“For 53 years, the Myers Brothers Memorial was the only race run by NASCAR that did not have an official winner.” – Those were the words of NASCAR CEO Jim France after Bobby Allison received his rightful recognition for winning what should have been his 85th Cup race. 

That’s how long the Alabama Gang patron waited for his win at the Bowman Gray Stadium on August 6, 1971, to become official. In the high-speed world of NASCAR, a decision like that denied Bobby Allison his due flowers for way too long. Now, at 86 years of age, with countless accolades, and his racing days well behind him, Allison moves to 4th in the all-time wins list above Darrell Waltrip. And while many are happy to see this finally happen, Kenny Wallace is aware of the deep frustrations that Bobby Allison had to carry for over five decades.

Kenny Wallace speaks out about Bobby Allison’s long wait to attain justice

NASCAR is a family sport. And few families have left a legacy like the Allisons and the Wallaces. 1983 Winston Cup winner Bobby Allison, his son Davey, and his brother Donnie have won 114 times in NASCAR’s premier tier combined. Kenny Wallace’s older brother, Rusty, claimed the NASCAR championship in 1989 and ranks seventh all-time in the Modern Era (post-1972) with 55 wins. Ironically, he shares that spot with none other than Bobby Allison.

Regardless, now that he has 85 of those in total throughout his glorious career, Kenny Wallace believes, “Bobby Allison moving one win ahead of Darrell Waltrip” means “Now he can die at peace.” In his own words, on a recent video address from his socials, Wallace explained, “What I’m probably going to say isn’t really what happened. But here’s what it looks like, okay? I know too much. I’ve talked to Bobby Allison 30 years ago, and he is pissed about not getting that 85th win. I said it cause Bobby told me. He would say I’m irked Kenny ‘cause Bobby doesn’t cuss.” Outlining his history with the Allisons, Kenny Wallace reminisced about his time at their family race shop in Birmingham, Alabama, where he met Bobby’s sons, Davey and Clifford.“So I know Bobby Allison a little bit,” noted Wallace. 

“But I’m going to tell you what it looks like. It looks like Bobby Allison called my brother Rusty and somebody called Roger Penske and somebody got a hold of Mike Helton and it looks like somebody said, ‘Hey, Bobby’s getting up an age. This was wrong years ago. You need to make this right now while you can.’” The Hermanator then directly referenced a separate video where Matthew Dillner of Floracing detailed exactly why Allison had been mad about the issue.

Wallace elaborated, “Matthew Dillner said back in those days the car count was way down at NASCAR so they married the cup cars and the uh Grand American Division I believe…” From 1968 to 1972, NASCAR ran the Grand American Series primarily for pony cars like the Camaro and the Mustang. Back then, it wasn’t unnatural for these cars to fill out the field during Cup races when there weren’t enough competitors. For that matter, Allison drove a ‘Grand-Am’ Mustang to Victory Lane at Bowman Gray, as he was racing in both series during that time. As a fact, that was the reason NASCAR did not officially register Allison’s win for years after Richard Petty and a few other drivers felt the win shouldn’t count because it came in an ‘unregulated’ car.

But surprisingly, that season, the NASCAR Winston Cup Series planned on running six races with cars joining in from the Grand American Division. And as Kenny Wallace noted, “Tiny Lund, number 55, the Pepsi car, kick–s like ‘68 Camaro… won two races (in his pony car)…” A 3x Grand-American champion, Lund won at North Wilkesboro and Hickory driving the controversial vehicle that same year at the top level. And NASCAR “gave him his wins… But they never gave Bobby his win, so Bobby could never let that go all his life,” revealed Wallace. 

Even during his 2011 Hall of Fame induction, Allison iterated, “I did win 85 times. Scout’s honor, 85 times.” However, for reasons unknown, it took NASCAR 53 years to hand over that Bowman-Gray win to the rightful victor. But as Jim France made clear in a recent statement, “As we began preparations for the upcoming Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, the topic of the race returned to the forefront. We felt it was the right thing to officially recognize Bobby‘s win and honor him as an 85-time NASCAR Cup Series winner.” 

That makes sense, although Kenny Wallace highlighted another perspective, revealing the emotional tightrope that NASCAR drivers had to walk in the years past.

Half a century later, NASCAR rights a historic wrong

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Bobby Allison’s unfortunate disqualification occurred in an era when the rules weren’t as strict as they are today. The racing was raw and unpolished, with tensions that weren’t just crafted to fit a TV narrative. Everything was much more real. As for the wheelmen? Wallace remarked, “These older drivers, Hey, we’re pu–ies compared to them.” Pardon his profanity, but “back in those days, when somebody hated somebody, they hated them for the rest of their life. And that’s the way those NASCAR guys were.”

Wallace left no stone unturned in his candid observation. “Those guys hold a vendetta; they hate each other,” declared the 3x Busch Series Most Popular Driver. “My mama taught me. Don’t use the word hate, but they don’t dislike each other, they hate each other.” Although Bobby Allison is one of those ‘gentleman’ drivers who believed in racing with respect, the fact remains: taking away his hard-earned record under such contentious circumstances was sure to leave an entire range of frustrations in its wake.

NASCAR deserves a pat on the back for doing what’s right after so long. But for Bobby Allison to have waited so long is an outright shame. Here’s to hoping the new 85-time race winner enjoys every bit of the honors.