Benny Parsons was honored with the National Motorsports Press Association’s Pocono Spirit Award Sunday night in Concord, NC. Parsons, 65, passed away Jan. 16 after a six-month battle with lung cancer. He made 526 starts and earned more than $4.4 million, winning 21 times in NASCAR’s top series to rank 28th on the career-win list. He won the series’ championship in 1973 while driving for car owner L.G. DeWitt.

His television duties, which continued through the 2006 season, began in 1989, a year after he retired from driving. He also later began hosting the popular radio show, “Fast Talk with Benny Parsons” on the Performance Racing Network. Outside the glare of the sport, Parsons often reached out to those less fortunate. For several years, he helped oversee a local school drive in his hometown of Ellerbe, N.C., that provided clothing and toys for area schoolchildren during the Christmas holiday season.

The NMPA Pocono Spirit Award is designed to recognize character and achievement in the face of adversity, sportsmanship and contributions to motorsports. Each year, quarterly winners are selected and an overall winner is chosen by a vote of the NMPA membership. Other quarterly winners for 2006 included: Craftsman Truck Series owner/driver Bobby Hamilton (first quarter); longtime photojournalist Dozier Mobley (second quarter); and Owen Kearns, manager of communications for the Craftsman Truck Series (fourth quarter).

Scene Daily

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