WATCH: Newly Inducted NASCAR Hall of Famer Was Once Taken for a Wild Ride at the Charlotte Motor Speedway

Jimmie Johnson dominated most of the headlines when he was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Also inducted into the Hall of Fame, along with him was his long-time crew chief, Chad Knaus. However, many may be drawing a blank on other inductees, namely Janet Guthrie and Donnie Allison. Allison is best known for being part of the Alabama Gang, along with his brother Bobby, and his nephews Davey and Clifford.

Admittedly, Allison has not met the same level of success as his brother, Bobby. However, he does have 10 Cup wins under his belt, including several wins at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Unfortunately, the 1981 six-hour NASCAR race at the iconic oval which had seven caution flags for 49 laps and 32 lead changes among seven drivers, did not yield such a result for the driver.

Donnie Allison may have recovered after his World 600 wreck at Charlotte, only to never return to victory lane

During the 1981 Cup race, Allison was sent spinning backward, straight towards the outside wall. After striking it, his #77 car went sliding back down the track towards the infield.

Unfortunately, before his car could reach its destination, it crossed paths with a startled Dick Brooks. The #41 driver had nowhere to go, except to plough straight into Allison’s car. Apparently, the impact was so bad that Allison was unconscious and picked up a left leg injury, a broken cheekbone, a fractured shoulder blade, several broken ribs, and a damaged lung.

In the end, his brother Bobby Allison won the race ahead of Harry Gant and Cale Yarborough. “My heart has been in my throat all day,” Bobby Allison said immediately after the race. “I got a couple of real bad scares when Donnie wrecked and Neil wrecked.”

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Sadly, Donnie did not compete for the remainder of the season but did compete sporadically from 1982 onwards. Meanwhile, Dick Brooks was another driver who made sporadic appearances until 1983 and 1984. Interestingly, Despite the fact that Donnie has rarely competed on a full-time basis, with the closest being the 1974 season with DiGard Motorsports, his induction into the racing world stemmed from sibling rivalry.

A sibling rivalry led to Allison becoming a NASCAR racecar driver

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It is interesting to note that Donnie Allison initially had no plans to race in NASCAR. However, it is believed that older brother Bobby Allison publicly claimed that he could never be a racer. Naturally, this fuelled the younger Allison with the intense desire to prove his brother wrong. It didn’t take long for him to stick it to his older sibling’s face, with the 1967 Rookie of the Year award.

Another thing that the younger Allison will go down in infamy for, is the 1979 Daytona 500. As it happened, he and Cale Yarborough were battling for the lead on the final lap of the race.

The two of them collided and crashed out, and behind them, Richard Petty was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Although Petty took his sixth Daytona 500 win, the headlines were dominated by the publicly televised brawl between Yarborough and Allison.

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