Out of the past

Whizzer

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Found this today while going through things from the past. A lot of photos but this one made me think of what a loss it was for the Allison's and racing fans. We lost some great performers in a short period of time.
Scan 6.jpeg
 
Picture looks like it's from either 89 or 1990. Three great drivers, all Daytona 500 winners...
 
Found this today while going through things from the past. A lot of photos but this one made me think of what a loss it was for the Allison's and racing fans. We lost some great performers in a short period of time. View attachment 11172

Sad for sure. I dislike Brian, but I praise him for finally biting the bullet and making the racing MUCH safer. I never enjoyed watching a race thinking someone may lose their life.
 
I really felt like if Davey were still alive he would have won a few championships...

I've thought the same thing before with Davey and Tim Richmond. They'd probably each have one at least one championship if not more had they lived, and the great Dale Earnhardt may have only been a 4 or 5 time champion.

Then again, I can remember fans and the media in the early 90s saying Mark Martin will surely win a few championships in the years to come.... and look how that turned out.

I was heartbroken for Bobby. Losing Clifford, then Davey just over a year later. I couldn't imagine having to go through something like that.
 
I loved NASCAR racing in the 90's, but I hated all the tragedy that befell the sport in that decade. Seemed like every few months we were losing somebody else. I'm glad we have a good streak going now of no lives being lost.
 
I loved NASCAR racing in the 90's, but I hated all the tragedy that befell the sport in that decade. Seemed like every few months we were losing somebody else. I'm glad we have a good streak going now of no lives being lost.

People give the cars and safer barriers too much credit. HaNS is the real savior, even though the car and barriers have saved injury and lives.
 
People give the cars and safer barriers too much credit. HaNS is the real savior, even though the car and barriers have saved injury and lives.
They've come a long way in all aspects...there have been a few wrecks recently where I'm certain the driver would have been dead fifteen years ago. Eric McClure at Talladega and Michael Annett at Daytona come to mind.
 
Other than the fantastic safety advances that NASCAR made........NASCAR in the 80's,90's and early 2000's was FAR superior to the NASCAR of today! It's a shame the newer fans never got to watch REAL racing.
 
I wasn't around for the Allison tragedy but the day of the Hendrick plane crash will always be a flashbulb memory for me
 
Other than the fantastic safety advances that NASCAR made........NASCAR in the 80's,90's and early 2000's was FAR superior to the NASCAR of today! It's a shame the newer fans never got to watch REAL racing.

Honestly, if I had to pick either a safer NASCAR or a "more entertaining" NASCAR, I'd pick the safer NASCAR every time. There's no reason for anyone to lose their lives in a sporting event.
 
I wasn't around for the Allison tragedy but the day of the Hendrick plane crash will always be a flashbulb memory for me
I was at Martinsville in the fall of 2004, the weekend that the Hendrick plane went down. Nobody knew anything at the track about the plane going down earlier in the day. Jimmie Johnson won the race that afternoon. After Jimmie's win Chad radioed to Jimmie not to do a burnout and bring the car on down pit road. Strange for Martinsville as they hold their victory lane celebration at the start/finish line on the track. We started to realize something wasn't quite right. Once we got back out to our truck in the parking lot we then heard Claire B Lang talking about what had happened on the post race show.

Flashback to 1991, Watkins Glen. My brother and I were there for the race the day that J.D. McDuffie slid into the tire barrier at the end of the back straightaway and was killed. Back then very few fans had scanners so nobody really knew what had happened. There were no big TV screens around the track. You only heard via the MRN crew that there had been a bad accident on the backstretch. None of the cars were circling the track so we knew it had to be bad. Eventually a flatbed truck hauling a car under tarp was brought back around the track backwards and headed into the pits/garage area. A car under tarp was a clear sign to everyone that it was worse than we'd imagined. Before Dale Earnhardt's death @ Daytona, J.D. McDuffie had been the last driver lost during a Cup race. J.D. Mc Duffie's death is also the reason that there is a chicane at the end of the backstretch @ Watkins Glen reducing the speeds tremendously.
 
.......NASCAR in the 80's,90's and early 2000's was FAR superior to the NASCAR of today! It's a shame the newer fans never got to watch REAL racing.

Got a buddy that says the same thing , and doesn't watch Nascar anymore because of it . I felt the same way for a while but came back. Course he was an Earnhardt fan and I was an Elliott fan and all but five or six other cars were not competetive . I tell him that he should watch again , the fact is , racing has never been closer and fewer cars finish off of the lead lap.
 
Nice cap Davey has on
 

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