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There’s some sad news out of the NASCAR world on the evening before the NASCAR Cup Series championship is decided with news that legendary driver Bobby Allison has died.

He was 86.

“Bobby Allison personified the term ‘racer.’ Though he is best known as one of the winningest drivers in NASCAR Cup Series history, his impact on the sport extends far beyond the record books,” NASCAR Chairman and CEO Jim France said in a statement. “

“As a driver, he won races and championships across several NASCAR divisions,” France’s statement continued. “But as the leader of the famous ‘Alabama Gang,’ Bobby connected with fans in a profound manner. In the most significant ways, he gave his all to our sport. On behalf of the France family and all of NASCAR, I offer my deepest condolences to Bobby’s family, friends and fans on the loss of a NASCAR giant.”

Allision was the 1983 Winston Cup Series champion and won 85 races. He was named the Cup series’ most popular driver six times.

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As NASCAR Chairman and CEO Jim France alluded to in his statement, Allision was the leader of the “Alabama Gang,” and one of its founding members along with fellow racing greats Red Farmer and his brother Donnie Allison. All three have been inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Interestingly, Allison’s 85th and final Cup Series win was only officially awarded recently. It came in the Myers Brothers Memorial 250 race on August 6, 1971, at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem North Carolina. 

The Cup Series — then known as Grand National — ran several races with a field that was beefed up with cars from the short-lived Grand American Series, which was for smaller “pony cars” like Ford Mustangs and Chevrolet Camaros. 

Allison wound up winning the race in a Grand American car, however, to appease complaints from Grand National drivers including Richard Petty who lost to Allison by three seconds — no winner was made official.

That is until last month when NASCAR officially awarded Allison his 85th win, which put him fourth on the Cup Series’ all-time wins list.