Qa Benny Parsons

SI: You recently received a diagnosis of lung cancer. How did you know that something was wrong?

Parsons: I'd try to take a couple of stairs rather than an elevator to get exercise, and it got to where I'd be saying, Man, I'm out of breath. Finally, I thought I'd better check it out. We've all had conversations about cancer, but all of a sudden [my doctor] was talking about me. It was the most surreal feeling.

SI: Will you remain in the booth during your treatment?

Parsons: As long as I am able, I will.

SI: What would you tell Danica Patrick about joining NASCAR?

Parsons: Stick with what you know, which is open-wheel racing. Win the Indy 500. Then when you want to ride off into the sunset, come down to NASCAR, and somebody will pay you a lot of money.

SI: There are rumblings that the Chase for the Championship could be tweaked. Do you like the current format?

Parsons: Unfortunately, now the champion is based on consistency, not performance. In the final 10 races you can win four races, fall out of two, and the guy that finishes fifth or sixth every race is going to beat you. I'm not sure that's the best way to crown a champion.

SI: Is winning Daytona your most memorable moment?

Parsons: Daytona is the one I'll always remember. I didn't start driving till I was 21. It was 1963. This fella I went to the racetrack with asked me if I wanted to try driving. He just bought a car for 50 bucks and said I could have it. So I took this car, put on some new sheet metal and went to a quarter-mile dirt track. Twelve years later I'm in Victory Lane at Daytona. A lot of things happened in those 12 years.