nice to see him locally.. Yes great guy who I followed back then. But I enjoyed following several of those guys. Great period in time be a witness to some of the greats. Wide world of sports got me into it. RIP
Dad couldn't go to the 1966 Grand National race when Bobby wrecked the Chevelle at Fonda (Fonda NY). Bobby had family in he stayed with them patched the car back together and won at Islip Lond Island! Bobby and the Chevelle at Fonda.
Decades after the fight with Cale Yarborough at the '79 Daytona 500, Bobby said " I got out of my car and he started hitting my fists with his nose!"
...I was there in '79, sitting low on the front stretch, we knew there was a fight after the crash, but really couldn't see much of it until we got back to our motel and watched the high-lights on TV.. Huge blizzard took place that evening disrupting everything up and down the East Coast. It took my friend and I a few days to get a flight back home to Washington, D. C.
This was the car that Bobby wanted to use a HM front clip on, NASCAR said no. So he cut the existing front chassis stub off and made his own, laying it out in chalk on the garage floor. Along with being a great driver, he was also a very capable fabricator.
Bobby was one of the rare drivers who could design his car, build his engine, sell custom parts to other racers and then beat them on the track. I had the privilege of working with him in the last year of the old modified championship and the first year of the late model modifieds, when he was racing out of Bo Field's garage, The Mud Creek Racing Team. The opportunity to wash parts, sweep floors and watch genius at work was a priceless education. No racer, fabricator, entrepreneur, ever worked harder, worked smarter and made more out of less. We raced four times a week, five months a year; Huntsville on Thursday night, Midfield on Friday night, Montgomery on Saturday night and Birmingham Fairgrounds on Sunday afternoon. RIP, Bobby jack vines
The Jalopy Journal
