Benny Parsons was a native of North Carolina -- the home state of NASCAR, of sorts -- but he moved to Detroit early on in his life, and it could be said that he honed his driving skills there, working as a cab driver. He would eventually return to North Carolina to do some driving of a different kind -- stock car racing at NASCAR's top level.
Parsons entered NASCAR's Cup series somewhat gradually, competing in only one race in 1964 and entering four races five years later in 1969. He then went on to claim the Cup title in 1973. Parsons visited victory lane 21 times in his 526-career starts, including a Daytona 500 win in 1975.
He made history with his qualifying run at Talladega Speedway in 1982. During qualifying at Talladega he became the first stock car driver to turn in a qualifying lap at more than 200 mph.
To read more, visit Cup Series News and Notes.
Photo of Benny Parsons courtesy of ISC Archives/Getty Images.
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