Wally Parks, Racing Legend and Pioneer, Passes Away

AUTO CENTRAL - September 29, 2007: Our good friend "LandSpeed" Louise Ann Noeth informed us this morning that Wally Parks, the founder and father of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) passed away yesterday evening. Mr. Parks was 94. He had been struggling with a cracked hip bone and during hospitalization developed heart problems and came down with pneumonia. He passed peacefully shortly past 7 p.m.

Louise wrote of Wally Parks: "We have lost a giant motorsports statesman, the likes of which will not be seen anytime soon again. Pioneers with visionary conviction are hard to come by.

I did notice how frail Wally was at the Winternationals and made it a point to sit and talk with him much longer than normal. From his response to my conversation I could tell he enjoyed the talk immensely – and it was all about dry lakes racing. It was a bit surreal because we were chatting away trading historical notes and details halting only momentarily as the pro cars blasted off the line in the semi-finals. We had the best seats in the house for the drags but spoke of nothing but Bonneville and the dry lakes. I knew where the guy’s heart was."

WALLY PARKS BIO
Wallace Gordon ("Wally") Parks (January 23, 1913 - September 28, 2007) was an automobile writer and hobbyist, and editor of the magazine Hot Rod, in the late 1940s and 1950s. As editor he began to promote safety in organization of drag racing, both in the magazine and by organizing "safety safaris" which taught drag racing organization and safety at several tracks around the country.

In 1951, he founded the National Hot Rod Association, the largest drag racing sanctioning body, and became its head for several decades after leaving the magazine business. His second wife, Barbara, who died January 25, 2006, worked for the NHRA.

Prior to his death, he was Chairman of the Board of the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum in Pomona, California.

Winners of National Hot Rod Association national events are awarded a trophy statue nicknamed the "Wally."