Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 18, 1991 TAG: 9102180121
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
As the race reached its final laps, Allison's Ford Thunderbird was still running strong.
He was running side-by-side with Dale Earnhardt, banging with him for second place. He was just about past the 1990 Winston Cup champion, ready to set his sights on leader Ernie Irvan.
All three of them had shown a lot of strength - a lot of speed - throughout 1991 Speedweeks. And now, after a topsy-turvy race, all three finally had come back to the head of the pack.
Suddenly, coming off of turn two on the 197th lap, Earnhardt lost control. He fishtailed, tried to correct it and, in the process, slammed into the left side of Allison's car.
Allison hit the outside wall, then went spinning into the grass on the backstretch and crashed into the dirt bank next to Lake Lloyd. The car came to a stop sitting at an angle on the bank.
Allison was out of it. His car wouldn't move. And while Earnhardt kept his wrecked car moving around the track for the last three laps and finished fifth, Allison finished 15th.
Finally, Allison emerged from his trailer, ready to address the questions from the waiting media. He was holding his 13-month-old daughter, Krista Marie. He was bouncing her gently, as if to try to shake off the frustration of the moment.
"I got hit in the left side and it put me in the outside wall," he said. "That's all I've got to say. It wasn't worn tires. I don't know. I got hit. I passed him clean on the outside and I got hit.
"Racing is a business where you've got to use your head. I was using mine."
At first, Allison's answers were abrupt, his sentences short. But as he stood and patiently answered all the questions thrown at him, he began to talk a little more. He did not try to duck back into his trailer.
The subject continued to be Earnhardt.
"He's got everybody so scared right now that I couldn't get anybody to go with me [and draft past him]," Allison said.
A reporter asked, "You said scared, Davey. Do you mean [scared] of his horsepower?
"No," he said. "Intimidator. [One of Earnhardt's nicknames.] Intimidation.
"We ain't scared of nobody, whether it's Daytona, Richmond, Bristol or anywhere else. We're going after them."
Keywords:
AUTO RACINF
by CNB