Donnie Allison

Donnie Allison was always the "other" brother of the famous NASCAR racing duo. Overshadowed throughout his career by Bobby Allison, his older brother and the third-winningest driver in NASCAR history, Donnie often did not get his due for being an outstanding racer in his own right. Perhaps only true students of NASCAR history know that Donnie Allison won 10 races in his career. That he posted top 10 finishes in 47 percent of all the races he ever ran. That four of the five times the Allison brothers ran 1-2 in a race, it was Donnie in front at the checkers. Fewer still may know that he was rookie of the year in the 1970 Indianapolis 500 or that he seriously considered giving up stockcar racing to go drive Indy cars full-time for A.J. Foyt. So little is known about Donnie Allison in part because he wasn't much of a talker in his racing days. Donnie lived by the philosophy that his driving did his talking for him. If he won, it told people he was successful. If he didn't, well they knew he had something to work on. Over the years, his being so tight-lipped led to many misconceptions, twisted tales and outright falsehoods about Donnie Allison, his racing career and his life. In Donnie Allison: As I Recall...., he sets the record straight on a variety of subjects he's wanted to clear up for years, including the 1979 Daytona 500 and the famous fight in the infield with Cale Yarborough; the win NASCAR tried to steal from him and give to Richard Petty; and his ultra-competitive, often-combative relationship with a racing brother who didn't like to lose to anybody. Many stories make the rounds about Donnie Allison and often when they are re-told -- even by members of his own family--thecircumstances aren't related the way Donnie recalls them. That's why he wanted to do a book. "I've got lots of stories to tell, and I want to tell them the way I remember them," Donnie says. In Donnie Allison: As I Recall..., he's done just that.