A LITTLE RACING HISTORY

[pmossberg]

Cool stuff. Thanks Dodgehemi.

What is "The Third Turn"?

[dodgehemi]

The Third Turn is a website I have that has info.of over 500 drives from all forms of rasing.

[pmossberg]

Thanks.

[dodgehemi]

1993

From The Third Turn


1993Though 1992 had been a heartbreaking year for Davey Allison and the Robert Yates Racing team in more ways than one, they had to be encouraged by their run for the championship. But 1993 opened on a sour note with Allison finishing 28th at Daytona. That finish was followed by a 16th at Rockingham, but Davey rebounded to win at Richmond the following week. No one knew at the time, but it would be Davey Allison's last win.

The next race at Atlanta was delayed a week by a blizzard that blanketed much of the Southeast. Morgan Shepherd won the race and Davey finished 13th. He then posted an 11th at Darlington. Despite the early season struggles, Davey was sixth in the Winston Cup standings, while defending series champ Kulwicki was ninth.

Davey Allison had debuted in the International Race of Champions (IROC) in 1992, but his injuries forced him to miss the last two races. 1993 was shaping up to be a far better year for Davey, with a second place victory at Daytona and a victory at Darlington, giving him a large points lead.

Tragically, the Darlington race would be the last of Alan Kulwicki's career. On April 1, 1993, Kulwicki was killed in a plane crash en route to the Tri-Cities Regional Airport near Bristol, TN. NASCAR had lost its Winston Cup champion and the crash was only a harbinger of things to come.

Three days after Kulwicki's death, Davey Allison finished fifth in an emotional race at Bristol. He followed that finish with a fourth at North Wilkesboro, second at Martinsville, seventh at Talladega, and 15th at Sears Point. He finished a disappointing 30th in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, but rebounded at Dover, finishing third. He was sixth at Pocono, but finished 35th at Michigan and 31st at Daytona. Halfway through the 1993 season, Davey was fifth in the point standings, but was 323 points behind leader Dale Earnhardt. Still, Davey and the Robert Yates team were confident that they could put their early season struggles and inconsistency behind them and could make a run for the championship in the second half. The inaugural race at New Hampshire International Speedway proved the team's optimism was not unfounded. Davey led 38 laps of the event and finished third behind Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin.

The following day, Monday, July 12, 1993, Davey Allison boarded his newly acquired Bell helicopter to fly to Talladega Superspeedway to watch family friends Neil Bonnett and David Bonnett test a car for David's Busch Series debut. He picked up another family friend, legendary racer Red Farmer, en route to the track. Allison was attempting to land the helicopter inside a fenced-in area of the track infield when the craft nosed up suddenly, then crashed. Neil Bonnett was able to free a semi-conscious Red Farmer from the wreckage, but could not reach Allison. Paramedics arrived and freed Allison, who was alive but had suffered serious head injuries. He died the next morning, July 13, 1993, at Carraway Methodist Medical Center. Thousands packed the auditorium at Garywood Assembly of God in Hueytown, Alabama to pay their respects at his funeral.

After the final race of the season, series champion Dale Earnhardt and race winner Wallace drove a side by side Polish Victory Lap carrying flags for fallen heroes Alan Kulwicki and Allison.

In his all-too-short NASCAR Winston Cup career, Davey Allison posted 19 wins, 66 top-five and 92 top-ten finishes. He also won 14 poles and earned $6,724,174. He was survived by his wife, Liz, and two children, daughter Krista, and son Robert.

[dodgehemi]

Legacy

From THE THIRD TURN

TributeIn October 2004 Jamie McMurray drove the #42 Tribute to Dave Allison Dodge at Talladega.

LegacyDavey was leading the IROC series championship at the time of his death, with one race remaining in the four race series. Terry Labonte drove the final race in place of Allison and secured the championship for him. Allison's championship money, $175,000, was set up as a trust fund for his children.

Davey Allison was posthumously inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1998.

In a foreshadowing of NASCAR's rise to prominence ten years later, Davey was a figure in a mildly scandalous controversy as his widow became involved with country music star Joe Diffie shortly after Davey's death. Tabloid television programs and newspapers gave much coverage to the story at the time, with some claiming that the two had been lovers before Davey's death. Liz has spoken openly about her relationship with Diffie, most recently on the Paul Finebaum Radio Network during the week of the 2006 race at Talladega. Liz expressed some regret over the relationship and mentioned that she and Diffie were band-aids for each other, and band aids were not meant to be permanent.

In 2003, on April 28th, the mayor of Hueytown, Alabama declared it Davey Allison Day and is celebrated on the weekend of the springtime Talladega race, the anniversary of Allison's death.

The driver that replaced Davey Allison at Talladega was Robby Gordon, but he lost control of the Texaco/Havoline Ford early in the race and crashed.

A portrait of Davey Allison hangs to this day in the headquarters of Texaco.

Son Robert has pursued a successful racing career in an on-again, off-again fashion, but is frequently "parked" by his mother for fears of his safety and health.

[apttyfn]

Man I love these picture you guys put on here. I save them all and some day I might have a museum off my own, even if they are just in picture form but this is great.

[dodgehemi]

More SUPERBIRD

Check this out

musclecars.howstuffworks.com/classic-muscle-cars/1970-plymouth-road-runner-superbird.htm


Information

The 1963 Plymouth 426 Wedge was so undomesticated it came with warnings not to use it on the public roads.

[dodgehemi]

In 1963, Chrysler’s executives approved a program to build a car that could win the 1964 Daytona race. According to Tom Hoover, he and Don Moore chose to use Chrysler’s existing expertise in Hemi designs rather than working further with the Wedge, because the Hemi was the cheapest and surest way to be sure of winning.

According to a 1994 Mopar Muscle interview, Hoover said it was cost effective despite the added expense of the engine because “We knew with the power level we could expect, we could provide performance and win races for minimum expenditure. You could continue to hone and evolve the Wedge forward, but the results would be limited. The cost effective way to make a real impression at Daytona was to take advantage of the A311 Indy program background, and adapt it to the race ‘B’ engine.”

Tom Hoover said the Street Hemi was not in the plans at the beginning, but that it proved to be easier to produce than the Cross-Ram Wedges, because it could come down the line complete with exhaust manifolds (while the Cross-Ram engines had to have their manifolds fitted later). He and Frank Bilk had tilted the combustion chamber to prevent the exhaust rocker from being too long; this resulted in a narrower engine, which allowed for a standard "body drop" with the B-bodies in the Dodge Main factory.
•Hemi History
•Production Facts and Figures
•The NEW Hemi
•Early Hemi Serial Numbers










CREDIT
The Hemi Central section was provided by Steve Boelhouwer but we also have these pages:

[dodgehemi]

The midsize Plymouths got a pleasantly reserved new styling in 1966 but looks were not the only thing nderestated about the Satelite equipped with the new 426 Street HEMI.

[dodgehemi]

Thanks for viewing this post 1800 times. Please keep it up.

Thanks alot
dodgehemi

[dodgehemi]

The Big Fight




Yarborough/Allison

[songsmith1950]

Now that was a fight! A little help for one but still okay. Nascar drivers are not allowed to have personalities or tempers now. That is a sad thing. Too much holding them back from being the drivers of old.

[dodgehemi]

HAPPY NEW YEAR from the one and only "dodgehemi"

[songsmith1950]

And a Happy New Year to you too Howard! I still love reading hemi history. It was the top of Mopars real Nascar domain I think. Drag racing was good with the 426 and even the 413 but for Nascar the Mopar guys did just what they set out to do!

[dodgehemi]

O yes they set out to overcome Ford and GM and they did it in style. At that time in 1964 to 1970 "The MOPARS were hard to beat. Just wish it was that way now. Even with RPM going to Ford and I will pull for them, I will always be A Hemi and mopar man. Just got to love what I have been in since 1958.