NASCAR legend Benny Parsons died yesterday from complications due to lung cancer. He was 65.
BP was a class act. He won the 1973 Winston Cup and the 1975 Daytona 500 and was listed as one of the top 50 NASCAR drivers of all time. He’s also been a TV analyst for NASCAR races since 1989 on ABC, ESPN, and most recently NBC and TNT.
I always enjoyed listening to Benny in the booth who always had something good to say about everybody and who never took the spotlight for himself, realizing that the true stars of the sport are the guys on the track today. Yet everyone in the sport knew that Benny was Grade-A resource and fount of knowledge.
I never had the chance to watch BP drive a race car, having come to the sport too late, but I did enjoy his contributions to racing and know that he will be missed.
May the souls of the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
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I’m also sorry to hear about Benny Parsons. When I was a lad in the late ‘60s-mid 70s, my favorite sport was auto racing & I always used to watch was then called “stock car” racing on ABC’s Wide World of Sports. That was when they had real cars like the Plymouth Superbirds, Dodge Daytonas & Mercury Cyclones with the real 426 cu. in. Hemis & 427 cu in. Fords & drivers such as Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough,& Benny Parsons, who, as I recall drove Chevrolets, which weren’t that common in those days since there was no factory backing from GM unlike Chrysler & Ford, who dominated NASCAR in those days. I remember reading an article in a car magazine circa 1973 in which Benny Parsons won a race even though he got into a accident earlier in the race that sheared off the entire passenger side of his car. Again, sorry to hear about his passing. Ta & G’d Bless, diskojoe