I was very saddened Tuesday to hear that Benny Parsons died of complications stemming from his battle with lung cancer. He was only 65 years old and was so full of energy.

Parsons raced back in the days of Richard Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison -- when a young reporter could walk into the garage area on qualifying day and would never have trouble getting an interview with anyone.

I remember one time at Rockingham in the span of 30 minutes I interviewed, Parsons, Petty, Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt and Allison. It was a gold mine. There was no retreating by anyone to the trailer.

Back in the late 1970’s, Parsons came to WRAL on some kind of promotional thing. Can’t exactly remember what -- but I do remember the visit like it was yesterday. We were told he was on a tight schedule but was more than willing to do a short interview.

I can’t tell you what a nice time we had and what a nice guy he was. We did the interview out in the garden and then did more talking.

We took him on a tour of the station. He was fascinated. His public relations guy kept pointing at his watch and telling him, ”Come on Benny, we gotta go.” Benny would say “OK, just a minute.” Maybe he knew one day he would be in on the television-end of things. He sure had the personality and the knowledge for it, didn’t he?

He really was a great guy and a great racer. He was good for the sport in so many ways.

He won the 1973 driving championship. He won 21 races, including the 1975 Daytona 500 and the 1980 Coca Cola 600.

But what I liked most about Parson was that he was a genuine good guy. He was what being a good human being was about. He was never too big for anyone. He liked people and people liked him.

Benny Parsons was one of the good guys in all of sports. He will be truly missed by many.