I’m going to stray away from my oval-track roots to pay tribute to a man who did more for his segment of motorsports than any other...Wally Parks.
Mr. Parks put drag racing on the map and watched it become extremely popular. One wonders if it hadn’t been for him, would it have grown like it did.
Drag racing was originally hot rodding. When WWII ended, young men came home restless and energetic. They wanted to have some fun for a change. The war, and jobs connected with it, taught many of them how to become mechanically skilled. Man’s favorite toy always was the car.
Trouble was, the cars of that era were stiffs. So, they had to create speed. There were plenty of T-buckets and Model A Ford coupes in junkyards. Everything was cheap.
How speed parts became available was due largely because of the rum runners in the southeast. They needed to supe up their cars to outrun the “revenuers.” Souhern California became the source for these parts. Speed shops became a burgeoning business in the ’40s.
It was in the Golden State where hot rodding took off. There was no place to race and the highways became deadly and those who suped up cars were the dregs of society.
Finally, the Murac Dry Lake (now Edwards AFB) was used for race meets that were hardly organized. Wally Parks, a devoted car lover set up the Southern California Timing Ass’n. He wrote rules and it was he who settled on the quarter-mile distance still used today. Soon, the first drag strip was built in Pomona, Calif.
Parks started what would become the NHRA. He also was a founding editor of Hot Rod Magazine. He had to twist publisher Robert Petersen’s arm to get that name.
Drag strips were built all over the country. The 1950s were great hot-rod era. There were places to race and the drivers were no longer looked down upon.
In the ’60s, the standard hot rod was replaced by muscle cars built in Detroit. Drag racing was so influential that all manufacturers were building “street stocks.”
 It was a fun era. But it went downhill in the ’70s when the energy crisis curtailed those cars. Parks held firm and rules were changed to have outrageous Top Fuel and Funny Cars take over.
NHRA was also boosted by drivers with great names and personalities like “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, Shirley “Cha-Cha” Muldowney and Don “The Snake” Prudhomme.
Later came multi-million-dollar sponsorships and national TV coverage. Drag racing is healthier today than ever. It owes so much to Wally Parks, who lived a long and fruitful life. We oval-track folks should learn from him. NHRA doesn’t over-regulate like NASCAR. Their racing programs are very well run. Parks saw to it that NHRA presented racing as entertainment.
I am saddened by the loss of Nick Fornoro. One of racing’s truly nice guys. When you met Nick, it was always with a smile and a firm handshake.
Nick was a successful midget racer. He was NASCAR’s first midget champ. One day in 1956, he and his wife stopped at a diner before a race and Nick decided to quit racing right there. He was only 36. He went on to become a flagger and a great one he was.
I remember when he used to flag indoor TQ midgets. He kept the show moving along. I remember his whistle, which you could hear all over the arena. He then became the starter for CART and his work always was with dignity and the drivers respected him.
Nick was very proud of his sons Drew and Nick, Jr., both of whom became first-rate racers themselves. I’ll always remember Nick Fornoro as a true gentleman and a class act. He’ll be sorely missed.
Scalping Mets playoff tickets at 25 Emerson Place Valley Stream, N.Y. 11580. E-mail to Racewri 771@AOL.com.