Bobby Allison’s 1988 Daytona 500 Win Came From a Legendary Father-Son Battle

NASCAR is an extremely competitive sport. The fact that there have been just 35 winners of the hallowed Cup Series title in its 75 years attests to this. At the same time, there have been some families that have cracked the code for success in the sport. Among them would definitely be the Allisons, with Bobby Allison leading the line.

Bobby Allison finds himself on the list of NASCAR’s Greatest Drivers, and rightly so. Over and above his 1983 title and 84 race wins, he gave the sport some really great moments—and all this despite his career being cut short in the most unfortunate of ways.

One of those moments came at the 1988 Daytona 500. The biggest story was the battle between Bobby and his son, Davey. Bobby had won the first qualifier while Davey was the runner-up.

Bobby had led 70 of the 200 laps that were run that night, but his son hadn’t been too far behind. Davey had been a car (or two) lengths behind Bobby for the majority of the night. Presumably, he was looking for the right time to pounce ahead of his father.

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Unluckily, Bobby was just too good—that moment never came for Davey. Bobby Allison won the race, with Davey finishing in second. That set another record—it remains the only one-two father-son finish in Daytona history.

The cruelty of being Bobby Allison

In loads of interviews, Bobby has confirmed that race as being his favorite. After all, it’s not too many times that a father-son duo gets to battle it out on the track and then celebrate a podium finish together in the victory lane.

Some of the most beautiful pictures from that night are of Bobby pouring beer over Davey’s head. He even said, “The 1988 race at Daytona should be number one… [most favorite of his career].”

Unfortunately, “… but I still don’t remember 1988. Some day maybe I will, and, if so, maybe I’ll have to change my outlook.” Barely months down the line, Bobby would visit Pocono Raceway—and nothing would be the same after that.

For Bobby, the Pocono race in June 1988, ended in a wreck. It was followed by months of hospitalization, years of rehab, and decades of lost memories. Things only went from bad to worse for the NASCAR legend from then on.

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No one in the Allison household would’ve imagined things to pan out this way. His win at Daytona that day was his 84th—his final.