The Alabama Gang was a tremendous force in NASCAR in the 1970’s and 80’s, winning multiple awards, races, and championships. In 1959, stock car driver Bobby Allison was travelling through the south in search of bigger paydays and quickly found them in Alabama.  It didn’t take long for him to convince his brother Donnie and their friend Red Farmer to relocate from Miami to Hueytown.  The trio immediately began dominating the state’s and southeast’s short tracks.  They won in Midfield, Montgomery, and the famed Birmingham International Raceway.  Hueytown native and former pipefitter Neil Bonnett joined the Gang along with Bobby’s sons Davey and Clifford and Calera’s Hut Strickland.  Bobby and Davey finished first and second in the 1988 Daytona 500, the only father-son 1-2 in history.   Tragically, Davey Allison died in a helicopter crash and Neil Bonnett during practice at Daytona.  Hueytown’s Allison Bonnett Memorial Drive was named in their memory.  Donnie, Davey and Bobby Allison, Red Farmer, and Neil Bonnett are all members of the International Motorports Hall of Fame. 

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Encyclopedia of Alabama

Photos courtesy of: Getty