Parks Always a Quick Thinker

In its purest form, racing is about two competitors lining up side by side to see which is faster.

Few are faster than the drivers of the National Hot Rod Assn., who travel more than 300 mph down a short stretch of asphalt. Still, Wally Parks has a soft spot for the sportsman classes and the shade-tree mechanic.

It was Parks who revolutionized drag racing by forming the NHRA 50 years ago, taking it out of dry lake beds and off city streets in the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s, putting it into purpose-built stadiums with luxury suites and $200,000 paydays.

Parks, 88, is the 2001 recipient of the Eagle One Shav Glick Award, given in honor of the Los Angeles Times’ motorsports writer, to recognize great achievement by a Californian in motor racing. He will receive his award Sunday at California Speedway before the NAPA Auto Parts 500.

“Wally Parks, like Bill France with stock cars and Tony Hulman with the Indianapolis 500, is an icon in the history of motorsports in the United States,” Glick said.

“There may have been great drag racers through the years, but without the leadership Parks displayed from his hot-rodding days on the California dry lakes, there would not have been a National Hot Rod Assn. to display their talents. His contribution to the sport is immeasurable.”

Parks was president of the NHRA from 1963-84 and remains on its board of directors. He is also chairman of his pet project, the NHRA Motorsports Museum at the Pomona Fairplex.

“His presence was much the same as Bernie Ecclestone’s in Formula One,” said Dan Gurney, a legendary car builder and driver, and inaugural winner of the Glick Award last year. “He was the primary leader and visionary, and he helped form what has become a major industry. Early on, he earned a lot of respect, and he maintained it.”

Parks was chosen over Les Richter, president of old Riverside International Raceway and a driving force behind the building of the California Speedway; Parnelli Jones, 1963 Indianapolis 500 winner and co-owner of the winning 1970-71 entries; Rick Mears, four-time Indy 500 winner and three-time CART champion, and John Force, 10-time NHRA funny car champion.

“Maybe it has something to do with [my] age,” Parks said. “To come out on top of that heap, I’m practically overwhelmed.”

Parks was chosen by a panel comprising Gurney, Mike Harris, motorsports writer for the Associated Press; Bill Center of the San Diego Union, Jim Short of the Riverside Press-Enterprise, John Zimmermann of Racer magazine, Doug Stokes of Irwindale Speedway, and Mary Ellen Wright-Rana of Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca.

“[The NHRA] is still a little awesome to me,” said Parks, who lives in Glendale with his wife, Barbara. “None of us had any vision it was going to develop into what it is today. In members alone [85,000], it’s unbelievable. We were trying to create an activity for our particular interest in cars that would be safe and fun.

“It’s a combination of efforts of a lot of people, and I was in position to be catalyst to certain portions of it. I appreciate these awards that are given to us for our accomplishment; I just happen to be the symbol that’s here to accept them.”

Parks, who graduated from Jordan High in Watts in 1932, used to race hot rods on what is now Edwards Air Force Base. He helped form the Southern California Timing Assn. in 1937 to provide a means of recording drag racing in a historical context, and was elected president of the SCTA after his return from World War II in 1945, where he drove a tank in the Pacific theater.

He joined with another car enthusiast, Robert E. Petersen, on a publication called Hot Rod magazine in the 1950s, and if Parks wasn’t totally ethical, he was nonetheless brilliant in helping make the streets of Southern California safe from drag racers.

Parks, the magazine’s first editor, asked Petersen Publishing’s general manager, Lee O. Ryan, to compose a letter to the editor, using a fake name, suggesting the formation of a national organization dedicated to hot-rodding safety. That is how Parks launched the NHRA in 1951, using the magazine.

“It wasn’t intended as a subterfuge, but we thought it would be more successful if the idea came from a reader than an editor,” Parks recalled.

“We formed an alliance with law enforcement agencies, and had them as allies because we were on a campaign to improve driver safety and improve the image of the hot-rodding movement. We focused on forming car clubs, and it wasn’t until three or four years later that we thought there was a need for speed and performance, and we focused on quarter-mile drag racing.”

The NHRA has been roaring ever since.