Sort of. 
Yesterday,out of nowhere,NASCAR finally officially recognized Bobby's victory in the Meyers Brothers
Memorial 250 in 1971.
Bobby now has 85 Cup wins and that moves him out of the tie for 4th with Darrel Waltrip at 84.
Bobby is not in the best of health and I am sure this move by NASCAR means so much to him and the Allison family.
It took 53 years, but NASCAR has finally correctly righted a wrong that never should have happened in the first place.
On Wednesday, NASCAR CEO Jim France and senior advisor Mike Helton visited former Cup Series champion Bobby Allison and told him he was now officially the winner of an August 6, 1971 race at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C. There was no question the Hall of Fame driver had won the Myers Brothers Memorial 250 on the quarter-mile bullring, but he was in a Grand American Ford Mustang in what was considered a “combination race.”
At the time NASCAR often allowed Grand American teams into Cup Series fields if track operators feared they wouldn’t have enough Cup cars to make a good show. Allison was among a number of Cup drivers running both series that year, including Dave Marcis, Buck Baker, Jim Paschal, and former Daytona 500 winner the late Tiny Lund. Seven of the top-10 finishers in the Bowman Gray race were in the lighter, more nimble Grand American cars.
Ironically, Lund’s victories in two 1971 combination races likely were unofficial factors in Allison getting long-overdue credit for what is now his 85th career victory. That puts the seven-time Most Popular Driver now fourth all-time behind only fellow former champions Richard Petty’s 200, David Pearson’s 105, and Jeff Gordon’s 93.
Yesterday,out of nowhere,NASCAR finally officially recognized Bobby's victory in the Meyers Brothers
Memorial 250 in 1971.
Bobby now has 85 Cup wins and that moves him out of the tie for 4th with Darrel Waltrip at 84.
Bobby is not in the best of health and I am sure this move by NASCAR means so much to him and the Allison family.
It took 53 years, but NASCAR has finally correctly righted a wrong that never should have happened in the first place.
On Wednesday, NASCAR CEO Jim France and senior advisor Mike Helton visited former Cup Series champion Bobby Allison and told him he was now officially the winner of an August 6, 1971 race at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C. There was no question the Hall of Fame driver had won the Myers Brothers Memorial 250 on the quarter-mile bullring, but he was in a Grand American Ford Mustang in what was considered a “combination race.”
At the time NASCAR often allowed Grand American teams into Cup Series fields if track operators feared they wouldn’t have enough Cup cars to make a good show. Allison was among a number of Cup drivers running both series that year, including Dave Marcis, Buck Baker, Jim Paschal, and former Daytona 500 winner the late Tiny Lund. Seven of the top-10 finishers in the Bowman Gray race were in the lighter, more nimble Grand American cars.
Ironically, Lund’s victories in two 1971 combination races likely were unofficial factors in Allison getting long-overdue credit for what is now his 85th career victory. That puts the seven-time Most Popular Driver now fourth all-time behind only fellow former champions Richard Petty’s 200, David Pearson’s 105, and Jeff Gordon’s 93.
