Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 18, 1993 TAG: 9307180134
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER
DATELINE: LONG POND, PA. LENGTH: Medium
As the cool breezes ruffle the American flag flying at half staff in the infield of Pocono International Raceway, the roar of stock car engines soothes battered minds working to put another day between them and the shocking death of Davey Allison.
In the empty stall where Allison's race car hauler should have been, the Winston Cup truck drivers placed a wreath Saturday. "We'll Miss You, Davey," the card read. This became the spot to grieve and remember as the teams prepared for today's Miller 500.
An elderly man crossed himself in front of the memorial. Another visitor quietly said, "So long, Davey."
The days already are becoming more normal, but Allison still comes to mind frequently.
The NASCAR community already has plenty of experience with mourning. It's still hard to imagine that Winston Cup champion Alan Kulwicki is gone. And now Allison, who had such a presence.
"There are days when you show up at the race track and something hits you about Alan," Winston Cup driver Kyle Petty said. "I'm sure it will be the same with Davey. Something will hit you. There are so many memories."
When the checkered flag falls today on the winner of the Miller 500, I know I will think of Davey Allison and that absolutely ecstatic, cowboy-style "Yeeeehawwww!!!!!" he hollered every time he won.
Jimmy Spencer will notice the peanut butter in his team's hauler and think of Allison.
"He always came to our truck at the race track to fix a peanut butter sandwich, and now he won't be doing that anymore," Spencer said.
Allison was not just another top driver. More than any other Winston Cup star, he was identified with the racing hopes and dreams of an entire state of fans in Alabama.
Alabamans worship their sports heroes like no other state. And for more than 30 years, Alabama fans have cheered for the Allisons.
Except for the Pettys, no family has been more identified with stock car racing than the Allisons.
And now there are no Allisons on the track to cheer for, and none on the horizon.
"It's sad that there won't be an Allison in racing," said Ned Jarrett, patriarch of another great stock car racing family. "It's hard to imagine, really, because we've gotten so accustomed to it over the years."
And Davey Allison was born to the role. He ran 191 Winston Cup races and won 19 of them. And he was the complete package - a great racer and a great racing ambassador.
The racing community has been blindsided by the irony of the twin tragedies of 1993. Not since 1964, when champion Joe Weatherly and Fireball Roberts died, has there been such a tragic year.
Weatherly and Roberts died while racing. Fans always recognize that possibility.
But how is it that today's heroes are being lost in aviation accidents?
"We live and work in a sport that has a certain amount of danger," Jarrett said. "Any driver is subject to be taken away from us at any time. But when we lose them in this way, it is strange."
Davey Allison died in a crash at Talladega Superspeedway. But not in a race car. It just doesn't make sense.
The sport has learned over the years to make the race cars so much safer, but its phenomenal growth and the ever-increasing public demands on the drivers have prompted them to fly, usually in small planes, almost daily.
"Look at the time that all of us spend in airplanes," Dale Earnhardt said. "And you're in so many different airplanes and doing so many different things. But that's part of it."
Now that Allison is gone, some of us feel that if we had the chance, we would like to grab him and tell him to cool it with his helicopter flying and stop risking his life.
But in the next thought, we realize how silly that sounds. Imagine, telling a race car driver not to risk his life.
The nature of his death, however, means little in the harsh reality of his absence.
As Allison's close friend, Neil Bonnett, said:
"It's not any easier losing them whether they fall off a building or fall in a helicopter or have a crash in racing."
\ AUTHOR Bob Zeller covers Winston Cup racing for this newspaper.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING FATALITY
by CNB