NEIL BONNETT: RETURN TO TRACK WAS SOMETHING THAT HE JUST HAD TO DO THOUGHT OF CRASH DIDN'T WORRY HIM (2024)

Neil Bonnett contends that those who thought his return to racing was a bit crazy ``just don't understand.'

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Neil Bonnett, the popular and personable NASCAR driver who was killed Friday in a practice crash at Daytona International Speedway, knew his return to racing last year was unsettling to his family and many of his fans.

``It's just something I gotta do,' the 47-year-old Hueytown, Ala., driver said.The possibility of a devastating crash did not worry him. His biggest fear was not being competitive.'

``Some people might expect an answer like busting your (rear end),' he said. ``But if that's what someone fears, they have no business being in the car.'

Bonnett's career had ended abruptly at Darlington Raceway in April 1990, in a huge crash on the front stretch. He suffered a severe head injury that left him with amnesia for weeks.

By 1991, however, he was back in the sport as a television broadcaster. With his bright, friendly personality, the articulate Bonnett was a smashing success behind the microphone.

But as his fellow Hueytown compatriot and friend, Bobby Allison, already knew, a forced retirement is extremely difficult to live with.

Bonnett found it impossible to live with.

So, after testing cars for Dale Earnhardt last spring, Bonnett returned to competition in one of Earnhardt's back-up cars last July 25 in the DieHard 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

He had cried with joy after qualifying, and during the race, he keyed his radio mike and shouted, ``Man, this is some kind of fun!'

With 54 laps to go, however, Bonnett had another terrible crash. His car spun sideways near the start/finish line, flipped on its roof, careened into the outside fence, tore a hole in the fence and then spun to a stop on the track.

Bonnett walked away from that one with nothing more than a bruised right arm and headed to the CBS television booth to provide color commentary for the rest of the race.

And at Phoenix last October, he announced that he had agreed to run six races in 1994 and six in 1995 for car owner James Finch, with sponsorship from Country Time Drink Mix.

Bonnett said he knew some folks would call him crazy.

``That's what people don't understand,' he said in Phoenix. ``The reason I'm doing this is I'm going back to something I enjoy. Racing means more to me than anything else. I'll trade a TV day for a race day any day.'

Bonnett was the 26th person to die at the speedway since it opened in 1959. The list consists of 25 racers and one spectator and includes old NASCAR stars Marshall Teague and Friday Hassler.

But Bonnett is the best-known driver, by far, to die here.

When Earnhardt --one of Bonnett's closest friends - was privately told the bad news early Friday afternoon, several hours before the official announcement, the reigning Winston Cup champion walked into the lounge of his hauler, closed the door and remained there for a long time.

Earnhardt and car owner Richard Childress, who had sold Bonnett's team the car he crashed Friday, did not want to talk about the accident. But members of his crew shared their thoughts with team publicist Kevin Triplett.

``You can't express how much you grow to care about a guy like that,' said gas man Danny ``Chocolate' Myers, whose father was killed in a stock car racing accident at Darlington more than 30 years ago. ``He was more than a guy who tested our race car. He was our friend and a member of our family. I can't say enough about how much I'll miss him.'

``I'm crushed,' said tire changer Will Lind. ``I'm absolutely heartbroken. We've lost somebody that we couldn't really afford to lose.'

``His sense of humor is one of the things I'll remember most,' said jackman David Smith. ``He could make light of the (1990) accident and was fun to be around.'

Bonnett won 18 Winston Cup races in a career that started in 1974 at Talladega. He had 361 starts and earned $3,856,061.

He started racing in 1969 at local Alabama tracks. In 1973, he made his Daytona debut and won the sportsman (now Grand National) race. Although he never won any of the 15 Daytona 500s he competed in, Bonnett crossed the finish line first here in the 1979 Pepsi 400. He also won the Busch Clash in 1983 and 1984 and won Twin 125 qualifying races in 1980 and 1983.

Other than his Darlington crash, Bonnett's worst Winston Cup wreck was at Charlotte in 1987, when he broke his leg. He was back in the driver's seat after 12 weeks.

Bonnett is survived by his wife, Susan; daughter Kristen, 20; and son David, 29, who has started his own driving career.

When Davey Allison was fatally injured last July 12 after crashing his helicopter at Talladega, it was at the end of a quick flight from Birmingham to the speedway to see David Bonnett practice.

Neil was there, too, and helped lift Allison out of the co*ckpit of the mangled chopper.

Neil Bonnett spent hours sitting in a chair under a tree in his backyard in Hueytown grieving for Allison. But as the days passed, the thing that most helped him reconcile the numbing sorrow was the prospect of getting back in a race car and running once again on the ragged edge at almost 200 miles per hour.