Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 13, 1993                   TAG: 9307130099
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: PAUL NEWBERRY AP SPORTS WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BAD LUCK AND ALLISON FAMILY COLLIDE AGAIN AT TRACK

Tragedy has been a relentless stalker of the Allison family.

First, it found the patriarch, Bobby Allison, one of NASCAR's greatest drivers, whose career was halted in 1988 by a near-fatal crash at Pocono International Raceway.

Next, it struck the youngest son, Clifford, his burgeoning career ended at age 27 by a fatal crash in August at Michigan International Speedway.

Then on Monday, it caught up with the surviving son, Davey, one of the top drivers on the Winston Cup circuit, a man who already had survived a devastating racing crash last year at the same track where his father's career came to an end.

Davey Allison was clinging to life after the helicopter he purchased three weeks ago crashed Monday at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, the 2.66-mile trioval he fondly called "my home track," the scene of his greatest success.

"I don't guess you ever get used to something like this, but doggone it, they've had to get used to it," said Wayne Milstead, a family friend who worked with Clifford Allison's racing team. "It's awful. It looks like every Allison in the whole world has taken all the bad luck."

Family members gathered at a Birmingham hospital Monday night as Davey, 32, underwent surgery for severe head injuries. Hospital officials said it was too soon to say if he would survive.

Coincidentally, his helicopter crash came a week before the one-year anniversary of his spectacular wreck at Pocono. His car flipped 12 times, leaving Allison with a broken right arm, broken ribs and a concussion. After spending five nights in a hospital, he qualified his car for a race the next weekend at Talladega.

It was all part of a wild up-and-down year for Allison, who won five races - including the Daytona 500 - lost his brother, and led the Winston Cup standings heading into the final week. But he wrecked, losing any chance at his first series title.

The man who beat him for that championship, Alan Kulwicki, died earlier this year in a plane crash in Tennessee.

"Last year is over, thank goodness," Allison said as he prepared for the May race at Talladega, the Winston 500.

The helicopter crash occurred at a track that always had been kind to Allison's racing fortunes.

He won four Winston Cup races there, but probably was best known for his courageous effort to get behind the wheel last year after his wreck at Pocono. He raced the first five laps with a cast on his arm, then turned over the car to Bobby Hillin, who finished third.

"Whenever you see anybody have a bad wreck, the questions always arise: Will it set him back? Will it make him feel differently about racing?" Allison said before this year's Winston 500.

"But it has a reverse effect on race drivers. You want to come back better than you were before. . . . And maybe you're even better than you were before because you'll recognize those situations a little better."

Keywords:
AUTO RACING