The "Professor" of NASCAR, Benny Parsons, Succumbs to Cancer

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. - NASCAR Legend Benny Parsons died early Tuesday at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte from lung cancer.

He was 65.

Parsons was last a NASCAR announcer/analyst on NBC and TNT.

He became famous as the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup (now NEXTEL Cup) champion.

He was nicknamed The Professor in part because of his popular remarks and relaxed demeanor.

In July 2006, he was diagnosed with lung cancer.

Since his treatments, he appeared infrequently in the broadcast booth.

In late December 2006, he went back into the hospital in intensive care.

Parsons death comes just eight days after NASCAR owner and racer Bobby Hamilton Sr. lost his battle with neck cancer.

In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to the Connie E. Parsons Memorial Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 443, Ellerbe, NC 28338; Victory Junction Gang Camp; or the Blumenthal Cancer Research Center.

Before NASCAR:

Parsons spent his childhood years in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and played football for Millers Creek High School in Wilkes County.

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 prior to entering NASCAR competition.

Parson's Driving Career:

1960s:

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

Parsons won the 1968 and 1969 ARCA championships.

Parsons had three Top 10 finishes in four NASCAR races in 1969.

1970s:

He joined the circuit full-time in 1970 with Pit Crew Chief, John Hill.

He had 23 Top 10 finishes in 45 races, a pole at Langley Field Speedway, and finished eighth in the points. He raced in the #72 L.G. DeWitt/DeWitt Racing car.

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 finished in 31 races. He finished fifth in the final points standings.

In 1973 he won the NASCAR Championship with only one win, even though David Pearson won eleven races (but Pearson 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 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 28th 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.

He finished 67.15 points behind the champion.

Cecil Gordon's 11th place finish was good enough for third in the standings and James Hylton finished 19th, enough to overtake Petty for fourth.

1973 is considered the start of the modern era in NASCAR, so Parsons is considered the first modern era champion.

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

Parsons finished between third and fifth in the final points from 1974 to 1980.

He won the 1975 Daytona 500. He switched to the #27 car for M.C. Anderson starting in 1979. He won the 1980 World 600 at Charlotte.

1980s:

In 1981 he starting racing in the #15 Bud Moore car. He had a win at Nashville Speedway USA. He won the final race at Texas World Speedway. His received his final tenth place points finish by finishing tenth.

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. He ran the first half of the season for Harry Ranier, and run some of the races between four other teams.

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

He appeared in the 1983 Burt Reynolds movie Stroker Ace.

Parsons resumed full-time racing for Hendrick Motorsports in 1987. This season was infamous for a race in which he was told that he could not pit because his pit crew was eating ice cream. (This was ripped off in Days of Thunder)

Parsons raced for Junie Donlavey in his final NASCAR season in 1988.

He is also credited for discovering current NASCAR Driver Greg Biffle at a "Gong Show" held in Tucson, Arizona.

All told, Biffle has won a Truck Series and Busch Series Championship and is currently driving for Roush Racing on the Nextel Cup circuit.

Awards and statistics:

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 Lowe's 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.

NASCAR Announcer:

He 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 a ESPN Emmy in 1996, and the ACE Award in 1989.

Parsons co-hosted coverage of Winston Cup Qualifying on North Carolina radio station WFMX with Mark Garrow in the early 90s.

He continues to host a radio program called "Fast Talk with Benny Parsons" on Performance Racing Network (PRN).

He also has a podcast available on iTunes, in conjunction with CNN called "The CNN Radio Racing Report with Benny Parsons," who talks about NASCAR with CNNRadio's Michael Jones.

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.

(Information from Wikipedia)

God blessed BP, we were blessed by God to have BP. The best crew ever to call a race, Bp, Bob Jenkins and Ned Jarret. Who will ever forget Ned calling Dales name to win the Daytona 500.

He will be missed

Gods gain is our loss.

I looked forward to every BP broadcast, and I felt I knew him. My enjoyment of NASCAR will be less without him. God Speed.

we are going to miss you bp. all of our prayers are with you and your family and race fans. so long good friend. god bless.

We will all miss you. I pray that God will be with your family and friends during these difficult times

BP will be watching over all the drivers. He IS in a better place! My thoughts and prayers are with the whole NASCAR family.

Our Sunday afternoons will not be near as entertaining next year without seeing and hearing Benny on the NASCAR broadcasts. We know he'll be calling the big race beyond the Pearly gates

nascar has lost a true gentleman.

Rest in peace Benny,You will be missed so much by all your fans.God Bless you and your family.

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