Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 13, 1994 TAG: 9403130098
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BRUCE STANTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Long
Like Jordan, Parker, the host of The Nashville Network's "Hank Parker's Outdoors Magazine," knows what it's like to be on top of the world in his sport and start all over at the bottom in someone else's.
In 1989, Parker retired from pro fishing at the top of his game when he won the BASS Masters Classic on the James River near Richmond. In 1993, Jordan retired from pro basketball at the top of his game after his Chicago Bulls won their third consecutive NBA title.
Now, in the winter of 1994, Jordan is attempting to play pro baseball. And Parker is attempting to become a stock car driver on NASCAR's Busch Grand National circuit.
Parker and Jordan, both North Carolinians, supposedly retired from their professions to spend more time with their families and to take it slower. It didn't last long for either athlete.
On Friday at Martinsville Speedway, Parker and his racing team were running test laps to prepare for the Busch Grand National portion of the Miller Genuine Draft 500. Qualifying races are Saturday and the Grand National race is March 20.
If Parker qualifies, it will be his first GN race, but Parker hopes people will respect his talents as a driver and not think of him as a rich fisherman trying to buy his way onto the circuit.
Like Jordan, Parker has heard the naysayers.
"The problem with Michael Jordan is the problem with myself," he said. "Not that I'm anywhere near his caliber or his league or nowhere near his bankroll . . . You just can't be a beginner.
"If Michael Jordan had never played basketball, they would look at his speed, they would look at his physique, they would look at his coordination and they would look at his reflexes and say, `This guy has great potential.' But now they look at him and they scrutinize him to the point where they say he has no business being out there.
"That's the same criticism I get, I suppose. I get a lot of favoritism and a lot of publicity and a lot of recognition because I am a familiar name, but I get a lot of scrutiny because they say, `Well, this guy just made enough money in fishing that he can come out here and buy his team, and he really hasn't paid any price and he's not dedicated and he doesn't have any business being out here.' "
But Parker feels he has every right to be in auto racing at one of its highest levels of competition. And he knows practice days such as Friday's run at Martinsville are important, not only for himself but for the image he is trying to project to other drivers.
"That's one reason I didn't go to Atlanta to try and qualify for [Saturday's] race," he said. "I don't want to do anything that would jeopardize any of the other drivers or to get a name saying that I have not paid a price and I don't know what I'm doing . . . Safety is important. Camaraderie is important, and I want to be a part of that. And I think a couple of short-track races, if I'm successful, will get me that credibility with the other drivers."
With more than $1 million of his money invested in his team, Parker wants to compete in 10 Busch Grand National races this year. He has two cars, which he bought from Winston Cup stars Dale Earnhardt, who is a close friend, and Darrell Waltrip.
The rest of the investment in his team came from his wife, Angie, who is the granddaughter of Lance Van Every, who founded the Lance snack company in Charlotte, N.C.
"She owns 49 percent of the racing team," Parker said. "I wouldn't let her have 50 because she might fire the driver."
Parker's oldest son, Hank Jr., 19, also is active in racing at smaller tracks in North Carolina. Parker hopes one day to own a Winston Cup team and have his son drive for him.
"I'd like to be a successful team owner and have a son who would be Winston Cup champion - as long as that's what he wants to do," said Parker, 40. "I don't want to push any of my children, but right now that's what he says he wants to do."
With his family heavily involved in auto racing, Parker said he had to re-evaluate his pursuit of the sport when Neil Bonnett, one of his fishing buddies and good friends, died in a crash during qualifying at Daytona International Speedway in February.
"To know somebody and know his driving abilities and capabilities, for him to be killed in an accident like that makes you realize it could be you," said Parker, who had a plan in the works for Bonnett to drive his car in four to eight Grand National races this season. "And you have to be willing to answer that: Am I willing to pay the price?
"And I don't want my children to go through what his kids have gone through, and I don't want my wife and any of my family to go through that, but I want to race. And I realize that's part of the risk that's involved.
"It makes you re-think the situation, and I have, and I still want to race. I never have been smart."
As a pro fisherman, Parker might not be regarded as the best ever, but he is the only angler to win two BASS Masters Classics, B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year and the Super Bass Tournament. He still fishes 130 to 140 days a year, he said, but he competes in only three tournaments.
Parker insists his involvement in auto racing isn't just a fix to fill a competitive void he felt when he quit fishing professionally.
"I really didn't [miss the competition]," he said. "This sounds like bragging, and I don't mean for it to at all, but I achieved what I wanted to achieve as a professional fisherman. When I won the last Classic, I was content with my career."
But not content with retirement.
"I intended to just do my television show and spend time with the kids and all of that, but it just didn't work," he said. "I got involved in all this. Moderation is not a part of my vocabulary. I don't understand moderation. It's all or nothing, and that's the way I've approached this.
"I try to play it down, but I'm real serious about this. I want to do well, and I've got what I feel like is as good of equipment as you can get and some pretty key personnel . . .
"I want to race. And I've paid a price to do that. I'm more dedicated than people think I am. And I would like to have the opportunity to prove it without being scrutinized. Just because I don't run up front or whatever in my first couple of races doesn't mean I don't have potential."
THE LINEUP: Time trials for Late Model Stock cars, 3 p.m. Friday. Time trials for Grand National cars, 1 p.m. Saturday. Late Model Stock qualifying races, 2 and 3 p.m. Saturday. Miller Genuine Draft 500, 300-lap Grand National race followed by 200-lap Late Model race, 1 p.m. Sunday.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB