Davey Allison #1 Lancaster Tobacco Chevrolet

    Welcome once more to the NASCAR Racing Champions diecast blog~ In today's post, I'm gonna be taking you back to the 1985 Winston Cup series, where we'll be look back on Davey Allison's time in the #1 Lancaster Tobacco Chevrolet~ Davey made his Winston Cup debut in this car, which was owned by long time Cup series owner, Hoss Ellington~

    Allison attempted to make the field for the 1985 running of the "Daytona 500", as well as the "Coca-Cola 500" @ Atlanta, driving the #77 McCord Gaskets Chevrolet owned by Marvin Ragan (David Ragan's uncle), but failed to make the field for either event~ Allison continued to race in the ARCA series throughout the year, but finally got another chance at the Cup series with a call from Ellington~ The rest is history, and we're gonna relive that history right now~

                                              Allison's first Cup race at Talladega - 1985~

    You'd think it would be fitting that Allison made his debut at Talladega, being a member of the "Alabama Gang", but in all actuality it would have been more fitting had he made the field for the "Daytona 500"~ Many fans aren't aware that Davey was born in Hollywood, Florida, and that he started his racing career in gator country~

    Though he wasn't a native of Alabama, Davey was a master at Talladega, pretty much from the start of his career~ Heading into the "Talladega 500", Bill Elliott was the talk of the town, as he had been for basically the entire 1985 season~ His bright red #9 Coors Ford was a dominate force at the time, especially at the superspeedway tracks~ As was expected, Elliott put the #9 Ford on the pole for the event, beating out an aging Cale Yarborough for the honor~

    Davey qualified 22nd in what would be his Winston Cup debut, and though that's not great, it must have felt like he won the pole~ After two failed attempts earlier in the season, he was finally going to be in a Winston Cup race, racing against his heroes, as well as his father~ Two drivers failed to make the field for the event, Eldon Dotson, and Dick Skillen~

                                        Davey shared row 11 with Harry Gant in his debut~

    At the start of the race, Elliott's car was clearly the car to beat, and it looked like the race was gonna be for second place, because nobody was gonna catch Awesome Bill~ Following the first caution of the day, Elliott's team struggled on pit road, putting him way back in traffic~ He was able to zip right through them and get right back to the lead, and his happened several times throughout the day~ The only person who could even come close to Elliott was Cale Yarborough, driving the #28 Hardee's Ford~

    Davey got as high as 2nd place under caution, but was never able to take the lead, and faded once the race restarted~ Midway through the event, the driveshaft on the Trevor Boys car malfunctioned, and it flew into Dale Earnhardt's car, and shattered the windshield~ Pieces of the windshield cut Earnhardt's face, and he could be seen blood covered in his car as repairs were made~ He made it back out and finished the race, though he was a bloody mess~ With around 20 laps remaining, Elliott's car lost a cylinder, which ended his chance at victory, and sent Cale Yarborough into first place~

    Cale led the remaining 22 laps with relative ease, and went on to win the event, in what turned out to be the next to last win in NASCAR~ Neil Bonnett came home in second, followed by Ron Bouchard, Bill Elliott, and A.J. Foyt, who picked up the final top 5 of his NASCAR career~ It would also be the final top 10 of his career as well~ Davey Allison finished the race in 10th place, picking up his first top 10 in his first career start in the Cup series~ 

                                    Davey ran the final two races in this black Lancaster car~

    Allison wasn't back in the Cup series until 8 races later, for the "Miller High Life 500" @ Charlotte, and when he showed up to the track, the car was sporting a new black paint scheme~ He qualified 17th for the event, with "Handsome" Harry Gant taking the pole position in the #33 Skoal Bandit Chevrolet~ Tim Richmond was on the outside of row number one in the #27 Old Milwaukee Pontiac~ Glenn Sears was the only driver who failed to make the show~

    Harry Gant led the majority of the race, but blew an engine with less than 100 laps remaining, handing the lead over to Bill Elliott, who had the second most dominate car of the day~ Elliott then led 35 laps before being passed by Cale Yarborough, who led the remaining 46 laps on the way to the final victory of his NASCAR career~ The first two Cup starts of Davey's career were won by Yarborough~

    Elliott finished runner-up (though he gave Cale one heck of a race), and was followed by Geoff Bodine, Darrell Waltrip, and Joe Ruttman~ Davey's engine gave out on lap 307, relegating him to a 19th place finish, which was still better than Dale Earnhardt, who finished in 20th~ In his first two Cup races, Davey finished higher than Earnhardt on both occasions~ Not too shabby for a youngster making his debut in the Cup series~

                                                Davey's car on pit road at Charlotte - 1985~

    Davey's final race of the 1985 Winston Cup season came in the "Atlanta Journal 500" @ the old Atlanta International Raceway~ He qualified 32nd, running the black paint scheme again, while his teammate Rick Wilson, who was filling in for David Pearson in the #21 Chattanooga Chew Chevrolet qualified 31st~ "Handsome" Harry Gant was on the pole again, alongside Geoff Bodine on the front row~ Ten drivers failed to make the field for the event, including Doug Heveron, Jim Sauter, and Blackie Wangerin~

    The race was a fierce, and very vicious battle between Bill Elliott and Cale Yarborough all afternoon~ During the middle of the race, Cale's car was exceptionally strong, but he faded a bit near the end.. not enough to fade out of competition for the win, but enough for Elliott to catch up to him and make it an exciting race~ In the last 50 laps of the event, Cale's car fell off even more, allowing Elliott to ease his way into victory lane one more time~

    Yarborough finished second, and was followed by Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt, and Morgan Shepherd~ Davey was the first driver to fall out of the event following a blown engine on lap 52, so he picked up his first career last place finish in 42nd~ His teammate Rick Wilson was able to finish the race in 18th, seven laps off the pace of the race winning car of Elliott~ 

                      Davey keeping an eye on Harry Gant in his Cup debut~ Talladega - 1985~

    Davey finished out his unofficial rookie campaign with 3 starts, and 1 top 10 finish~ He ran a total of 539 laps, and had an average start of 23.7, with an average finish of 23.7~ He finished 70th in the final points standings for the1985 Winston Cup championship, which was won by Darrell Waltrip and the #11 Budweiser team, owned by Junior Johnson~

    Allison would compete in another partial season in 1986, running 4 races with the Sadler Brothers (while also failing to qualify for an additional two races) in the #95 Chevrolet, with a best finish of 12th in the "Miller High Life 400" @ Richmond~ He also filled in for the injured Neil Bonnett for the "Talladega 500", driving the #12 Budweiser Chevrolet to a 7th place finish~

    He made his official run for "Rookie of the Year" in 1987, winning two races, with 5 poles, 9 top 5's, and 10 top 10's~ He easily won "Rookie of the Year" honors, with an average start of 9th, and an average finish of 14.2~ He finished 21st in the final championship points standings~ Throughout his entire Winston Cup career, Allison averaged one win for every ten races he entered, with 19 career victories in 191 starts~

                                           Davey Allison #1 Lancaster Tobacco Chevrolet~

                                                                Click pics to enlarge~

    This car was produced for the 1994 Premier set, and was limited to 10,000 pieces~ Racing Champions didn't make many of these 85-88 Monte Carlos, and the only ones that come to my mind are Darrell Waltrip's #17 Tide, Dale Earnhardt's #3 Goodwrench, and Kirk Shelmerdine's #3 Goodwrench car~

    Racing Champions did a mighty fine job on this diecast, and I'm also very happy with the card for this one~ Sterling Marlin drove this car for 10 races in the 1986 season, with sponsorship from Bull's Eye Barbecue Sauce, and the number 1 looked the same on that car~ I'm a big fan of the way they did that number~ This car is pretty awesome all the way around~ It's clean, crisp, and void of any major flaws~ You can't ask for more from a Racing Champions diecast~

    I'm giving this car an A+ all the way on the Racing Champions quality scale, even though I'm not a fan of the gold stand and gold trim on the Premier cards~ This is probably my favorite Premier car of all time, and the only one I would like better is the black version of this car~ I don't think that one was ever produced, but I've learned to never say never with Racing Champions~ I personally would value this car in the 17-20 dollar range, though you can sometimes find it cheaper if you're not impatient~ And now, without any further adieu.. I give you the bonus car for this post~

                                              Rick Wilson #27 Indianapolis Colts Ford~

    I had another car picked out for this bonus car post, but after I found out that Wilson was Allison's teammate for a race, I had to change my plans~ This car was driven by Wilson in the 1997 Brickyard 400, and the Colts sponsorship literally came together at the last minute~ Wilson was trying to revive his career following a four year absence from the Cup series, and had teamed up with David Blair to drive the #27 Blair Motorsports Ford~

    His first race back was in the "Miller 400" @ Michigan, where he qualified 31st, and finished 21st~ He next raced the car five races later for the "Brickyard 400" @ Indy~ Even in the qualifying session, Wilson's car was sponsored only by Blair Motorsports, with their logo on the hood of the car~ Once it was known that Wilson wasn't going to be one of the ten drivers who would DNQ for the event, the Indianapolis Colts came on board just in time for the race~ Wilson would start the race from the 34th position~

                                                       What the actual car looked like~

    Wilson wasn't really even shown during the race, and had a forgettable 21st place finish~ Ricky Rudd went on to win the race, and Wilson ran one more race for Blair Motorsports, finishing 19th in the "UAW-GM Quality 500" @ Charlotte~ He attempted to run two races (Talladega, Daytona) in 1998 in Larry Herdick's #41 Kodiak Chevrolet, but failed to make either event~ Following these two DNQ's, his Cup career was officially over~

    This car doesn't truly represent Rick's Brickyard car 100%, because I couldn't find many shots of the car to get it 100% correct~ This is my interpretation of what the car looked like, and I feel like it's close to what the real thing looked like~ I just couldn't get a clear shot of the hood to tell what the logo above "COLTS" was~ Thank you all for visiting the blog~ I hope you enjoyed this post, and share it with your friend on social media~ Below are some videos from Davey's career, though I can't find much from his 1985 season without having to post full races, and I'm just not doing that~ If you enjoy this blog, please click the "follow" button at the top right hand side of this page~ And until next time, eat a cow for your tomorrow... eat a cow for us, and all the world to share~ :)

                                               Davey's first Cup win - 1987 Winston 500~

                                                        Remembering Davey Allison~

 
                                                   Davey is furious with Geoff Bodine~

                                       First Turn: Best Rookie Seasons - #8: Davey Allison~