Preamble: The title comes from a book by Robert Sheffield’s 2010 novel “Talking to Girls About Duran Duran.” In the novel, he takes 25 pop songs from the 1980s and uses each song as a jumping off point to talk about his love of music and growing up in the 1980s. (If you’re more into hair metal than pop, you should also check out Chuck Klosterman’s 2001 book “Fargo Rock City.”) In “Talking to People Who Don’t Know NASCAR About Daytona, I’m going to take devote each entry in the series to one of my Top 10 favourite Daytona 500s. Instead of discussing who led what laps, etc. I’m going to describe to an audience (and probably a non-existence one) why I chose this particular race.
#4 – “The 1988 Daytona 500 – “Triumph and Tragedy”
NASCAR lore is rife with tragedy amid triumph. Even as Michael Waltrip was crossing the start-finish line to record his first career Winston Cup points win in the 2001 Daytona 500, his friend and mentor, Dale Earnhardt was killed in turn four. In 1992, one of the greatest “chases” for the Championship saw Alan Kulwicki win the Winston Cup Championship by one point over Bill Elliott. But Kulwicki was never able to fully enjoy his reign as champion or stage a successful defence, losing his life in a plane crash while heading to Bristol in April 1993.
The 1988 Daytona 500 is a similar story of triumph, then tragedy.
Bobby Allison recorded 84 wins in his career, tied for fourth, ironically with rival Darrell Waltrip. Coming into the 1988 Daytona 500, Allison was already a two-time winner of the race, taking the checkered flag in 1978 and 1982. At age 50, Bobby was still competitive, finishing in the Top 10 in points every year but one since 1976 and was only five years removed from his Winston Cup Championship.
But now there was another Allison beginning to make noise in Winston Cup racing. Bobby’s son Davey would, for the second straight year, sit on the front row for the Daytona 500. In 1987, Davey had become the first rookie to win two races, first at Talladega (where Bobby famously crashed, his car lifting off the track and almost piercing the catch fence along the front stretch) and at Dover.
Ken Schrader would win the pole for the 1988 Daytona 500, his first of three consecutive poles for the Great American Race. Davey qualified second and Bobby qualified third. Bobby’s brother, Donnie, failed to qualify for the race.
The great lasting image of the 1988 Daytona 500 is the site of Richard Petty’s horrific crash on the front stretch. He had been hit by Phil Barkdoll. Even after his car finished tumbling down the track and came to rest, Petty was hit by Brett Bodine, adding to the spectacular wreck.
Meanwhile, the elder Allison was en route to leading 70 laps in the 500, the most of any driver that day. With a late restart, Bobby charged from fourth to first and hung on to the lead. But to win the Daytona 500, he would have to hold off the #28, driven by his son.
The Daytona 500 had become a race between father and son, Bobby and Davey. Neither man was willing to concede, but both knew that a victory would be all the more special because of the fact that father and son would finish 1-2. Bobby respected his son’s abilities and wanted to see him succeed as Davey followed in his father’s footsteps. But Bobby wasn’t going to step aside and let Davey win. Bobby Allison was Davey’s hero. But Davey wasn’t going to let off the gas and let his father win. Whichever Allison crossed the finish line first that day would do so because they were the better man. It was a great race and a great story for NASCAR.
In the end, Bobby Allison would become the oldest driver to win the Daytona 500, holding off Davey by little more than a car length or so. In Victory Lane, father and son congratulated each other and celebrated by dowsing each other with beer. It was a great moment that NASCAR still shows today, to demonstrate the magic that Daytona can inspire.
It would be heartwarming to think that the Allisons could sit around the Thanksgiving dinner table, reminiscing about that moment that father and son raced for the win at Daytona. Sadly, after the triumph of Bobby and Davey Allison at the 1988 Daytona 500 came the tragedy. It began four months later, with the wreck at Pocono. On the first lap of the Miller High Life 500 on June 19, Allison blew a tire and spun into the second-turn wall. Chauncey T. “Jocko” Maggiacomo came through the smoke and collided with Allison’s car. Allison’s injuries were so severe, many believed he might not live through the first night. He would survive but the race at Pocono and the win at Daytona were his last.
More importantly, many of his memories including those of the 1988 Daytona 500 were gone. To this day, 33 years later, Bobby Allison does not remember anything about racing with his son for the win. Davey, who would win the 1992 Daytona 500, is gone now, dying in a 1993 helicopter crash at Talladega just eleven months after his brother (and Bobby’s other son) was killed in a crash practicing for a Busch (now Xfinity) series race at Michigan. Bobby and wife Judy, torn apart by these tragedies, divorced for four years (1996-2000) before reconciling at their daughter’s wedding. They remained together until Judy passed away in December 2015.
For the Allisons, and NASCAR’s Alabama Gang, the 1988 Daytona 500 was the final great moment for their history.
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