Davey: A life remembered in his family’s words

By | Published: February 25, 2021 25

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Scott Hunter | NASCAR Productions

'I think that if there's anything that life with Davey and losing Davey taught me, was that life … it can be really short, it can be really long, but even if it's really long, it probably still feels really short. So let's just try to breathe and just have those moments where we just let it sink in.' -- Liz Allison, widow of Davey Allison

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'It's amazing to me how as much healing and as much time passes, how painful it can still be. Davey will always be that young, vibrant 32-year-old that walked out of the house that morning. No matter how much time passes, it's just amazing to me how when I close my eyes, that's how I see him.' -- Liz Allison

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'To this day, I still hear every single day, a story about him. And I think that is so cool, and it really makes me see life in that light, too. I try to live my life thinking that same way, that these people (Davey's fans) love you.' -- daughter Krista Allison

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'I love just the realness of Davey. He was so approachable. He was kind of an 'aw, shucks' kind of guy but yet, he was so approachable, too.' -- Liz Allison

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'He lives on through the things that he left behind in people from who he was and the things that he did. The things that he was able to teach me and the things that I've gained and now am passing on to my son. I think he lives on far more profoundly in those ways.' -- son Robbie Allison

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'My granddad (Bobby Allison), he always has been very focused on wanting me to understand what kind of man my dad was. He's my best friend in the world.' -- Robbie Allison

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'I like to think that I don't struggle with the loss anymore, but that's a total lie. We still mourn the loss. You never get over that at all.' -- Krista Allison

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'Man, your heart doesn't know time. Your heart just feels pain, or happiness. It doesn't know time, and grief is such ... man, it's an animal. It can be the monster in the closet, or it can be the biggest healing peace that there ever was. ... I think grief is just this big mask. And it comes in waves, and you deal with it the best you can. And it never goes away.' -- Liz Allison

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'I have one memory of kissing a TV where he was on TV racing or being interviewed. We remember the way that he smelled, his voice. He had such a memorable voice.' -- Krista Allison

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'I think Davey, he was the dream for so many people. If Davey could make it, then so could all of these other people, right? If he was some little kid out of a greasy little shop in Hueytown, Alabama, and he could make it at the big time, then man, dreams are alive. ... I think he was the dream. I think he was the reality of a dream for himself and for so many people.' -- Liz Allison

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'I feel, oddly enough, like I have this personal relationship with him. I do believe that he is with me and is helping kind of guide me along my own journey.' -- Robbie Allison

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'I mean listen, he wanted to beat Dale Earnhardt. He wanted to be beat Bobby Allison. He wanted to beat the best of the best because if he did, then that meant he was pretty dang good.' -- Liz Allison

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'Guys wanted to have a beer with him, girls had crushes on him, mamas wanted to bring him home and give him a big hug.' -- Liz Allison

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'You just felt like you wanted to hug life. You wanted to bottle it up. Looking back especially, just knowing that in that moment, everybody was healthy and happy and he was winning and we were all there together. It just doesn't get any better than that.' -- Liz Allison on Davey winning the 1992 Daytona 500

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'It was like one of those moments where you felt like life is good. You know, life is good. You've got everybody that you love ... in Victory Lane with you, and you just won the Daytona 500. It was just one of those moments that you can't really describe, but you know that it's one of those big moments in life that you'll never forget.' -- Liz Allison on Davey winning the 1992 Daytona 500

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'He was so exciting and passionate about life. Everything was big with Davey. His smile was big, his personality was big. Listen, he had a big temper. I think for Davey, he had a special way of making whoever he was around feel like he was one of them.' -- Liz Allison

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'If you think he would, then just do it, Liz. He's gone, but someone else is still here.' -- Tommy Allison to Liz Allison on organ donations, at the hospital minutes after Davey was pronounced dead

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'She (Liz) is incredibly strong. The amount of strength that takes just blows my mind.' -- Krista Allison on her mother

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'The only fear as time went on for him was, if something were to happen to him, with leaving things in the right place. Making sure that the kids were OK, and I was OK, and that we would be taken care of. Those were the things that he feared. Not dying. ... That was just the essence of Davey's heart. He was always thinking about other people.' -- Liz Allison

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'It was almost like hearing about a fictional character or a superhero.' -- Robbie Allison, on the stories about his dad

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'The biggest thing that stands out to me is how much he just loved life and people.' -- Krista Allison

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'I always try to go visit his grave in Hueytown, Alabama, and just sit at his grave, and just kind of sit in his presence and talk to him. Sometimes I'll write him letters.' -- Robbie Allison

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'He was special. He was special because he made other people feel special.' -- Liz Allison

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'I've always felt like he continues to be remembered after all these years. Now, he really is immortal.' -- Robbie Allison, on his father being voted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame

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'The Davey that so many people knew and loved before Bobby's accident at Pocono was different the day after Bobby's accident. Really, it was the handing over the baton of the man of the family is really what it was. Davey became that person.' -- Liz Allison on how Davey changed following Bobby Allison, Davey's father, being involved in a 1988 wreck at Pocono that forced him to retire