Bonnett's driving career was interrupted by a severe brain injury from a crash in 1990. To this day, family and friends say they do not know what caused his wreck. He began testing it in January. I slowed down and when I came by I saw it was Neil and that it looked bad. Finch said the car had been used only in testing. Bonnett, 47, host of an auto show on cable television and a racing analyst for CBS-TV, died this afternoon of head injuries at Halifax Medical Center. It was almost the same spot where rookie driver Andy Farr of New Baltimore, Mich., crashed Thursday while attempting to qualify for Sundays ARCA 200. . Earnhardt, who was trying to get back by him on the low side of the Thats how much it meant to me. season-opener, won by Michael Waltrip. BONNETT'S DEATH A NEEDLESS TRAGEDY - Deseret News Fridays accident occurred shortly after noon during the first practice session for todays front-row qualifying trials for the 500. The same broken part also may have caused Bonnetts wreck. Susan Bonnett was en route to Daytona Beach from the couple's home in Bessemer when the wreck occurred. They also make the car harder to handle. Surviving family members of the two drivers, Neil Bonnett and Rodney Orr, could not be reached for comment. Davey Allison died last July 13 of head injuries suffered the day before in the crash of a helicopter he was attempting to land at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. NEIL BONNETT Cleared to race again in 1993 and upon Earnhardt's suggestion, Childress gave Bonnett a ride for the 1993 DieHard 500 at Talladega Superspeedway which was numbered 31 and sponsored by GM Goodwrench. A NASCAR source, who requested anonymity because of his working relationship with NASCAR, examined Bonnetts car after the crash and said the Chevrolet Lumina also had a broken shock-absorber mounting stud. ''Any time there is a loss of life, it is tragic, but to lose someone with the youth and vigor of Adam Petty cuts especially deep,'' said Michael Kranefuss, a Nascar owner. It was the latest in the tragic saga of a tightly knit group of racers from Hueytown, Ala., whose successes in stock car racing became legendary, but who have been affected by one tragedy after another.
