Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 27, 1994 TAG: 9402270097
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER
DATELINE: ROCKINGHAM, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
The driver who crawled out of the No. 12 Plasti-Kote Chevrolet on Saturday after finishing 18th in the Goodwrench 200 Busch Grand National race was wearing the late Neil Bonnett's uniform.
It was a tribute, the driver told a reporter.
"This is for my mama," David Bonnett said. The uniform he wore was his father's backup outfit, he said, and now that he had worn it once, he was going to give it to her.
This small act of remembrance illustrated one of the ironies of stock car racing. Despite the very real threat of death or serious injury in every event, NASCAR racing is renowned for its family atmosphere.
And David Bonnett's tribute at North Carolina Motor Speedway symbolized his determination to follow his father's path in spite of his father's fate.
It might be hard for some to understand why a son would do this after his father's tragic death. Part of it, perhaps, is the same single-minded attitude that prompted Neil Bonnett to return to racing after suffering a serious head injury in 1990.
But part of it, too, is the dream that drives every unsung mechanic who spends his Saturday nights behind the wheel of a late model stock car at the local short track. It is the dream of a better, more exciting, more fulfilling life.
And for all of his father's fame and fortune, 29-year-old David Bonnett has tasted the common man's life.
"I've come a long way fighting this stuff, trying to get where I am now," he said Friday. "I've had a lot of people say, `Hey, you need to sell all that stuff.' But I've been racing six years now and I enjoy it too much just to throw it all away."
Bonnett's full-time job is running the parts department at Neil Bonnett Honda in Hueytown, Ala.
"I've got a job back home," he said. "I work in his dealership. And I can't stand to walk in that door. I've heard a lot of race guys talk about the family in these pits. And I really miss that when I'm not here. When I do come, I enjoy every minute of it.
"At home, I can't get up at eight o'clock to get to work. But to get to this race track, I can get up at four o'clock."
David Bonnett had no desire to race at first.
"But I got to going to race tracks, helping some boys with a little street stock car," he said. "They stuck me in the car. That just gave me a taste of it. So I saved my money and borrowed a little money from the bank to build a car."
At first, Neil tried to talk him out of it. But when he saw that his son was bound and determined to race, he began to help. In fact, Neil Bonnett had an important role in each of his son's previous GN races.
"This time, I had to do it all myself," David said. "I had to stop a couple of times in the shop and catch my breath. Before, anything I did, he was there to make sure it was done right."
On Feb. 11, he was at work in his father's dealership when the finance manager walked up to him.
"He gave me a sheet of paper and said, `You need to call a certain person. Something's happened.'
"I knew what it was."
His mother, Susan, doesn't want him to race, just as she didn't want her husband to return to racing. She gave her reluctant approval, but told her son: "You'd better have your priorities straight."
When he arrived here Friday, buckled up and turned his Chevy onto the track, David Bonnett felt out of sorts.
"I took a deep breath and said a little prayer and asked him to help me out and ride with me," David said. "As a matter of fact, the first lap was pitiful. But we got things straightened out. I feel comfortable now."
At 29, Bonnett still has a round, boyish face. His eyes are his father's. When he talks, he has a measure of his father's wit. He also has his father's loyalty.
There was talk that Neil's fatal crash might have been caused by the Hoosier tires he was using. That theory gained momentum when Rodney Orr was killed four days later, also in a car running on Hoosiers.
But this weekend, David Bonnett raced on Hoosier tires.
The safety of the tires "didn't cross my mind one time," he said. "Something happened to that car. And truthfully . . . the wind was really bad. I think that was part of it. I really do."
When he expressed his feelings about death in racing, it was almost as if his father was talking.
"Anybody who gets in one of these race cars knows that can happen at any time," David said. "That thought doesn't even cross my mind."
by CNB