A true to life "Old Timer"

H

HardScrabble

Guest
I been around this sport a long time, but his cat predates me by a bunch!

A real pioneer: NASCAR's first champion car owner reminisces about early days

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Keith Parsons
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA — Even on a couch in his own living room, Raymond Parks sat formally — back straight, both feet planted squarely on the floor and his hands resting on his knees.

At 88, the first champion car owner in NASCAR history still follows the customs of a much different time. Parks wore a wool suit and kept his tie knotted closely to his neck, even though the temperature in Atlanta on this day was near 90 degrees.

His trademark hat was close by his side, but he wouldn't dare wear it in the house.

"He is the epitome of a Southern gentleman, and he always has been," NASCAR vice president Jim Hunter said of Parks.

Like a lot of early NASCAR competitors, Parks got his start running moonshine, leaving his home in the north Georgia mountains at 15 to work for a man running a still in Athens. It was Parks' job to transport the illegal cargo to Atlanta, and he was so successful that he bought his first house two years later.

When Prohibition ended, he started his own legitimate liquor business, but his love of fast cars continued.

Parks didn't keep driving, though, choosing to buy cars for others to race. He won his first race as a car owner in November 1938, when Lloyd Seay drove a 1934 Ford to victory at the old Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta.

After serving in the 99th Infantry in World War II and fighting in the Battle of the Bulge, Parks continued racing, winning modified championships in 1947 and 1948. The next year, he teamed with driver Red Byron and mechanic Red Vogt to win NASCAR's first championship.

High costs drove Parks out of racing, but he manages to attend about five events a year.

"I never miss Daytona," he said.

Parks is a member of several racing Halls of Fame, including the National Motorsports Press Association's in Darlington, S.C., even though his cars haven't competed in nearly a half-century.

"Sometimes the pioneer of our sport are overlooked," Hunter said. "Raymond is so soft-spoken, a lot of times people don't know who he is or they don't know he's around."

That's OK with Parks, who anonymously walks around garages, visiting the friends he still has in the business. He enjoys reminiscing about the old days, and he has an astonishing memory for details.

Like how he did in the only the second race he ever drove. He already was fielding cars for Byron and Bob Flock at Langhorne, Pa., so he started a third car with the idea that one of them could finish if they had problems with their rides.

"Red was leading, Bob was running second and I was running third," Parks said. "But Bob lost a wheel bearing about halfway, so I pulled in and he took over. We still finished 1-2 that day, but if he hadn't had problems, we would have been 1-2-3."

Even he had enough talent to run competitively, Parks never drove again.

"I was thinking one of those laps, while I was running down the back straightaway, that this wasn't for me," he said.

But he kept every trophy his drivers won, and just recently turned them over to the new Thunder Road USA Georgia Racing Hall of Fame, which opened in May. Parks was one of the first inductees.

Most of his racing memories now are in photos stored in about a dozen albums in his basement. The pictures feature a Who's Who of NASCAR legends: Curtis Turner, Fireball Roberts, "Little" Joe Weatherly.

There's also a shot of Parks changing the right-front tire on Byron's car in the 1950 Southern 500, the first event at Darlington Raceway. Even then, Parks was wearing a tie, but at least he had taken off his coat.

These days, he spends most of his time overseeing reconstruction of one of his liquor stores near downtown Atlanta. A fire five months ago severely damaged the building and other shops around it, which Parks also owns.

But he's doing fine. Parks lives comfortably just off Peachtree Street in Atlanta's Midtown, a trendy area featuring plenty of concrete, steel and pavement. Very different from how it was when he bought the house in 1953 for $50,000, quite a sum in those days.

How much is the house worth now?

"I don't really know," Parks said matter-of-factly. "The house across the street sold last year for $1.2 million."
 
Back
Top Bottom