Clifford Allison, 27, Dies in Michigan Crash : Auto racing: He was son of Bobby and brother of Davey. It is latest in series of accidents for family.

The tragic saga of stock car racing’s Allison family reached its lowest point Thursday when Clifford Allison, youngest son of former Winston Cup champion Bobby Allison and brother of current star Davey Allison, was killed while practicing at Michigan International Speedway.

Allison, 27, died en route to Foote Memorial Hospital in Jackson, Mich., after crashing his Chevrolet in a single-car accident between the third and fourth turns of the two-mile oval. NASCAR officials said the cause of the accident has not been determined.

He was practicing for Saturday’s Detroit Gasket 200, a Grand National race.

It was the latest in a series of racing accidents in the past four years that have crippled Bobby and Davey, who is second to Bill Elliott in this year’s Winston Cup series.

Bobby Allison, 54, a member of the stock car racing Hall of Fame, survived a life-threatening crash on June 17, 1988, at Pocono, Pa., from which he has not yet fully recovered. He was hospitalized 108 days, and although he has hinted that he might like to race again, he still walks with a limp and suffers equilibrium problems from the head injuries he received.

While recuperating, Bobby Allison put together his own team with Hut Stricklin as his driver, but he has said that his dream was to manage a team with Davey and Clifford as his drivers.

“Davey’s doing too well right now to disturb him, and Clifford still needs more experience, but if I can put together a team with my two boys, it will be the happiest time of my life,” Bobby told The Times last June during a race at Sears Point Raceway near Sonoma.

Donnie Jackson, Clifford’s uncle and manager of Bobby Allison’s team, spoke with the elder Allison after the crash.

“His reaction was, he’s just lost his youngest son; that’s enough said,” Johnson told the Associated Press. “There is probably no way for him to cope with this, but he is standing up very well from all indications when I was talking with him.

“Clifford’s mother (Judy) and wife (Elisa) are not doing too well, but they will after the initial shock. Judy is a very strong lady. She’s proven that time and time again with Bobby, and then with Davey and all he’s been through the last few weeks.”

Davey Allison, 31, has survived four serious crashes this season while contending for his first Winston Cup championship, a prize his father won in 1983.

The most recent mishap, and the worst, occurred when his Ford flipped 11 times in an accident on July 19 at Pocono, in the same race and on the same track where his father was injured four years earlier. Davey suffered a dislocated and broken right wrist, a broken right forearm and a broken collarbone.

Despite the injuries, he returned to racing the next Sunday and drove four laps at Talladega, Ala., before giving way to relief driver Bobby Hillin. Last Sunday at Watkins Glen, N.Y., he drove 14 laps on a demanding road course before climbing out and turning the car over to road racing specialist Dorsey Schroeder.

Davey, who was flying his plane from the family home in Hueytown, Ala., to Michigan when his brother was killed, is scheduled to drive again Sunday in the Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan.

Clifford Allison had never reached the heights attained by his brother. He began racing in 1983 in street stocks and moved up to IMSA sports cars and the ARCA stock series before tackling Grand National racing in 1990. His best finish in a Grand National race was sixth last season at Bristol, Tenn.

NASCAR officials said the fatality was the first in the history of Grand National racing since it started in 1982. It was also the first racing fatality at the Michigan track, which opened in 1969.