DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Neil Bonnett, a popular stock-car driver who had raced only twice since an April 1990 crash that caused severe head injuries and temporary amnesia, died yesterday trying to keep alive a high-risk career he wouldn't give up.
Bonnett, 47, from Bessemer, Ala., suffered massive head injuries when his Chevrolet slammed the fourth-turn wall nose-first. He was practicing for the 36th annual Daytona 500 a week from tomorrow.
Bonnett would have tried to qualify for his 16th Daytona 500 this afternoon. Instead, he became the 25th fatality in all forms of racing at Daytona International Speedway since its 1959 opening.
He was pronounced dead at nearby Halifax Medical Center less than an hour after the accident.
Bonnett, who ran fifth in his first Daytona 500 in 1976, lost control of his Chevrolet as he exited the 31-degree banking in Turn 4. The car skidded down on the flat apron and then veered straight back into the outside wall brutally hard.
Bonnett had to be cut from the wreckage, and NASCAR officials promptly ordered that a tarp be placed over the Chevrolet, a grim signal.
Initially, there were rumors that he might have hit an oil slick. Briefly into the practice, a red flag had been waved so that oil-dry powder could be spread between Turns 1 and 2.
But NASCAR official Chip Williams said there was no sign of oil in the fourth turn and that other drivers reported no problems there. Williams said indications were that Bonnett simply lost control.
Bonnett's car hit just a few feet from where ARCA rookie Andy Farr knocked a hole into the concrete in a crash in practice Thursday. Track officials worked overnight replacing a section of the wall and catch fencing that had been torn out.
Farr remained hospitalized in good condition yesterday.
Bonnett, survived by his wife, Susan, and two grown children, interspersed 18 victories through a successful NASCAR Winston Cup career that appeared at an end after a serious accident in the 1990 TranSouth 500 at Darlington, S.C.
Bonnett has been most visible since then as a television analyst for CBS, WTBS and The Nashville Network on race telecasts.
But he began subbing for close friend Dale Earnhardt during off-season testing before the 1993 Winston Cup campaign.
Then, at the invitation of Earnhardt's car owner, Richard Childress, Bonnett qualified an Earnhardt backup car for the midsummer DieHard 500 at Talladega, Ala.
He was running in mid-pack in his first race in more than three years when he got caught up in a multi-car tangle in which his car became airborne and ripped apart fencing that kept it from sailing into packed grandstands. Not only did Bonnett escape injury, but his appetite was whetted.
"You can't walk away from the sport you've spent your entire life around," he said after signing a limited six-race 1994 contract to drive the Country Time Chevrolet for James Finch of Panama City, Fla.
"Television was a good avenue for me to get involved in racing again," he said. "It opened the door for me to come back and be around all of my friends. But it also stirred up that interest to get back inside of a race car."
A year ago, Bonnett worked in the CBS booth with Ken Squier and two-time NASCAR champion Ned Jarrett as Jarrett's son, Dale, raced past Earnhardt on the final lap to win the Daytona 500.
"I'm sure a lot of people wonder why Neil Bonnett ever got back into a race car again after what he had gone through in 1990 and then the things he had seen happen to his very close friends, the Allison family," Jarrett said yesterday afternoon.
A protege of Bobby Allison, Bonnett provided support through Allison's recovery from near-fatal injuries in a June 1988 crash and also after the deaths of Allison's racing sons, Davey and Clifford, 11 months apart.
Joe Booher, a 51-year-old farmer from Montmorenci, Ind., suffered fatal injuries in a crash in a NASCAR Dash race here one year ago today. Bonnett became the third stock-car driver to die at the track in the 1990s.
Speedway and NASCAR officials did not confirm Bonnett's death officially until after 5 p.m. because Bonnett's wife was driving from their home to Daytona and could not be contacted.
---------------- BONNETT'S CAREER ----------------
-- Began Winston Cup career in 1974.
-- First superspeedway victory was in the 1977 Los Angeles Times 500 at Ontario (Calif.) Motor Speedway.
-- Won 18 Winston Cup races in his career with 20 pole positions and nearly $4 million in purses.
-- Involved in a 1987 crash in Charlotte, N.C., that crushed his leg. Expected to be out for a year, came back in 12 weeks.
-- Retired in 1990 after a crash at Darlington (S.C.) International Speedway left him with severe head injuries.
-- Became a color commentator for CBS and The Nashville Network.
-- Returned to racing briefly last season for Richard Childress Racing.
