“I’d Do Anything to Bring Him Back”: Dale Earnhardt’s Emotional Tribute After Davey Allison’s Tragic Death Revisited

July 13, 1993, was one of the darkest days in NASCAR history. Davey Allison, son of NASCAR champion Bobby Allison and arguably destined to become one of NASCAR’s greatest drivers, in the same breadth as Dale Earnhardt, succumbed to injuries that day, one day after losing control and crashing his helicopter on the grounds of Talladega Superspeedway.

Legendary racer Red Farmer was critically injured in the crash but survived. Five days later, on July 18, 1993—32 years ago today—in the first Cup race after Allison’s death at Pocono Raceway, every Cup driver on the starting grid displayed Allison’s No. 28 car number in tribute to him. Allison was beloved by virtually everyone in the Cup garage; he was that well-liked.

Earnhardt would go on to win the race. It was one of the more emotional displays of his career. First, before celebrating in victory lane, he and his crew gathered in silent prayer for Allison.

Then, the man known as ‘The Intimidator’ did a reverse victory lap around Pocono’s 2.5-mile tri-oval, holding a car flag of Allison’s. When Earnhardt finally climbed out of his race car in victory lane, his words cut to the bone as he dedicated the win to his lost friend.

Dale Earnhardt’s Emotional Tribute To Davey

“All of us is in the memory of Davey,” Earnhardt told broadcaster Randy Pemberton. “Racing today, I’d run second to him in a minute if it’d bring him back. I’d do anything to bring him back. We’re going to miss him a lot.

“I just pray for Bobby and Judy (Davey’s parents) and all the Allisons and Liz (Davey’s widow). She’s got two kids to raise, and I hope she’ll raise them in Davey’s eyes, and we’re praying for her and pulling for her to get through this.”

Allison was just 32 years old when he was killed. Compounding the tragedy is that his death came less than four months after the 1992 Cup champion, Alan Kulwicki, along with four others, was killed in a plane crash en route to a race that weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.

In a story in the Los Angeles Times on July 14, one day after Allison had passed away, a driver who requested anonymity, told writer Shav Glick, “After Alan died, some of the fellows were saying that the odds were going to catch up with some of the rest of us one of these days. We never thought it would happen this soon. And not to Davey.”