January 18, 2021 at 6:20 AM
By Rick Houston
Phil Parsons really had no other choice.
Plagued by rumors about his eyesight, Parsons’ options in NASCAR’s elite Winston Cup division were, at the very best, limited. So he and wife Marcia made the decision to go racing in the Busch Series, with their own team and own cars.
That call paid off when Phil won Charlotte’s 1994 spring Busch Series race. To win at Charlotte, the area home to most NASCAR teams, was one thing. To pass … and then pull away from … Mark Martin was something else entirely. After everything Parsons had been through in his career, it made the victory all the more special.
The Scene Vault: Phil Parsons Wins At Talladega January 13, 2021 at 3:31 AM
By Rick Houston
Five years later, he reached the mountaintop at the very same race track.
Despite that early accident at the sport’s biggest and fastest race track, Parsons seemed to do his best work at Talladega and Daytona. He looked forward to those races, and it showed. He’d trailed Bobby and Davey Allison to the checkered flag in the 1988 Daytona 500 in third place, setting up a chance for a decent run at Talladega just a couple of months later.
This time, it was Parsons’ turn to hold off Bobby Allison at the stripe, to score the first Winston Cup victory of his young career. He was looking forward to more.
January 8, 2021 at 2:26 AM
By Rick Houston
It was just the second Winston Cup race of Phil Parsons’ career, and it ended spectacularly.
And not the good kind of spectacular, either. Going into turn one on lap 72, Parsons got together with Darrell Waltrip. The contact triggered a huge multicar melee in which Parsons suddenly found himself flipping violently and on fire.
Incredibly, Parsons’ only injury was a broken shoulder blade.
Benny Parsons, Phil’s older brother, saw the carnage and what was left of his sibling’s car, and immediately asked his crew to find a relief driver so he could attend to Phil. Told that Phil was going to be okay and that his injuries appeared to be minor, the elder Parsons stayed in his car and eventually finished a very close second to Richard Petty.
The Scene Vault: Phil Parsons Best David Pearson At Bristol January 6, 2021 at 3:17 AM
By Rick Houston
Phil Parsons grew up in NASCAR, the younger brother of 1973 Winston Cup champion Benny Parsons.
Benny was his hero, and so were competitors like David Pearson. So when Phil passed David with 11 laps remaining in the 1982 Late Model Sportsman race at Bristol, besting one of NASCAR’s all-time greats all the more special.
The victory also began to move Phil out of his older brother’s shadow, and onto a path that was all his own. This is Phil Parsons’ story.
Join hosts Rick Houston and Steve Waid each week on The Scene Vault Podcast Presented by Q Ware as they take a look back at the extraordinary people, places and events woven into the rich tapestry that is our sport.
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