Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 13, 1993 TAG: 9307130217
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Drivers, crew members and other members of the NASCAR family are praying that Allison will recover from his serious head injuries, as his father, Bobby, has after his near-fatal crash at Pocono in 1988.
"Everybody is praying tonight," fellow Ford Thunderbird driver Mark Martin said Monday. "I don't want to say anything because I'm hoping to hear better news tomorrow.
"Miracles do happen, medical and otherwise," Martin added. "That's what we're praying for."
Allison is one of Ford's top drivers, as was Winston Cup champion Alan Kulwicki, who was killed April 1 in an airplane crash outside Bristol, Tenn. After finishing third Sunday in the inaugural Winston Cup race at New Hampshire International Speedway, Allison had jumped from seventh to fifth in the Winston Cup points championship standings.
Ford spokesman Wayne Estes said Ford motorsports officials were stunned and shocked by news of the crash.
"We've seen Davey do some pretty miraculous things in the past," Estes said. "You can look at it optimistically or pessimistically, and right now we're looking at it optimistically. Everybody is on prayer vigils tonight."
Longtime "Alabama Gang" driver and mechanic Red Farmer also was severely injured in Monday's crash, which was yet another tragedy for the racing Allison family.
"The Allison family has had enough tragedy in the last few years," Ford driver Jimmy Hensley said Monday night from his home in Ridgeway, Va. "They've had more than their share of heartaches here lately. It's like it just doesn't quit."
When news of Monday's accident reached Charlotte, N.C., Winston Cup car owner Felix Sabates made a plane available to key Allison team members for a flight to Birmingham, where Allison is hospitalized, Estes said.
Allison's car owner, Robert Yates, and his wife, Carolyn, went on the plane, as were crew chief Larry McReynolds and his wife, Linda, team publicist Brian VanDercook and Red Farmer's son, Mike, who lives in Gastonia, N.C.
They were said to be at Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham, keeping a vigil with Allison family members.
Allison reportedly had purchased the helicopter only a several weeks ago and had recently been certified as a solo pilot. He had been taking helicopter flying lessons for more than a year and was quite excited about his hobby.
Bulldozers have been grading the earth behind Davey's race shop in his hometown of Hueytown, Ala., to build a helipad. The flight to Talladega apparently was a leisure excursion to see Neil Bonnett's son, David, practice in a Busch Grand National car.
Neil Bonnett, another member of the "Alabama Gang," had held a news conference at the track at noon Monday to formally announce he would drive one of Dale Earnhardt's cars in the July 25 DieHard 500 at the track.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB