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Sprint Cup
CUP: Bobby Allison, Lee Petty Enter Hall Together
Bobby Allison and Lee Petty will be enshrined into the NHoF in ceremonies next May...
Bobby Allison won the 1983 NASCAR Sprint Cup title. (Photo: Courtesy of NASCAR)
Bobby Allison and Lee Petty often were on opposite sides of the fence in their racing endeavors.
Allison and Petty's son, Richard, once were bitter on-track rivals, particularly in a 1972 season that saw them hammer on each other's cars over an extended stretch of races, creating one of the most dramatic feuds in the history of the sport. Lee had retired from driving by that point, but he was on the scene at many of the races and certainly had his hands in the stew.
It was somewhat ironic, then, that Lee Petty and Allison were named Wednesday as two of the newest members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Allison was widely expected to be among the five chosen, but Petty was somewhat of a surprise.
Allison, who retired from driving in 1988, and Petty, who died in 2000, will be inducted into the hall in ceremonies next May.
“I was bracing myself in case it didn't happen,” Allison said after the announcement. “It was some really great words when I heard that. It's a great thrill.
“There are so many guys that were so good. They're going to have a tough time for the next few years worrying about who might not get inducted that ought to be in there. There are so many guys who have done great things. It's an honor to be right there in the top 10.”
Many observers had predicted that Allison would go into the hall along with Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip. They were contemporaries, and Allison and Waltrip are credited with 84 Cup victories, while Yarborough won 83. All three also were Cup champions.
But Yarborough and Waltrip were not picked Wednesday.
What separated Allison?
“I'm honored because I do wonder about that,” he said. “I do know I ran a lot of different races in a lot of different places and won in a lot of different brands of cars.”
During his driving career, Allison often was a critic of NASCAR.
“I wondered if maybe something I said one day when I was just trying to educate somebody might have backfired on me,” he said. “You wonder about all those things when the voting goes on. You don't really know who voted pro and con. It's something else to think about it.”
Allison, 72, won the Cup championship in 1983. He won the Daytona 500 three times, scoring his last victory in NASCAR?s biggest race in 1988, also the year his driving career was ended by a brutal crash at Pocono Raceway.
Lee Petty won 54 races (a record until his son, Richard, topped it) and was the first driver to win the national championship three times (1954, 1958, 1959).
His most famous victory occurred in the inaugural Daytona 500 in 1959. He rolled across the line in a photo finish with Johnny Beauchamp, and officials originally declared Beauchamp the winner. Extensive study of photos and film showed that Petty had reached the line first, however, and he was awarded the victory several days later.
Petty started the Petty Enterprises team in a small reaper shed on his farm in central North Carolina. It grew into one of international motorsports' best operations, winning championships for Lee and Richard and providing a proving ground for some of racing's best mechanics, a group that included Maurice Petty (Richard's brother and the team's chief engine builder).
“He showed us the way, how to work,” Maurice said Wednesday. “He showed you one time. You better get it right the next time.”
Maurice said his father was successful as a driver “because he was determined. The reason he was determined was he had to feed his family off it. It was a business to him. Like Richard, he was just a natural driver.”
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.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 and Petty's son, Richard, once were bitter on-track rivals, particularly in a 1972 season that saw them hammer on each other's cars over an extended stretch of races, creating one of the most dramatic feuds in the history of the sport. Lee had retired from driving by that point, but he was on the scene at many of the races and certainly had his hands in the stew.
It was somewhat ironic, then, that Lee Petty and Allison were named Wednesday as two of the newest members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Allison was widely expected to be among the five chosen, but Petty was somewhat of a surprise.
Allison, who retired from driving in 1988, and Petty, who died in 2000, will be inducted into the hall in ceremonies next May.
“I was bracing myself in case it didn't happen,” Allison said after the announcement. “It was some really great words when I heard that. It's a great thrill.
“There are so many guys that were so good. They're going to have a tough time for the next few years worrying about who might not get inducted that ought to be in there. There are so many guys who have done great things. It's an honor to be right there in the top 10.”
Many observers had predicted that Allison would go into the hall along with Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip. They were contemporaries, and Allison and Waltrip are credited with 84 Cup victories, while Yarborough won 83. All three also were Cup champions.
But Yarborough and Waltrip were not picked Wednesday.
What separated Allison?
“I'm honored because I do wonder about that,” he said. “I do know I ran a lot of different races in a lot of different places and won in a lot of different brands of cars.”
During his driving career, Allison often was a critic of NASCAR.
“I wondered if maybe something I said one day when I was just trying to educate somebody might have backfired on me,” he said. “You wonder about all those things when the voting goes on. You don't really know who voted pro and con. It's something else to think about it.”
Allison, 72, won the Cup championship in 1983. He won the Daytona 500 three times, scoring his last victory in NASCAR?s biggest race in 1988, also the year his driving career was ended by a brutal crash at Pocono Raceway.
Lee Petty won 54 races (a record until his son, Richard, topped it) and was the first driver to win the national championship three times (1954, 1958, 1959).
His most famous victory occurred in the inaugural Daytona 500 in 1959. He rolled across the line in a photo finish with Johnny Beauchamp, and officials originally declared Beauchamp the winner. Extensive study of photos and film showed that Petty had reached the line first, however, and he was awarded the victory several days later.
Petty started the Petty Enterprises team in a small reaper shed on his farm in central North Carolina. It grew into one of international motorsports' best operations, winning championships for Lee and Richard and providing a proving ground for some of racing's best mechanics, a group that included Maurice Petty (Richard's brother and the team's chief engine builder).
VIDEO: NASCAR HOF - 2011 Inductees Recap SPEED's experts break down the newest NHoF selections. (Image: SPEED)
“He showed us the way, how to work,” Maurice said Wednesday. “He showed you one time. You better get it right the next time.”
Maurice said his father was successful as a driver “because he was determined. The reason he was determined was he had to feed his family off it. It was a business to him. Like Richard, he was just a natural driver.”
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.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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