Saluting the Alabama Gang

By Gaylen Duskey, Special to Turner Sports Interactive
July 18, 2001
12:02 PM EDT (1602 GMT)

COMMENTARY

On July 11, 1993, Davey Allison roared to a third-place finish in the Slick 50 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. It was the first Winston Cup race ever at NHIS. It was the last race ever for Allison.

Gaylen Duskey

It was also the last gasp for one of NASCAR's most famous racing organizations -- the Alabama Gang.

Actually the Alabama Gang was already on the downhill side from its heyday. But when Davey Allison tragically died in a helicopter crash while trying to land at Talladega, Ala., the bottom fell completely out on that storied group.

There have been other drivers from Alabama attempt to fill the void ... to rebuild the Alabama Gang. But they have fallen woefully short. Actually no driver from Alabama has won a Winston Cup race since Allison's death.

It would appear, therefore, the Alabama Gang has been consigned to history. But once upon a time, the Alabama Gang was really something.

The real 'gang' from Hueytown, Ala., included brothers Donnie and Bobby Allison, Red Farmer and Neil Bonnett, although Bonnett came along a bit later, bridging the gap between the original group and Davey Allison, who was to continue the dynasty.

During its heyday, the Alabama Gang was the rival of any NASCAR group, including the Petty family, as it rolled up 131 victories. The Petty family had considerably more wins -- 263 -- but that was to be expected, especially since Richard Petty won 200.

However it would be impossible for any team to measure up to the Petty family, at least statistically.

Yet back in the golden era of NASCAR -- the 1960s and 1970s in particular -- three racing entities gave the Petty family all it could handle. One such entity was the Alabama Gang, which was joined by David Pearson and Cale Yarborough in its pursuit of Petty.

Bobby and Donnie Allison hold a charity golf tournament each year.

Many consider the leader of the Alabama Gang to be Bobby Allison.

He was one of the chief challengers to Petty -- along with Pearson and Yarborough - and posted 84 career Winston Cup victories. The high point of his career probably took place in 1983 when he won the Winston Cup points title. But it was downhill after that.

The wheels came off the wagon, so to speak, in 1988 when he was nearly killed in a spectacular accident at Pocono Motor Speedway. He suffered crushed legs and a fractured skull. He was unconscious for three weeks, then spent months in a hospital. He was transferred to a rehabilitation center where he spent almost two years in intensive speech and physical therapy.

But that was just the beginning. That was a physical assault to his body. Part of racing … the inherent dangers that come with sitting behind the wheel of a car going 180 mph.

The injuries, as bad as they were, were not the most hurtful things.

In August 1992 his youngest son, Clifford, died in a crash at Michigan. Less than a year later his second oldest son, Davey, died in a helicopter accident.

Not long after that Judy, his wife of 35 years, and he divorced.

On top of all the personal tragedy, his business -- Bobby Allison Racing -- went under.

He once quipped, "You know the expression 'Cheer up, it could be worse'? Well, I cheered up and it got worse. So I am not going to cheer up anymore."

Donnie Allison was not quite as heroic a figure as his brother. Not as tragic a figure, either.

While Donnie won only 10 Winston Cup races, he was one of, if not the, greatest crossover racer of all time, being nearly as successful as an open-wheel driver as he was a NASCAR driver.

Neil Bonnett won 18 Winston Cup races during his career.

He was the NASCAR Rookie of the Year in 1967 and the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year in 1970. It was in 1970 that he pulled off one of the greatest feats in racing history by winning the World 600 while finishing fourth in the Indy 500 -- in the same weekend.

He has remained active since his racing days as a team owner and a crew chief. His son-in-law, Hut Stricklin, has had a modicum of success on the NASCAR circuit while his sons -- Ronald, Donald and Kenny -- have worked as car-builders.

Donnie has also tried his hand as a commentator for racing networks.

Bonnett reached the top of the line as a racing commentator following injuries that sidelined him in the early '90s. He chose, however, to go back into racing in 1993 and was planning a practice run that Davey Allison was to watch when Davey was killed.

Bonnett, tragically, lost his life while practicing at Daytona.

Since then, the Alabama Gang has basically been a bunch of guys from Alabama who are trying to make it in NASCAR. Stricklin is probably the best-known of the bunch.

Doug Reid, a young driver, attempted to make a name for himself but instead learned what big shoes anyone from Alabama would have to fill to ever be considered in the same breath with the Gang.

"I don't think I ever realized the kind of impact they had on racing," he said. "For a long time, the Alabama Gang and Hueytown were synonymous with racing. You think about it now and there is no one left in Hueytown."

There may be no future Alabama Gang on the horizon ... or even deep into the future, but once upon a time there was not a more famous racing name.

NOTE: Gaylen Duskey's column appears regularly on NASCAR.com. The opinions listed here are solely those of the writer.