Remembering Benny Parsons
Benny Parsons (1941-2007)
Benny Parsons passed away at the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina Tuesday morning due to complications from lung cancer. Parsons was only 65 year old.
I had never met Benny Parsons, but I felt like I knew him. My early memory of Parsons was him driving the black, white, and gold Copenhagan Chevrolet for Johnny Hayes and then the Jackson Brothers. He was in the twilight of his career, and he only competed in select races, primarily the prestigious races such as the Daytona 500 and Coca Cola 600.
In 1987, his good friend Rick Hendrick offered him an opportunity to fill in for the ill Tim Richmond in what at the time was considered one of the best rides in NASCAR. Parsons drove the Folgers Chevrolet, the same car that had won seven races in 1986. Parsons returned to full-time competition. After the 1988 season, Parsons retired from NASCAR competition.
But long before I became acquainted with NASCAR, Benny Parsons was acknowledged as a legend in motorsports.
He was born in Wilkes County, North Carolina and spent the majority of his life in a small town called Ellerbe, which was located just down the road from the North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham.
After his family moved to Detroit, Michigan, Parsons worked for his father at a local service station. As a particular race team stopped to fuel up their truck, Parsons was invited to join the team as they headed to Mount Clemens Speedway. This was the commencement of Parsons stock car racing career.
In 1970, Parsons became a full-time driver as he competed in 45 NASCAR sanctioned events. He finished the season with 12 top fives, and recorded 23 top tens. Just three years later, Benny Parsons was able to conquer his first championship, despite winning only one race. Uniformity was the key, as he scored 15 top fives, and 21 top tens in only 28 starts throughout the 1973 season. Parsons drove for L.G. DeWitt, and fended off established stock car luminaries such as Richard Petty and David Pearson to claim his first and only championship.
Parsons continued to steadily win races throughout the remainder of the 1970’s and into the early 1980’s. What he considered his biggest accomplishment as a driver was his 1975 Daytona 500 triumph. His final win came at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1984 driving for Johnny Hayes. Parsons finished his NASCAR career with 21 victories, 199 top fives, 283 top tens, 20 poles. He competed in 526 races. Parsons was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall Of Fame in 1994, and documented as one of NASCAR’s 50 greatest drivers.
Eventually, Parsons would hang up his helmet and diligently pursue his career as a television analyst for ESPN/ABC. Along with Bob Jenkins and Ned Jarrett, Parsons spent many Sunday afternoons in the living rooms of thousands of NASCAR fans. Parsons won the ACE Award in 1989, and an EMMY award in 1996. In 2001, Parsons joined the NBC crew with Allen Bestwick, Bill Weber, and Wally Dallenbach. He coined the phrase ‘cue the duck’, which referred to AFLAC sponsored NASCAR trivia question that was featured during each NBC broadcast.
Parsons publicly revealed his illness in July of 2006. He continued to appear at the racetrack and in the booth, but there were times when he was unable to show up for work. There was a void left unfilled in all of those broadcasts that he was absent from. But Parsons continued to intrepidly combat this potentially deadly disease. In October, the disease was in full remission, and the NASCAR world breathed a sigh of relief. However, Parsons remained ill and was unable to be present at the annual NASCAR Nextel Cup Awards Banquet.
It was reported that he was suffering from side effects due to his cancer remedies. He was admitted into the hospital on December 26, 2006, and his condition was deemed critical. Sorrowfully, he did not improve and was pronounced dead on January 16, 2007.
Benny Parsons was widely recognized as a gentleman and will be greatly missed.
Fans are welcome to post their fondest memories of Benny Parsons on the discussion board.
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