Back in April, 1949 NASCAR Cup champion Red Byron was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame at Talladega, Alabama.
As part of the induction, Raymond Parks, owner of Byron’s championship winning racecar, stood side-by-side with 2007 Cup champ Jimmie Johnson, both with their championship trophies.
They were joined shortly thereafter by all the past championship winning car owners and drivers who are members of the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
It was a nice tribute to the history and heritage of stock car racing.
It was also very hypocritical.
That’s because Raymond Parks, often referred to as “The Godfather of NASCAR” is not currently a member of the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
The question, from anyone who knows what Parks did for the sport, is, without a doubt, “why not?”
Parks embodies the history of early stock car racing, and, to be blunt, without him, there very well may not have ever been a NASCAR.
Parks was born in rural north Georgia. He became involved at an early age in the illegal whisky business that transported liquor out of the hills and into thirsty Atlanta, until he moved to Atlanta to help run the now legendary Hemphill Service Station in Atlanta with his uncle, who also ran a bootlegging business part time.
Parks did well in this business, and a few other enterprises.
Parks got into racing just before the war, winning his first race as a car owner in 1938 at Atlanta’s legendary Lakewood Speedway with his cousin, Dawsonville’s Lloyd Seay behind the wheel.
As a pilot of Parks’ Fords, immaculately prepared by legendary mechanic Red Vogt in Atlanta, Seay and his cousin Roy Hall took wins all over the southeast.
Parks entered Hall in the March 1940 stock car event on Daytona Beach. Hall’s faster car and quicker team took the win.
Hall won again on the beach in March of 1941. Seay was victorious there in August.
World War II interrupted Parks’ racing ventures. He served in Europe with the 99th Infantry Division at the Battle of the Bulge.
When he returned home in 1946, Parks’ legitimate vending machine business was successful enough to fund his race team.
With Vogt again wrenching his Fords, Parks’ teams won all five races at Daytona Beach in 1945 and in 1946.
Big Bill France, who was promoting the beach events and trying to get his own racing organization off the ground, was not a fan of the fast Atlanta crowd. He didn’t like the moonshine background they brought to Daytona Beach with them. But there was little he could do to keep them out of victory lane.
With Atlanta’s Fonty Flock behind the wheel, Parks’ team won the 1947 NCSCC modified championship, France’s pre-cursor to NASCAR.
Parks’ team won the first NASCAR sanctioned race, a modified event at Daytona Beach, in 1948 with Byron behind the wheel. Byron went on to win the 1948 NASCAR championship. Byron, Vogt and Parks would follow this up the next year by winning the first NASCAR Strictly Stock (now Sprint Cup) championship.
As France worked to make NASCAR succeed, he often called on Parks for advice. He also called on Parks when money to run the organization became tight.
Without that help, it’s doubtful that NASCAR would have made it to where it is today.
Parks helped bring stock car racing out of its rough and tumble beginnings, where a promoter was more likely to take off with the gate money rather than to pay the purse, to a place of prominence and respect in the motorsports world.
The IMHOF thought enough of him to bring him on stage with all the other NASCAR hall of fame championship winners. There’s no reason for them not to add his name to their ranks.
Several hundred folks turned out at J.B. Day’s place in South Carolina a few weeks ago to honor Mr. Parks on his birthday.
Now it’s time for IMHOF folks to do the same. They don’t need to mess around and make the same mistake with him that they did with Wendell Scott, and honor him after he’s not around to enjoy that which he deserves.
He’s more than earned such an honor.
Brandon Reed is a reporter for MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Contact him at brandon@mainstreetnews.com.
Please compare Ralph Eanrhardt's record to that of Johnny Roberts of Brooklyn Park, Md.
One NASCAR National Sportsman Championship in 1953 and a runner up once. Two NASCAR National Modified Championships in 1960 and 1961 and a runner up once. This is in 12 years of NASCAR racing. Ralph won the NASCAR National Sportsman Championship in 1956. Visit my website listed above and click on the Johnny Roberts page and read his record and list of his championships. He is hardly mentioned in NASCAR history. Of course he isn't really from the southeast so we can understand why.
The NASCAR Hall of Fame being built in Charlotte may eliminate some of these inequaties but I doubt it. It's fair to say that without Raymond Parks NASCAR could very well have failed as he was known to lend Big Bill money in hard times. Ed Otto was very important also. But NASCAR (The France Family) want Bill to receive all of the credit. Of course in today's world it works because young people today could care less about the history of anything.