53 Years Later, Bobby Allison Finally Gets His 85th NASCAR Cup Win
A day that Bobby Allison had been waiting for more than 53 years to happen, finally came. The 1983 NASCAR Cup Series champion, and 2011 NASCAR Hall of Fame enshrinee, has officially been recognized by the sanctioning body as an 85-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner.
As a result, Allison moved to fourth on the all-time NASCAR Cup Series win list, ahead of fellow NASCAR Cup Series champion and Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip, who is an 84-time race winner.
In a statement, NASCAR revealed that NASCAR CEO and Chairman Jim France and Vice Chairman Mike Helton visited the 86-year-old racing legend on Wednesday to inform him of the change to the official history books.
For those new in the NASCAR circle, who are confused on how a driver, who hasn't run a NASCAR Cup Series race since the 1988 season could add another victory to his already illustrious career record, I'll do my best to explain.
There have been conflicting reports over the years about the official total number of NASCAR Cup Series wins that Allison accumulated. Some had Allison listed at 85 wins, while NASCAR has always maintained that Allison had 84 victories.
The discrepancy has always been a victory by Allison in the Myers Brothers Memorial 250 at Bowman Gray Stadium on August 6, 1971, which was a combination event between the NASCAR Grand National Series (now known as the Cup Series) and the Grand American Series, which was a "pony car" series, which ran events from 1968 to 1972.
Richard Petty led the opening 112 laps of the 1971 event at Bowman Gray in his No. 43 Plymouth, which was a Grand National (Cup) race car. Allison would take the lead as Petty was forced to pit road for gas with 138 laps remaining in the race. Allison would never relinquish the lead the rest of the way in his No. 49 Ford Mustang, which was a Grand American car.
After the race, Petty and a host of competitors from the Grand National Series complained that the Grand American Series cars had a distinct advantage in the combination events, and Petty argued that the two series should not run conjoined events.
That race at Bowman Gray, from that day until Wednesday, October 23, 2024, never had an official listed race winner. It was the first of six combination events run with NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Grand American Series cars in 1971. The other five races were always a part of the race winner's career NASCAR Cup Series stats.
The energy behind recognizing Allison's 85th career win began to intensify with NASCAR opting to move the yearly NASCAR Cup Series pre-season exhibition event The Clash to Bowman Gray Stadium, where Allison captured that win back in 1971.
“For 53 years, the Myers Brothers Memorial was the only race run by NASCAR that did not have an official winner,” said Jim France, NASCAR chairman and CEO. “As we began preparations for the upcoming Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium, the topic of that August 6, 1971 race returned to the forefront. We felt it was the right thing to officially recognize Bobby’s win and honor him as an 85-time NASCAR Cup Series winner. We are grateful for Bobby’s lifetime contributions to NASCAR.”
Allison had been so emphatic that he was an 85-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner in his career, not a 84-time race winner as it states on his NASCAR Hall of Fame plaque in Charlotte, North Carolina, that the legendary racer incorporated the 85th win into his Hall of Fame acceptance speech.
“I did win 85 times. Scout’s honor, 85 times,” Allison stated during his NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2011 speech.
Turns out, Allison was right all along. It just took 53 years, but he was right.
Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.