This weekend I was at Infineon when I heard the news that Raymond Parks had passed away. I didn’t know until they announced it before the Invocation and it broke my heart. Raymond Parks, as I am sure you all have heard by now was the last member of the original committee to form NASCAR.
NASCAR’s Living History & Losing Our Legends
He was a true legend in our sport and so few people knew about him. I was saddened to see that he was not part of the first class of the Hall of Fame. I know that all the people who were inducted deserved to be there, but Raymond Parks should have had the honor while he was living.
I had the very great honor to meet Raymond Parks at the Living Legends of Auto Racing Banquet. Each year the LLOAR hosts one of the most exciting events around the Daytona 500. Their annual banquet is held at the Plaza Hotel and it is here that you can find men and women who helped make this sport what it is, from day one. I have had the great pleasure of attending twice. I have met more drivers who raced the sands of Daytona Beach, who ran moonshine through the hills of the South and who can tell you what racing was really like than you can shake a checkered flag at.
I was introduced to Raymond Parks by Eddie Roache of the ISC Archives. He was, as many articles have noted, quite deaf. I probably would have rambled on and on at him, if I hadn’t been rendered almost entirely speechless by the fact that I was meeting one of the most important men in stock car racing history. I don’t want to give you all a snapshot history of Parks. This piece today is more to emphasize the fact that there are, indeed, people like Parks out there to meet. If you want to know about the history of stock car racing, you can go to South Carolina to the diner where Cotton Owens, Bud Moore and David Pearson have lunch. You can get a pit pass and meet The King. You can visit North Wilkesboro and most likely run into Junior Johnson. We are so lucky! It is a dang shame that more people don’t take advantage of the fact that the people who lived this history are still around.
I highly recommend reading Driving with Devil by Neal Thompson to get a peek at the contributions of Parks to NASCAR. I also highly recommend coming to the LLOAR banquet. I believe that it is open to the public and the ticket isn’t too expensive. Even if it isn’t, the $25 dollar membership fee is nothing compared to some of the experiences and conversations you will have.
The Living Legends website: http://www.livinglegendsofautoracing.com/
Rest in Peace, Raymond. Thank you for all you’ve done for stock car racing and NASCAR.
See More:
