Bobby Allison, NASCAR legend and three-time Daytona 500 winner, has died

Bobby Allison, founder of racing's “Alabama Gang” and a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, died Saturday. He was 86.

NASCAR released a statement from Allison's family saying he died at home in Mooresville, North Carolina. A cause of death was not given, but Allison's health had been declining for years.

Allison moved into fourth place on the NASCAR Cup Series wins list last month when chairman Jim France named him the winner of the 1971 Meyers Brothers Memorial at Bowman Gray Stadium in North Carolina with 85 wins and one tie against Darrell Waltrip.

France and longtime NASCAR executive Mike Helton presented Allison with a plaque commemorating the victory. That puts Allison behind only Hall of Famer Richard Petty (200), David Pearson (105) and Jeff Gordon (93) in Cup victories.

Allison was inducted into NASCAR's second Hall of Fame class in 2011. He was NASCAR champion in 1983, finished second in the series title race five times and won the Daytona 500 three times.

“Bobby was the ultimate fan driver,” Allison’s family said in a statement. “He really enjoyed spending time with his fans and stopped everywhere to sign autographs and have conversations with them. He was a committed family man and friend and a devout Catholic.”

It wasn't just his driving that helped put NASCAR on the map. His infamous fight with Cale Yarborough in the final laps of the 1979 Daytona 500 was one of the sport's defining moments.

“Cale started hitting my fist with his nose,” Allison said repeatedly, often using that phrase to describe the fight. “Cale understands, as I do, that it really benefited the interests of racing. It proves we were serious.”

Born in Miami in 1937, Allison began looking for more racing opportunities outside of the Sunshine State. He landed in central Alabama, where he found a series of small field tracks.

He returned to Florida to get brother Donnie and his close friend Red Farmer. They settled in Hueytown, Alabama and dominated regional racing in the 1960s and early 1970s. They were later joined in the Alabama Gang by Jimmy Mears, Neil Bonnett and Bonnett, as well as Allison's sons Davey and Clifford.

Allison retired in 1988 after an accident that nearly killed him. In June 1987, he had an accident on the first lap at Talladega Superspeedway. He hit the outside wall and then took a T-bone hit in the driver's door. When he reached a local hospital, he was initially pronounced dead but was later resuscitated.

Eventually he regained his memory, relearned daily activities and attempted a comeback. But a series of tragedies led to Allison's retirement. His son Clifford was fatally injured in an accident during practice in the second-tier Busch Series at Michigan International Speedway in 1992. A year later, son Davey was killed in a helicopter crash in Talladega.

Three years later, Bobby and his wife Judy divorced. They reunited four years later at their daughter-in-law's wedding and married again in 2000. They remained together until Judy's death in 2015.

Allison was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1992 and, along with Ned Jarrett, Bud Moore, Pearson and Lee Petty, into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

“Bobby Allison embodied the term 'racing driver,'” France said in a statement. “While he is best known as one of the winningest drivers in NASCAR Cup Series history, his impact on the sport extends far beyond the record books.”

Allison is one of ten drivers to win the NASCAR career “Grand Slam,” which includes the Cup Series’ most famous races: the Daytona 500, the Winston 500, the Coca-Cola 600 and the Southern 500.

Allison started six times in the IndyCar Series for Roger Penske, including two Indy 500s.