Benny Parsons prevails in a classic

Swirling about with awful foreboding was what I refer to as an “End Of Time Sky.”

It looked even more frightening  than a memorable scene featuring Charlton Heston as Moses in the epic movie, “The Ten Commandments.”

However, in this case it wasn’t Pharoah’s army threatened by the ominously black, rumbling, tumbling clouds.  It was the competitors and approximately 120,000 NASCAR fans attending the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25, 1980.

The event, which has its Golden Anniversary running this weekend, now is known as the Coca-Cola 600 and the track as Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

Of all the previous 49 races covering 600 miles at the track, that show in 1980 ranks as by far the best I attended and saw in person.

Credit this to the courage and driving talents of the late Benny Parsons and Darrell Waltrip.

With weather threatening to bring the race to a premature conclusion—it already had been red-flagged twice for rain—Parsons and Waltrip staged perhaps the most stirring sprint for the checkered flag in the speedway’s 50-year history.

They swapped the lead a whopping eight times in the final 26 laps at the 1.5-mile track, including four times in the last 10 laps!

Of the race’s 400 circuits, here’s how the duo’s late series of exchanges for the front went: Waltrip led laps 389-392, Parsons 393-394, Waltrip 395-398 and, finally, Parsons 399-400.

Parsons prevailed at the finish line by a half car length.

The excitement left both drivers and many of the fans drained.

“It was very, very even there at the end,” said a delighted Parsons, stating the obvious after winning Charlotte’s May race for the first time.  “I knew there was always the possibility that Darrell would get around me again.”

Asked if he used a bit more track than usual to block Waltrip on the last lap, Parsons grinned and replied, Hmmm…Maybe.”

Said Waltrip, who was going for a third straight 600 victory, “Son of a gun, I just ran out of tires.  After mine and Benny’s last pit stops, I knew I was in trouble when he pulled right up behind me.  My car pushed (understeered) when he was back there.

“But let me say this:  Benny drove a super race.”

Both of the Chevrolet drivers and their crews had gambled on not changing tires during what proved their final pit stops, taking on fuel only.  Parsons pitted on lap 362, Waltrip on 364.  The stops left Waltrip with a 1.3-second lead, but Parsons quickly caught up and the dandy duel was on.

The race had become essentially a Parsons-Waltrip show on the 274th lap when a wreck in the fourth turn foiled the hopes of Bobby Allison, Dale Earnhardt, David Pearson and Cale Yarborough.  All four were in strong cars and running in a pack right behind leader Waltrip.

“The Racing Gods were with me, ‘cause I could have been in that crash…I was running in that pack,” Parsons said during the victor’s interview in the press box.  “A lap before then, I blistered a tire between the third and fourth turns.  I couldn’t get slowed down enough to get onto pit road, so I went around again at reduced speed.  I was down low to go in the pits when everything went wild in front of me.  I was able to avoid the wreck.”

New asphalt pavement chewed up tires during the 600 of ’80.

Driver Harry Gant blew four right fronts, finally losing a wheel and crashing.  Neil Bonnett said he pitted 19 times and used 52 tires.

Back to Benny Parsons…

In the press box, he expressed how much winning the biggest NASCAR event in his native North Carolina meant to him.  Parsons was born in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Wilkes County and at the time of his 600 triumph he lived in the little Sandhills town of Ellerbe, where he was president of the PTA.

He then related an amusing incident that took place during the dramatic laps leading to the finish.

“My crew chief, David Ifft, is one of the most colorful, excitable characters in stock car racing,” said Parsons.  “He couldn’t restrain himself on the radio, cheerleading and giving me advice.

“I love David to death, but I had to remind him that I had won the Winston Cup Series championship in 1973 and the Daytona 500 in ‘75 and I knew what I was doing.  I told him to please shut up!”

It was Parsons’ third triumph in a car fielded by a team owned by M.C. Anderson of Savannah, Ga.

The personable Anderson accompanied Parsons to the post-race press session and said it was the first time he’d seen Benny win.

“I wasn’t at the other two races,” a smiling Anderson revealed.  “Benny and David and the boys had enjoyed such good luck when I wasn’t around, there had been some talk of banning me from the track.  But I coaxed them into letting me come today because the 600 is such a major event.”

Not surprisingly, after retirement, Parsons and Waltrip, both well-spoken, continued in stock car racing as analysts during television motorsports broadcast.

Benny, who lost his life to cancer on Jan. 16, 2007 at age 65, even won an Emmy for his TV work with ESPN.  Waltrip remains a stalwart with Fox Sports.

Finally, in addition to that scary sky on May 25, 1980, I vividly remember this:  Benny Parsons was able to silence David Ifft—at least for a while.  But his highly popular victory aroused  the fans, whose applause and cheers were almost as loud as the thunder.