Neil Bonnett's career as a race car driver spanned 362 races over 18 years. He experienced amazing success in those years, and may have gone on to even greater accomplishments. Unfortunately, Bonnett's life was cut tragically short during a practice round for the 1994 Daytona 500.Remembering Neil BonnettPhoto by Bill Hall/AllsportLawrence Neil Bonnett was born July 30, 1946 in Hueytown, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham.His first step into the NASCAR world was through working on Bobby Allison's cars as a sort of apprentice, hitting the local short tracks to get his feet wet. This gave him a direct path into the Alabama Gang, a group of drivers from the state that included Bobby Allison, his brother Donnie Allison, Red Farmer, and eventually Bobby's son Davey Allison.Neil Bonnett made his debut as a NASCAR driver in 1974 at the Nashville 420, a Winston Cup Series stock car race held at Fairgrounds Speedway. His first victory came at the 1977 Capital City 400 at Richmond Raceway in Virgini...
