NASCAR officials award Bobby Allison with 85th Cup victory at age 86
Oct 24, 2024
(CHARLOTTE SPORTS LIVE) — At 86 years old, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison picked up his 85th Cup Series victory Wednesday, after the organization amended the record books on a disputed 1971 race.
Allison’s now-win at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem moves him into sole possession of fourth place in the circuit’s all-time win list.
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NASCAR said executives Jim France and Mike Helton visited Allison on Wednesday to inform him of the recognition. The decision breaks a tie and moves Allison ahead of 84-time winner Darrell Waltrip in NASCAR’s history books, where the Alabama native now ranks behind Richard Petty, David Pearson and Jeff Gordon.
Allison received the trophy and first-place prize money in the Myers Brothers Memorial 250 race on Aug. 6, 1971, held at the quarter-mile oval.
According to NASCAR, the format for the event and the circumstances of the victory were called into question before the race began. In an effort to boost the field sizes for both the Cup Series — then called Grand National — and its short-lived Grand American Series for “pony cars," NASCAR officials announced that six races in the 1971 campaign would be combination events for both divisions.
Allison's final NASCAR race was in 1988, the same year he won the Daytona 500. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame second-ever class in 2011.