DUNKINY  "DONNIE"  ALLISON   -   9/7/1939

is a former driver on the NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup circuit, who won ten times during his racing career, which spanned the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. He was part of the "Alabama Gang," and is the brother of 1983 champion Bobby Allison and uncle of Davey Allison.  Allison started is first Cup race in 1966 at Charlotte.  He would start 39th and have an engine expire after 186 laps relegating him to a 27th place finish.  He only raced part time for all his career; but in his 29th career start he would capture his first win at Rockingham in the Carolina 500. Allison would start seventh and lead 154 laps; including the last 129 cruising to a two lap win.  His next win would come in 1969 in the National 500 at Charlotte. He'd drive his Sunny King Ford #27 Torino beating his brother Bobby for the win.  In 1970 Allison would claim three wins including the World 600 at Charlotte, and the Fire Crackers 400 at Daytona.  Like his brother Bobby; Donnie would attempt a couple Indy 500 starts.  In 1970 he drove for the team of Greer-Foyt driving the #83 Ford power Eagle.  He would start 20th and run a steady race.  He finished on the lead lap in fourth place and won Rookie of the Race.  A very good run for a first time Indy car start.  In 1971 he returned to Indy with the same team; This time he had Purolator as a sponsor and drove the #84.  He would once again start 20th and bring the car home in sixth place.  I have posted pictures of both cars below at  left

check out the major design differences between 1970 and 1971.  In 1971 Allison would drive the #21 Wood brothers car to his only win of the season.  He would start on the pole and again beat his brother to get the win.  Allison wouldn't win again until 1976 driving once again for the owner who game him his first start: Hoss Ellington.  Once again Allison would get a win at Charlotte; coming in the National 500.  Twice in 1997 he would wheel his Hawaiian Tropic Monte Carlo to victory lane.  He'd win at Talladega in a competitive race that saw 49 lead changes.  It was an extremely hot day as the heat took it's toll on man and machine.  Allison was over come by heat; and after Darrell Waltrip's motor blew up on lap 106; Waltrip was called on 

1970 Sunny Kind Ford Torino

Indy 500 - 1970 above - 1971 below

to fill in for Allison.  With Waltrip running second the leader Skip Manning broke an oil line; Waltrip would move to the lead and take the Checkered flag.  Donnie's final Cup win would come at Atlanta in the Dixie 500 in 1978.  The race was full of controversy because of a NASCAR scoring error.  With 37 laps to go Richard Childress blew a motor putting the race under caution; with Donnie Allison two laps down; Donnie raced the leaders back to the line and made up one lap.  No one noticed that Donnie passed Dave and Petty on the restart and was running just ahead of them on the tail end of the lead lap when there was a crash with about 10 laps to go.  The final restart was with three laps to go. Donnie restarted behind them and immediately passed both Dave and Petty to take the lead, but everyone in the place thought he was still a lap down.  But when the drivers went to the cool down lap, the public address announcer announced Donnie Allison as the winner.  Everyone in the press box was stunned.  After that came the announcement that agreement came from the official scorers, that Petty was the winner.  Everyone was confused. Petty was doing his winner interview when he got a phone call in the press box.  After he hung up, Petty said "Guys. that's it. They say Allison is the winner." and he left the press box.  Brian France, who was 16 years old at the time, was working in the scoring booth at the time, insisted that Allison was the winner. He was so convinced that he mentioned it to Hoss Ellington, Donnie Allison's car owner.  Allison said that Brian France had told him that 

Allison's scorer was pulling for Petty and  scoring not paying attention to the race.  Another re-check of the card proved France was right.  NASCAR President Bill France Jr (Brian's dad) came in and announced that yes NASCAR had made an embarrassing mistake, and that Allison was officially the winner.  Donnie is possibly most remembered for his involvement in a final-lap crash and subsequent fight with Cale Yarborough at the 1979 Daytona 500.  Allison was leading the race on the final lap with Yarborough drafting him tightly.  As Yarborough attempted his signature slingshot pass at the end of the backstretch, Allison attempted to block him. Yarborough refused to give and as he pulled up along side Allison, his left side tires left the pavement and went into the wet and muddy infield grass.  As a result, Yarborough began to lose control of his

1974 DiGard Racing Chevrolet

1979 Daytona 500

car and contacted Allison's car halfway down the backstretch.  As both drivers tried to regain control, their cars made contact several more times before finally locking together and crashing into the outside wall in turn three.  After the cars settled in the grass, Allison and Yarborough began to argue.  After they had talked it out, Bobby Allison, who was lapped at that point, pulled over and began defending his brother, and a fight broke out. The fight was actually between Bobby Allison and Yarborough.  It all happened on the first nationally televised NASCAR race, Richard Petty, who was over half a lap behind at the time of the crash, went on to win the race.  The fight made headlines all across America. The publicity was instrumental in the growth of NASCAR. Donnie was the 

1967 Cup Rookie of the Year.  Donnie never ran a full Cup season.  He won 10 races in his career and finished in the top 5 in almost 35% of the races.  Some info from Wikipedia.

 

 
 

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