Raymond parks nascar biography of michaels

Raymond Parks (auto racing)

NASCAR team owner

Raymond Parks (June 5, – June 20, ) was an American stock car racing team owner. He was the owner of Red Byron's car which won the inaugural NASCARStrictly Stock Series championship in Parks was announced as one of the members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame class.

Background

Parks was the first child of Alfred and Leila Parks and great-great-nephew of settler Benny Parks, who found gold in the state of Georgia in the early nineteenth century. Born in Dawsonville, Georgia, on June 5, ,[1] Raymond was the oldest of his father's sixteen children, six of whom were born to Leila, and ten of whom were born to Leila's sister, Ila. Parks left home at age 14[2] and began hauling moonshine. He served nine months of a one-year and one-day sentence in the federal penitentiary in Chillicothe, Ohio, from to [3] Parks served in World War II during the famous Battle of the Bulge in Belgium.[4] He served in the 99th Infantry Division and was briefly stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia.[5] Parks bought a new tripple-white Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz in and owned it until his death in

Racing career

Most famous for being a moonshine runner who helped to start NASCAR, he is recognized as the first "team" owner in stock car racing. Prior to the founding of NASCAR, Parks was the car owner for moonshine runner and nephews Lloyd Seay and Roy Hall as far back as In –, with Red Byron as the driver Parks's cars won the first two NASCAR Championships ever awarded; the Modified class in , and the above-mentioned championship in [6]

Death

Parks died on June 20, , at the age of [7] Parks was the last living member of the group who created NASCAR during a meeting at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida in [7]

Awards

He was one of eight drivers inducted in the first class of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in , along with his cousin Lloyd Seay, Byron, Tim Flock, and Bill Elliott.[8] He was inducted in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Parks was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame as a member of the class of [9]

References

  1. ^"Class of Nominee: Raymond Parks". . Turner Sports Digital. July 28, Archived from the original on October 10, Retrieved May 26,
  2. ^Driving With the Devil, by Neal Thompson, page Caption of bottom picture
  3. ^Driving With the Devil, by Neal Thompson, page 47
  4. ^Driving With the Devil, by Neal Thompson, page
  5. ^Driving With the Devil, by Neal Thompson, page
  6. ^Aumann, Mark (March 7, ). "NASCAR legend Parks to donate collection to Hall". . Turner Sports Digital. Archived from the original on March 10, Retrieved May 26,
  7. ^ abGoldstein, Richard (June 21, ). "Raymond Parks, Nascar Pioneer, Dies at 96". The New York Times. Retrieved March 26,
  8. ^"Inductees". Georgia Racing Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on July 3, Retrieved July 30,
  9. ^Pockrass, Bob (May 25, ). "NASCAR makes Rick Hendrick, Richard Childress, 3 others HOFers". Charlotte, North Carolina: ESPN. Retrieved May 26,

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