Davey Allison - Early Winston Cup Career

Early Winston Cup Career

Prior to the 1987 season, car owner Harry Ranier tapped Davey to replace veteran driver Cale Yarborough in the Ranier-Lundy #28 Ford Thunderbird. Yarborough was leaving the Ranier-Lundy team to start his own operation along with the team's sponsor, Hardee's. Ranier negotiated a sponsorship deal with Texaco's Havoline motor oil brand, a deal that was signed during the NASCAR edition of Speedweeks at Daytona International Speedway. On qualifying day, Davey signalled that he was in Winston Cup to stay when he qualified an unmarked, but Texaco-Havoline painted #28 Thunderbird second for the 1987 Daytona 500, becoming the first rookie ever to start on the front row for NASCAR's most prestigious event. A pit miscue which allowed a rear tire to fall off on the track ended his hopes of a good finish in the race, but success for Davey Allison would be just around the corner.

May 3, 1987 would become an infamous day in NASCAR history. Earlier in the week, Bill Elliott had qualified his #9 Coors-Melling Ford Thunderbird at a record 212.809 mph (a record which still stands today) for the Winston 500 at the unlighted Talladega Superspeedway. Davey Allison would qualify third, while father Bobby would start second alongside Elliott in the Stavola Brothers #22 Miller Buick. On lap 22 of the event, Bobby Allison ran over a piece of debris, cutting his right-rear tire. The car turned sideways, lifted into the air, became airboirne, and crashed vertically into the frontstretch spectator fence near the start finish line. The car landed back on the track and collected a number of other competitors. Davey was ahead of his father at the time and saw the crash unfold in his mirror. Bobby Allison was not injured, but the crash slightly injured several spectators and the race was red-flagged for two hours and thirty-eight minutes. It was this event that triggered the requirement of smaller carburetors, and later, carburetor restrictor plates on engines at Daytona and Talladega to reduce the top speeds.

When the race resumed, Davey continued to run up front and when Elliott exited the race with engine failure, Davey's toughest competition was eliminated. With darkness falling on the Talladega Superspeedway during a late caution flag, the decision was made to end the race 10 laps short of its 188 lap distance. Running second on the restart, Davey passed leader Dale Earnhardt on the backstretch and pulled away for his first Winston Cup win. In winning the race, Davey became the first rookie since Ron Bouchard in 1981 to win a Winston Cup event.

Davey would better that feat just 28 days later by winning the Budweiser 500 at Dover International Speedway (then the Dover Downs International Speedway), becoming, at the time, the only rookie to win two Winston Cup events. In all, Davey started 22 of the 29 Winston Cup races in 1987, winning twice, and scoring nine top-five and 10 top-ten finishes. He also won five poles in his rookie season.

The 1988 season started with much promise. Davey again started outside the front row for the Daytona 500, the first modern day race utilizing the NASCAR mandated carburetor restrictor plate. While father Bobby was battling up front early in the race, Davey and his team struggled with a car that was repaired during the early morning hours following a crash in the final practice session. But as the race came to a conclusion, Davey found himself running second, just behind his legendary father. Bobby Allison would go on to hold off his son and win his third Daytona 500. Father and son would celebrate their one-and-two finish in victory lane. Both would consider this the greatest moment of their lives.

But Davey would struggle through much of the first half of the 1988 season as he ran some of the Winston Cup short tracks for the first time. The team was also suffering from engine failures and now sole-owner Harry Ranier was looking to sell the team. Crew chief Joey Knuckles was fired and engine builder Robert Yates replaced him. Then on June 19, at Pocono International Raceway came his father's near-fatal, career-ending crash at Pocono.

With his father clinging to life in a Pennsylvania hospital, Davey Allison raced on but failed to finish the next three events. The team rebounded when the series returned to Pocono in July with Davey scoring a third place finish. Back at Talladega, the #28 Ford again suffered engine failure but Davey would drive his father's car later in the race when relief driver Mike Alexander was overcome by heat. Two races later, Davey would score his first win of the season at Michigan International Speedway. The win changed the fortunes for the financially strapped team and after a series of top-5 and top-10 finishes, Davey would win the inaugural race at the new Richmond International Raceway. In October, Ranier sold the team to Yates, who temporarily remained as Allison's crew chief. The rest of the season was a mixed bag but Davey would finish the season with a third place finish at Phoenix International Raceway, and a second at the season ending Atlanta Journal 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He would finish eighth in the final Winston Cup standings. But the roller coaster 1988 Winston Cup season had taken a toll on Davey Allison's marriage and he and Deborah quietly divorced during the offseason.