NASCAR Legend and One of the “Best Finishing Rookies” Ever Reveals the Best Compliment He Ever Got

The 1960s and 1970s were a grandiose period in the history of car racing when almost every driver wanted to try their hands at the Daytona 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Indianapolis 500. This was when NASCAR legend Donnie Allison ran his debut Indy 500 race. Just recently, he revealed the name of a certain someone who came up to him after the race and gave him the best compliment of his entire career.

Of all the NASCAR drivers who gave it a go, it was two brothers who actually scored the highest finishes among the visitors in 1970 and 1975. They were the “Alabama” Allisons. Dale Earnhardt Jr hosted Donnie Allison in his podcast, where the latter shared unheard stories revolving around the 1970 Indianapolis 500.

Donnie Allison will never bypass that one special moment from the 1970s.

Although Donnie qualified for the Indy 500 again in 1971, his debut race will always hold a special place for him. The 83-year-old went back over half a century and remembered the face that came knocking at the door, eager to shake hands with him. It was none other than A.J. Watson! For those who are new to the Indy arena, besides being the crew chief of Bobby Unser, Watson, also known as “The Head,” designed cars that won five Indy 500s consecutively.

Allison clearly recalled that he said, “I wanna talk to Allison…(to Allison) I wanna shake your hands. You are the only stock car driver I’ve ever seen who could drive one of these things (Indy cars).”

For someone like Allison, who had just set out driving an Indy car, it was indeed a heartwarming compliment.

“And now, that compliment to me was probably as good as I’ve ever had in my life, here’s a guy that knows he had good race car drivers…he had the time to come round the garage and say that to me…” Allison added.

Convincing A. J. Foyt to get Allison an Indy car was not easy. Donnie Allison recalled having to ask him multiple times, and once Foyt jokingly said that he could not drive an Indy because he was a taxi driver. However, Donnie Allison proved his friend wrong, and that too, with great prowess.

Donnie Allison’s instincts with the Indy 500

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When asked if it was difficult to switch to Indy 500 cars from stock cars, Donnie Allison said that it was not.

“No, it really wasn’t Dale. I have spent 3 years driving super modifiers and everything… and I loved it. I just felt like I wanted to drive an Indy car. “

So he asked his friend A.J. Foyt if he could ever drive an Indy car. When the latter agreed, Donnie did not waste any time and traveled to Houston, where A.J. and his dad, Tony Foyt, gave him a modified 1967 Gurney Eagle.

As a rookie, Donnie ran the race like never before. He started 23rd and quickly made his way up to the top 10 by the 80th lap. By lap 140, he was sitting at 6th. After racing alongside Al Unser for almost 300 miles, Foyt fell back due to some late-race transmission problems. As a result, Donnie Allison moved up and finished P4 after Unser, Mark Donohue, and Dan Gurney.

“I felt very comfortable. In fact, the last 15 laps of the race, the last 10 laps anyway, Bobby Unser, Mario Andretti and I passed each other at least 3 times before I finally got in front of them and was able to stay in front.”

Donnie had the highest finish of the four Foyt cars in that race, the other three were driven by Jimmy McElreath, George Snider, and A. J. Foyt himself. He even won ‘The Rookie of the Year Award for A. J. Foyt in the 1970 Indianapolis 500.

Read more: “Resisted the Urge to Punch Him”—Days After NASCAR Legend’s Heartbreaking News, Former Rival’s Hilarious Meetup Revealed