Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

“What I have to do from here is I have to do the best I can to carry on.”

There are very few NASCAR drivers in the over 75 years of the sport that suffered more heartache and setbacks than that of Alabama’s Bobby Allison. From devastating crashes to losing both of his sons in a year’s span, the Hall of Fame driver and founder of “The Alabama Gang” carried on just like he said he would, and with grace he did.

I was born in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia, thankfully into a family that knew the beauty and art of NASCAR and auto racing. I went to my first race when I was five months old, and my bottle was warmed in a concession stand warmer. I was becoming attached to the sport whether I liked it or not, and fortunately I did enjoy it.

When I was four or five years old, I started to be able to put things together with NASCAR. You could quiz me on any car and I could tell you the driver, and that knowledge expanded into years before my time. One of the drivers I gravitated towards was Bobby Allison. The sleek No. 12 Coca-Cola Mercury Cyclone or the No. 22 Miller High Life Buick I just loved. When I realized he had a son, Davey Allison, that was just as good as Bobby, if not better, made me appreciate him even more.

The creation of “The Alabama Gang” is one of the coolest, and most important, things that has ever happened in Alabama sports history. Bobby came from Florida in search of a better racing scene. He settled in central Alabama, and returned to Florida to bring his brother, Donnie, and friend Red Farmer up to the area with him. The trio set up their race shop in Hueytown, and it grew as they met Jimmy Means and Neil and David Bonnett.

The group was a formidable and talented one as Bobby claimed the 1983 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Championship, three Daytona 500 wins, five Southern 500 wins and won 85 races. Neil Bonnett, Donnie and Davey Allison won huge races as well, but in 1988, things began to take a tragic turn for the group.

Bobby was critically injured in 1988 at Pocono Raceway in a crash that nearly cost him his life, and he was forced to retire. However, his sons Clifford and Davey, along with Neil Bonnett and Hut Stricklin, were poised to carry the banner for The Alabama Gang into the 1990s. In 1992, Clifford was killed in a crash at Michigan International Speedway that shook the NASCAR world to its core. Less than a year later, at their home track nonetheless, Davey Allison was killed in a helicopter accident at Talladega Superspeedway while watching practice from the sky, cutting short one of the brightest young NASCAR careers the sport has ever seen.

Davey was special. He had all of his dad’s talent and then some. Some believe the history of the sport would look completely different if Davey did not pass that faithful day, and I have to agree. I have seen videos and photos of the thousands, and thousands, of fans that came out to Davey’s funeral to show their support. There is no denying the impact and connection the group had with its home state.

In 1994, in the first practice sessions for the season’s opening race the Daytona 500, Neil Bonnett was killed in a crash. Three members of The Alabama Gang killed within a two-year span, and three dear people to Bobby Allison. However, he carried on.

I go to Talladega Superspeedway twice each year. I never miss a race weekend there. The atmosphere, the sights, the sounds, the racing — it all comes together to create the best experience each time it happens. But as you are having a good time by the track with friends, and you look out to the quiet track, you cannot help but think of The Alabama Gang and those who were lost.

You get those same feelings driving through Mooresville, North Carolina. You see old remnants of old race shops littered throughout the city, and you could bump into a current or past NASCAR drivers at any moment. My family lives there, and when I called my mother last weekend after Bobby’s passing at his home in Mooresville, she said the vibe felt different around the town. The feeling of losing someone so special to the sport was in the air, but a sense of peace was there as well, knowing Bobby will see his late sons and friend again.

Every year in Mooresville a Stocks for Tots event is held where NASCAR drivers both past and present hold a massive autograph signing for fans, and money is raised through tickets and donations that go directly towards benefitting local children for the holidays. This past year, I was mingling through the room prior to the event starting, and looked over to see Donnie Allison sitting in a chair. I got the courage to approach him, introduced myself and explained where I worked. That struck up a conversation about Alabama, his family and his memories of going to Chilton County with Bobby and friends to get produce regularly. When I asked him if Bobby was going to be there, he said his health had declined and had to miss the event, but was hopeful he could attend this year.

Bobby passed away on Nov. 9, just over a month before Stocks for Tots in Mooresville this year. I will never get the chance to meet one of my all-time favorite athletes, but holding his memory and achievements in high regard will be at the top of my priority list when watching NASCAR going forward.

The Alabama Gang is much more than just some racers forming an alliance. It was a group representing a region that loves racing, loves NASCAR and needed some people to rally behind when it comes to professional sports. Alabama may not have ever had a pro sports team, but they had The Alabama Gang.

I encourage everyone in the Chilton County community to share their thoughts and experiences about the late Bobby Allison and his impact on not only the sport of NASCAR, but Alabama as a whole. Just like Dale Earnhardt, his son Davey, and other racers taken from us all too soon, Bobby is not dead, he is just a few laps ahead.

To “The Prince of Pain,” you did good, sir.