I had never before seen a photo of the first car DiGard Racing tried to run at Daytona… This was a failed attempt to get in the 1973 Daytona 500… Donnie Allison was one of 34 drivers who failed to make the Daytona 500 that year. This car was listed as being operated by DiProspero Racing owned by DiGard. It also ran at Bristol and North Wilkesboro before DiGard Racing was listed as operating the team and the number was changed to 88, although they ran 08 at the Talladega Winston 500 because Ron Keselowski had already pre-entered a #88. Allison took over as team manager and they were located right here in Daytona Beach not far from where I sit at this computer. Mario Rossi was the head wrench and crew chief… Allison quit the team in mid-1975 and they hired Darrell Waltrip who eventually brought the Gatorade sponsorship to the team… Waltrip won 26 races for DiGard from 1975 through 1980 before a very nasty split… Ricky Rudd drove in '81 and Bobby Allison drove from 1982 through 1985 winning 16 races. Greg Sacks drove a second car in 1985 and was their “lead” driver in 1986. The car Sacks won the 1985 Firecracker 400 with (supposedly with a “big” R&D engine) was a DiGard car. Trevor Boys, Willy T. Ribbs and Jeff Swindell also drove for DiGard in 1986. 1987 was their last year entering a car in just 3 races for Rodney Combs…
Just for fun, here is the list of drivers that failed to qualify for the 1973 Daytona 500… some pretty good names here… Nowadays, NASCAR is lucky to get 43 cars to show up total:
Failed to qualify: Henley Gray (#19), Larry Dickson (#44), Johnny Barnes (#89), Clarence Lovell (#61), Jerry Cook (#07), Slick Gardner (#1), Richard Childress (#96), Les Covey (#87), Rick Newsom (#20), Steve Arndt (#81), Andy Hampton (#00), Gerald Thompson (#69), Donnie Allison (#59), Tony Bettenhausen, Jr. (#38), Dick Poling (#65), Bob Greeley (#86), Dean Dalton (#7), Charlie Roberts (#77), Elmo Langley (#64), Eddie Bond (#0), Bill Champion (#10), Ben Arnold (#76), David Ray Boggs (#53), Tom Usry (#62), Paul Tyler (#83), Sammy Sessions (#84), H.B. Bailey (#36), Earle Canavan (#01), Bob Tullius (#86), Tommy Gale (#03), Phil Finney (#80), Lennie Pond (#54), Raymond Williams (#47), LeeRoy Yarbrough.
