Written by: Ray Dunlap for SPEED, Charlotte, NC – 1/16/2007

In honor of the late Benny Parsons I would like to tell a few stories about the man. You see, telling stories, was what Benny did.

You may remember him as a great driver and a Winston Cup champion, or you may remember his playful demeanor as a broadcaster, I will always remember him as the one man who ALWAYS had charge of the room he was in.

I first met BP on April 29th, 1990. I was a TV announcer wanna-be. I had created my own public access show about auto racing in Columbus, Ohio and conned the staff at Martinsville Speedway into giving me a pit road credential. I was a green as they come and awe stuck by being around all these NASCAR superstars. I was a one-man band. I had to carry my equipment, set it up, run the camera and pretend to be the talent in front of the camera. Nothing was going very well that day until Benny walked by. He said, “Hey kid whatcha doing?” I told him my story and that I was having a hard time getting access to any of the drivers. He said,” Come with me, I will help you out just a little.” In the next ten minutes I met Darrell Waltrip, Richard Petty, Rick Mast, Geoff Bodine, Harry Gant and Ernie Irvan. Benny asked each of them to spend a few minutes with me and through out the day, each of them did. BP then said,” Give me the mic.” I did just that and started recording. His next words were,” Be sure and watch Ray Dunlap on his show AT the SPEEDWAY right here on Channel 21…I never miss it.” (NBC Photo)

The truth is, he had never seen my show, but by taking those few minutes out of his day, he changed my life. I walked out of that race track that day with a mountain of confidence. I had BP on a promo for my racing show and interviews with some of the greatest drivers in the sport. Maybe I CAN do this after all!

A few years later I started working full time at ARCA as the public relations manager. Part of my job was to go up into the ESPN broadcast booth and pass along information to Benny and Ned Jarrett about the drivers in our series. The great part of this job was that I could get up to the booth a half hour early and listen to Benny’s stories of the day. Everything BP lived through could be turned into a rant. I cherished the days when he had gotten bad service at breakfast or had to buy a package of Kotex at the grocery. The stories would get really out of control if he had been stopped by the police or God-forbid had been stuck in traffic with no alternative route.

Parsons could lighten your day, make you laugh, reinvigorate your attitude and put it all into perspective.

My big break in television came by the way of Benny Parsons in two different ways. The ARCA ReMax Series was competing at Talladega and I was scheduled to do my job as a booth stats guy, However, Benny Parsons had come down with a severe case of food poisoning. There appeared to be no replacement handy. It looked as if the show would be only a two man booth. Fifteen minutes before air, the producer Neil Goldberg came up and asked me if I could fill in for Benny as color commentator. I jumped at the chance. The rest as they say is history. Three weeks later I signed a contract with ESPN and began working full time in TV broadcasting. But the bottom line of this story is not just that I caught a lucky break because my friend got terribly sick. The truth is I am not sure Neil would have ever made that decision if Benny had not called twice from the hospital and urged him to give me a shot. With his guts in an uproar, Benny Parsons was thinking (as he usually did) about someone other than himself.

BP could never walk more than 10 feet in the garage area without someone coming up to say hi or tell him a story. My favorite time of the weekend was always on Thursday before the Craftsman Truck races, the media centers would not be full yet, but Benny would always stop in to say Hello to the “real die-hards” as he would call us. Each of us would hope for 10-15 minutes of time with the man. He would lighten your day, make you laugh, reinvigorate your attitude and put it all into perspective.

Will Rogers had nothing on Buffet Benny. Bill Gates may have more money than BP, but nobody has ever had more friends.

Benny’s dream was to build a winery in the Wilkes County Mountains of North Carolina. I can’t wait to uncork my first bottle from Rendezvous Ridge. Even if the wine does not win any awards, the memory of Benny’s stories, compassion, and friendship will make it the best I have ever had.

Write a comment

You need tologin.