by Mike Fuori on Friday, August 19, 2011 at 3:06pm ·
#16: Davey Allison Signing Autographs
Davey Allison was the son of NASCAR legend and Hall of Famer Bobby Allison. In the late 80’s he began to make headlines of his own, winning his first race in his rookie season in 1988 in the #28 Texaco Havoline Ford. The next season, he finished second behind his dad in the Daytona 500 in one of the most memorable moments in NASCAR history. Davey was a natural talent… every bit as good as his dad was, and could have been even better.
One night after practice was over at Atlanta, it was either November 1991 or one of the race weekends of 1992, we all walked over toward the garage area to peek through the fence and watch the drivers bring their cars into their garage stalls. Back then you could actually wait outside the fence and see the drivers walk through the gate and out into the crowds as they walked to their motor homes or to their rental cars to head to the hotel (not all of them had a cozy place to stay in the infield like today’s drivers do). Most of the drivers would stop and sign a few autographs as they were walking through the crowd. But that night Davey Allison, who was very popular by then, came out of the gate and stopped walking. He said as long as everybody got in a line, he’d stay and sign autographs as late as he could. I can’t remember exactly how long, but we were in line a long time. He must have stood there and signed more than 100 autographs.
Now ever since my dad came home with a plastic Ricky Rudd toy car, I was a diehard Ricky Rudd fan. At one of the road course races the year before, Ricky was running second behind Davey when he made contact with Allison in the last turn, spinning him out. Rudd took the checkers first, Davey second, but NASCAR took the win away from Rudd, saying that he intentionally spun him out, and gave Allison the win instead. This was the only time NASCAR had ever taken a win away from a driver, and it has never happened since. I was, and still am, very bitter about it.
So as I stood in line, little old 11 year old me was thinking of a way to play a joke on Davey Allison. I had my Ricky Rudd Tide Racing hat on, and I was going to walk up to Davey Allison and say, “I guess you wouldn’t want to sign this hat, would you”. Well I got up to him and froze, hesitating as I handed him my hat and then pulling it back. I don’t think he heard whatever I mumbled, so he said to me loud enough to make a few people laugh, “well what do you want me to do, sign your forehead?” He signed my t-shirt, thanked me, and I walked away.
It was totally in fun, and looking back at it I just laugh at how stupid I was. But I’ll never forget all the time he took to sign autographs for the fans that night. Davey Allison was on his way to a legendary career, nearly winning the championship in 1992, but we lost him the next year after he crashed his helicopter at Talladega Superspeedway and later died in the hospital from his injuries. I have no doubt in my mind that Davey Allison would have made it very difficult for Dale Earnhardt to win his sixth and seventh championships in 1993 and 1994, and he might have been the dominant driver during the rest of the 90’s instead of Jeff Gordon. We only got to see him race five seasons before we lost the one of the greatest drivers that ever could have been. So the fact that he stood out there in the infield and signed my t-shirt that night will always be one of my fondest memories of race weekend in Atlanta.
Davey Allison was the son of NASCAR legend and Hall of Famer Bobby Allison. In the late 80’s he began to make headlines of his own, winning his first race in his rookie season in 1988 in the #28 Texaco Havoline Ford. The next season, he finished second behind his dad in the Daytona 500 in one of the most memorable moments in NASCAR history. Davey was a natural talent… every bit as good as his dad was, and could have been even better.
One night after practice was over at Atlanta, it was either November 1991 or one of the race weekends of 1992, we all walked over toward the garage area to peek through the fence and watch the drivers bring their cars into their garage stalls. Back then you could actually wait outside the fence and see the drivers walk through the gate and out into the crowds as they walked to their motor homes or to their rental cars to head to the hotel (not all of them had a cozy place to stay in the infield like today’s drivers do). Most of the drivers would stop and sign a few autographs as they were walking through the crowd. But that night Davey Allison, who was very popular by then, came out of the gate and stopped walking. He said as long as everybody got in a line, he’d stay and sign autographs as late as he could. I can’t remember exactly how long, but we were in line a long time. He must have stood there and signed more than 100 autographs.
Now ever since my dad came home with a plastic Ricky Rudd toy car, I was a diehard Ricky Rudd fan. At one of the road course races the year before, Ricky was running second behind Davey when he made contact with Allison in the last turn, spinning him out. Rudd took the checkers first, Davey second, but NASCAR took the win away from Rudd, saying that he intentionally spun him out, and gave Allison the win instead. This was the only time NASCAR had ever taken a win away from a driver, and it has never happened since. I was, and still am, very bitter about it.
So as I stood in line, little old 11 year old me was thinking of a way to play a joke on Davey Allison. I had my Ricky Rudd Tide Racing hat on, and I was going to walk up to Davey Allison and say, “I guess you wouldn’t want to sign this hat, would you”. Well I got up to him and froze, hesitating as I handed him my hat and then pulling it back. I don’t think he heard whatever I mumbled, so he said to me loud enough to make a few people laugh, “well what do you want me to do, sign your forehead?” He signed my t-shirt, thanked me, and I walked away.
It was totally in fun, and looking back at it I just laugh at how stupid I was. But I’ll never forget all the time he took to sign autographs for the fans that night. Davey Allison was on his way to a legendary career, nearly winning the championship in 1992, but we lost him the next year after he crashed his helicopter at Talladega Superspeedway and later died in the hospital from his injuries. I have no doubt in my mind that Davey Allison would have made it very difficult for Dale Earnhardt to win his sixth and seventh championships in 1993 and 1994, and he might have been the dominant driver during the rest of the 90’s instead of Jeff Gordon. We only got to see him race five seasons before we lost the one of the greatest drivers that ever could have been. So the fact that he stood out there in the infield and signed my t-shirt that night will always be one of my fondest memories of race weekend in Atlanta.
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