Bobby Allison, founder of racing’s “Alabama Gang” and a NASCAR Hall of Famer, died Saturday. He was 86.
NASCAR released a statement from Allison’s family that said he died at home in Mooresville, North Carolina. A cause of death wasn’t given, but Allison had been in declining health for years.
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FILE - Bobby Allison of Hueytown, Ala., at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Feb. 26, 1968. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Bobby Allison at the 2024 NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond, File)
FILE - Bobby Allison, left, is given his ring by brother Donnie Allison, right, as he is inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, May 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton, File)
FILE - Bobby Allison speaks after being inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, May 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Terry Renna, File)
FILE - Bobby Allison stands beside his car and talks with the press after winning the pole position during qualifying for the 500 mile grand national stock car race at Pocono Raceway, Aug. 2, 1975, in Long Pond, Pa. (AP Photo/File)
Allison moved to fourth on NASCAR’s Cup Series victory list last month when chairman Jim France recognized him as the winner of the Meyers Brothers Memorial at Bowman Gray Stadium in North Carolina in 1971. The sanctioning body updated its record books to reflect the decision, giving Allison 85 wins and moving him out of a tie with Darrell Waltrip.
France and longtime NASCAR executive Mike Helton presented Allison with a plaque commemorating the victory. With it, Allison trails only fellow Hall of Famers Richard Petty (200), David Pearson (105) and Jeff Gordon (93) in Cup wins.
Allison was inducted into NASCAR’s second Hall of Fame class, in 2011. He was the 1983 NASCAR champion, finished second in the series title race five times, and a three-time winner of the Daytona 500.
“Bobby was the ultimate fan’s driver,” Allison’s family said in a statement. “He thoroughly enjoyed spending time with his fans and would stop to sign autographs and have conversations with them everywhere he went. He was a dedicated family man and friend, and a devout Catholic.”
He helped put NASCAR on the map with more than his driving. His infamous fight with Cale Yarborough in the closing laps of the 1979 Daytona 500 served as one of the sport’s defining moments.
“Cale went to beating on my fist with his nose,” Allison has said repeatedly, often using that phrase to describe the fight. “Cale understands like I do that it really was a benefit to the interest of racing. It proves that we were sincere.”
Born in Miami in 1937, Allison started searching for more racing opportunities outside the Sunshine State. He landed in central Alabama, where he found a number of small, dirt tracks.
He returned to Florida to get brother Donnie and close friend Red Farmer. They set up shop in Hueytown, Alabama, and dominated regional races throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. They were later joined in the Alabama Gang by Jimmy Mears, Neil Bonnett and Bonnett and Allison’s sons Davey and Clifford.
Allison retired in 1988 following a crash at Pocono that nearly killed him. He was initially declared dead upon reaching a local hospital but was later resuscitated.
He eventually regained his memory, re-learned everyday activities and attempted a comeback. But a series of tragedies led Allison to retire. His son, Clifford, was fatally injured during a crash in practice for the second-tier Busch Series at Michigan International Speedway in 1992. A year later, son Davey was killed in a helicopter crash at Talladega.
Three years after that, Bobby and wife Judy divorced. They reconnected four years later at their daughter-in-law’s wedding and were remarried in 2000. They remained together until Judy’s death in 2015.
Allison was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1992 and into the NASCAR Hall of Fame along with Ned Jarrett, Bud Moore, Pearson and Lee Petty.
“Bobby Allison personified the term ‘racer,’” France said in statement. “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.
Allison is one of 10 drivers to have won NASCAR’s career “grand slam” that includes the Cup Series’ most iconic races: the Daytona 500, the Winston 500, the Coca-Cola 600 and the Southern 500.
Allison made six IndyCar Series starts for Roger Penske, including a pair of Indy 500s.
AP Sports Writer Mark Long contributed to this report.
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
FILE - Bobby Allison of Hueytown, Ala., at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Feb. 26, 1968. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Bobby Allison at the 2024 NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond, File)
FILE - Bobby Allison, left, is given his ring by brother Donnie Allison, right, as he is inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, May 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton, File)
FILE - Bobby Allison speaks after being inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, May 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Terry Renna, File)
FILE - Bobby Allison stands beside his car and talks with the press after winning the pole position during qualifying for the 500 mile grand national stock car race at Pocono Raceway, Aug. 2, 1975, in Long Pond, Pa. (AP Photo/File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Melinda French Gates is offering to match up to $1 million in gifts to two nonprofit organizations to help spur donations on GivingTuesday, which has become a major annual fundraising day for nonprofits.
For more than a decade, on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, charitable organizations have asked for donations or other support from their networks.
“It’s a great time to remind people that we’re better off when we give something back and we all have something to give back,” said French Gates in an interview, speaking about her enthusiasm for GivingTuesday. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was an early supporter of GivingTuesday, which started as a hashtag and a project at the 92nd Street Y in New York and has since become its own organization.
Last year, donors gave an estimated $3.1 billion on GivingTuesday, but the overall number of people who participated declined. Asha Curran, CEO of the nonprofit GivingTuesday, who calculated that estimate, said matches like French Gates' help catalyze people to give.
“We really share a commitment to the idea also that philanthropy is not just in the hands of the ultra wealthy," she said. "That it really takes everyone to contribute to a healthy society through generosity.”
Una Osili, associate dean at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, says that even if fewer households are giving, donations may be holding steady because those who donate are giving more.
“The optimist in me would certainly say there are lots of reasons to think that giving will at least hold steady," Osili said. "But what we’ve seen in the past few years is that inflation especially, even though it’s moderated, is a concern for many everyday households.”
French Gates, through her organization Pivotal, plans to match up to $500,000 in donations to two organizations — Vote Mama Foundation, which supports mothers running for political office, and the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, which advocates for people caring for others. The organizations have 10 days to raise the funds and will direct donors to give through the nonprofit crowdfunding platform Every.org, which will track the donations that will be matched.
“This was Melinda. This was a complete surprise to us,” said Liuba Grechen Shirley, founder and CEO of Vote Mama Foundation.
Her organization wants to make it easier for mothers to hold political office, from local school boards to the Senate. She founded the organization after running for Congress in 2018 when she successfully petitioned the Federal Election Commission to use campaign funds to pay for childcare. Now, all federal candidates can pay for childcare with campaign funds and many states have passed similar laws.
“It’s used by men. It’s used by women. It’s used by moms and dads and Democrats and Republicans,” Grechen Shirley said. “But the majority of funds are used by women, and a majority of those funds are used by women of color. So it really does have the ability to transform the political landscape.”
Through her giving and advocacy, French Gates has championed paid family leave, support for caregivers and making child care less expensive. She endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race but said that Harris' defeat won't stop her from continuing her work.
The Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers is one of the first organizations to speak out about the work of caregiving, French Gates said. Paurvi Bhatt, who leads the institute, said French Gates had a long and cherished relationship with former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, who passed away last year.
“It is based on a hand-in-glove relationship we’ve had for a number of years,” Bhatt said of the matching gift.
This public match on GivingTuesday is the latest commitment French Gates has made since stepping down from the Gates Foundation in May. (French Gates and Bill Gates, her ex-husband and the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, announced their divorce in 2021.) She pledged $1 billion to support women and families over two years. That included $250 million to support improving women's health globally and she gave 12 leaders each $20 million to distribute to nonprofit organizations of their choice before the end of 2026.
“The reason I’ve come out so strongly saying, ‘This is what I am doing next,’ is because I wanted people to know I’m not going away,” said French Gates. “My values are still here. And this work around ‘How do we make a more equitable society?’ There is so much work to be done in the United States.”
The Associated Press receives financial support for news coverage in Africa from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and for news coverage of women in the workforce and in statehouses from Pivotal Ventures.
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
Asha Curran, the CEO of GivingTuesday, poses for a photo on Monday, Nov. 25, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
Asha Curran, the CEO of GivingTuesday, poses for a photo on Monday, Nov. 25, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Stefan Jeremiah)
FILE - Melinda French Gates speaks at the Seminar: Digital Public Infrastructure: Stacking up the Benefits, during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington, April 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)