NASCAR: Is this the end of the road for Miller Lite?
1983 to 1988: Miller’s maiden title in first year
Miller joined the NASCAR Cup Series in 1983 with Bobby Allison and DiGard Motorsports, promoting Miller High Life. Their new sponsorship got off to a great start, as Allison finished in the top 10 in each of the first three races, including a win at Richmond Raceway.
Starting in the fourth race of the season, the team switched from Chevrolet to Buick, and that didn’t start off well, as Allison finished in 25th place at Atlanta Motor Speedway. But they rebounded with eight straight top 10 finishes.
The win at Dover International Speedway was a huge turning point, as Allison led the most laps to win and vault himself into the lead of the championship standings, where he remained for the rest of the season.
He even won three races in a row at Darlington Racway, Richmond Raceway and Dover International Speedway en route to winning his lone championship by 47 points over Darrell Waltrip. He won six races and recorded 18 top five finishes and 25 top 10 finishes with an average finish of 7.0 in 30 races.
In 1984, he did not get off to a good start, breaking a camshaft and blowing an engine in the first two races. But he rebounded with a win at Rockingham Speedway and a fifth place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The next three races likely ended his title hopes, as he finished outside of the top 15 in all of them. He went on to win at Charlotte Motor Speedway en route to a sixth place finish in the championship standings. He finished the year with two wins, 13 top five finishes, 18 top 10 finishes and an average finish of 11.9 in 30 races.
In 1985, Miller switched their brand to Miller American. Unfortunately, it was probably the worst year they had with Allison. He left the team for his own Bobby Allison Motorsports after 15 races, and he took Miller with him.
Allison ended up winless in 30 races with seven top five finishes and 11 top 10 finishes. He finished in 12th place in these championship standings with an average finish with 16.6.
The final three years of Allison’s career came at Stavola Brothers Racing. He won one race in each season, most notably the 1988 Daytona 500 when he finished ahead of son Davey in second place. To this day, he is the oldest driver to win “The Great American Race”.
Sadly, his career came to an end after a terrifying crash head-on into the outside wall at Pocono Raceway on the first lap of a race ironically sponsored by Miller High Life, the brand which was on the car. His car was T-boned in the driver side.
Allison’s replacement for the rest of 1988 was Mike Alexander, a driver known for racing at the Nashville Fairgrounds weekly.
While the team knew they weren’t racing for a championship anymore, Alexander kept the car clean, only failing to finish twice in 16 starts. He had an average finish of 15.2, but he only recorded two top five finishes and six top 10 finishes, including three in the last four races. It was looking like he would be set for a full season in 1989.
In December during the offseason, Alexander suffered an injury in the Snowball Derby. He raced in the Daytona 500 and finished in 27th place, but lingering effects of his injury took him out for the rest of the year. He gave up his ride to Dick Trickle.
While Trickle started off with four top five finishes in eight races, major struggles developed for him. He finished six consecutive races outside of the top 20. He ended the season with no wins and just nine top 10 finishes and with an average finish of 17.5 in 28 races.
Miller then decided to move to a champion who could put up consistent results.