Benny Parsons

Benjamin Stewart Parsons (July 12, 1941 – January 16, 2007) was an American NASCAR driver, and later an announcer/analyst/pit reporter on SETN, TBS, ABC, ESPN, NBC, and TNT. He became famous as the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion, and was a 2017 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee. He was the older brother of former NASCAR driver, car owner, and broadcaster Phil Parsons of Phil Parsons Racing.

Parsons was nicknamed "BP" and "the Professor", the latter in part because of his popular remarks and relaxed demeanor.

Early life Parsons was born in Wilkes County, North Carolina. He spent his childhood years in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and played football at Millers Creek High School (now known as West Wilkes High School). Following high school, he moved to Detroit, Michigan where his father operated a taxicab company. Parsons worked at a gas station and drove cabs in Detroit before beginning his racing career. While working at the gas station one day, a couple of customers towing a race car invited him to a local race track. The driver of the car never showed up for that evening's race, and Parsons drove the car in a race for the first time later that night. Benny later moved to Ellerbe, North Carolina and always called it home.

Driving career

1960s Parsons began his NASCAR career by running a single race in 1964 for Holman-Moody with a young Cale Yarborough.

Parsons won the 1968 and 1969 ARCA championships, and then moved to Ellerbe, North Carolina.

Parsons had three top-ten finishes in four NASCAR races in 1969.

1970s Benny joined the NASCAR circuit full-time in 1970 with crew chief John Hill. He had 23 top-ten finishes in 45 races, a pole at Langley Field Speedway, and finished eighth in the final point standings. He raced the No. 72 car for L.G. DeWitt/DeWitt Racing.

Parsons had eighteen top-ten finishes in 35 starts in 1971, including his first win at South Boston Speedway. He finished eleventh in the points.

In 1972, Parsons had nineteen top-ten finishes in 31 races. He finished fifth in the final points standings.

In 1973, Parsons won the NASCAR Winston Cup Series Championship with only one win, even though David Pearson won eleven races, although Pearson had only entered eighteen events. Parsons' consistency likely won him the championship: he had 21 top-ten and fifteen top-five finishes in the 28 events.

Parsons' improbable return to the track after an early crash cemented his 1973 championship at Rockingham, North Carolina. He saw his championship hopes start to fade as he was involved in a lap thirteen crash and his car was heavily damaged. He took to the pits to muster whatever he could out of the car and hope for a top five finish in the final standings. The rest of the garage was hoping to see the underdog unseat the mighty Richard Petty and joined in to help Parsons' crew put the car back together. Parsons miraculously got back on the track 136 laps later and completed enough laps to finish 25th and take the 1973 championship. Richard Petty, with the championship in his sights after winning the pole and seeing Parsons' accident, had engine trouble and was relegated to a 35th-place finish. The poor performance dropped Petty all the way to fifth in the final standings, as Cale Yarborough took the runner up spot on the season with his third-place effort. Yarborough finished 67 points behind the champion.

Parsons became the only person to win both ARCA and NASCAR championships.

Parsons finished between third and fifth in the final points standings from 1974 to 1980, and won the 1975 Daytona 500. He switched to the No. 27 entry for M.C. Anderson starting in 1979.

In 1979 at North Wilkesboro Speedway, Bobby Allison led most of the race, but in the final 150 laps, Darrell Waltrip caught Allison. The two hit together hard and Waltrip hit the front stretch wall. Waltrip began crowding Allison under the caution and got black flagged for the crowding. Parsons would win the race, but it would be his only win at the North Wilkesboro Speedway. Parsons' wife Terri, with whom he was married from 1992 until his death in 2007, became an investor in North Wilkesboro Speedway two years after his death.

1980s

Parsons won the 1980 World 600 at Charlotte and the Los Angeles Times 500 (the final major motor race held at Ontario Motor Speedway) and finished third in points.

In 1981, Parsons started racing in the No. 15 Bud Moore Ford Thunderbird. He had wins at Nashville Speedway USA, the final race at Texas World Speedway, and Richmond. In addition, he received his final top-ten points finish, finishing tenth that year.

Parsons qualified for the 1982 Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway at 200.175 miles per hour (mph), which was the first NASCAR qualification run over .

Parsons raced in about half of the races between 1983 and 1986 for owner Johnny Hayes. Parsons' final career victory came in 1984 at the Coca-Cola 500 at Atlanta.

Parson appeared in the 1983 Burt Reynolds movie Stroker Ace.

Parsons joined Hendrick Motorsports in 1987 as a substitute driver for Tim Richmond, who was stricken with AIDS. During the first lap of a race at Darlington Raceway, Parsons hit the wall and badly damaged his race car. He was able to continue, but had to make several pit stops for repairs. At one point, his crew chief, Harry Hyde, refused to allow Parsons to pit because he and the crew were on an ice cream break. This incident was alluded to in the film, Days of Thunder. Another scene in the film was inspired by a real-life incident at Martinsville Speedway involving Parsons and the notoriously cantankerous Hyde. Hyde sarcastically told Parsons to hit the pace car on a restart because it was the only thing on the track that Parsons had not hit.

Parsons drove the No. 90 Bulls Eye BBQ Ford for Junie Donlavey in his final NASCAR season in 1988 and then moved to the broadcast booth, a position that he would hold until his death.

Parsons did decide to race a few other times. The first was during the 2003 Old Dominion 500 as part of an advertising segment for "Wally's World." He then drove a ceremonial victory lap at the last fall race at Rockingham in 2003 in a 1973 Chevrolet similar to the one in which he had won a championship.

Parsons is also credited with discovering former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle at a "Gong Show" held in Tucson, Arizona.

Broadcasting career

Parsons began announcing as a pit reporter in the 1980s on ESPN and TBS while he was still racing part-time. After permanently retiring from racing in 1988, Parsons became a broadcaster – first on ESPN, and then with NBC and TNT in 2001. He received an ESPN Emmy in 1996, and the ACE Award in 1989. He appears in the videogames NASCAR '99, NASCAR 2000, and NASCAR 2001 as a commentator as well as an unlockable legend (he was only featured in NASCAR 2001 as an announcer). He later appeared in NASCAR Rumble as a legend in the game as well as NASCAR Thunder 2002, NASCAR Thunder 2003, and NASCAR Thunder 2004 as an unlockable driver and featured the game in NBC and TNT telecasts where Parsons did EA Sports Thunder Motion where he took viewers on a virtual ride of each track.

Parsons co-hosted coverage of Winston Cup Qualifying on North Carolina radio station WFMX with Mark Garrow in the early '90s. He continued to co-host a radio program called "Fast Talk" on Performance Racing Network (PRN) with Doug Rice until his death (he was replaced by an alternating host). He also had a podcast available on iTunes, in conjunction with CNN called The CNN Radio Racing Report with Benny Parsons.

Parsons appeared as himself in the 1995 children's video "NASCAR For Kids - A Day At The Races,” acting as the host.

In 2005, Parsons made a cameo appearance as himself in the movie Herbie: Fully Loaded. In 2006, he again appeared as himself in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

Parsons hosted the Golf Channel program The Big Break: NASCAR Edition, with Brian Hammons in 2005, a celebrity version of the golf program where an entire season's worth of challenges were done in one day. Dale Jarrett, Jamie McMurray, Elliott Sadler, Rusty Wallace and Michael Waltrip competed in the celebrity special.

Personal life Parsons married twice, with his first wife Connie they had two sons Kevin and Keith and married until Connie's death in June 1991. Parsons married Terri but they would not have kids together.

Kevin Parsons played golf with the Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs NCAA program, and now serves as the Vice President of Instruction at Richmond Community College, where he and his wife Kim are both instructors. Keith Parsons covered basketball for the Associated Press in the 1990's, and later had a career in finance. He currently teaches in Anson County Schools, and also serves as the head golf coach.

Illness and death Parsons began having trouble breathing in the summer of 2006. He was diagnosed with lung cancer. He announced in October 2006 that the treatment had been successful, and that he had a clean bill of health. Parsons had stopped smoking in 1978, the treatment cost Parsons the use of his left lung.

Parsons' health prevented him from attending a ceremony in November 2006 where he was to be presented with the Myers Brothers Award, honoring his contributions to racing.

On December 26, 2006, Parsons was readmitted to the hospital and placed in intensive care because of complications relating to lung cancer. Doctors would find a blood clot in his right lung.

On January 16, 2007, Parsons died of complications from lung cancer treatment in the intensive care unit of the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. He is buried near his childhood home in Purlear, North Carolina, which is now the site of Benny Parsons' Rendezvous Ridge. Rendezvous Ridge is also his wife Terri's residence as well as being a racing museum and a winery.

Awards and statistics Inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2016 as part of the Class of 2017. Inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1994. Named as one of the NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998. Inducted into the Court of Legends at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1994. Inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2005. Had 283 top-ten finishes, led at least one lap in 192 races, and finished no lower than fifth in points between 1972 and 1980.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR (key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Grand National Series NASCAR Grand National Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 Pts Ref 1964 Holman-Moody 06 Ford CON AUG JSP SVH RSD DAY DAY DAY RCH BRI GPS BGS ATL AWS HBO PIF CLB NWS MAR SVH DAR LGY HCY SBO CLT GPS ASH ATL CON NSV CHT BIR VAL PIF DAY ODS OBS BRR ISP GLN LIN BRI NSV MBS AWS21 DTS ONA CLB BGS STR DAR HCY RCH ODS HBO MAR SVH NWS CLT HAR AUG JAC 120th 130 1969 Russ Dawson 88 Ford MGR MGY RSD DAY5 DAY DAY7 CAR AUG BRI ATL CLB HCY GPS RCH NWS MAR AWS DAR BLV LGY CLT MGR SMR MCH KPT GPS NCF DAY DOV TPN TRN BLV BRI NSV SMR ATL 56th 183 18 MCH38 SBO BGS AWS DAR HCY RCH TAL CLB MAR NWS CLT SVH AUG CAR JFC MGR TWS3 1970 Benny Parsons 88 Ford RSD DAY DAY7 DAY14 8th 2993 DeWitt Racing 72 Ford RCH15 CAR21 SVH4 ATL8 BRI27 TAL4 NWS28 CLB16 DAR5 BLV12 LGY5 CLT3 SMR MAR38 MCH10 RSD18 HCY6 KPT13 GPS5 DAY31 AST25 TPN3 TRN7 BRI19 SMR13 NSV22 ATL8 CLB16 ONA23 MCH8 TAL35 BGS5 SBO4 DAR39 HCY15 RCH6 DOV5 NCF14 NWS6 CLT4 MAR9 MGR7 CAR33 LGY2 1971 RSD3 DAY DAY5 DAY35 RCH3 HCY3 BRI5 ATL36 CLB2* GPS5 SMR2 NWS4 MAR16 SBO1 ASH12 KPT23 RCH25 NWS5 11th 2611 Mercury ONT9 CAR25 DAR23 TAL48 CLT7 DOV23 MCH28 RSD22 HOU GPS DAY BRI AST ISP TRN NSV3 ATL3 BGS ONA MCH38 TAL47 CLB HCY DAR16 MAR6 CLT10 DOV29 CAR6 MGR Chevy TWS38

Winston Cup Series NASCAR Winston Cup Series results Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Pts Ref 1972 DeWitt Racing 72 Ford RSD40 RCH8 CAR7 5th 6844.15 Mercury DAY4 ONT14 ATL7 BRI21 DAR4 NWS5 MAR20 TAL10 CLT4 DOV6 MCH25 RSD2 TWS4 DAY36 BRI4 TRN8 ATL4 TAL25 MCH7 NSV4 DAR35 RCH23 DOV34 MAR6 NWS4 CLT38 CAR35 TWS6 1973 Chevy RSD14 DAY30 RCH10 CAR31 ATL3 NWS2 DAR2 MAR6 TAL3 NSV2 CLT5 DOV6 TWS7 RSD3 MCH9 DAY5 BRI1* ATL25 TAL38 NSV19 DAR5 RCH4 DOV4 NWS5 MAR6 CLT4 CAR28 1st 7173.8 Mercury BRI5 1974 Chevy RSD4 DAY22 RCH13 CAR23 BRI3 ATL29 DAR32 NWS4 MAR4 TAL2 NSV16 DOV4 CLT31 RSD3 MCH25 DAY27 BRI17 NSV7 ATL8 POC5 TAL5 MCH22 DAR26 RCH2 DOV4 NWS13 MAR15 CLT27 CAR9 5th 1591.5 Ford ONT35 1975 Chevy RSD24 DAY1 RCH3 CAR22 BRI2 ATL28 NWS6 DAR6 MAR6 TAL43 NSV2 DOV23 CLT39 RSD3 MCH34 DAY8 NSV4 POC4 TAL6 MCH34 DAR20 DOV3 NWS6 MAR2 CLT4 RCH18 CAR24 BRI5 ATL19 ONT34 4th 3820 1976 RSD5 DAY3 CAR5 RCH9 BRI3 ATL2 NWS4 DAR3 MAR20 TAL26 NSV3 DOV1 CLT5 RSD3 MCH19 DAY7 NSV1 POC3 TAL39 MCH9 BRI4 DAR7 RCH29 DOV26 MAR5 NWS2 CLT5 CAR31 ATL6 ONT3 3rd 4304 1977 RSD21 DAY2 RCH3 CAR12 ATL26 NWS3 DAR5 BRI5 MAR2 TAL3 NSV1 DOV6 CLT3 RSD27 MCH3 DAY3 NSV18 POC1* TAL24 MCH3 BRI3 DAR25 RCH3 DOV1* MAR2 NWS5 CLT1* CAR7 ATL3 ONT12 3rd 4570 1978 RSD2 RCH1 CAR3 ATL13 BRI2* DAR1 NWS3 MAR15 DOV4 NSV20 RSD1 NSV6 POC29 DAR10 RCH6 DOV26 MAR3 NWS6 CAR4 ONT8 4th 4350 Olds DAY3 TAL31 CLT6 MCH3 DAY26 TAL3 MCH13 BRI2 CLT28 ATL5 1979 M.C. Anderson Racing 27 Chevy RSD26 CAR10 RCH4 ATL5 NWS3 DAR4 MAR19 NSV7 DOV7 CLT5 TWS25 RSD5 MCH31 NSV4 POC4 MCH3 BRI4* DAR5 RCH8 DOV22 MAR27 CLT6 NWS1 CAR2* ATL31 ONT1* 5th 4256 Olds DAY18 BRI5 TAL35 DAY2 TAL21 1980 Chevy RSD33 RCH28 CAR21 ATL30 BRI4 DAR2 NWS5 MAR2 NSV2 DOV22 CLT1 TWS23 RSD3 MCH1* NSV3* POC20 MCH8 BRI5 DAR4 RCH10 DOV5 NWS6 MAR4 CLT33 CAR23 ATL32 ONT1 3rd 4278 Olds DAY5 TAL8 DAY6 TAL4 1981 Bud Moore Engineering 15 Ford RSD16 DAY31 RCH5 CAR24 ATL5 BRI5 NWS21 DAR5 MAR23 TAL36 NSV1 DOV32 CLT37 TWS1 RSD20 MCH3 DAY39 NSV3 POC3 TAL13 MCH26 BRI6 DAR39 RCH1 DOV34 MAR24 NWS29 CLT38 CAR6 ATL36 RSD27 10th 3449 1982 Ranier-Lundy Racing 28 Pontiac DAY26 RCH3* BRI9 ATL4 CAR3 DAR4 NWS4 MAR29 TAL3* NSV22 DOV20 CLT39 POC3 RSD23 18th 2892 Ellington Racing 1 Buick MCH32 CAR34 Gray Racing 19 Buick DAY28 NSV POC TAL Johnny Hayes Racing 55 Buick MCH5 BRI DAR8 RCH DOV5 NWS CLT5 MAR ATL20 RSD7 1983 DAY42 RCH CAR ATL14 DAR34 NWS MAR TAL2 NSV DOV29 BRI CLT34 RSD POC5 MCH13 29th 1657 Chevy DAY26 NSV POC31 TAL22 MCH13 BRI DAR8 RCH DOV MAR NWS CLT3 CAR ATL25 RSD2 1984 DAY29 RCH CAR ATL1* BRI NWS DAR27 MAR TAL5* NSV DOV CLT42 RSD POC9 MCH28 DAY5 NSV POC5 TAL MCH6 BRI DAR9 RCH DOV MAR CLT2* NWS CAR ATL4 RSD5 27th 1865 1985 Jackson Bros. Motorsports DAY31 RCH CAR ATL8 BRI DAR32 NWS MAR TAL29 DOV CLT42 RSD POC6 MCH10 DAY11 POC6 TAL36 MCH5 BRI DAR8 RCH DOV MAR NWS CLT41 CAR ATL33 RSD 29th 1427 1986 Olds DAY5 RCH CAR ATL6 BRI DAR28 NWS MAR TAL20 DOV CLT34 RSD POC33 MCH41 DAY36 POC29 TAL5 GLN8 MCH26 BRI DAR31 RCH DOV MAR NWS CLT30 CAR ATL11 RSD27 30th 1555 1987 Hendrick Motorsports 35 Chevy DAY2 CAR34 RCH10 ATL2 DAR21 NWS15 BRI28 MAR26 TAL12 CLT26 DOV5 POC33 RSD34 MCH9 DAY35 POC4 TAL30 GLN5 MCH18 BRI26 DAR31 RCH16 DOV16 MAR23 NWS19 CLT38 CAR15 RSD2 ATL7 16th 3215 1988 Donlavey Racing 90 Ford DAY31 RCH14 CAR33 ATL13 DAR34 BRI13 NWS17 MAR14 TAL24 CLT25 DOV22 RSD13 POC31 MCH38 DAY35 POC35 TAL27 GLN39 MCH15 BRI DAR13 RCH20 DOV27 MAR20 CLT12 NWSQL† CAR13 PHO8 ATL34 24th 2559 † - Qualified but replaced by Jimmy Means

Daytona 500 Year Team Manufacturer Start Finish 1969 Russ Dawson Ford 11 7 1970 Benny Parsons Ford 14 14 1971 DeWitt Racing Ford 12 35 1972 Mercury 33 4 1973 Chevrolet 13 30 1974 10 22 1975 32 1 1976 32 3 1977 6 2 1978 Oldsmobile 8 3 1979 M.C. Anderson Racing Oldsmobile 5 18 1980 14 5 1981 Bud Moore Engineering Ford 4 31 1982 Ranier-Lundy Racing Pontiac 1 26 1983 Johnny Hayes Racing Buick 14 42 1984 Chevrolet 8 29 1985 Jackson Bros. Motorsports Chevrolet 5 31 1986 Oldsmobile 31 5 1987 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 4 2 1988 Donlavey Racing Ford 42 31

International Race of Champions (key) (Bold – Pole position. * – Most laps led.) International Race of Champions results Year Make Q1 Q2 Q3 1 2 3 4 Pos. Pts Ref 1975–76 Chevy MCH4 RSD5 RSD9 DAY1 3rd NA 1977–78 Chevy MCH9 RSD9 RSD8 DAY5 7th NA 1978–79 MCH6 MCH RSD RSD ATL NA 0 1979–80 MCH6 MCH RSD RSD ATL NA 0 1984 Chevy MCH2 CLE4 TAL5 MCH7 4th 47