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SpeedTV.com Book Review: Bobby Allison: A Racer’s Racer
Written by: Gregg Leary Charlotte, NC – 12/12/2005
Category:NASCAR -> Sprint Cup
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Title: Bobby Allison: A Racer’s Racer
Author: Bobby Allison with Tim Packman
Foreword by: Rusty Wallace
Rusty Wallace’s foreword pays great tribute to Bobby Allison. Wallace writes, “Bobby’s always been a hero of mine because he’s always been a first-class racer. Bobby is a nuts and bolts racer, and he knew his cars inside out. He wasn’t a driver who just drove the car; he knew a lot about them. Bobby’s an absolute legend and is one of the most savvy drivers, hardest chargers and toughest competitors I have ever known. He is a world class racer and has been there and done it … and probably won it too.”
And speaking of wins, Bobby will tell you the tale of the “missing win.” The one that NASCAR does not credit him with, No. 85, that moves him out of a tie with Darrell Waltrip to third all-time in NASCAR Cup wins, behind only Richard Petty’s 200 and David Pearson’s 105.
Bobby’s book doesn’t “begin in the beginning,” but with the 1979 Daytona 500, which might be both his and NASCAR’s most defining moment. Allison tells of two altercations between himself, brother Donnie and Cale Yarborough on that eventful day. An early tangle and spin by the trio on the backstretch and into the infield mud could have taken them all out of competition. It was largely ignored by the television cameras in what was NASCAR’s first live “flag-to-flag” coverage of “The Superbowl of Stock Car Racing.” Not so the second incident—when Cale and Donnie’s paint-swapping, sheet-metal-banging, car-crashing, last-lap brouhaha took the two leaders out of the race. Bobby stopped by the crash scene to see if Donnie was OK and if he needed a ride back to the garage area.
Cale tried to blame Bobby for the wreck. Bobby writes, “I questioned his ancestry.” Cale hit Bobby in the face with his helmet. Bobby saw blood … then saw RED. “I said to myself, ‘I have to get out of this car and address this right now or run from him the rest of my life. So, I got out of the car. And with that, Cale went to beating on my fist with his nose.’”
The post-race fight was a ratings bonanza for NASCAR. Who knows how many thousands of tickets it sold to future events. Bobby Allison should have been rewarded for putting NASCAR on the map. NASCAR, instead, fined him $6,000.
Bobby traces his racing history from when he caught the racing bug at age 10 when his grandfather took him to his first race. At age 14, Bobby got his motorcycle license and rode it to the race track to watch. A few years later, Bobby tired of being a spectator. He HAD to race. Since he was underage, he bribed his mom into signing permission to race in exchange for Bobby’s promise to do better in school. It worked … for a while. Bobby’s dad was a different story. He told Bobby that he could not live under his roof if he raced. Bobby raced under the alias, Bob Sunderman.
“Sunderman” did well in a race … and Bobby’s dad read about it in a Miami newspaper and said, “If you’re going to race, use your own name. If you’re going to do it, do it with honor.”
Bobby did.
The book chronicles Bobby’s career … triumphs and tragedies. Bobby worked as a mechanic for the legendary Carl Kiekhaefer’s Mercury Outboards Chrysler team. He ate lots of 50 cents per bushel peaches on his way to the promised land of “peaches and cream” and big purses—Alabama. He, brother Donnie and Red Farmer barnstormed as “The Alabama Gang.” They dominated. The only real question was which of the three would win the races.
Bobby tells of his “demolition derby” with the original intimidator, Curtis Turner at Bowman-Gray’s bullring. As usual Bobby was NOT intimidated. Allison’s keen sense of humor is reflected in some of his chapter headings …” Holman Turned Out to be Moody,” and “Hey Junior, ‘Kiss My Ass.’” In “One and Dung” Allison tells about his two skiing trips, his FIRST and LAST, when he ended up falling into a ski lodge’s sewage treatment plant.
Allison’s career had Mt. Everest highs and Death Valley lows. He won the Winston Cup Championship in 1983. Bobby was NASCAR’s “Most Popular Driver” six times. He won the Daytona 500 three times … the final time in 1988 at age 50, followed by his son Davey. This should have been Bobby’s most-cherished racing memory. But he can’t remember it! A life-threatening crash with serious head trauma at Pocono later that year robbed him of his most precious of memories. Bobby recovered from the devastating crash after months of intense painful rehabilitation. A lesser man would have given up. Bobby would never race at the highest level again but he would stay involved as a team owner.
He watched the racing careers of his sons, Clifford and Davey, and endured a parent’s worst agony twice in less than a year, as he had to bury both sons after a racing accident claimed Clifford and an aviation crash took Davey. What strength. What courage. Learn more about this remarkable man in “Bobby Allison: A Racer’s Racer.”