Raymond Parks 96, (born June 5, 1914) owner of Red Byron’s car which won NASCAR’s first Strictly Stock (now Sprint Cup) championship in 1949 passed away at his home this morning in Atlanta, GA.
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, 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 and began driving moonshine. He served nine months of a one-year and one-day sentence in the federal penitentiary in Chillicothe, Ohio, from 1936 to 1937. Parks served in World War II during the famous Battle of the Bulge in Belgium. He served in the 99th Infantry Division and was briefly stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Most famous for being a moonshine runner who helped to start NASCAR, Parks was the car owner for moonshine runner and nephew Lloyd Seay. He won the first two ever NASCAR championships. Parks is the last living member of the group who created NASCAR at the Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida, in 1947. He was one of eight drivers inducted in the first class of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in 2002, along with his cousin Lloyd Seay, Byron, Tim Flock, and Bill Elliott. He was inducted in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2009.
Parks, is honored at the NASCAR Hall of Fame with a life size statue and depiction of his old race shop where his chief mechanic Red Vogt, built his cars. Parks, car the #22 “Novelty Machine Co.” driven by Red Byron leads the field of cars at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Raymond is survived by his wife Violet.(6-20-2010)
