My favorite driver Davey Allison died and for me Nascar has never been the same. I followed the 28 team afterwards and even became a fan of Dale Jarrett because of Robert Yates. Davey was gonna be the Jeff Gordon of his time. I even believe Gordon wouldn't have won as many cup titles because Davey was that good and was just beginning a run of titles himself. He was also a great person. Wish he had never tried flying a stupid helicopter.

Anybody remeber the Joe Diffie rumors involving Davey's wife after his death? I wonder if some of that was true or not.

I remember the day a guy walked into my job and told me Dave had died that morning. Kick in the gut. You're right. He was destined to be a great one. And old ass Red Farmer crawled out of that helo unhurt.

Yea I remember it well. Just like a very close friend had died. I had met Davey and the whole Alabama gang before. I still watch Nascar, but you are right it just ain't the same.

The rumors about his wife and Joe Diffie were true.

I was an Earnhardt fan and hated Davy with a passion. That 28 car was the freaking fastest thing on the track nearly every week and Earnhardt could only beat him on occasion because he was just that much better than everyone else. As much as I disliked Davy(because he was a serious challenge to beat my guy every week) I was extremely sad when he died. You had to respect him even if you didn't want him to win. I quit caring about Nascar the day Earnhardt died.

THE AIR WAS ALL BUT AFLAME WITH THE stories. Someone said she'd seen country singer Joe Diffie tooling around Hueytown, Ala., in a truck belonging to hometown hero Davey Allison, the champion NASCAR driver who died after a July helicopter crash at Alabama's Talladega speedway. Someone else said Diffie was staying at the Allison house with Davey's widow, Liz. And there were even rumors that Liz and Joe had gotten married.

It was enough to make some of the locals want to jump in their pickups and run Diffie all the way back home to Nashville. A sign saying, "Hueytown—Home of Joe Diffie—Built by Davey Allison," appeared briefly at a busy intersection near Liz's newly finished mansion, and some of Davey's fans threatened to picket the house with signs reading "28," the number of his race car. Says Hueytown home-maker Frankie Roberson: "I'd like to tell Joe Diffie to keep his butt at home. Liz didn't even give Davey time to get cold in his grave."

Talk of the affair even upstaged discussion of football on the radio, a near sacrilege in gridiron-worshipping Alabama. "It was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen," says Paul Finebaum, who hosts a sports talk show on Birmingham's WERC-AM. "Two of the biggest [college] games in the country were in Alabama that week, and all people wanted to talk about was Liz and Joe. We had people saying they knew for a fact she was pregnant with Joe's baby. We had people saying Liz Allison was the biggest slut in town."

Before anybody got out a rope, Liz and Joe decided to come forward and tell PEOPLE their side of the story. Joe admits that the two are "falling in love." But, says Liz, 28, who has two children by Davey, Krista, 3, and Robert, 2, "this is not a slap in Davey's face. This is a woman trying to go on with her life. And there's not a day that goes by that I don't grieve."

Liz and Joe shake their heads at the rumors that have spread since they began dating in August. "We are not married, we're not living together, and she's not pregnant," says Joe, 34. He adds that his impending divorce from second wife Debbie, 35, after six years of marriage, was inevitable long before he met Allison. (The Diffies have two children, Tyler, 4, and Drew, 2.) "Anyone who knows us knows that," he says.

In fact, though Joe met Liz briefly twice before, when she and Davey came backstage after concerts, he says he didn't see her again until he heard she was trying to get the sheet music for his 1992 hit, "Ships That Don't Come In," to play at Davey's funeral on July 15. A longtime NASCAR fan, Diffie volunteered to perform the song himself. "Then I called her a couple of weeks later to see how she and her children were doing," says Joe.

As the phone calls continued—and the conversations grew longer and more personal—Joe invited Liz to his Aug. 3 show in Philadelphia, Miss., and romance bloomed. "It wasn't anything I was looking for, but it happened," says Liz. "When Davey died, I thought, 'How will I ever go forward with my life? I'll never have anybody I can share my life with again.' And then Joe and I became friends."

Soon afterward, Liz told Davey's parents, NASCAR great Bobby Allison and his wife, Judy, that she was dating Joe. Although some of the Allisons' friends contend that the family is less than pleased by the romance, Liz says the Allisons "have welcomed [Joe] and have been wonderful to me." Davey's grandmother, Kitty Allison, says, "I think she has the right to do what she wants." Elisa Allison, 33, widow of Davey's younger brother, Clifford, who was killed in an August 1992 race-car crash, agrees: "It's like I told Liz, 'When we go home at night and shut our doors, it's us who grieve.' If she feels like she needs someone to help her through this, that's her prerogative. I think Davey would be happy that Liz is getting on with her life."

The couple also have defenders in the NASCAR world. Diffie received a warm welcome at an Oct. 23 concert before the Winston Cup race, and Joan Farmer—wife of retired racer Red Farmer, who was injured in the copter crash that killed Davey—says she's tired of strangers asking her about [Liz and Joe] and even "cussed a woman out in Wal-Mart" for being nosy.

Of course, not everyone has been so forgiving. "Joe Diffie wouldn't dare come in here," says Gay Ann McCrary, owner of Hueytown's popular Iceburg Restaurant, where the paneled rear dining room is a virtual shrine to the Allisons. "I know a lot of people that won't buy his records anymore."

But Liz and Joe say they're prepared for hard feelings. "Whether it was a month after Davey died or years after he died, somebody was not going to be exactly happy about [the relationship]," says Joe. "But we have to do what we feel is right and go with how our hearts feel. And that's what we're trying to do."

Same here Bill. Big 3 car fan. Still have his stuff in my house and office. NASCAR hasn't been the same since he died.

My whole family was at Talladega Speedway cheering Davey on to his first win there. His most memorable race to my kids was very different, however.

Davey raced the kids one night on a go-cart at the track that used to be located in Dolomite between Hueytown and I-59. My son will never forget racing Davey Allison, even if Davey did beat him.

No. 28 was our favorite around here, but all of the members of the Alabama Gang from Hueytown were our hometown heroes. Later, we adopted Ironhead as one of the gang since he came down to Neil's house and hunted with him so often.

I used to watch him at BIR when he was a kid. Was a fine racer back then too.
That reminds me of Red Farmer, he could drive anything. Is he still around?

I remember driving to work in Bham and everyone traveling on the interstate having their lights on for respect for what seemed like a week.

That black Havoline 28 was tough to handle. I remember watching him have a horrible crash at Ponoco the year before he died thinking that was the end of him.

He was a friend of mine as is the whole family.Bobby and Davey tried to convert me to Nascarism when we were young.I just have to be brutally honest.I would rather have a fully awake colonoscopy than to have to watch one hour of a race.I put it and watching golf in the same circle.I dont cry much but I did the day he died.I have twenty of the Jimmy Dean -Davey Allison racing cards that plenty of people have tried to buy from me over the years.I couldnt sell not one of them with a clear conscience.It would make me feel like I am making a profit off of his death.

Was he as good a person as he seemed? Can you tell us some things about him?

I aint saying that we were bros that hung out so I dont know deep details about his life but yes I thought he was a great guy.I actually got to know him through a lady I worked with that was Bobby's kin.Tomorrow is actually the anniversary of when the tragedy happened.He didnt pass until the next day at Carraway.

Yes Red is still around and still racing. He is getting his grandson started in racing. Just go to little Talladega on a Saturday night and he will be there slinging dirt with all the young guys.

He is still around.I see him once or twice a week.

Living in west Montgomery county I remember back in the seventies when the Alabama gang would race at the Montgomery international speedway. That was real racing back in the day and it was fun to watch. Unlike the crap that is on the track today.

Yall ever hear the song that Anniston's Chris Baxter wrote about Davey right after he died? That was the most gooberific thing I ever heard. He also wrote one just as bad about the space shuttle blowing up back in 1986. Talk about trying to cash in on a tradegy... I think he had T shirts made up too. Probably sold them at trade day! Tried to find the song and post it here, but the web says it was only available on cassette. Probably best that I couldn't find it.

I've been to quite a few funerals. I'm not sure if I've ever seen a man and woman so absolutely heartbroken as Bobby and his wife at Clifford's funeral. It was gut-wrenching.

Friday nights at BIR were a lot of fun. Some really good drivers cut their teeth on that track. I guess I saw all the Allison's race there back in the early 70's. Good times.

I am friends with Alton Jones, other wise known as "Burger in a Hurry" at BIR. I've talked with him about the old days at BIR and the Alabama Gang. I'm to young to know much about it other than stories but I could sit there for hours and pick his brain on some of those stories. I could tell some but some of the important details would be wrong. Most that I've heard were funny, some dramatic but all are very entertaining.