Benny Parsons savors his Daytona 500 victory.
Daytona Beach, Fla. (February 16, 1975) – With two laps to go, Benny Parsons “’about cried – I ain’t kiddin you.’”
As almost every person in the crowd of 110,000 who has ever considered themselves an underdog went into a frenzy, Parsons found himself miraculously in the lead and coasting to victory in the 17th annual Daytona 500. He had started in the 32nd position – with the other underdogs – in a field of 40.
Running in the draft of Richard Petty’s Dodge, which was finally running strong after a day of overheating, Parsons’ Chevrolet was closing fast on frontrunning David Pearson. Pearson was trying to get by a slow-moving Cale Yarborough and Richie Panch on lap 198 of the 200-lap event.
If Pearson could break through slower traffic, he would be extremely hard to catch. But suddenly, as he tried to shoot between Yarborough and Panch, something happened. Afterwards, Pearson claims one of the cars hit him. Whoever was to blame, The “Silver Fox” lost control of his Mercury and a Daytona 500 victory in a matter of seconds as he slid off the back straightaway and into the grass.
And as Parsons, a hard luck 33-year-old driver from Ellerbe, N.C., drove by Daytona’s big telesign, there it was “1 – 72 (Parsons), 2 – 16 (Bobby Allison), 3 – 11 (Yarborough), 4 – 21 (Pearson, who had gotten his car back on the track), and 1 – 83 (Ramo Stott).”
A crash on the fourth lap had taken nine cars out. Petty had built a strong lead after that, but his car started overheating and he’d have several costly pit stops. Buddy Baker then roared away from the field, holding a 40-second lead at one point, but retired the Ford he was driving about three-quarters of the way through the race with electrical problems.
Then Pearson had led with Yarborough a close second.
But Coo Coo Marlin blew an engine, spilled oil on the track and brought out the caution flag on laps 163 to 172. In the mad scramble to the pits, the hares – Pearson, Yarborough, and Allison – pitted. The tortoise did not. The pace car, and Parsons, moved ahead of Yarborough and Allison and into the same lap as Pearson.
Pearson caught a draft from A.J. Foyt, who, like Petty, finally had his car clicking, and held onto a comfortable lead with Parsons running alone.
Then, enter Richard Petty, exit A.J. Foyt.
“I was waiting for a break and along came Richard – my break,” Parsons said.
“When I saw Richard coming, he was coming fast,” Parsons said of the sight in his mirror. “He pulled up there and waved like ‘C’mon boy, let’s go!’”
Foyt then blew and engine and Pearson’s free ride was over with. Parsons began to close at a rate of about a half-second per lap, but t didn’t seem their would be enough time to catch Person.
Yarborough, a lap behind, and Panch stayed in Pearson’s way for about half a lap, and when he decided he was going get by them or else; he spun.
“I believe he got tapped,” Parsons said. “He ran across then in the front straightaway. Going into turns one and two, David went high, and they went high. Entering the back straightaway, he dropped to go under them, but they were already going low to let him by. I believe that one of them tapped him and that was all it took.”
So Parsons, who won the NASCAR pint title in 1973 but had never won a superspeedway race, was a big winner at last.
Asked if the season title was as big a thrill as winning Daytona, he gleefully said, “Ain’t no way – this is it!”
Results –
1. Benny Parsons
2. Bobby Allison
3. Cale Yarborough
4. David Pearson
5. Ramo Stott
6. Dave Marcis
7. Richard Petty
8. Richie Panch
9. G.C. Spencer
10.James Hylton
11.A.J. Foyt
12.Bruce Jacobi
13.Bob Burcham
14.Ed Negre
15.Cecil Gordon
16.Ferrel Harris
17.Coo Coo Marlin
18.Richard Childress
19.Lennie Pond
20.Buddy Baker
