Looking back over the trials of a racing legend

By Liz Allison, Turner Sports Interactive
August 22, 2001
11:34 AM EDT (1534 GMT)

NOTE: Liz Allison's column this week centers around the interview she conducted with Bobby and Judy Allison for TNTs pre-race broadcast for this weekend's Sharpie 500 at Bristol. Watch the pre-show on Saturday for Liz Allison's feature on one of NASCAR's most enduring families.

Liz Allison

HUEYTOWN, Ala. -- I went back to Hueytown, Ala. two weeks ago to shoot a feature on Bobby Allison for TNT Sports.

I chose to drive to the small town outside of Birmingham so that I could collect my thoughts for what I was anticipating being one of the most emotionally difficult assignments I would ever have. I was about to spend the day with my late husband's parents, with whom I both love and admire very much.

The Allisons  Alabama Gang honored  Video: Neil Bonnett is inducted into the Hall of Fame  Video: Bobby Allison on Neil Bonnett

I pulled up to the old familiar house of Bobby and Judy Allison on Church Street in Hueytown with a few minutes to spare. I sat in their driveway with a clear view of the home where they raised their four children and the race shop that had more history within it's walls than one could dream of.

I tried to imagine what it was like on that hill so many years ago. I could picture Red Farmer, Neil Bonnett, Donnie and Bobby Allison hustling around getting ready to head to another track for some Friday night racing.

The ever-famous "Alabama Gang" started right here. Over the years, they put their stamp on every track they raced on. The "Alabama Gang" made their mark in racing history and a mark that will not likely be forgotten.

I walked in to the shop that Bobby and Davey shared some eight years ago. I could still smell yesterday. It was if nothing had changed, but it had in a big way.

Bobby and Judy Allison

Here before me sat the man who is one of NASCAR's greatest drivers of all time. He was smiling that big smile at me as I walked in to his office. I wondered what he and Judy must be feeling as I was there to interview the two of them as a reporter.

Bobby and Judy looked so incredibly happy and equally as happy to share their day with my cameras and me.

We got started on our interview and I somehow forgot the cameras were even in the room. I listened as Bobby and Judy opened up like I had never heard before. It was obvious to me that healing had taken place in their hearts.

The pain and the anger that once had a hold of them had graciously lifted from their faces. What life had dealt them in the past has no longer a strong grip on their lives. They would not allow it anymore.

After nearly losing is own life in a first-lap accident at Pocono in 1988, Bobby battled to survive his horrible wreck. He sustained severe injuries that would eventually lead to the end of his spectacular racing career.

The next few years would deliver the worst loss that a father could ever endure, the deaths of both of his sons.

Bobby Allison

Bobby and Judy's youngest son Clifford was killed in 1992 when a car his was practicing in Michigan slammed the wall. Eleven months later their oldest son Davey was killed when his helicopter crashed in to the infield of Talladega Super Speedway.

What more could two people take? The stress took a toll on Bobby and Judy's marriage. They eventually divorced and went their separate ways.

"This was such a terrible time in our lives. I could not take anything else. I just had to have a break," said Judy as she discusses one of the lowest points in her life.

Break she did. Judy moved to Charlotte, N.C. to get away from the constant reminders of how her family used to be. Bobby continued to live in the home that the two had shared in Alabama.

Bobby continued his frequent stops at tracks by serving as team consultants and product spokesman. Judy chose not to return to racing, as she made a life for herself away from the track.

Ironically what torn them apart would be what brings them back together a few years later.

When Bobby and Judy got the word that the Adam Petty had been killed in a racing accident in 2000. they decided to put their differences aside and go together to offer their condolences to their long time friends - Kyle and Pattie Petty.

Bobby realized that what had attracted him to Judy many years before still existed. "I decided we needed to be together and that we should have never been apart."

Davey Allison

Bobby and Judy stayed together from that point on, and they remarried in July 2000.

Bobby and Judy never questioned why they had to endure such pain in their lives. Their only prayer has been for peace and guidance in their lives, a prayer that many of us have prayed from them over the years.

We were coming to the end of our time together that day. I gazed in to the eyes of the man that my late husband called his hero, his mentor, and his father. I thought of how proud Davey would be of his Dad's life.

How proud he would be of the marriage that was saved by the loss of a dear friend and more importantly he was never as proud as he was to tell that he was Bobby Allison's kid.

I feel equally as proud to call Bobby and Judy my family, the grandparents of mine and Davey's precious children, Robbie and Krista and my hero's.