By Reid Spencer, Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

Bobby Allison has 84 official Sprint Cup victories—but he’ll tell you 85. Allison still disputes NASCAR’s failure to count his 1971 win at Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C., in a Grand American car.

Allison also insists—and not completely tongue-in-cheek—that NASCAR owes him a rebate of approximately $2,000 on the fine he, bother Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough earned for fighting in the infield grass after the 1979 Daytona 500, the race that put NASCAR on the national map.


Yarborough and Donnie Allison got all $6,000 of their fine money back, because they had won enough from the purse to cover their penalties and NASCAR simply withheld the money before later paying it out. Bobby Allison had to kick in $2,000 of his own money, and he never got it back.


And he hasn’t forgotten. Simply, that’s emblematic of the tenacity that made him one of the greatest drivers in the history of the sport. In addition to his 1983 Cup championship, Allison won the Daytona 500 three times, the last victory coming in 1988 when he finished 1-2 with his late son Davey Allison.


Allison, the leader of the vaunted Alabama Gang, was a hands-on driver who knew the workings of a racecar inside and out.


“He was, at that time to me, what a real racer was,” three-time champion Darrell Waltrip said. “This was a guy who did it all. He was an underdog, and he viewed himself that way.”


The Allison file


Cup champion in 1983.84 career victories, tied for third all time.58 career poles.Leader of the Alabama Gang.Combined with brother Donnie for 94 wins, the most between two brothers.Won three Daytona 500s, the last in 1988 with son Davey Allison running second.