Hank Parker Jr. (born October 7, 1975) is a former American

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

driver. He is a retired competitor in

NASCAR Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

and

Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

competition, posting two wins and a best points finish of 14th in the Busch Series. His brother, Billy Parker, ran part-time in the Busch Series in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, and his father,

Hank Hank is a male given name. It may have been inspired by the Dutch name Henk,The Origins of 10 Nicknam ...

, is a professional outdoorsman.

Career

Parker began racing

go-kart A go-kart, also written as go-cart (often referred to as simply a kart), is a type of sports car, close wheeled car, open-wheel car or quadracycle. Go-karts come in all shapes and forms, from non-motorised models to high-performance Kart rac ...

s near his home in

Denver, North Carolina Denver, formerly known as Dry Pond, is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Lincoln County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 2,309. Known as “Dry Pond” until 1873, it was rena ...

. 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 The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern por ...

. 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 No. 78 Mark III Financial

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

, starting 41st and finishing 23rd. Parker returned to the 78 in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, 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 The Target House 200 was a NASCAR Busch Series stock car race held at North Carolina Speedway as an accompanying race to the Pop Secret 400. It was last run in 2003, after which the fall weekend of racing at Rockingham was removed from both the B ...

, where he finished sixth in the No. 53 B.A.S.S Chevrolet owned by his father. Parker ran his father's car full-time in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, posting two top-fives and finishing 18th in points. He also finished second to

Tony Raines Floyd Anthony Raines (born April 14, 1964) is a retired American professional stock car racing driver. He is a former National Touring Series champion in the now defunct American Speed Association and 1999 Rookie of the Year in the NASCAR Nationw ...

for Rookie of the Year honors despite missing five races. In

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, Parker received sponsorship from Team Marines and won his first career pole position at

Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada about 15 miles northeast of the Las Vegas Strip, is a complex of multiple tracks for motorsports racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is ...

. He also had eight top-tens and finished a career-best fourteenth in points. In

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, Parker switched to the No. 36 GNC Live Well Chevy for

Cicci-Welliver Racing Cicci Racing was an American professional stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. The team is owned by Frank Cicci of Elmira, New York and was last driven by Jay Sauter. Beginnings FCR first began racing as a short ...

. He finished 15th in points, and collected his first win at the

Auto Club 300 Stock car racing events in the NASCAR Xfinity Series has been held at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California since the track's inauguration in 1997. The 300-mile (480 km) event is currently named Production Alliance Group 300 for spo ...

. At the end of the season, his team was sold to Wayne Jesel and switched to

Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

for the 2002 season. He won another race at

Pikes Peak International Raceway Pikes Peak International Raceway (PPIR) is a racetrack in the Colorado Springs area within the city limits of Fountain, Colorado, that by October 12, 1997, was "the fastest 1-mile paved oval anywhere". The speedway hosted races in several series ...

and had eight top-tens. He also made his

Winston Cup The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...

debut, driving the No. 91 USG

for

Evernham Motorsports Evernham Motorsports was an American professional stock car racing organization that competed in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded in 2000 by former Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Ray Evernham, entering full-time competition as a two-c ...

North Carolina Speedway Rockingham Speedway, formerly North Carolina Motor Speedway and later North Carolina Speedway is a racetrack located near Rockingham, North Carolina. It is also known as The Rock and previously hosted NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, ...

. He started 25th and finished 33rd, four laps down. At the end of the

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

season, Parker was to take GNC over to

ppc Racing ppc Racing is a former NASCAR team based in Mooresville, North Carolina. The team was owned by Greg Pollex. ppc Racing came about from a merger of Pollex's Busch Series team with a car owned by Steve DeSouza and Ted Campbell in 1999. The tea ...

but due to a new law that restricts advertising with supplements, this caused GNC to leave NASCAR and therefore, leaving him without a full-time ride into 2003. He began the season running a pair of races for

Brewco Motorsports Brewco Motorsports was a racing team that competed in the NASCAR Busch Series (now the Xfinity Series). The team was owned from 1995 until 2007 by Clarence Brewer Jr., his wife Tammy, and Todd Wilkerson. The team won 10 races over 13 seasons in th ...

, finishing sixth at

Darlington Raceway Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located in Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is ...

. He ran four more races that season splitting time between

NEMCO Motorsports NEMCO Motorsports is an American professional stock car racing team that last competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The team is owned by driver Joe Nemechek and his family. NEMCO Motorsports has had success, winning the 1992 Busch Se ...

and

Chance 2 Motorsports Chance 2 Motorsports is a former NASCAR racing team that was founded by Teresa Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2003. Although connected with Dale Earnhardt, Inc., the race team founded by Dale Earnhardt and run by Teresa Earnhardt after his ...

, finishing fifth twice. He also made his

debut driving the No. 75 for

Spears Motorsports Spears Motorsports was a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team owned by Wayne and Connie Spears of Agua Dulce, California. The team is most notable for its longevity in the Truck Series, running all but two races before their closure, their commitm ...

, posting two top-ten finishes. In

, Parker signed to drive for

Innovative Motorsports Innovative Motorsports (IMI) is a former NASCAR team. It was owned by George DeBidart and began racing in the Busch North Series in the mid-1990s, before moving to the Busch Series in 1998. Winston Cup Innovative ran four Cup races during its ...

' 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 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

filling for

Carl Edwards Carl Michael Edwards II (born August 15, 1979) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He last competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the No. 19 Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. Prior to that, he drove the No. 9 ...

at Nashville. He won the pole, but finished 20th. Parker then decided to retire from racing; he joined his father and brother to produce '' Hank Parker 3D'', an outdoors-themed television show.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

Busch Series

Craftsman Truck Series

* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

Winston West Series

References

External links

*
Hank Parker Jr.
at NASCAR.com (archived) * of Hank Parker 3D, Parker's current TV show {{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Hank Jr. Living people 1975 births American Christians People from Denver, North Carolina Racing drivers from North Carolina NASCAR drivers American fishers American television personalities Male television personalities Evernham Motorsports drivers RFK Racing drivers