Neil Bonnett
Bonnett in 1985
Born	(1946-07-30)July 30, 1946 Hueytown,Alabama, U.S.
Died	February 11, 1994(1994-02-11) (aged 47) Daytona Beach,Florida, U.S.
Cause of death	Autoracing accident during practice for the1994 Daytona 500
Achievements	1981 Southern 500 Winner 1982,1983World 600 Winner 1979 Firecracker 400 Winner 1983,1984Busch Clash Winner Winner of the first ever NASCAR race run outside of North America, theGoodyear NASCAR 500 held inAustralia (1988)
Awards	National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame (1997) Named one ofNASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers (1998) International Motorsports Hall of Fame (2001) Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (2012)[1] Named one ofNASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers (2023)
NASCARCup Series career
362 races run over 18 years
Best finish	4th (1985)
First race	1974Winston 500 (Talladega)
Last race	1993Hooters 500 (Atlanta)
First win	1977Capital City 400 (Richmond)
Last win	1988Goodwrench 500 (Rockingham)
Wins Top tens Poles 18 156 20
NASCARXfinity Series career
13 races run over 6 years
Best finish	29th (1983)
First race	1983Goody's 300 (Daytona)
Last race	1993Slick 50 300 (Atlanta)
First win	1983Darlington 250 (Darlington)
Wins Top tens Poles 1 7 0
Statistics current as of June 14, 2015.

Lawrence Neil Bonnett (July 30, 1946 – February 11, 1994) was an AmericanNASCAR driver who compiled 18 victories and 20poles over his 18-year career. Bonnett was a member of theAlabama Gang, and started his career with the help ofBobby andDonnie Allison. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s with his performances in cars owned byJim Stacy andWood Brothers Racing, becoming one of the top competitors in the 1980s. TheAlabama native currently ranks 47th in all-time NASCAR Cup victories.^[2] He appeared in the 1983 filmStroker Ace and the 1990 filmDays of Thunder. Bonnett hosted the TV showWinners forTNN from 1991 to 1994. He was a color commentator for CBS, TBS, and TNN in the years until his death. Bonnett's driving career was interrupted by a severe brain injury from a crash in 1990. He was killed while practicing for the 1994 Daytona 500 for a much-anticipated comeback.

Bonnett was born in theBirmingham suburb ofHueytown, Alabama on July 30, 1946. Bonnett began hisNASCAR career as a protégé of 1983 Winston Cup championBobby Allison, working on the team's cars. He later became part of the famous "Alabama Gang" that included himself,Red Farmer and the Allison family: father Bobby, brotherDonnie and, later, sonDavey. He began driving inNASCAR in 1974 and earned his first victory in 1977 at theCapital City 400 inRichmond, Virginia driving forHarry Hyde-Jim Stacy Racing, which had bought out theK&K Insurance team that he had previously driven for. He had another victory in 1977 at theLos Angeles Times 500, which would be the last Dodge win in NASCAR until 2001. Many in racing circles thought 1978 would be his year to dominate, but troubles with his cars (the new for '78Dodge Magnum) and financial problems between Hyde and Stacy caused his cars to fail and to drop out of many races. In addition, Bonnett had grown tired of Stacy's dictatorial management style and tendency to miss payments, which led to Hyde suing Stacy for unpaid bills.^[3] In 1979 he signed withWood Brothers Racing to replacedDavid Pearson and revived his career with three victories. He later won back-to-backWorld 600s (NASCAR's longest race, now theCoca-Cola 600) in 1982 and 1983 and back-to-backBusch Clash victories in1983 and '84, including his first in which he did not win a single pole from theprevious season, but was selected as a wild card entry.^[4]

In 1984, Bonnett joinedJunior Johnson's team, becoming a teammate toDarrell Waltrip. In 1985, he had one of his best seasons, finishing fourth in the points standings while Waltrip went on to win his third championship.

Bonnett participated inInternational Race of Champions (IROC) during three seasons (1979, 1980, and 1984), and finished second twice.

Bonnett holds the distinction of being the winner of the first ever NASCAR race held outside of North America when he won the1988 Goodyear NASCAR 500 at theCalder Park Thunderdome inMelbourne,Australia (at the time the newly opened Thunderdome was also the first NASCAR style speedway to be built outside of North America). The race, run two weeks after theDaytona 500, was not a Winston Cup race but featured some drivers from the series including fellow Alabama Gang member Bobby Allison,Michael Waltrip,Dave Marcis andKyle Petty who were up against Australian drivers somewhat new to NASCAR racing. Bonnett, who had won thePontiac Excitement 400 atRichmond International Raceway the previous weekend, started from the pole driving hisValvoline sponsoredPontiac Grand Prix. He and Allison (who had won the Daytona 500 two weeks previous), driving aBuick LeSabre, dominated the crash marred, 280 lap 500 km (310 mile) race finishing first and second ahead of Dave Marcis on a day when cabin temperatures were reported to reach over 57 °C (135 °F) as the race was held during Australia's notoriously hot summer.

On April 1, 1990, Bonnett suffered a life-threatening crash during theTranSouth 500 atDarlington, South Carolina, when his car slammed into Sterling Marlin's car during a 14-car crash on lap 212. He was left withamnesia and dizziness and retired from racing and turned to television, becoming a race color commentator forTNN,CBS Sports, andTBS Sports, and hosting the TV showWinners forTNN.

However, Bonnett still desired to continue racing. In 1992, he began testing cars for good friendsDale Earnhardt and car ownerRichard Childress. Cleared to race again in 1993 and upon Earnhardt's suggestion, Childress gave Bonnett a ride for the 1993DieHard 500 atTalladega Superspeedway which was numbered 31 and sponsored by GM Goodwrench. But his comeback race was marred by a crash in which his car spun, became airborne, and crashed into the spectator fence. He was uninjured and called the rest of the race from theCBS broadcast booth after being cleared at the infield care center. He would also start the final race of the 1993 season inAtlanta, but he dropped out after just three laps. The reason the team gave for removing the car from the race was a blown engine; however, he was teamed with points leader Earnhardt, and the car was retired to assist Earnhardt in winning the season's championship. Earnhardt needed to maximize his finishing position, and by Bonnett quitting the race he was assured of those three championship points. This would become Bonnett's final NASCAR Winston Cup Series start.

Despite the setbacks, Bonnett was encouraged because he had secured a ride and sponsorship for at least five races in the 1994 season with car ownerJames Finch, including the season-opening race, the Daytona 500, forPhoenix Racing. But on February 11, 1994, during the first practice session for the1994 Daytona 500, a shock mount broke, causing him to lose control of his Chevrolet on the track's high-banked fourth turn. The car swerved onto the track apron, and then up the steep bank, before crashing into the wall nearly head-on. Bonnett did not survive the accident; he was 47 years old.

That weekend, another racing death occurred, as 1993 Goody's Dash (four-cylinder) championRodney Orr was also killed in a racing crash during the practices surrounding the first weekend. In the middle of the second Goodyear-Hoosier tire war, Hoosier withdrew from the race immediately. Five years later, the broken shock mounts became an issue again in NASCAR, as cars bottoming out were evident during the first night race at Daytona in 1998. By 2000, NASCAR imposed a new rule where the sanctioning body built the shocks and had mandatory specification springs for the cars to prevent this tactic, to stop the dangerous tactics being used to reduce drag that led to the fatal crashes.

Bonnett is buried inPleasant Grove's cemetery, Forest Grove Memorial Gardens. A road called "Allison-Bonnett Memorial Drive" in his hometown honors him, along with fellow nativeDavey Allison, who died seven months earlier.

When Earnhardt, Bonnett's colleague, won the1998 Daytona 500, he dedicated the victory to Bonnett among others.

Earnhardt himselfdied in a racing accident during the final lap of the2001 Daytona 500. About three weeks after the accident, magazine photographers released photographs of Bonnett's autopsy, as well as those of another driver who died a few days later, Rodney Orr, to the public, which led to a lawsuit.^[5]

WhenBrad Keselowski scored Phoenix Racing's first Sprint Cup win 15 years later in the2009 Aaron's 499 atTalladega Superspeedway, Finch dedicated the win to Bonnett. During the2013 season, Finch designed the No. 51 car's paint scheme in the Cup and Nationwide Series like Bonnett's 1994Country TimeChevrolet that he drove shortly before his death.

Bonnett was portrayed by the actorSean Bridgers in the TV movie3: The Dale Earnhardt Story.

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

(key) (Bold – Pole position. * – Most laps led.)

• List of famous NASCAR drivers
• List of NASCAR fatal accidents

• Neil Bonnett atFind a Grave
• Neil Bonnett driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Neil Bonnett at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame
• Video of Bonnett's fatal wreck onYouTube

• 1946 births
• 1994 deaths
• Alabama Gang
• American Speed Association drivers
• American television hosts
• American television sports announcers
• International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductees
• International Race of Champions drivers
• Motorsport announcers
• NASCAR drivers
• NASCAR team owners
• People from Hueytown, Alabama
• Sportspeople from Jefferson County, Alabama
• Racing drivers from Alabama
• Racing drivers who died while racing
• Sports deaths in Florida
• Dale Earnhardt Inc. drivers
• Richard Childress Racing drivers

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