NASCAR Hall of Fame, Class of 2017
Benny Parsons, a Wilkes County, North Carolina, native who called Detroit home after driving a taxi for a living during his years in the northern city, won the 1973 NASCAR premier series championship in one of the most dramatic fashions in series history.
Born: July 12, 1941
Died: Jan. 16, 2007
Hometown: Ellerbe, North Carolina
Championship
Premier: 1973
Premier Series Stats
Competed: 1964-88
Starts: 526
Wins: 21
Poles: 20
Parsons could be called an everyman champion: winning enough to be called one of the sport’s stars but nearly always finishing well when he wasn’t able to reach Victory Lane. He won 21 times in 526 career starts but finished among the top 10 283 times — a 54 percent ratio.
One of Parsons’ biggest victories came in the 1975 Daytona 500. He also was the first driver to qualify a stock car at more than 200 mph (200.176) in 1982 at Talladega Superspeedway. He was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998.
Parsons also was known as a voice of the sport making a seamless transition to television following his NASCAR career. He was a commentator for NBC and TNT until his passing in 2007, at age 65.
| NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Statistics |
| Year |
Age |
Races |
Win |
Top 5 |
Top 10 |
Pole |
Laps |
Led |
Rank |
AvSt |
AvFn |
RAF |
Miles |
LLF |
| 1964 |
23 |
1 of 62 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
258 |
0 |
|
9.0 |
21.0 |
0 |
129.0 |
0 |
| 1969 |
28 |
4 of 54 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
568 |
0 |
|
12.5 |
13.3 |
3 |
1259.0 |
0 |
| 1970 |
29 |
45 of 48 |
0 |
12 |
23 |
1 |
9165 |
66 |
|
10.0 |
13.7 |
24 |
8898.0 |
1 |
| 1971 |
30 |
35 of 48 |
1 |
13 |
18 |
0 |
7981 |
144 |
|
10.7 |
16.2 |
18 |
7808.9 |
4 |
| 1972 |
31 |
31 of 31 |
0 |
10 |
19 |
0 |
7922 |
19 |
|
11.2 |
14.5 |
20 |
9601.3 |
0 |
| 1973 |
32 |
28 of 28 |
1 |
15 |
21 |
0 |
9311 |
375 |
|
7.7 |
10.1 |
21 |
10274.1 |
1 |
| 1974 |
33 |
30 of 30 |
0 |
11 |
14 |
0 |
8120 |
88 |
|
8.6 |
14.6 |
14 |
9067.4 |
2 |
| 1975 |
34 |
30 of 30 |
1 |
11 |
17 |
3 |
8528 |
479 |
4 |
7.5 |
14.4 |
17 |
8984.4 |
4 |
| 1976 |
35 |
30 of 30 |
2 |
18 |
23 |
2 |
8679 |
509 |
3 |
7.0 |
9.6 |
25 |
10516.2 |
5 |
| 1977 |
36 |
30 of 30 |
4 |
20 |
22 |
3 |
9410 |
1400 |
3 |
4.7 |
7.8 |
24 |
10899.5 |
15 |
| 1978 |
37 |
30 of 30 |
3 |
15 |
21 |
2 |
9609 |
824 |
4 |
4.7 |
9.4 |
26 |
11009.9 |
9 |
| 1979 |
38 |
31 of 31 |
2 |
16 |
21 |
1 |
9335 |
736 |
5 |
7.0 |
11.3 |
24 |
10749.5 |
7 |
| 1980 |
39 |
31 of 31 |
3 |
16 |
21 |
2 |
8676 |
659 |
3 |
5.8 |
11.4 |
21 |
10134.7 |
11 |
| 1981 |
40 |
31 of 31 |
3 |
10 |
12 |
0 |
6709 |
537 |
10 |
10.1 |
19.0 |
14 |
7688.2 |
6 |
| 1982 |
41 |
23 of 30 |
0 |
10 |
13 |
3 |
5631 |
253 |
18 |
10.0 |
14.6 |
13 |
7377.0 |
6 |
| 1983 |
42 |
16 of 30 |
0 |
4 |
5 |
0 |
2847 |
116 |
29 |
8.9 |
18.9 |
7 |
5293.4 |
3 |
| 1984 |
43 |
14 of 30 |
1 |
7 |
10 |
2 |
2877 |
407 |
27 |
7.1 |
12.6 |
11 |
5462.4 |
7 |
| 1985 |
44 |
14 of 28 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
0 |
2230 |
8 |
29 |
10.4 |
21.3 |
7 |
4288.1 |
1 |
| 1986 |
45 |
16 of 29 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
2620 |
13 |
30 |
9.4 |
23.1 |
5 |
5112.0 |
3 |
| 1987 |
46 |
29 of 29 |
0 |
6 |
9 |
0 |
6975 |
87 |
16 |
11.7 |
18.7 |
17 |
9040.4 |
5 |
| 1988 |
47 |
27 of 29 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
7420 |
71 |
24 |
23.5 |
23.0 |
18 |
8843.9 |
1 |
| 21 years |
|
526 |
21 |
199 |
283 |
20 |
134871 |
6791 |
|
9.4 |
15.2 |
329 |
162437.3 |
91 |
|