A little boy driving his Matchbox cars is a scene probably played out thousands of times a day in living rooms all across the country. But when you’re Robbie Allison, son of Davey Allison, moments like these are meant to be cherished.
So it was this past Memorial Day weekend when Robbie’s son Theo was playing in front of the TV while the Coca-Cola 600 blared in the background.
“That’s the first sound that Theo started making, the ‘Rrrrrr-rrrrrr (of the cars),' " Robbie Allison said. “He gets glued to it. Our granddad (Bobby Allison) said that dad started making car noises when he was 9 months old. But my son was 4 months old, so I always tell my granddad … Theo’s got dad beat.”
And just like that the four generations of Allison men have shared a connection. RELATED: Learn more about Davey Allison [caption id="attachment_128699" align="alignright" width="300"]For Robbie, finding those connections is invaluable.
“My son's 18 months old now, and so I constantly think about, this was about the age I was when he passed away,” Robbie Allison said. “Just seeing my relationship with my son, and that bond, has really allowed me, internally, to get to know my own dad better in that experience. It's a life-long journey, for sure.”
What’s just as important is spending as much time as possible with Theo, something Robbie didn’t get the opportunity to do with his own dad.
“My son and I are really attached to each other, and I try to spend every moment away from work, every moment that I can with him,” Robbie Allison said. “I see that if I get home after he falls asleep, the next day he's that much happier to see me. You can see, at 18 months, there's that bond. He knows who his mom is, he knows who his dad is, and he misses us when we're gone.
“I think back on me being 23 months old and losing my dad, and thinking of what I must have gone through as a young child, as a toddler, knowing that you're missing that role that you've gotten to know, and that you've come to rely on, and had this unexplainable bond with, and then to miss that piece,” Robbie added. “It's weird to think about that from the outside looking in, and then take a step back and realize you're thinking about yourself.
"It's me that I'm kind of analyzing in that situation, and it makes me that much more motivated to be as active of a father as I can. And to just do whatever I can for my son. Give him the best life, the best father/son relationship he could possibly have."
MORE: Treasures left behind give Robbie Allison connection to dad