Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 16, 1993 TAG: 9307160114
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BESSEMER, ALA. LENGTH: Medium
The public accessibility that distinguished Allison's life as one of the top stars in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series remained even in death.
The family did not close off the graveside service at Highland Memorial Gardens, so many dozens of average fans were among the hundreds of mourners in the final moments of the funeral service.
As the funeral directors and cemetery workers moved in to lower his casket shortly before 2 p.m., they paused for more than a minute as a single fan knelt in prayer at the foot of the coffin.
"I guess if there's anybody whose unlucky in all this, it's us," Father Louis Giardino had said earlier in a eulogy during the funeral service at St. Aloysius Catholic Church.
That wasn't the case for the 32-year-old stock car racer.
"He's the luckiest man in the world," Giardino said. "As you look back over his life, his family, his wife, his kids, his career, I don't think you could ever disagree that he was the luckiest fella who ever walked.
"If we were here celebrating the end of the season, Davey would look back and say that it had been a very successful life and season. Not that it didn't have its ups and downs, but he achieved a great deal of success."
Allison died Tuesday of a severe head injury after the helicopter he was piloting crashed on landing at Talladega Superspeedway on Monday afternoon.
Longtime Allison family friend Red Farmer, a great racer in his own right, broke a collarbone and several ribs in the crash. He was released from the hospital Wednesday morning and came in a wheelchair to the visitation and the wake Wednesday evening and to the funeral Thursday.
Allison had been in the Winston Cup series since 1985 and was in the prime of his career. The greatest of his many accomplishments was his victory in the 1992 Daytona 500, but he always said one of his most cherished memories was finishing second when his father, Bobby, won the race in 1988.
"All from the fourth grade through graduation [at St. Aloysius School], Davey knew what he wanted to do," Giardino said. "That's lucky."
The priest said he pulled Allison's school records after his death and the teacher's comments "were incredible."
His fourth-grade teacher wrote: "He thinks too much about racing."
"In the fifth grade," Giardino said, "`the comments had not changed: `He daydreams about racing in the classroom.' "
The church was filled to capacity more than an hour before the funeral service started at 11 a.m. Ushers let friends and NASCAR folks stand in the vestibule until it was filled, too.
Finally, an usher stepped outside and said, "Folks, I'm sorry, the church is full."
A couple of hundred fans gathered in the church yard under a hot sun to listen to the service on loudspeakers. When communion was offered, they were not forgotten. A priest came outside.
Again and again throughout the morning, the grieving, devastated mourners heard a message of hope and faith.
After reading one of the prayers, crew chief Larry McReynolds added: "I just want to say one personal thing that's going to help me make it through this day. And as a personal witness, I know it's what made Davey make it through every day of his life. Just remember, there's nothing that can come our way that God and I can't handle together."
The funeral procession from the church to the cemetery was more than a mile long. Bobby Allison drove the second van behind the hearse, with his wife, Judy, beside him.
Davey was buried in his driver's uniform, wearing a Davey Allison baseball-style cap. After the priest finished his graveside prayers, and country singer Joe Diffie sang "Ships That Don't Come In," Davey's widow, Liz, rose, placed a bouquet of red roses on top of the casket and bowed her head in a few moments of silence.
Then, one by one, the rest of the Allison clan walked past the casket and departed, leaving Davey Allison, once again, with the fans who adored him.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB