Benny Parsons
Former NASCAR Great
Benny Parsons is probably the only taxi driver in history to win the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. He was the champion in 1973 and earned 21 NASCAR Winston Cups and 20 pole positions in his career.
His championship season was one of endurance in that he won only one race (second-place finisher Cale Yarborough won four times in the 28-race season and David Pearson won 11 times but ran only 18 events) but drove the most miles. Two of his biggest wins came at the 1975 Daytona 500 and the 1980 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. Parsons was the first NASCAR Winston Cup competitor to qualify for a race faster than 200 mph, which he did for the 1982 Winston 500 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway with a speed of 200.176 mph.
After retiring from competition after the 1988 season, Parsons went on to become a highly respected analyst on NASCAR racing telecasts, winning an NASCAR Emmy in 1996. He also hosts a nationally syndicated radio program on Performance Racing Network . Parsons was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame and the Court of Legends at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1994.