The Secret Neil Bonnett Kept From His Wife His Entire Life
The Secret Neil Bonnett Kept From His Wife His Entire Life
Neil Bonnett lived every mile of his NASCAR career on the edge — and died chasing a comeback everyone begged him not to make. After a brutal 1990 crash at Darlington left him with amnesia so severe he didn't recognize his own wife, doctors told him to walk away. He didn't. In 1992 he started quietly testing cars again, and by 1993 he was fighting his way back to full-time racing — even after his close friend Davey Allison died in a helicopter crash at Talladega that same year. Somewhere in the weeks after Davey's death, Neil wrote a private letter and hid it in the family safe. He never told his wife Susan it existed. On February 11, 1994, Neil died in a practice crash at Daytona — the very comeback he'd fought for. Afterward, Susan found the letter. She's never revealed what it said. This is the story of Neil Bonnett's last secret.