NASCAR Career
He moved to the Grand National circuit in 1965 and got his first victory at Oxford Plains Speedway on July 12, 1966.
During the course of his career, Bobby Allison accumulated 84 victories, making him fourth all-time, tied with Darrell Waltrip, including three victories at the Daytona 500 in 1978, 1982 and 1988, where he finished one-two with his son, Davey Allison. He was NASCAR Winston Cup Champion in 1983 driving for DiGard Racing. Allison ran in the Indianapolis 500 twice, with a best finish of 25th in 1975. His NASCAR team owners included DiGard, Junior Johnson & Associates, and Roger Penske, for whom Allison scored four of the five NASCAR wins for American Motors' Matador. The other AMC victory was accomplished by Mark Donohue also racing for Penske in 1973 at Riverside. He raced in NASCAR as a driver/owner of an AMC Matador.
Allison was involved in an accident at Talladega in May 1987 that saw his car cut down a tire, turn sideways and go airborne into the protective catch fence that separates the speedway from the grandstands. The impact, at over 200 miles per hour (320 km/h), tore out over 100 yards of fencing. Parts and pieces of the car went flying into the grandstand injuring several spectators. This was the same race where Bill Elliott had set the all-time qualifying record at 212 mph (341 km/h).
In response, NASCAR mandated smaller carburetors for the remaining 1987 events at Talladega and Daytona. The following year, NASCAR mandated restrictor plates at Daytona and Talladega to keep speeds under 200 miles per hour (320 km/h). Allison won the first Daytona 500 run with restrictor plates in February 1988 by a car length over his son Davey Allison, rendering him the first driver to have won the Daytona 500 both with and without restrictor plates. He is the oldest driver (50 years) ever to win the Daytona 500. Bobby and Davey Allison are the first one-two father/son finish in the Daytona 500. Bobby now has no memory of the final win of his career or of celebrating together with his son in victory lane.
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