Liz Allison chose not to go to the NASCAR Hall of Fame on Voting Day in May this year. Instead, she opted to watch on TV right along with other stock-car racing fans.
When NASCAR Chairman & CEO Brian France uttered Davey Allison’s name among this year’s five selections, the sense of relief took over as she fell to her knees and cried.
“That was the biggest,” Liz Allison said. “I felt like I could breathe.”
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Her late husband’s legacy will live on next winter upon his induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame’s Class of 2019. For Liz, the recognition of Davey’s accomplishments stands as a special honor, but the lasting impact of having his memory endure in the sport’s shrine serves as an even greater comfort.
“He will never be forgotten, and that’s been my biggest fear is that he would be forgotten, is that people wouldn’t remember him,” Liz Allison said. “They wouldn’t remember the driver that he was, the competitor that he was but the person that he was. They won’t remember.
“They won’t remember that he played a part, that he made an impact on the sport. He is a part of why the sport is the way it is today. And that everybody in that garage area, every driver, they could take the Davey Allison course of how to be a fan favorite and they would do really well. None of that will ever be forgotten now. That’s just the biggest sense of relief.”
One of Liz Allison’s first phone calls went to her daughter, Krista Allison Sheinfeld, who described the emotions as “just pure joy.” For Krista and her brother Robbie, the announcement meant that two generations of Allisons would forever be linked in the Hall (their grandfather, Bobby, Davey’s father, was inducted as part of the Class of 2011).
“I think it is so cool to know that he left something behind that will last forever, that is there for people to see for decades,” said Sheinfeld. “And that he’s in there with my grandpa now, I think that is such a cool connection, that he and his dad are both in the Hall of Fame together. I know it just means so much to all of us that he’s going in this year.”
Said Robbie Allison: “I’ve always felt, like he continues to be remembered after all these years, that there’s this sense of immortality about him. Now, he really is immortal. He’s in the Hall of Fame. He’s an integral piece of NASCAR’s history, and he earned it, he deserved it, and we could not be happier or more proud.”
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