Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 22, 1993                   TAG: 9307220076
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MONTGOMERY, ALA.                                LENGTH: Medium

BONNETT READY TO GO RACING AGAIN

When the racing community should be cheering this erstwhile member of the "Alabama Gang" in his return to the NASCAR circuit after a three-year absence, they will be mourning the death of his close friend, driver Davey Allison.

"This is something you just don't get over," said Bonnett, who was at Talladega Superspeedway last week when Allison's helicopter crashed on the infield while attempting to land and who will be there again Sunday to compete in the DieHard 500 Winston Cup race.

"You've got to accept it after a certain time," Bonnett said of Allison's death. "But it takes a lot longer than that to get over it.

"I still have lingering thoughts of it all, being there at the place of the crash, having to be involved in the rescue attempt. It was more than I wanted to have to deal with."

Bonnett said he never gave any thought to aborting his comeback from a 1990 crash at Darlington that left him with a severe head injury. He talked it over with Davey's father, retired NASCAR star Bobby Allison, and decided the race must go on.

"There's nothing to do but carry on," Bonnett said from his home in suburban Birmingham.

So how do you concentrate on driving a race car at speeds approaching 200 mph after a friend has died?

"Bobby and I discussed that," Bonnett said. "Bobby has tried for years to explain it, but nobody knows but a racer. When it comes time to do it, you get in there and do it.

"I've driven with broken arms, broken ribs, a bruised heart, just about everything in the damn world. When it's time to go, you just go."

And Bonnett, 46, is ready to go again. He once was one of the more consistent drivers on the Winston Cup circuit, winning 18 races and finishing in the Top 10 in the point standings three times.

After the wreck at Darlington, he had amnesia for more than a week. He still doesn't recall the period three days before the race and about seven days after.

"Thank goodness," he quipped.

More serious were the severe dizzy spells Bonnett had for 2 1/2 years. That's what kept him out of a race car.

He began testing cars at Daytona and Talladega for Dale Earnhardt's team. The more lonely trips he took around those tri-ovals, the more confident he got about entering a real race.

"I felt real comfortable in the car, and I said to myself, `I miss this stuff. I've got to figure out what to do,' " Bonnett said. "It was almost like Dale and Richard [Childress, Earnhardt's car owner] read my mind."

Earnhardt and Childress asked Bonnett if he would be interested in driving one of their cars at Talladega. The team prepares two cars for its races at Talladega and Daytona, the only tracks on the Winston Cup circuit where carburetor restrictor plates are required, and one was available for Sunday's DieHard 500.

"It took them about 30 seconds to talk me into it," Bonnett said, laughing.

Keywords:
AUTO RACING