Hank Parker Jr.

Infobox NASCAR driver
Name = Hank Parker Jr.
Birthdate = birth date and age|1975|10|7 | Birthplace = flagicon|USA Denver, North Carolina
Best_Busch_Position = 14th - 2000 (Busch Series)
Busch_Wins = 2
Busch_Top_Tens = 31
Busch_Poles = 2
First_Busch_Race = 1997 Jiffy Lube Miami 300 (Homestead)
First_Busch_Win = 2001 Auto Club 300 (Fontana)
Last_Busch_Win = 2002 NetZero 250 (Pikes Peak)
Last_Busch_Race = 2005 Federated Auto Parts 300 (Nashville)
Awards = 1997 Slim Jim All Pro Series Most Popular Driver
Years_In_Busch = 8
Total_Busch_Races = 137
Best_Truck_Position = 17th - 2004 (Truck Series)
Truck_Wins = 0
Truck_Top_Tens = 6
Truck_Poles = 0
First_Truck_Race = 2003 O'Reilly 200 (Memphis)
Last_Truck_Race = 2004 Ford 200 (Homestead)
Years_In_Truck = 2
Total_Truck_Races = 29
Hank Parker Jr. is a former NASCAR driver. Parker has run a total of 137 NASCAR Busch Series races, scoring 2 wins and 31 top tens in four full seasons, and finishing a best of 14th in the championship. He currently works as a fill-in driver for Carl Edwards on his Busch team. His brother, Billy Parker, ran part-time in the Busch Series in 2004, and his father, Hank, is a professional outdoorsman.

Parker began racing go-karts near his home in Denver. From there, he moved onto street stock racing at Concord Motorsports Park, where he won seven feature racing events in his first eighteen starts. The next season, he began running Late Model races and finished fifth in points. He won two races the next year.

In 1997, Parker moved to the Slim Jim All Pro Series, a former NASCAR touring series located in the Southeast United States. Parker picked up one win and was named the series' Most Popular Driver. He also made his NASCAR debut at the Jiffy Lube Miami 300 at Homestead in the #78 Mark III Financial Chevrolet, starting 41st and finishing 23rd.

Parker returned to the 78 in 1998, hoping to run the full schedule. After he was unable to qualify for most of his attempts, he was released. He did not run again until the AC Delco 200, where he finished sixth in the #53 B.A.S.S Chevrolet owned by his father.

Parker ran his father's car full-time in 1999 in NASCAR Busch Series, posting two top-fives and finishing 18th in points. He also finished second to Tony Raines for Rookie of the Year honors despite missing five races. In 2000, Parker received sponsorship from Team Marines and won his first career pole position at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He also had eight top-tens and finished a career-best fourteenth in points.

In 2001, Parker switched to the #36 GNC Live Well Chevy for Cicci-Welliver Racing. He finished 15th in points and collected his first win at the Auto Club 300. At the end of the season, his team was sold to Wayne Jesel and switched to Dodge for the 2002 season. He won another race at Pikes Peak International Raceway and had eight top-tens. He also made his Winston Cup debut, driving the #91 USG Dodge for Evernham Motorsports at North Carolina Speedway. He started 25th and finished 33rd, four laps down.

At the end of the 2002 season, Parker's team shut down suddenly, leaving him without a full-time ride. He began the season running a pair of races for Brewco Motorsports, finishing sixth at Darlington Raceway. He ran four more races that season splitting time between NEMCO Motorsports and Dale Earnhardt, Inc., finishing fifth twice. He also made his Craftsman Truck Series debut driving the #75 for Spears Motorsports, posting two top-ten finishes.

In 2004, Parker signed to drive for Innovative Motorsports' new Craftsman Truck team. He had four top-tens and finished seventeenth in points. Unfortunately, Innovative closed its doors at the end of the season, leaving Parker unemployed again. He made his last start in 2005 filling for Carl Edwards at Nashville, finishing 20th.

Parker has recently stated that he no longer plans to return to full-time racing, and is currently in the process of putting together a hunting show with his father and brother. ^{[http://www.scenedaily.com/stories/2006/06/12/scene_daily232.html]}

External links

* [http://www.racing-reference.info/driver?id=parkeha01 Hank Parker, Jr. Career Statistics]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20000914165313/www.nascar.com/busch/drivers/ParkH01/index.html Archived NASCAR.com page]