Neil Bonnett ~ The Racer, The Broadcaster, The Legend
2/11/2014
PattyKay Lilley
This
Tuesday, February 11, marks the 20th anniversary of the death of racecar driver
and broadcaster Neil Bonnett at Daytona International Speedway in 1994. For an
old-timer like me, it is quite startling to realize that some of you reading
this today have no memory whatsoever of this wonderful man unless your parents
have told you about him. If you'll keep reading, I hope to rectify that.
Here at Race
Fans Forever, both Jim and I have been asked by our readers to write on occasion
of the history of stock car racing and share it with the next generation(s) of
race fans. Neil Bonnett fits squarely into the middle of that history; not a
pioneer, but taken from us near the height of the sport's popularity... gone
far too soon. The article you are about to read is
written with a more personal tone than many of my offerings and that is because
Neil Bonnett was one of my all-time favorite people. Much of what you’ll read
today has been taken from my own memories, so walk along beside me down Memory
Lane and I'll tell you a bit about the great racer and the wonderful man that
was Neil Bonnett.
Born and
raised in Hueytown, Alabama, Neil married his wife Susan and the couple made
their home in nearby Bessemer, with their two children, David and
Kristen. He was a member of the famous, or some would say,
"Infamous" Alabama Gang, along with Bobby and Donnie Allison, Bobby’s
son Davey and Red Farmer.
Neil Bonnett
was a gentleman, or a gentle man; either way works perfectly, unless you're
talking about behind the wheel of a racecar. There, Neil was a tiger,
determined to beat the best at any cost. The first time Neil really
caught my eye was driving the #75 to victory for Rahmoc-Warner
Hodgdon in the World 600 at Charlotte, although he'd
already been on the Winston Cup circuit for several years by then. In
1984, he earned a bid from the then almost invincible Junior Johnson team, as a
stable mate to Darrell Waltrip. Neil stayed there for three years, somewhat to
the dismay of Ol' DW, who never wanted a teammate. Eventually, both
drivers left the Johnson team in the same year, 1987, with Darrell going to
Rick Hendrick and Neil returning to Rahmoc.
In early
1988, Neil took the last two victories of his career in successive races at
Rockingham and Richmond, driving for the Bob Rahilly-Butch
Mock team. He remains the only driver ever to win a race in that #75 car,
but as things in racing go, he moved on from there to the famous #21 of the
Wood Brothers in 1990.
It
wasn't long into that year when things took a turn for the worse for
Neil. At the Transouth 500 in Darlington that
spring, while he was riding in the middle of the pack, there was action going on
at the front. At a restart after a caution, Ken Schrader was on the
point, and underneath him, 14 laps down, was Ernie Irvan. The green flag
waved and you might have thought it was the white, the way they went after each
other. It's not for me to say whether Kenny didn't realize how many laps
down Ernie was, or Ernie just pushed too hard, but lap after lap they remained
side by side, proving nothing, until the inevitable happened and one got into
the other, causing a horrific wreck behind the lead cars. Somewhere in
the middle of the mayhem was the #21 and when all the spinning and crashing had
ended, it was damaged on every side but the top, and the driver was not moving.
Neil
sustained a concussion in that wreck, so severe that he lost all memory.
When he was finally released from the hospital, he returned home to a family he
did not recognize, referring to wife Susan as "that woman,” and having to
be introduced to his own children. It was a hellish few months for the
family as gradually bits and pieces of his life returned to memory and the
racing world watched and worried.
With all
the doctors agreeing on the fact that racing was out of the question, this man
who loved it so, stayed close to his sport by becoming a race
commentator for CBS and TNN, and fans immediately took to his down-home
descriptions of all things racing. "Tight is when you see the wall before
you hit it. Loose is when you don't get to see the wreck." As biased
as some race fans can be, I don't think there was a single one who didn't love
Neil Bonnett. He just had that friendly, neighborly way about him, on the TV
screen and in real life.
So
popular was he that TNN gave him his own show called "Winners",
where a dressed down Neil interviewed racing personalities from every
venue of the sport, from his own living room. The fans were happy, and we
all hoped that Neil was too, but that love of racing was still in his heart and
he longed to go back to it. In 1993, he finally got medical clearance to
get behind the wheel again, and spent time testing for Richard Childress
racing, on the recommendation of his best friend and fishing partner, Dale
Earnhardt, who raced for Childress.
By
Talladega that July, the pair convinced Richard to field a second car for Neil,
and for the only time I can remember, there were two black Goodwrench
Chevrolets in the race. The experiment didn't turn out as well as
expected however, and Neil's car, with a bit of help, wound up flying into the catch
fence in a frightening imitation of Bobby Allison's crash in 1987. (The one
that started the whole restrictor plate thing) He did start a Western Steer
sponsored car for RCR in the finale at Atlanta that year, but blew an engine 3
laps into the race.
Not in the least discouraged, Neil found a sponsor in Country Time Lemonade for a limited run in 1994, and prepared to go racing in his own #51.On February 11 of 1994, word came from the speedway that Neil had been injured in a practice crash, but once Susan, who had been en route from Alabama, arrived at the track, first she, and then the racing world received the news that Neil had died in the wreck. Ironically, it happened in the same fourth turn that seven years and one week later would claim the life of his best friend.
I guess
no one will ever know what role, if any, the controversial Hoosier tires he was
running on the car played in the wreck, but in the end, maybe it really doesn't
matter. The tires are gone, but so is Neil. Gone, but definitely
not forgotten, this gentle man who won the hearts of so many.
[Note* A
second driver, young Rodney Orr, the 1993 Goodys Dash Series Champion was also
killed in a practice crash at Daytona that year, driving on those same Hoosier
Tires. Their deaths brought to 27 the number of racers killed at the giant
track of Big Bill's dreams. On February 18, 2001, Daytona would claim it's 28th and to date final victim, 7-time Champion Dale
Earnhardt... and at last... someone listened.]
Twice in
the season just past, Neil had used his “Winners” program to eulogize a fellow
racer, those drivers of course being Alan Kulwicki and Davey Allison,
tragically taken from us in 1993. The week after Neil’s death, TNN ran a final
episode of "Winners", dedicated solely to Neil and his great impact
on the sport of auto racing. This fan still tears up at the very thought of it,
and watching it would be almost as difficult as watching a replay of the
Daytona 500 in 2001, something I've never done.
Over his
career, Neil accumulated 18 wins, 20 poles, and 156 top-10 finishes in 363
starts. Over his lifespan, so tragically shortened, he won the respect of
family, friends, and millions of race fans who loved to see him race and loved
to watch his familiar antics on the TV screen. So moved was his best
friend Dale, that a full two years later, when asked by some witless reporter
if he still missed his Buddy, he replied, "Hell yes! I still can't
even go fishing in my own pond."
I hope
that I have managed to impart to you at least some of my feelings about Neil
here, and that those of you who never met him might feel that you know him a
bit better for having taken this trip down Memory Lane. As I said in the
beginning, he was a gentle man. May he rest with the Lord, and may he
never be forgotten on earth.
Dale, Cale, and Neil at Dover in 1987
Be well
gentle readers, and remember to keep smiling. It looks so good on you!
~
PattyKay
[email protected]