stuck (5/31/2011)
This is from the link. After the end of the Second World War Benny moved to Detroit, Michigan with his family where his father operated a gas station and a taxicab business. Before becoming a race car driver he worked for his father, driving taxis or working in the service station and it was here, one evening in 1963 that a chance meeting would change his life. A truck carrying a race car pulled into the gas station and Benny got chatting to the occupants who told him that they were on their way to Mount Clemens Speedway, inviting him to join them. Not wanting to give up this opportunity Benny jumped at the chance and went with them.. The story is that the driver failed to turn up at the race track and Benny volunteered to drive the car. This year was also the year of his first visit to Daytona, he was a huge race fan and would have given anything to get into the garage area to be near the cars. The best part of the trip was when he bumped into H.B. Bailey’s ( a former NASCAR driver) wife in the hotel that they were staying. She gave him a pass to get in to the garage area. “It was the highlight of my life, getting inside the garage area and getting close to those race cars.” Benny was hooked and began his racing career on the Midwest short race tracks. The chance of a lifetime came on the 9th August 1964 at the Asheville-Weaverville Speedway in North Carolina when the Ford Motor Co. summoned two unknown drivers to an audition for a factory-backed ride in the 250-mile race for the NASCAR Grand National drivers. The two drivers Ford had their eye on were Cale Yarborough and Benny Parsons. Both drivers were strapped into 1964 Ford Galaxies and the race began. Both qualified in the top 10 in the 36-car field. During the race, Parsons had problems getting used to the powerful car on the fast track, and failed to impress Ford during this great opportunity. Though Benny early NASCAR efforts were unsuccessful ,his persistence paid off with a Daytona 500 victory in 1975. Benny soon made an impression on the Midwest short tracks, rising in the racing ranks and going on to become "Rookie of the Year" in 1965, together with two Automobile Racing Club of America, ARCA, championships in 1968 and 1969.
The next opportunity in NASCAR didn’t come until 1969 when L.G. DeWitt hired him as a substitute for Buddy Young who had been injured at Riverside. Buddy’s injuries took almost a year to heal and during this time Benny excelled in his performance, gaining 23 top ten positions in 45 starts. DeWitt decided to hire him on a more permanent basis. 1973 saw the DeWitt team with no sponsorship and they only had three cars available. Benny was chasing the championship.
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Ah, glad i asked the question, thanks for this interesting part of his life, great driver! I,ve had same problem happen when writing story for here, reccommend copy message before submiting it incase it disapears, then at least you,ve still got it. also suggest when finishing message, drop down a line then add a few letters , anything! then hit reply, it seems to work. welcome to the site!
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