Raymond Parks - The Godfather of Southern Auto Racing

6/5/24

By Cody Dinsmore

*Editors Note - Portions of this article were originally printed in the June 9th, 2021 edition of the Dawson County News*

Raymond Dawson Parks - not a name everyone knows, but it's a name every racing fan should know. Raymond's life story is one that would make a heck of a screenplay. He was a self made millionaire during the Great Depression, coming from dirt poor beginnings. He had a multitude of successful businesses and enterprises lasting decades; he sponsored a local Atlanta baseball team at one point and was most importantly a true gentleman. Most folks however, remember Raymond Parks for his contributions to stock car racing. And his story starts right here in Dawsonville.

Raymond Parks was born on a farm just a few miles outside of Dawsonville on June 5th, 1914,  110 years ago today.  As the oldest of 16 children, he grew up taking care of his younger siblings, and working long days as a farm hand… and hated it. At the age of just 14, his father asked him to take the family's Model T just down the road to Dawsonville to get a jar of corn liquor. He was stopped in town, and was subsequently put in jail for three months. When he was released, he decided to leave home and would go to work for a man he met on the inside, who made moonshine. You have to remember that this was still during the Prohibition era and corn was much more profitable by the gallon than by the bushel. Walter Day, would be the man who showed a teenage Raymond Parks, the in's and out's of the moonshine trade, and how much money could be made from it. Raymond might've grew up poor, but soon developed a taste for the finer things.

Fast forward a few years now to the early 1930's. Raymond had made moonshine, ran it, owned stills, hired still-hands and runners to deliver. By this time he had also made enough money to buy out his uncle's service station that he worked at during the day. By 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, he owned the Hemphill Service Station in Atlanta, two automobiles for himself and employed dozens of people, all at the age of 18!

Once prohibition was lifted and the sale and consumption of alcohol was now legal again, Raymond was among the first to own a legal liquor store in Atlanta, and over time would grow that number too.

Let's jump to 1938 - Parks was a successful businessman known throughout Atlanta. He had a massive coin operated machine business, gas stations, liquor stores (and still some untaxed alcohol) and a soon to be raceteam among other things.  Parks was like the Al Capone of Atlanta, but without all the violence. At this point in time, Raymond had two cousins from Dawsonville that worked for him by hauling the illegal liquor down to Atlanta from the mountains. Their names were Lloyd Seay and Roy Hall. Both were interested in an upcoming stock car race being held at the Lakewood Fairgrounds in Atlanta. Parks agreed to provide two cars and have them wrenched by the best in Atlanta - Red Vogt, who already regularly kept up the liquor cars. Vogt was the winning mechanic for the Indy 500 that year.  Raymond decided if he was going to have cars on track, why not put his businesses on the side? He was one of the first if not the first to have 'sponsors' on his racecars. For Raymond, his cars always showed up to the track in pristine condition. Look back at old racing photos and the cars normally looked like jalopies, except for those of the Parks team. His team of Lloyd Seay and Roy Hall won everything there was to win before the war. 

Towards the end of 1941, Seay was killed a day after being crowned National Stock Car Champion and auto racing of all forms was put on hold in early 1942 to help aid in the war effort. Parks would serve his country, and fought in the Battle of the Bulge, the bloodiest conflict in the entire war. He spent about two weeks living in a trench, in the dead of winter, thousands of miles away from his beloved Atlanta.

Following his honorable discharge after the war, one of his cars took the first post war Stock Car Race in the south, Roy Hall at Lakewood in 1945.  By 1946, Stock Car Racing was becoming more than just a backyard hobby. Tracks were popping up all over the south and thousands of spectators flocked to them. One problem was that promoters of the time usually couldn't be trusted. It was not uncommon for drivers to not get paid following a race. One part time racer for Raymond, Bill France, was interested in promoting races. More so, he was interested in creating a legitimate organization dedicated to stock car racing. Fast forward to December 1947 - Raymond, two of his driver's and his chief mechanic all traveled to Daytona Beach to attend the first NASCAR meetings at the Streamline Hotel. While Parks wasn't a big part of the decision making, he would quietly help to fund the organization for the first couple of seasons. He would provide pace cars, purse money, trophies, etc, all off the record of course. 

Speaking of NASCAR, It was a Parks car that would win the first ever NASCAR sanctioned race in 1948 driven by Red Byron at Daytona. Byron would dominate the season and would claim the Inaugural NASCAR Modified Title. The following season with the addition of the 'Strictly Stock' division (now Cup Series), Parks would also field a brand new Oldsmobile 88 for Byron. Together, they won 2 of 8 races en route to the first Cup Title in 1949. 

After a third place finish in the first Southern 500 at Darlington in 1950, Parks made a decision to quietly leave the young sport. He had made his mark and his cars won nearly everything there was to win over the last decade. He said that racing was just getting too expensive. He was reportedly spending over $20k on his racing operation in 1947! That’s nearly $300k in 2024 money. And with little return (his driver's kept most of the money while Parks kept the trophies, which were on display in his Atlanta office for decades), it just didn't make sense to keep throwing money at it. He turned his focus to his empire in Atlanta and would be one of the most successful businessmen in Atlanta in the second half of the 20th Century.

Because he left the sport in 1950, many do not know his name or how important he was, and that's a shame. It is widely discussed that if not for Raymond, there's a good chance that Nascar would not have survived it's first couple of years without his financial support. He would still remain a lifelong race fan, holding the same seats at Daytona from that tracks' first race in 1959 till he passed in 2010. Mr Parks was the first person to be Inducted into the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in 2002, and in 2017, he was finally recognized by Nascar for his contributions to the sport by being inducted into the Nascar Hall of Fame.

Raymond’s accolades in the sport of stock car racing is nothing short of impressive. His car won the very first stock car race held in the state of Georgia in 1938. They won races up and down the east coast in the pre and post war era including 11 victories at Daytona Beach. The first NASCAR sanctioned race and the first two NASCAR Championships. One of his cars even won Bill France’s pre-NASCAR organization, known then as the NSCRA. Parks was also the last living member of the Streamline Hotel meetings. His driver’s lineup was a Hall of Fame list in it’s own right - Lloyd Seay, Roy Hall, Bob Flock, Fonty Flock, Red Byron and even Bill France.

Mr Parks was the epitome of a true Southern Gentleman. For nearly 10 decades, you never saw him without a tie and a fedora. He is sometimes referred to as the 'Godfather' of Southern Auto Racing. More importantly, he helped to plant Dawson County's footing in Racing History. He passed away the morning of June 20th, 2010 at the age of 96. It was only fitting that it happened to be Father’s Day, as he was to many, the “Godfather of Southern Auto Racing”.