And here's a Tom Higgins piece worth repeating:
Davey Allison put his stamp firmly on Sawyer's new track
TOM HIGGINS SCUFFS By Tom Higgins - ThatsRacin.com Contributor Saturday, Sep. 11, 2010
It was a deeply touching triumph for Davey Allison 22 years ago at the new Richmond International Raceway. The young driver won the Miller 400 after receiving a surprise, inspirational phone call from his famous father, Bobby. That call in 1988 came just prior to the race on Sept. 11, a date destined to gain everlasting infamy 13 years later. The elder Allison, who very nearly lost his life in a crash on June 19 at Pocono Raceway, contacted his son from a hospital bed in Alabama, where the family lived. It was a secret this was going to happen, a delighted Davey, then 27, said of the call from his dad, whose brilliant racing career was ended by the Pennsylvania crash. Its neat. It means a lot. I miss him, and I think everyone else in the sport does, too. Hearing him gave me goose bumps all over. I had chills. The father-son Allison duo had opened the 88 Cup Series season by finishing 1-2 in one of the greatest Daytona 500s in history. Davey, then 27, was dominant at the three-fourth-mile Virginia track, leading 262 of the 400 laps, including the final 53. Driving a Ford fielded by Robert Yates Racing of Charlotte, the youthful-looking Allison beat the Chevrolet of runner-up Dale Earnhardt to the checkered flag by 3.25 seconds at the speedway. It wasnt as easy as it appeared, said Davey, who had started from the pole position after qualifying at 122.850 mph. This is a tough race track. I dont think anyone can come here and just go fast. However, Earnhardt conceded that Allison, the 1987 rookie of the year, was in control. We couldnt run with Davey, said Earnhardt, who led 77 laps. He just kept trucking on. Said Davey: As a driver, you want to be first in all the good statistics, so to win the inaugural race on this track is really special. Me and Robert and the guys on our team wanted it a lot. The D-shaped layout with wide, sweeping turns replaced the outdated Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway. The latter, a tight, guardrail-lined layout measuring .542-miles, had torn up tons of race cars and frayed a lot of tempers since 1953. At one time it was known as Strawberry Hill Speedway. Honest. The facility had become decrepit over the decades, to say the least. Immediately following the Pontiac 400 there on Feb. 14, 1988, razing of the place began so a new track could be constructed on the same site. Richard Petty, a 13-time winner on the old track, got out of his race car and onto a bulldozer to symbolically start the demolition. It became known as the night they tore old Richmond down. The Fairgrounds finale, incidentally, was won by Neil Bonnett, a close friend of the Allisons and fellow member of the storied Alabama Gang. With only seven months between Richmonds two Cup dates in 88, skeptics said a new racing layout and grandstands couldnt be completed on time. The doubters didnt know Paul Sawyer, a colorful, earthy, tough character and a veteran promoter who controlled the Virginia track. Sawyer willed that the work would be done. And, mostly, it was finished. Oh, a few things were left to be finished during race weekend. For example, I sat on a air-conditioner crate in the press box to file my stories for The Charlotte Observer leading up to race day. The chairs hadnt been delivered. But just as Paul Sawyer promised, the show got the green flag on schedule. Ive dreamed of this day, giving our great Virginia fans a track like this, said a delighted Sawyer. Theyre the best. Other promoters, like Charlottes Humpy Wheeler, agreed. Without fans from the Old Dominion, Humpy at the time, some tracks in the south might have to shut down. Spectators who came to Sawyers speedway obviously liked what they experienced. The sight lines proved exceptional and the action on the track was often side-to-side, offering plenty of room for passing. I cant build grandstands fast enough, Sawyer said as he added seating through the 1990s, eventually creating a stadium with capacity of 100,000 before selling his beloved track to International Speedway Corp. in 2003. Both Davey Allison and Paul Sawyer are gone now. Davey lost his life on July 13, 1993, in the crash of a helicopter he was attempting to land at Talladega Superspeedway. He had scored 19 Cup Series victories. Sawyer died on Feb. 27, 2005, at age 88. Somewhere, perhaps the two are sharing smiles and stories this weekend with racing rolling again at the Richmond track where they created great memories all those years ago.
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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
