Motor Press Guild Names Dean Batchelor Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 3, 2003 -- The Motor Press Guild last night presented its Dean Batchelor Lifetime Achievement Award to Wally Parks, founder of the National Hot Rod Association, during the organization's annual Holiday Awards Dinner at the Petersen Automotive Museum.

Parks was born in Goltry, Okla., and began racing Model-Ts in his teens. He worked as a military tank test driver and served three years in the Army during World War II. In 1946, Parks helped organize the Southern California Timing Association which sanctioned speed trials. After a stint as the SCTA president and general manager, he became the editor of Hot Rod magazine which helped him in 1951 launch the National Hot Rod Association. NHRA is the largest motorsports sanctioning body in the world and boasts over 70,000 members, 35,000 competitors and more than 4,000 annual racing events.

The Dean Batchelor Lifetime Achievement Award was established in 1995 and recognizes those deemed to have made outstanding contributions to the automotive industry. It was named in honor of one of the icons of automotive journalism whose passion for automobiles led him to many positions at various magazines in the industry and also to author several definitive books. In addition, Batchelor was actively involved in motorsports, designing and building the "So-Cal Streamliner" racecar that was used as inspiration for the award.