Allison's career endures throughout the years

The fourth of 10 children, Bobby Allison began racing cars as a teenager in south Florida. In addition to his abilities behind the wheel, Allison was a top-notch mechanic and engine tester.

A national champion in the modified division in 1962 as a member of the famed Alabama Gang, Allison's career took off four years later when he wound up driving one of Holman and Moody's cars. Among his career highlights are 84 victories, including three Daytona 500s, and the 1983 Winston Cup championship at age 45.

Hall of Fame bio

A charter member of the "Alabama Gang," the longtime resident of Hueytown, Ala., has become one of NASCAR's most beloved former competitors, in large part because of his remarkable resilience after a career-ending accident at Pocono Raceway in 1988 -- just several months after he won the Daytona 500.

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Q: What was it like racing in south Florida in the '50s?

Allison: Miami was a very peaceful little town to begin with. I had a few things going on around there. They had Opa-Locka Speedway and then they built Hialeah Speedway and Medley Speedway and Hollywood Speedway. And along during that time, they paved West Palm Beach Speedway around 1955. So they had a big half-mile paved, a quarter-mile at Hollywood, a third-mile at Hialeah. So we had lots of race tracks.

Q: What led to the decision to move to Alabama?

Allison: We ran a race at West Palm Beach and finished second in a big 100-lapper, and I won like $95 and thought I was rich. Purses were pretty poor there, but we didn't have any information about purses further north. Two other friends had been on the road, and one of their girlfriends had a family living in Jasper, Tenn. So they took the race car, using that as an excuse to go. They came back and said they saw a lot of tracks but all of them were dirt, so they didn't race anywhere. But they heard there were really good paved tracks in Alabama.

I said, 'Well, I've got all this money so I'll go with you.' I loaded up my stuff and got Donnie in the truck with me and we went to Alabama. The second week there, I won the first feature of my career. And also that same night in Montgomery, it was Donnie's first ride as a professional. He had run some amateur races but that Saturday night was his first professional race.

Q: Why did you choose Hueytown as your home?

Allison: We were in the Birmingham area and there was a quarter-mile called Dixie Speedway. The activity in Birmingham, the business activity was better than Montgomery or Pensacola. Birmingham seemed a little bit more attractive to us and we made some friends there. We were going to buy a house that came up for sale out in the country near Bessemer. I called the real estate guy and he said that house was gone but he had a real nice house in Hueytown.

So he took us out and showed us this house he had in Hueytown and we liked it. We bought it and moved there.

Q: Who gave you the nickname of the Alabama Gang?

Allison: The way I remember it, that happened after we moved to Alabama and all three of us -- me, Donnie and Red Farmer -- were winning races. We had a race at Weaverville, N.C., near Asheville, and we pulled in there and this young guy named Jack Ingram, who was doing pretty good there, was there. We knew him and spoke to him several times.

He looked at us and said, "Uh oh, here comes that dang Alabama gang again." And it just tickled me, the way he said that. So we just adopted this moniker.

Q: What was your first Cup ride?

Allison: Well, I won some races in 1959 and 1960. Judy and I got married in February of 1960, and Judy's oldest sister's husband was a big race enthusiast from south Florida. So he decided to build a Grand National car for the 1960 season for Herb Tillman. He was a really good competitor from down there. So they built a '60 Chevy and raced it some. Then in '61, they put me in it for the Daytona 500. That was my first Grand National race.

October unveiling

A Voting Panel will meet in Charlotte, N.C., to select the five for enshrinement with the inaugural Hall of Fame class to be announced October 14.

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About the Hall

The Hall of Fame will bring NASCAR's history to life and preserves that history in the appropriate environments. The facility will allow fans to have the opportunity to relive the sport's greatest moments.

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We worked hard and did poorly but we were there. And went to Atlanta and worked hard and did poorly but we were there, too. And then went to Charlotte and worked hard and did poorly. Finally, we said we needed to go back to the modifieds and get a little bit more experience. I had been back and forth to Alabama then, but I moved there full time then and did short-track stuff with the modifieds.

Q: When did you feel like you had made it in NASCAR?

Allison: I tried to race with Ray Fox in 1964. I had worked at [Carl] Kiekhaefer's way back in 1956 and Ray Fox was my boss then, so he gave me a chance to drive one of his Dodges at Darlington, and I did pretty good in the car. But there was someone else there who was sure he could do better and he talked his way into it and I went back to modifieds.

In 1965, I ran Riverside, Daytona and Atlanta, and a few of the other races in a car owned by a guy who was a Teamsters boss in Baton Rouge, La., by the name of Ed Grady. Ed had bought this car from Holman and Moody that was way less competitive than they expected it to be. So he parked it and a fellow named Robert Harper in Jackson, Miss., who I knew from the modified series, decided to put together an effort so we ran some Cup races for him. Then I just headed back home.

The following year, Betty Lilly had run Sam McQuagg and he had won rookie of the year for 1965. So she called me up and said, 'Sam's gone on to a factory ride and I'd like you to drive my car and see what you can do with it.' So I drove her car for six, eight, 10 races and really struggled with that. Finally she decided to let somebody else drive that car, which was a blessing for me. And I went home and built the first Chevelle.

With that car, I won the first Cup race of my career.

Q: Of all the owners you drove for, who stands out most?

Allison: Of all the owners I drove for, the one that stands out was Ralph Moody. Ralph Moody was a hero of mine, but he was also an incredibly smart setup mechanic and engineer. He was part of Holman and Moody corporation. He stuck me in a car at the end of the 1967 season and I won three out of four races and was leading the fourth race when I had a little mishap -- the engine went sour -- and wound up not winning. But I won Rockingham, the 500-lapper at Asheville-Weaverville and the 500-lapper at Macon and was leading at Montgomery when the engine went sour.

Then things changed around, and I bounced around again. In 1971, I drove the last 19 races of the season for Ralph Moody, and won nine of them.

Q: Is there a career moment that stands out?

Allison: What I should look back at with the most pride is 1988. At age 50, I won my third Daytona 500 and the best young man in racing was second to me, my son Davey. However, the crash at Pocono has totally erased that memory. I've got pictures and books and tapes, but I don't have any personal memory of that event.

If I were to pick something that I remember, my thoughts always go back to my first 500-mile win at Rockingham in 1967. Ralph Moody owned the car and Fred Lorenzen was my crew chief, and he was brilliant as far as race strategy. He really, really helped me.

Q: What do you feel has been the biggest change in the sport?

Allison: When I won my first Cup race in Oxford, Maine, in 1966, I had one paid employee with me. And I didn't have any other paid employees at home. I had some part-time help and every once in a while, I'd hire somebody on a day wage or whatever. But I won my first race with one paid employee. Today, Hendrick and Roush probably have 400.

Q: Who would you vote for the inaugural Hall of Fame class?

Allison: I'd put in Bill France, Bill France Jr., Richard Petty, David Pearson and Bobby Allison.

Q: What do you think will be your legacy?

Allison: I hope that people will say I was a good competitor, that I was enthusiastic and I included a lot of people along the way in my activities. That I was good for the sport and the sport was good for me.

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