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Sprint Cup
CUP: Allison – Hall Choices Tough
Bobby Allison won 84 races in what is now the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series...
Bobby Allison wasn't among the first five-member class inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Nothing’s official yet, but there’s a spot waiting for Bobby Allison’s name in the new NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Allison fits in the No-Brainer Category. For him, it’s not a question of if. It’s a question of when.
Many think Allison will be a part of the second class, which will be inducted next May. His accomplishments and his numbers are more than worthy. He won 84 Sprint Cup races (ask him and he’ll say 85, but that’s a story for another day). He won the Cup title in 1983. He won the Daytona 500 three times and was an expert on virtually every sort of track.
Allison fits into that web of drivers huddling under all-time win leader Richard Petty (inducted this year) and No. 2 David Pearson (a virtual certainty for induction in 2011). Allison and his long-time nemesis, Darrell Waltrip, retired with 84 wins each, and Cale Yarborough has 83.
It’s quite possible that Pearson, Allison, Waltrip and Yarborough will be in the class of 2011. But this is where the debate points start getting finer. Those drivers clearly will be voted into the hall eventually, but will those in charge of the selections look first to pioneers like driver Lee Petty, team owner Raymond Parks and Dale Inman, perhaps the No. 1 crew chief who should be considered? And what about old-timers like Fireball Roberts, Herb Thomas and Curtis Turner? Where do they fit in the induction timeline?
With only five inductees going in each year, there are some tough debates waiting in the immediate future.
“I do know that there are people from way back at the very beginning, and one that got brought up again was Raymond Parks,” Allison said. “The man is still around, and certainly we should honor him while he can enjoy it. His health is really deteriorating. A year ago, he was walking around; this year he’s in a wheelchair. Time has its way of doing that to you.”
Asked if he had begun preparing his hall induction speech, Allison said, “You know, that is so neat, and certainly I do hope that I have to give one. But, at the same time, I know that I have to be sensible because there’s so many people that really have done good things in the business.
“I think of David Pearson sitting there with second most wins and the three championships and stuff like that, and there’s some guys from back previous years that really have done a lot of good things. … I hope that I do have to give that speech next year, but I still want to be completely sensible about it.”
One of the hardest decisions for hall voters down the road will be separating the merely great drivers from those that are hall of fame material. Some will be on the borderline, including drivers like Geoffrey Bodine, Ricky Rudd, Harry Gant and Benny Parsons. All were stars. But hall of famers?
Is it possible to make that distinction based on wins alone?
“I think you’ve got to go broader than that,” Allison said. “The total number of wins is definitely a big percentage of the deal, I think. But how they did it or what else was involved, all those things will have an influence on it, too, I think.”
As a future hall of famer, Allison will be making some of those voting choices. It would be interesting to glance over his shoulder during that process.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
Allison fits in the No-Brainer Category. For him, it’s not a question of if. It’s a question of when.
Many think Allison will be a part of the second class, which will be inducted next May. His accomplishments and his numbers are more than worthy. He won 84 Sprint Cup races (ask him and he’ll say 85, but that’s a story for another day). He won the Cup title in 1983. He won the Daytona 500 three times and was an expert on virtually every sort of track.
Allison fits into that web of drivers huddling under all-time win leader Richard Petty (inducted this year) and No. 2 David Pearson (a virtual certainty for induction in 2011). Allison and his long-time nemesis, Darrell Waltrip, retired with 84 wins each, and Cale Yarborough has 83.
It’s quite possible that Pearson, Allison, Waltrip and Yarborough will be in the class of 2011. But this is where the debate points start getting finer. Those drivers clearly will be voted into the hall eventually, but will those in charge of the selections look first to pioneers like driver Lee Petty, team owner Raymond Parks and Dale Inman, perhaps the No. 1 crew chief who should be considered? And what about old-timers like Fireball Roberts, Herb Thomas and Curtis Turner? Where do they fit in the induction timeline?
With only five inductees going in each year, there are some tough debates waiting in the immediate future.
“I do know that there are people from way back at the very beginning, and one that got brought up again was Raymond Parks,” Allison said. “The man is still around, and certainly we should honor him while he can enjoy it. His health is really deteriorating. A year ago, he was walking around; this year he’s in a wheelchair. Time has its way of doing that to you.”
Asked if he had begun preparing his hall induction speech, Allison said, “You know, that is so neat, and certainly I do hope that I have to give one. But, at the same time, I know that I have to be sensible because there’s so many people that really have done good things in the business.
“I think of David Pearson sitting there with second most wins and the three championships and stuff like that, and there’s some guys from back previous years that really have done a lot of good things. … I hope that I do have to give that speech next year, but I still want to be completely sensible about it.”
One of the hardest decisions for hall voters down the road will be separating the merely great drivers from those that are hall of fame material. Some will be on the borderline, including drivers like Geoffrey Bodine, Ricky Rudd, Harry Gant and Benny Parsons. All were stars. But hall of famers?
Is it possible to make that distinction based on wins alone?
“I think you’ve got to go broader than that,” Allison said. “The total number of wins is definitely a big percentage of the deal, I think. But how they did it or what else was involved, all those things will have an influence on it, too, I think.”
As a future hall of famer, Allison will be making some of those voting choices. It would be interesting to glance over his shoulder during that process.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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