Remembering BP always ends in long, fun stories

My role as a member of a network announce team covering NASCAR began on Sept. 4, 1994, at the Southern 500 in Darlington. Over the years I have called races on ESPN, ESPN2, ABC, NBC and, of course, TNT.

This past Sunday I did something I have never done before as a network broadcaster. I did a race without Benny Parsons. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. Granted, over the years, Benny missed a race here and there and last season worked a limited schedule while being treated for the cancer that eventually took his life this past January. But he was always part of the team, and part of our race. But this past weekend, he wasn't there.

After his funeral I spent some time thinking about what it was going to be like going back to the track without the Big Guy. I didn't like the thought so I buried it the back of my head, somewhere behind remembering to get my lawn mower blade sharpened. I was just trying to delay the inevitable.

This spring Wally Dallenbach and I were working a Champ Car race for NBC. We were quietly having a drink at the hotel bar one night waiting for a table for dinner when, out of the blue, Wally said "You know, it sure is going to be strange calling those races without BP."

That pretty much yanked those well-hidden thoughts out from behind my lawn mower blade and I have to admit that I heard those words from Wally echo around in my head for months. I don't want this column to be about us, and especially not about me. I want it to be about Benny. While I try to get you there, I will also try to leave the "me" out of it, but so many of my memories of Benny involved things we did together, or as a group.

I had met him before joining the ESPN announce team, but we never really hung out together. We knew each other professionally, but he did call the week after the Southern 500. We talked about the race and the broadcast. By the time we talked, he knew ESPN was going to add me to a few more races, so he finished the conversation by saying, "Well, Weber, welcome to the team." I can remember his voice, his tone and his words. We were teammates all the way through the end of 2000 Nextel Cup season, when we both left to join the TNT/NBC team. (By the way, except occasionally on the air, he never called me Bill, it was always Weber. On the flowers we sent to the celebration of his life, we signed the card "Teresa and Weber.")

Benny was always the guiding arm in the garage. My favorite thing to do was be a part of a conversation between Benny and someone in the garage ... make that ANYONE in the garage. Sometimes I would walk into his conversations, sometimes he would walk into mine, but either way, when he was a part of it, the conversation was better, more revealing, more insightful and just more fun. (Continued)