|
|
| Busch Grand National Series |
|
|
In-Car Radios | Silly Season | Forum | Photo Gallery | Newsletter | In the Pits
Suncom 200 - Hank Parker Jr. Notes Hank Parker Jr. / GNC Live Well Racing Pre-Race Notes EVENT INFORMATION - Event: NASCAR Busch Series SunCom 200; Time and Date: 1 p.m. ET, Saturday, March 17; Site: Darlington Raceway, Darlington, S.C. Live Coverage: FX (television) and MRN (radio); Qualifying: 1 p.m. EST, Friday, March 16; Happy Hour: Friday, March 16, at approximately 3:15 p.m. ET. LAST RACE (Aaron's 312) - Hank Parker Jr. suffered his first DNF (Did Not Finish) of the 2001 Busch season at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 10. Running in the top-10, Parker's No. 36 GNC Live Well machine ran out of fuel on lap 81 of the 203-lap event. As Parker was trying to limp his car to pit road, he was hit from behind by the No. 46 machine of Ashton Lewis Jr. Parker and Lewis were both uninjured in the accident, but both cars were too damaged to continue in the race. Parker was credited with a 38th-place finish, while Lewis finished 39th. STANDINGS - Parker now sits 20th in the Busch Series Drivers' Points Standings, while team owner Scott Welliver holds the 21st spot in the Owners' Points Standings. 2000 SUNCOM 200 RECAP - Hank Parker Jr. and his family-owned No. 53 team scored the second top-10 of their 2000 season with a sixth-place finish at Darlington Raceway last March. Parker battled veteran Mark Martin and Parker's future teammate at Cicci-Welliver, David Green, throughout the race to hang on to his spot among the top 10. CAR OF CHOICE - Parker will drive the same car at Darlington this weekend that he piloted at Rockingham two races ago. The car's nickname is "Patches." When pressed, Parker didn't know why the car was given that name. PARKER'S FATHER TAKES THE HIGH ROAD - While a lot of drivers' parents choose to stand in their son's pit area during a race, Hank Parker Sr. elects to take a seat in the stands across the way. When asked for an explanation, Parker related an anecdote from his first visit to the Walt Disney World Speedway in Florida. "I was talking to a guy at the Speedway, Parker remembered. "And all the grandstands were built on the infield of the track. I told him, 'You've got a beautiful track here, but you made a mistake by putting the grandstands on the infield for your guests.' The person said, 'Why do you say that?" Pointing at the grandstands on the outside of the track, Parker replied, "Because when you're watching the race from out there, you watch it like this (Parker turns his head from left to right, simulating the way a race fan sitting in the grandstands follows the action). When you're in here, you watch it like this (Parker slowly shuffles his feet and turns his body 360 degrees). The next year, those grandstands were on the outside of the track." HANK PARKER JR. ON "THE TRACK TOO TOUGH TO TAME" - "Someone asked me if I've ever gotten a Darlington 'stripe.' I told them that the first time I came here, I thought it was a bad dream. I scraped that wall so often I'm surprised I had any sheet metal left on the right side of my car. I think that I actually managed to get out of here last spring without putting a stripe on my car, and that had a lot to do with us finishing sixth in that race. "This track has some tight corners, especially coming off of turn two. Even if you barely slide up and touch the wall, it usually does enough damage to your fenders and aero package to make it a tougher day for you. With me, I usually end up knocking the front end out of alignment, so I have to deal with that the rest of the day. That's what happened to me in the fall race here last year." "You don't even have to be in an accident to slam the wall here. A lot of times, you brush the wall while you're trying to avoid an accident. I don't know what's worse, the accident or the damage you do to your front end while trying to miss the accident." ON THE EGG-SHAPED LAYOUT OF THE DARLINGTON RACEWAY - "It's hard to get your car to handle properly in all four turns. It seems like you have to decide what you can deal with. It's a trade off as far as what end of the track you want to be good on. For me, if I get my car turning properly in turns one and two, I'm going to be loose in three and four. That's okay with me, I would rather be loose. I know other guys who prefer things the other way around. Like I said, it's whatever the driver thinks he can handle." ON LAST YEAR'S SUNCOM 200 - "We were really competitive here last year. We unloaded really fast and that's always a help. You get to spend your practice time fine tuning and tweaking your setup instead of making huge changes to try and pick up speed. That, combined with staying off the wall, was the main key to us qualifying and finishing so well. "In the race, I was lucky enough to race with Mark Martin and David (Green, now Parker's teammate at Cicci-Welliver Racing). I always tried to learn as much as I could whenever I got the chance to race around Mark. In fact, I got a tape of one of the Darlington races from 1999, and it had a lot of footage from inside Mark's car. I studied that tape, watched it over and over. I think it definitely helped me improve my driving line around Darlington. You can always learn from someone with his skill and experience." ON HIS LACK OF INTEREST IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT - "I was paying attention as long as Carolina (University of North Carolina) was still alive in the ACC tournament, but when they lost, my interest went out the window. "If it doesn't run on gasoline and make a lot of noise, I'm not much interested in it."
In-Car Radios | Silly Season | Forum | Photo Gallery | Newsletter | In the Pits
©Copyright 2001 Race 2 Win |