NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison, Mind Behind Famed 'Alabama Gang,' Dies at 86

He won the 1983 Winston Cup title and three Daytona 500s.

Bobby Allison in 1983. / Ricky Rogers / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK

Bobby Allison, a NASCAR Hall of Famer who won the 1983 Winston Cup title and three Daytona 500s, died Saturday in Mooresville, N.C. He was 86.

Debuting in NASCAR's top series in 1961, Allison raced until 1988, winning on 85 occasions—the fourth-most victories in history at that level, behind only Richard Petty, David Pearson and Jeff Gordon. Allison's victory total jumped from 84 to 85 in October of this year after NASCAR adjudicated a 53-year-old dispute, granting him a victory in 1971 he hadn't originally been credited with.

Allison won the Daytona 500 in 1978, 1982 and 1988—the last as a 50-year-old; he remains the oldest driver to win NASCAR's most famous race.

In the mind of most racing fans, Allison is associated with the "Alabama Gang." The Miami native relocated to Hueytown, Ala. as a young man in search of greater racing opportunity, and wound up the most successful member of a prominent group of drivers based there.

Allison's brother, Donnie, won 10 times in the Cup Series over two decades; he survives Bobby. Both of Bobby's sons, Clifford and Davey, became drivers as well—and both died within a year of each other in the early 1990s, the former in a racing accident and the latter in a helicopter crash.

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