Parsons, Benny
Auto Racing
b. July 12, 1941, Parsonsville, NC
d. Jan. 16, 2007
Parsons began his racing career in the Automobile Racing Club of America, a Midwestern stock car league. He was the ARCA rookie of the year in 1965 and won its national championship in 1968 and 1969. Then he began running in NASCAR races. He did well in his first several years without any major victories, placing in the top five a dozen times in 1970 and thirteen times in 1971, when he claimed his first win, at South Boston, Virginia.
Although he only had one win in 1973, his twenty-one top ten finishes in twenty-eight races gave him enough points for the Winston Cup championship. In 1975 he won the Daytona 500, and in 1982 he became the first driver to qualify at more than 200 mph, with a 200.176 clocking at the Winston 500 at Talladega, AL.
Parsons retired after the 1988 season. He had 21 victories, 199 top five finishes, 283 top ten finishes, and earnings of $3,896,539 with in 526 Winston Cup races.
Parsons then became an analyst for NBC Sports and ESPN. He won an Emmy in 1996. Nicknamed "the Professor" because of his ability to convey technical information with ease, Parsons was diagnosed with lung cancer in July of 2006. He underwent radiation treatments and chemotherapy that left him without the use of his left lung. Doctors then discovered a blood clot in his right lung. Parsons died a month later.