RETRO: Davey Allison's Radio Day at Daytona

ABOVE: Davey Allison celebrates in victory lane with crew chief Larry McReynolds (left) and car owner Robert Yates after winning the Daytona 500 in 1992.

Davey Allison not only had to hold off Morgan Shepherd to win the 1992 Daytona 500 but also drown out the noise.

Not just any noise, but interference on his Robert Yates Racing team radio from a fan.

Today marks the 25th anniversary of Allison's win. Some may remember Allison, driving the No. 28 Ford, dominated the '92 Daytona 500 for his 14th career win by leading 127 of 200 laps. After taking the lead for the final time on lap 171, Allison looked to keep Shepherd at bay while the two held a nice gap over the rest of the field.

Then came the voice.

Larry McReynolds was Allison's crew chief and recalls how during the week leading up to the Daytona 500 one of the team's radios went missing. This was back when fans could come and go in the garages and often time work areas consisted of nothing more than benches placed here and there. Of course, the benches often served as the landing spot for team equipment, such as discarded radios.

"Somewhere about the middle of that week one of our radios took missing, couldn't find it; looked everywhere for it," McReynolds told RACER. "Well, with 20 laps to go in the (Daytona) 500, we found it."

A fan had the radio and was now talking to Allison as he tried to win the biggest race of his career. McReynolds said the talking was non-stop with things like, "You better go, he's (Shepherd) going to get you," said. Or, "He's right on your rear bumper."

Unfazed, Allison took the checkered flag four years after finishing second to his father, Bobby Allison (pictured celebrating in '92 with Davey and mom Judy), in the same event.

The odds were stacked against Allison all week. Not only with the radio interference, but Allison was driving a back-up car by the time the Daytona 500 rolled around.

The Yates team entered Daytona Speedweeks with a car they had decided would run in what was then the Busch Clash as well as the Daytona 500. McReynolds knew his peers thought he was crazy, except the thinking was to get a good test session in with the car in race conditions.

Allison finished fourth in the Clash with McReynolds holding his breath, hoping he would not be caught up in an accident. Throughout the week's practice sessions, things continued to go smoothly. Until five minutes to go in final practice.

"Somebody blew an engine in Turn 1 and 2 and Davey got in the oil and killed that racecar, so we got the back-up car out," McReynolds said. "NASCAR was much more liberal back then – practice was over (but) they let us make five laps with the back-up car. It was a car that had been raced the year before; it wasn't a brand-new car, and I was a little dejected because I knew it probably wasn't as good a car as the car we had been running."

Allison finished third in his Duel qualifying race after starting in the rear, giving McReynolds the confidence the team had something to work with going into the Daytona 500. But sometimes, even the best-laid plans can encounter a little disturbance.

"Davey being the focused individual, he knew what was going on," McReynolds said. "He just tuned it out and went on to win the race."