In 1992 We Thought Davey Allison was Indestructible

hey what's up everybody today I want to talk about one of my favorite racecar drivers of all time Davey Allison Davey Allison had quite the NASCAR Cup career he ran a part-time schedule from 1985 to 1987 and in 1987 he actually scored two wins his first coming at his home track of Talladega Superspeedway he scored 19 total career victories and made a huge mark on the sport before he was tragically killed in a helicopter crash in July of 1993 this came as a huge shock to the NASCAR community not just because we lost one of our rising stars but because just three months prior we lost Alan Kulwicki the reigning champion just like that in the span of about a hundred days NASCAR lost two of its biggest stars and in 1993 NASCAR was in a very uncertain situation Richard Petty David Pearson Cale Yarborough the Allison brothers all the other heavy hitters that had made the sport what it was they had all retired no one knew who Jeff Gordon was yet Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt were in their 40s and they were on their way out we were all left wondering who would go on to hold the torch for us throughout the 90s NASCAR was seemingly lost at that one dark moment and what made it even harder to swallow was the fact that in 1992 we all thought Davey Allison was indestructible [Music] there has never been a race team that had more pies and more loads than we had in 1992 we would win one week wreck the next by the time we got to the Sprint all-star race we figured out how to do both on the same night maybe I you know feel like yeah he's fine he's you know it's made out of rubber or something all he keeps going back because he just pancaked the whole left side of the car and actually cracked his helmet [Music] we all want to see it I'll show on table [Music] organ comes to the Eastside of Davey Allison is going to win that they caught a 500 [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] here they come organ down to the line Davey Allison first Morgan Shepherd gets it all back there has he got anything left coming to the stripe Morgan comes to the inside and Davey Allison is going to win the Daytona 500 the Alabama gang has done it again the son of a great champion of this track Bobby Allison Davey Allison victorious in the 34th annual Daytona 500 Davey Allison's 1992 season started off about as well as it possibly could for anyone he won the first race of the season the biggest race of the season the Daytona 500 just four years prior he had finished second to his father Bobby Allison and this time he got to take the checkered flag for himself his next several races would also go just about as good Rockingham 2nd Richmond 4th Atlanta 4th Darlington 4th going to the sixth race of the season at Bristol Davy was clear and out the favorite to win the championship that year back then the champion was decided by whoever had the most points at the conclusion of the final race there was no chase no cutoff no reset no eliminations or knockouts back then every race mattered and Davey had just finished the first five races in a row without ever falling out of the top four but he couldn't just coast out for the rest of the season either because at this point there had only been two winners all year well Davey Allison had only won one race so that meant yep the other guy had won the last four straight he had someone hot on his heels and that someone was none other than the 1988 champion Bill Elliott and his car owner jr. Johnson if there was ever a kingmaker in NASCAR at that time it was jr. Johnson the man had 50 career wins as his driver in six championship titles as a car owner back then if jr. Johnson picked you to drive his car you were pretty much guaranteed to win a bunch of races and maybe even had a shot at a championship Bill Elliott at the time had been voted the most popular driver in the sports six times and he had 34 victories going into the 1992 season after the first five races he had brought that number up to 38 Davey Allison on the other hand was a relatively young driver with a relatively young team Robert Yates racing they had won a slew of races together and finished third in the points in the previous year and they were poised to give Junior Johnson and Bill Elliott a real challenge but in that sixth week disaster struck he took a hard hit into the outside wall at Bristol and was visibly hurt the team would cobble the car back together and he would rates out to finish 28 that of 32 cars Bill Elliott would finish 20th so Davey would hold on to his narrow point's lead but after the race it was revealed that he had two cracked ribs the next race was just one week later at North Wilkesboro another short track rookie that year Jimmy Hensley had practice and qualified the car and the plan was for Davey to start the race and for the team to swap drivers at the first opportunity it's still a rule in NASCAR that if you start a race even if you get replaced later on you get credited with a win and the finishing position of whatever that replacement driver gets you could technically go out pull one lap have the best driver in the garage sub in for you and then have him go out and win the race and that counts as a victory for you in the NASCAR record books Jimmy Hensley stood in the pits all day on that unseasonable warm day in April decked out in a full fire suit and with a helmet on sweltering in the heat waiting all day for Davey Allison to come in and saying that he had had enough except after about 70 laps Larry McReynolds Davey Allison's crew chief says the Jimmy Hensley we thank you for all you've done today but I think Davey Allison's gonna finish this race and he did now it's impressive enough that Davey completed the race with two cracked ribs but he didn't just do that he won the darn thing with his legs cramping up and his crew only able to give him fluids during the seldom few pit stops during the race he nabbed his second victory of the year and Bill Elliott finished 20th again further cementing his lead on the points Martinsville another short track comes up Davey takes another bad hit and totals another car when interviewed about the crash later he admitted that he had further compounded his two cracked ribs with now a bruised lung the next week his home track in the site of his first win Talladega and he decides he's going to go ahead and win that one too right after getting a bruised lung now a worrisome pattern starts to emerge checkers or records win or crash some drivers just have this habit this quirk some seasons where they are either winning or spinning they go through a feast or famine season and now the only thing left to do is to try and outrun their bad luck and that's what Davey Allison and his team tried to do and in the following race the all-star race they learn how to wreck and win at the same time baby coming up but I don't think Kyle this calls it off the corner he's got the inside he's up bumper racing service gentlemen let part of the racetrack yeah and it's Kyle Betty Kyle Petty coming to the checkered flag here comes Davey Allison on bottom it'll be the finish pass the finish line they have crashed and determinable done and Davey Allison is in a shower of sparks they won the race but he sure paid the price for it Davey hit the outside wall driver side first and he hit the wall with such force that his head physically hit the concrete wall and cracked his helmet open leaving him with a severe concussion on the right of the hospital he is completely out of it he keeps asking Larry McReynolds what happened over and over and over again every time Larry Mac would say you won but you crashed it was really bad you got knocked out Davey Allison would say wow that's crazy well then he would doze away only to ask the exact same question again a few moments later Davey Allison never went to Victory Lane that night but his car and car owner did which led to quite a few odd and awkward Victory Lane photos being taken the next week is the 600 the longest race of the year also at Charlotte Motor Speedway if this situation happened today there is absolutely no way NASCAR would have ever let Davey race the following week they would have sat him out for several weeks and have him go to their doctor to see if he was okay to race but back before CTE was a thing Davey climbed back into his black 28 and finished fourth two cracked ribs a bruised lung and a severe concussion or enough to gain the admiration of anyone watching this video right now but we're not done yet Davey goes into the summer stretch while still having the point's lead and in fact he's held on to the point's lead every single race since winning the Daytona 500 to start off the season back in February despite his bad luck Bill Elliott has had worse luck Davey Allison wins at Michigan and dominating fashion in June leading 158 out of 200 laps he's starting to get a real upswing going 5th at Pocono 10th at Daytona for the 400 but during the second Pocono race that all changes [Music] side and over end and Davey Allison Davey Allison has flown out of the Speedway to the hospital Larry Mac and Robert Yates the car owner meet up with him in the Medical Center and it's not good he has a broken wrist and a broken forearm but even worse looking than that has the swelling from the intense g-forces he took from the flip his face is swollen so bad that his friends and family can barely see his eyes and according to Larry Mac if you looked at him straight on you couldn't even see his ears even more grisly is that he has popped several blood vessels in his eyes leaving them bloodshot red Davie dismisses Larry Mac and Robert Yates telling them to pack their stuff and head back to Charlotte to get their next car ready for the next race Talladega again he finished his third no backup driver no nothing he runs the entire race and gets the point's lead back he would go on to lose it the next week at Watkins Glen with a bad finish of 20th after that he basically goes I fry with Bill Elliott neither of them can get a leg up over the other or even really put together a good string of finishes for every top five or top ten they get they each finished outside the top 15 or rec all the while a young upstart named Alan Kulwicki is closing in on them bit by bit just hacking away with consistent top tens Bill Elliott has a terrible stretch in October and going into the second to last race of the season the best thing that could happen for Davey happens he wins his fifth race of the year at Phoenix Raceway while Bill Elliott finishes outside the top 30 our hindsight of events that played out during the last race in 1992 have skewed her perception of how things were playing out at the time everyone remembers Alan kwikki running down Billy Elliot and just nudging him out for the championship so you might think it was basically a dead heat between the two of them and the points right wrong Davey Allison has the point's lead for the first time since the summer stretch that's right Davey is leading the points going into the final race I also think it's worth mentioning that because of Davian bills lack of consistency and Allen's lack of victories there are three other drivers with a mathematical shot of the championship we're going into the last race of the season with six guys who could be champ at the top three crash out it's basically a crapshoot between Mark Martin Harry Gant and Kyle Petty 1992 Hooters 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway is jam-packed with high tension from one into the other I could go on for an hour just talking about this one race alone but for today well let's just talk about Davey Allison's race Davey has to finish fifth or better to clinch the championship no matter what Allen or Bill do a fifth place finish cinches it for dead however Davey gets the rear end of his car scuffed up on a wreck on the first lap it's not much but it's enough to slow them down to a tenth place car meanwhile Allen and Bill are running one two all day long Davey has another problem later the crew of the brand-new number 24 car headed by a young Jeff Gordon making his very first start have left a roll of duct tape on the deck lid of their car it just was a man it was a tough day because we had we left a roll of duct tape on the decklid and it fell off on track and Davey Allison hid the crew of the 28th makes a green flag pit stop to fix the damage and they get everything squared away after some mid-race shuffling on a long green flag stint they are running in 5th place right where they need to be when disaster strikes [Applause] [Music] Ernie Irvan and it's all over for David I don't think eating that hard well he had pretty well it's got a lot of damage to the right side of the car dirty urban spinning coming off the corner number four baby he's got his car moving yeah he's trying to pull away but it can't fit there but it won't turn it won't turn the right bank will not work and just like that Davey Allison's 1992 championship Quest is over all the injuries all the wreck scars all the heartbreak and they come up just short Davey Allison's season is over well not quite he and his crew make it a matter of pride to finish the race they rip everything down fix the steering and send the car back out to limp around for the last few laps they finished the race and finished the season bruised battered and beaten sitting in third in points when it's all said and done 1992 would be the last full season for both Davey Allison and the eventual champion that year Alan Kulwicki the 1992 Daytona 500 winner in the 1992 Series champion respectively would die in aircraft accidents just a few months apart from one another perhaps then it's oddly fitting that the two biggest stars when the two biggest prizes that year they will forever be remembered for those accomplishments that year and hopefully with this video I can help in some small way to build up their legacy they deserve it and they were taken from the racing world just way too soon anyway I'm slap shoes thanks for listening and I'll see you next time peace

Channel: S1apSh0es

Views: 192,687

Keywords: Davey Allison, NASCAR, Alabama Gang, Pocono, all star race, tough, 1992, One Hot Night, Talladega, Hooters 500, toughest, davey allison tribute, davey allison pocono crash, bobby allison, darrell waltrip, Toughest nascar driver, all time, best nascar driver, nascar crashes, 1992 NASCAR season, 1992 Hooters 500, winston cup series, Alan Kulwicki, Bill Elliott, 1992 NASCAR championship, motorsports history, motorsports, Davey Allison flip, Davey Allison crash, NASCAR stories

Id: MAYXjM53tj4

Length: 13min 49sec (829 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 21 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/SteveK51]

I was hesitant to watch his videos because most of the topics have been done before. I was expecting them to feel like a copy-paste job. I could not have been more wrong. He brings a fresh angle to each topic with different information, a unique style and delivery. His work is very good.

[u/DWS44]

Its interesting to think how the landscape of the 90s and into the 2000s could have played out had Davey lived. He would have certainly been as disruptive to the Earnhardt-Gordon saga as anyone else ever was.

[u/hamiltonincognito]

I found him about three weeks ago and have loved all his videos so far.

[u/Nathan92299]

I just started getting these recommended to me on YouTube, and been adding them to my Watch Later list