Benny Parsons

Benny Parsons
Born	Benjamin Stewart Parsons (1941-07-12)July 12, 1941 Wilkesboro, North Carolina, U.S.
Died	January 16, 2007(2007-01-16) (aged 65) Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.
Cause of death	Complications resulting from lung cancer
Achievements	1973 Winston Cup Series Champion 1968 ARCA Racing Series Champion 1969 ARCA Racing Series Champion 1975 Daytona 500 Winner 1980 World 600 Winner 1969 Daytona ARCA 300 Winner 1982 Daytona 500 Pole Sitter
Awards	1965 ARCA Racing Series Rookie of the Year Named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers (1998) International Motorsports Hall of Fame (1994) Court of Legends at Charlotte Motor Speedway (1994) Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (2005) ESPN Emmy (1996) ACE Award (1989) NASCAR Hall of Fame (2017) Named one of NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers (2023)1988, Inducted into the Michigan Motorsports Hall of Fame
NASCAR Cup Series career
526 races run over 21 years
Best finish	1st (1973)
First race	1964 (Weaverville)
Last race	1988 Atlanta Journal 500 (Atlanta)
First win	1971 Halifax County 100 (South Boston)
Last win	1984 Coca-Cola 500 (Atlanta)
Wins Top tens Poles 21 283 20
NASCAR Grand National East Series career
2 races run over 2 years
Best finish	33rd (1973)
First race	1972 Buddy Shuman 300 (Hickory)
Last race	1973 Sunoco 260 (Hickory)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 2 0
Statistics current as of October 31, 2013.

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.

He 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-10 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-10 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 18 top-10 finishes in 35 starts in 1971, including his first win at South Boston Speedway. He finished eleventh in the points.

In 1972, he had 19 top-10 finishes in 31 races. He finished fifth in the final points standings.

In 1973, he 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-10 and 15 top-5 finishes in the 28 events.

His 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 13 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. Benny 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

He 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 3rd in points.

In 1981, he 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 200 mph (322 km/h).

1983 racecar

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.

He 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.

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 10 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	NGNC	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	AWS 21	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	DAY 5	DAY	DAY 7	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																																						MCH 38	SBO	BGS	AWS	DAR	HCY	RCH	TAL	CLB	MAR	NWS	CLT	SVH	AUG	CAR	JFC	MGR	TWS 3
1970	Benny Parsons	88	Ford	RSD	DAY	DAY 7	DAY 14																																																											8th	2993
	DeWitt Racing	72	Ford					RCH 15	CAR 21	SVH 4	ATL 8	BRI 27	TAL 4	NWS 28	CLB 16	DAR 5	BLV 12	LGY 5	CLT 3	SMR	MAR 38	MCH 10	RSD 18	HCY 6	KPT 13	GPS 5	DAY 31	AST 25	TPN 3	TRN 7	BRI 19	SMR 13	NSV 22	ATL 8	CLB 16	ONA 23	MCH 8	TAL 35	BGS 5	SBO 4	DAR 39	HCY 15	RCH 6	DOV 5	NCF 14	NWS 6	CLT 4	MAR 9	MGR 7	CAR 33	LGY 2
1971				RSD 3	DAY	DAY 5	DAY 35		RCH 3		HCY 3	BRI 5	ATL 36	CLB 2*	GPS 5	SMR 2	NWS 4	MAR 16		SBO 1		ASH 12	KPT 23																										RCH 25	NWS 5																11th	2611
			Mercury					ONT 9		CAR 25									DAR 23		TAL 48			CLT 7	DOV 23	MCH 28	RSD 22	HOU	GPS	DAY	BRI	AST	ISP	TRN	NSV 3	ATL 3	BGS	ONA	MCH 38	TAL 47	CLB	HCY	DAR 16	MAR 6	CLT 10	DOV 29	CAR 6	MGR
			Chevy																																																TWS 38

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	NWCC	Pts	Ref
1972	DeWitt Racing	72	Ford	RSD 40		RCH 8		CAR 7																											5th	6844.15
			Mercury		DAY 4		ONT 14		ATL 7	BRI 21	DAR 4	NWS 5	MAR 20	TAL 10	CLT 4	DOV 6	MCH 25	RSD 2	TWS 4	DAY 36	BRI 4	TRN 8	ATL 4	TAL 25	MCH 7	NSV 4	DAR 35	RCH 23	DOV 34	MAR 6	NWS 4	CLT 38	CAR 35	TWS 6
1973			Chevy	RSD 14	DAY 30	RCH 10	CAR 31		ATL 3	NWS 2	DAR 2	MAR 6	TAL 3	NSV 2	CLT 5	DOV 6	TWS 7	RSD 3	MCH 9	DAY 5	BRI 1*	ATL 25	TAL 38	NSV 19	DAR 5	RCH 4	DOV 4	NWS 5	MAR 6	CLT 4	CAR 28				1st	7173.8
			Mercury					BRI 5
1974			Chevy	RSD 4	DAY 22	RCH 13	CAR 23	BRI 3	ATL 29	DAR 32	NWS 4	MAR 4	TAL 2	NSV 16	DOV 4	CLT 31	RSD 3	MCH 25	DAY 27	BRI 17	NSV 7	ATL 8	POC 5	TAL 5	MCH 22	DAR 26	RCH 2	DOV 4	NWS 13	MAR 15	CLT 27	CAR 9			5th	1591.5
			Ford																														ONT 35
1975			Chevy	RSD 24	DAY 1	RCH 3	CAR 22	BRI 2	ATL 28	NWS 6	DAR 6	MAR 6	TAL 43	NSV 2	DOV 23	CLT 39	RSD 3	MCH 34	DAY 8	NSV 4	POC 4	TAL 6	MCH 34	DAR 20	DOV 3	NWS 6	MAR 2	CLT 4	RCH 18	CAR 24	BRI 5	ATL 19	ONT 34		4th	3820
1976				RSD 5	DAY 3	CAR 5	RCH 9	BRI 3	ATL 2	NWS 4	DAR 3	MAR 20	TAL 26	NSV 3	DOV 1	CLT 5	RSD 3	MCH 19	DAY 7	NSV 1	POC 3	TAL 39	MCH 9	BRI 4	DAR 7	RCH 29	DOV 26	MAR 5	NWS 2	CLT 5	CAR 31	ATL 6	ONT 3		3rd	4304
1977				RSD 21	DAY 2	RCH 3	CAR 12	ATL 26	NWS 3	DAR 5	BRI 5	MAR 2	TAL 3	NSV 1	DOV 6	CLT 3	RSD 27	MCH 3	DAY 3	NSV 18	POC 1*	TAL 24	MCH 3	BRI 3	DAR 25	RCH 3	DOV 1*	MAR 2	NWS 5	CLT 1*	CAR 7	ATL 3	ONT 12		3rd	4570
1978				RSD 2		RCH 1	CAR 3	ATL 13	BRI 2*	DAR 1	NWS 3	MAR 15		DOV 4		NSV 20	RSD 1			NSV 6	POC 29				DAR 10	RCH 6	DOV 26	MAR 3	NWS 6		CAR 4		ONT 8		4th	4350
			Olds		DAY 3								TAL 31		CLT 6			MCH 3	DAY 26			TAL 3	MCH 13	BRI 2						CLT 28		ATL 5
1979	M.C. Anderson Racing	27	Chevy	RSD 26		CAR 10	RCH 4	ATL 5	NWS 3		DAR 4	MAR 19		NSV 7	DOV 7	CLT 5	TWS 25	RSD 5	MCH 31		NSV 4	POC 4		MCH 3	BRI 4*	DAR 5	RCH 8	DOV 22	MAR 27	CLT 6	NWS 1	CAR 2*	ATL 31	ONT 1*	5th	4256
			Olds		DAY 18					BRI 5			TAL 35							DAY 2			TAL 21
1980			Chevy	RSD 33		RCH 28	CAR 21	ATL 30	BRI 4	DAR 2	NWS 5	MAR 2		NSV 2	DOV 22	CLT 1	TWS 23	RSD 3	MCH 1*		NSV 3*	POC 20		MCH 8	BRI 5	DAR 4	RCH 10	DOV 5	NWS 6	MAR 4	CLT 33	CAR 23	ATL 32	ONT 1	3rd	4278
			Olds		DAY 5								TAL 8							DAY 6			TAL 4
1981	Bud Moore Engineering	15	Ford	RSD 16	DAY 31	RCH 5	CAR 24	ATL 5	BRI 5	NWS 21	DAR 5	MAR 23	TAL 36	NSV 1	DOV 32	CLT 37	TWS 1	RSD 20	MCH 3	DAY 39	NSV 3	POC 3	TAL 13	MCH 26	BRI 6	DAR 39	RCH 1	DOV 34	MAR 24	NWS 29	CLT 38	CAR 6	ATL 36	RSD 27	10th	3449
1982	Ranier-Lundy Racing	28	Pontiac	DAY 26	RCH 3*	BRI 9	ATL 4	CAR 3	DAR 4	NWS 4	MAR 29	TAL 3*	NSV 22	DOV 20	CLT 39	POC 3	RSD 23																		18th	2892
	Ellington Racing	1	Buick															MCH 32													CAR 34
	Gray Racing	19	Buick																DAY 28	NSV	POC	TAL
	Johnny Hayes Racing	55	Buick																				MCH 5	BRI	DAR 8	RCH	DOV 5	NWS	CLT 5	MAR		ATL 20	RSD 7
1983				DAY 42	RCH	CAR	ATL 14	DAR 34	NWS	MAR	TAL 2	NSV	DOV 29	BRI	CLT 34	RSD	POC 5	MCH 13																	29th	1657
			Chevy																DAY 26	NSV	POC 31	TAL 22	MCH 13	BRI	DAR 8	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT 3	CAR	ATL 25	RSD 2
1984				DAY 29	RCH	CAR	ATL 1*	BRI	NWS	DAR 27	MAR	TAL 5*	NSV	DOV	CLT 42	RSD	POC 9	MCH 28	DAY 5	NSV	POC 5	TAL	MCH 6	BRI	DAR 9	RCH	DOV	MAR	CLT 2*	NWS	CAR	ATL 4	RSD 5		27th	1865
1985	Jackson Bros. Motorsports			DAY 31	RCH	CAR	ATL 8	BRI	DAR 32	NWS	MAR	TAL 29	DOV	CLT 42	RSD	POC 6	MCH 10	DAY 11	POC 6	TAL 36	MCH 5	BRI	DAR 8	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT 41	CAR	ATL 33	RSD				29th	1427
1986			Olds	DAY 5	RCH	CAR	ATL 6	BRI	DAR 28	NWS	MAR	TAL 20	DOV	CLT 34	RSD	POC 33	MCH 41	DAY 36	POC 29	TAL 5	GLN 8	MCH 26	BRI	DAR 31	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT 30	CAR	ATL 11	RSD 27			30th	1555
1987	Hendrick Motorsports	35	Chevy	DAY 2	CAR 34	RCH 10	ATL 2	DAR 21	NWS 15	BRI 28	MAR 26	TAL 12	CLT 26	DOV 5	POC 33	RSD 34	MCH 9	DAY 35	POC 4	TAL 30	GLN 5	MCH 18	BRI 26	DAR 31	RCH 16	DOV 16	MAR 23	NWS 19	CLT 38	CAR 15	RSD 2	ATL 7			16th	3215
1988	Donlavey Racing	90	Ford	DAY 31	RCH 14	CAR 33	ATL 13	DAR 34	BRI 13	NWS 17	MAR 14	TAL 24	CLT 25	DOV 22	RSD 13	POC 31	MCH 38	DAY 35	POC 35	TAL 27	GLN 39	MCH 15	BRI	DAR 13	RCH 20	DOV 27	MAR 20	CLT 12	NWS QL†	CAR 13	PHO 8	ATL 34			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				MCH 4	RSD 5	RSD 9	DAY 1	3rd	NA
1977–78	Chevy				MCH 9	RSD 9	RSD 8	DAY 5	7th	NA
1978–79		MCH 6	MCH	RSD	RSD	ATL			NA	0
1979–80		MCH 6	MCH	RSD	RSD	ATL			NA	0
1984	Chevy				MCH 2	CLE 4	TAL 5	MCH 7	4th	47

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.

Personal Life

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

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.

His 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.

External links

• Official website
• Benny Parsons driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Rendezvous Ridge, a Benny Parsons Vineyard (owned by his widow)
• Benny Parsons at NASCAR.com
• Benny Parsons at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame
• "Fast Talk with Benny Parsons" radio show
• "Talking with legends" USA WEEKEND, Feb. 19, 2006.