Robbie Allison connects with father Davey behind wheel

Mike Hembree | Special for USA TODAY Sports

Robbie Allison was almost 2 when his father, NASCAR star Davey Allison, was killed in a helicopter crash at Talladega Superspeedway in 1993.

Robbie doesn’t remember his father, son of NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Allison, but there is one place that he feels very close to him. Since Robbie is an Allison, it comes as no surprise that that connection occurs within the circle of a speedway.

“It’s a spiritual thing for me,” said Robbie, now 23. “When I walk into the pits and smell fuel and burnt rubber, it’s a very at-home feeling, the same feeling I get when I think about my dad. I have vague memories of the sound of his voice and of the house we lived in (in Hueytown, Ala.), but I’m closest to him at the track.”

Considering the dark shadows racing has thrown across the lives of the Allison clan, it might startle some that Robbie, the only son of Davey and Liz Allison, would even consider buckling into a race car.

Davey was killed while trying to land his helicopter in the Talladega infield. He was 32, had won 19 Cup races including the 1992 Daytona 500 and was on target to follow his father as a series champion. Robbie’s uncle, Clifford (Davey’s younger brother), was killed while practicing for a NASCAR race at Michigan in 1992.

Neil Bonnett, a close Allison family friend, died in a crash at Daytona International Speedway in 1994. And Bobby suffered life-threatening and career-ending injuries in a wreck at Pocono Raceway in 1988. He experienced extensive memory loss and worked through years of rehabilitation.

Yet there the Allisons were last Saturday night at Highland Rim Speedway, a quarter-mile asphalt track north of Nashville, Tenn., watching Robbie buckle into a stock car. With Bobby and Liz looking on, he finished a very close second.

Robbie returned to driving last year at 22. He had raced half-scale stock cars as a 9-year-old before becoming involved in a serious crash at Twin Fountains Raceway Park in Shelbyville, Tenn. He wasn’t hurt, but that wreck brought back horrific memories for his mother, and she closed the door on racing.

Robbie’s story will be told in a FS1 and NASCAR Productions documentary, “Chasing Davey,” at 6 p.m. (ET) Wednesday, the first of a four-part ''Behind the Wheel'' series.

Liz had told her son that he could race again when he was old enough to make that sort of decision for himself, and Robbie told her two years ago that he was ready.

“We had basically put that away for many years,” she said. “He didn’t want to upset me. When he told me, it got a little heated at first. But we talked it out for about 45 minutes, and then it was all, ‘We’re going to do this.’ ”

Liz contacted family friend Lorin Ranier for assistance. Ranier is the son of the late Harry Ranier, a Cup Series car owner for whom both Bobby and Davey Allison drove. Lorin, who is the spotter for Cup driver Jamie McMurray, agreed to help and has been directing what might be called the Robbie Project.

Robbie has raced for the past two seasons at several short tracks in Tennessee with modest success. He is learning the sport from the oil pan up, but one day hopes to drive on the Cup circuit like his father and grandfather before him.

“One of the things that is so important to all of us is that Robbie has to work hard and do it the hard way like Davey and Bobby,” Liz said. “It’s important that he busts his knuckles and gets dirt under his nail and drives ugly equipment.”

Robbie has driven for several car owners in the short-track world, typically racing several times each weekend. He now is concentrating on Highland Rim, a high-banked speedway considered a good training ground by long-time racers.

Finishing second there last week was good but also frustrating, he said.

“To see my grandfather’s face after the race and how elated he was to see me bust my butt for so long and make huge improvement was something,” Robbie said. “But I wanted to win while all of my family was there. We were so close.”

Robbie moved from the family home in Nashville to Mooresville, N.C., last year to live with Bobby and his wife, Judy, to be closer to racing’s heartland. It also didn’t hurt that he was in the same house with one of the greatest stock car racers of all time and a man who retains close ties to the sport despite the pain it has brought him. Bobby Allison won the Cup title in 1983 and took the checkered flag at the Daytona 500 three times.

“When the race was over at Highland Rim last week, Bobby just sat there for a few minutes,” Liz said. “It took him a while to come down from the high, to say, ‘Wow, look how far he’s come in two years.’ ”

Robbie said he isn’t immune to thoughts about the tragic backdrop that will always accompany any Allison involved in racing.

“I didn’t understand it much as a child, but now that I’m an adult I can appreciate the trauma and tragedy the entire family went through,” he said. “Since losing my father was not in my memory as a child, I didn’t have a sense of time regarding losing him. When I had the crash at 9 years old, my father had been gone for only 7 years. The pain involved was very fresh on the family’s mind.

“So I left racing and got involved in high school sports and with girlfriends and then college (Middle Tennessee State University). But I always had the dream. I realized that if I didn’t at least try it I’d regret it forever. I’m putting myself out there, and I feel like I can do it.”

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