Bobby Allison always raced his son Davey with an immense sense of pride, a touch of parental anxiety and a lingering feeling of competitive dread.
“Davey is a delight to be around, and it’s a real thrill to see him do well,” Bobby Allison said. “I have the concern that I think any father would have for their son in a race car and the potential for some sort of danger.
“But there’s a third thing that comes with Davey: He’s a real competitive pain. He’s really fast in the car and a big threat.”
The Allisons combined for 104 victories in NASCAR’s premier series, but there was one race — the sport’s biggest — that especially showcased their dual talents.
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The 1988 Daytona 500 was the finest hour on track together for Bobby and Davey Allison as they joined Lee and Richard Petty as the second father-son pairing to finish 1-2 in a Cup race.
“What a thrill for me,” Bobby Allison said after a third Daytona 500 victory that would be the last of his 85 career wins. “My parents were a real inspiration for me, and now I’m racing against my son. It was a great race, and Davey did such a good job. He drove the wheels off that car all day. He’s a fine young man and fine competitor. I’m proud to say he belongs to me and Judy.”
The victory marked the completion of a tripleheader sweep at Daytona International Speedway for Bobby Allison, who won the 125-mile qualifier Thursday and the Grand National 300-mile race a day earlier.
He also made history as the first winner of the restrictor-plate era.
NASCAR made horsepower changes for its high-banked speedways after Allison’s car went airborne at more than 200 mph and tore down a section of the frontstretch fencing at Talladega Superspeedway in the May 3, 1987 race (which coincidentally was won by Davey Allison).
Starting in the 1988 season at Daytona and Talladega, NASCAR mandated restrictor plates that limited airflow to the carburetors and kept speeds below 200 mph. The rule change bunched up cars and made it easier to lose several positions without the help of a drafting partner.
Bobby and Davey Allison, who combined for 15 Cup victories at Daytona and Talladega, grasped those new nuances better than anyone in the 1988 Daytona 500.
On a restart with 18 laps remaining, Bobby Allison moved from fourth to first with a power move past Darrell Waltrip on the backstretch. Davey Allison quickly tucked in behind his dad to draft past Waltrip, who faded to 11th place.
Father and son controlled the race to the finish. Buddy Baker briefly charged into second with nine laps left, but Davey again drafted up to Bobby a lap later to retake second and shuffle Baker to ninth.
In the closing laps, the CBS broadcast often cut to the nervous smiles of Judy Allison as she watched her husband and son race for NASCAR’s greatest prize.
“You got all kind of emotions going,” she said. “Somebody walked up to me and said, ‘Well, who are you pulling for?’ and I said, ‘The one that pays the bills.’ What else can you say?”
There might have been extra tension because there was no playing favorites among family members with the highly competitive Allisons.
“A lot of people ask Bobby, ‘Why didn’t you let Davey win, he’s your son?’ Well, I’m here to tell you, he wouldn’t have let his mother win,” Donnie Allison cracked at his brother’s NASCAR Hall of Fame induction in 2011.
NASCAR Classics: Rewatch 1988 Daytona 500
Despite no quarter being given, there still were many racing lessons passed by a doting dad to his inquisitive son.
“Davey was so attentive and such a buddy to me from the time he was a little bitty guy, I certainly wanted to share anything I could with him,” Bobby said. “I did everything except back off and let him win a race. He understood that he had to earn it.”
Davey Allison later would earn that Daytona 500 victory in 1992.
But in the ’88 race, he knew that his No. 28 Ford was no match for his father’s No. 12 Buick, which led a race-high 70 laps. Davey still took a brief peek to the bottom off the final turn before yielding to dad.
“My only chance was to get up inside him and beat him by a couple of inches back to the finish line because I knew I could never have gotten around him all the way,” Davey said. “He’s just so tough.”
There were no hard feelings in a jubilant Victory Lane. The runner-up was met by a beer shower from the winner, who playfully doused his oldest son with a sponsor’s beverage.
Though he cherished the celebration, it wasn’t quite what Davey Allison had expected.
“When I was a little kid I always dreamed about racing with my dad and having a 1-2 finish, but I wanted him to be second,” he said. “In the dreams, I always won.”
In this case, reality turned out to be better.
“It’s the happiest day of my life,” Davey said. “It’s better than if I had won myself. He’s always been my hero.”
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