Monticello — "Thank you Raymond Parks, you are my hero," said Gordon Pirkle,

proprietor of the Dawsonville, Georgia pool hall.

A special section in the Dawson News and Advertiser, referred to Parks

as "The Man Behind NASCAR."

Parks was honored Saturday, Aug. 9 at the Thunder Road USA in

Dawsonville. Parks, who recently turned 95, was born in Dawsonville in 1914.

He left his hometown while still a teenager to escape the hardscrabble life

of a sharecropper's son to work for his uncle in an Atlanta service station.

It wasn't long before he turned into a part-time moonshine runner. Within a

few years, he was able to buy out his uncle, and start several other

businesses, like jukeboxes, pool tables, and cigarette machines throughout

the Atlanta area.

He was wealthy by the time he was 24 years-old.

"We decided to start racing in 1938 at Lakewood (Georgia) Speedway,"

said Parks. "We were all standing around Red Vogt's garage one day and

decided to fix up a car for Lloyd Seay to drive. It was a Œ34 Ford Roadster,

and he won the first race he ran at Lakewood.

"That was really something, seeing my car win. I knew after that first

race I wanted to get into it. Right after that I went and bought two Œ39

Ford Coupes from the Ford dealer in Atlanta. I paid $565 a piece for them. I

took them to Vogt and told him to get them ready for February. Roy Hall and

Lloyd Seay were going to be the drivers. They were from up around

Dawsonville, where I was born, too.

"We went all over North and South Carolina, Langhorne, Pennsylvania, Ft.

Wayne, Indiana, and Florida. We raced just about every Sunday, somewhere."

Parks business and racing was interrupted by World War II. He served in

the U. S. Army and fought in the Battle of the Bulge, with the 99th Infantry

Division. At one point, he spent three months living in a snow-covered

foxhole. After his discharge, he returned to Atlanta, and resumed his many

businesses and racing. His teams won several national championships because

of his financial resources. But it was also his money that helped Bill

France Sr. keep NASCAR going until the sport's popularity took off in the

1950s.

"Raymond never took any acclaim for having helped start NASCAR," said

Grady Rogers of Dawsonville. "It was kind of an unspoken partnership. But

Bill France could count on Raymond to help fund NASCAR and bring several

cars with him."

"Without Raymond Parks, the growth of stock car racing would have been

delayed several years. Many people criticized Parks for the way he earned

his wealth, but his money helped grow the sport," said long-time Georgia

announcer Jimmy Mosteller. "He's the Godfather of Stock Car Racing."

Parks left the sport in 1952, never dreaming it would turn into what it

has today.



Weekend Racing: The NASCAR Cup and Nationwide teams are at the 2.0-mile

Michigan International Speedway at Brooklyn, MI. The Truck Series has the

week off.

Sat., Aug. 15, Nationwide Series Michigan 250, race 23 of 35, Starting

time: 3 pm (EDT); TV: ESPN2.

Sun., Aug. 16, Sprint Cup Michigan 400, race 23 of 36, Starting time: 1

pm (EDT); TV: ESPN.

Racing Trivia Question: Where is Cup driver Matt Kenseth's hometown?

Last Week's Question: BMW is leaving Formula 1. Which series are they

considering moving to? Answer: BMW is studying a move to NASCAR.

You may contact the Racing Reporter at: hodgesnews@earthlink.net