Sunday’s running of the Aaron’s 499 will mark the 20th anniversary of the first Cup victory for Alabama native Davey Allison, who captured the spring race at Talladega Superspeedway on May 3, 1987 on his way to winning Rookie of the Year honors. It was one of two victories that season for Allison, making him the first Cup driver to win multiple races in his rookie season. Allison’s victory came in only the ninth race of the season. He edged out Terry Labonte, Kyle Petty and Dale Earnhardt, who had won six of the first eight races that year. Allison went on to win 19 times in his Cup career – including victories at Talladega Superspeedway in 1989 and 1992 – and posted a total of 66 top-five finishes and 92 top-10s. Even though Allison died on July 13, 1993 at age 32 from injuries sustained in a helicopter crash, he still accomplished enough in his shortened career to be named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers.(TSS PR), it was also the same race that forced NASCAR to go to restrictor plates on the engines to slow down the cars when Bobby Allison [Davey’s Dad] got airbourne on the frontstretch and torn down yards of the catch fence, almost going into the stands. In qualifying for that race Bill Elliott set the all time pole speed record for any track in Cup, with a speed of 212.809mph.(4-28-2007)
