| PRO Alabama Gang’s Davey Allison going into NASCAR Hall of Fame tonight

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Alabama Gang’s Davey Allison going into NASCAR Hall of Fame tonight
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By Josh Bean | jbean@al.com
Davey Allison represents one of the greatest what-ifs in NASCAR history.
Allison won 19 Cup races from 1987-93, including the 1992 Daytona 500, but his career ended abruptly when he died at age 32 after crashing his helicopter at Talladega Superspeedway on July 12, 1993.
Allison died just as his career began to blossom, having finished third in the Cup series standings in 1991 and 1992 and ranked among the leading title contenders in 1993.
"There's no doubt in my mind Davey would have had multiple championships," said Red Farmer, the legendary short-track star who mentored Allison.
Despite never winning a Cup championship, Allison will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame this weekend-- alongside four-time Cup champ Jeff Gordon and 1992 champ Alan Kulwicki, whose career was cut short by a plane crash in 1993 -- as part of this year’s five-member class.
Davey joins his father, Bobby Allison, as a NASCAR Hall-of-Famer, and Robert Yates, the car owner Davey drove for, was posthumously inducted last year.



Allison's death preceded NASCAR's rise in popularity in the late 1990s, fueled by Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon and the sport's TV contract with ESPN. Earnhardt eventually tied Richard Petty with seven Cup championships, and Gordon won four titles from 1995-2001 and set a modern-era season record with 13 wins in 1998.

Farmer suggested NASCAR history would read differently if Davey Allison had raced every week against Gordon and Earnhardt.
"Jeff Gordon and all those guys wouldn't have won all those championships," Farmer said. "Davey would have been battling every year for it. He was unique, just like Jeff Gordon or Earnhardt.
"There's no doubt he would have won two or three championships, especially with Robert Yates' cars. Him and Robert and (crew chief) Larry McReynolds made such a good combination."
Donnie Allison -- Davey's uncle who won 10 Cup races -- disagreed and said he doesn't allow himself to imagine any what-if scenario when it comes to Davey's career.
"I guess being in the business so long and seeing what it took to get the goals you set -- how much trouble it was, how difficult it was -- I never thought of what-ifs," Donnie Allison said. "We had him as long as we had him, and he did a tremendous job with what he did.
"Everybody said, 'If Davey would have lived, Dale wouldn't have won seven championships' and all this. You can't say that. You don’t know that."



The surviving members of the famed Alabama Gang -- Bobby and Donnie Allison and Farmer -- are scheduled to be in Charlotte for Saturday's NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

"I'm tickled to death," Farmer said. "Any time we get one of the Alabama boys in the Hall of Fame, that's something else."
It will be another chance to remember Davey Allison's legacy.
“He was a fine, fine, fine young lad,” Donnie Allison said. “He was a tremendous race car drive and did a lot of the sport. It’s well, well deserved.”
 
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