Bob Park of Concord still winning races at 73

Throughout Bob Park’s racing career, the Concord resident was known for his accomplishments in the lightweight, powerful modifieds.

But this year, the 73-year-old driver has shown he can pilot cars with fenders just as well.

After four races in Hickory Motor Speedway’s Classic Sportsman Racing division, Park had won one race, had four top-five finishes and owned a 4-point lead over Statesville’s Bill Webb in the track standings.

“Most of the guys are my age, so I know I’m driving against the same competition,” the East Northport, N.Y., native said about his rookie season in the division, which runs 25-lap events at the historic Hickory track.

“I wouldn’t want to do it every weekend anymore. It’s hectic just getting ready once a month. Between my hobbies and my other little chores I gotta do, it’s tough doing it once a month.

“But we have a couple of friends that we do it together, and we enjoy it.”

The father of former NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Steve Park said his wife didn’t really think he would step behind the wheel again, since he last raced a modified in 2004.

“I said, ‘Well, I feel good. I’m physically good. I’ll try it, and if I don’t think I can do it, I won’t do it,’ ” Park said.

In Park’s first Hickory outing he finished fifth; then he won the second race. Two third-place finishes followed. He said his son joins him at the track when he’s not racing modifieds or late models.

It wasn’t until this past winter that Park and John Deets, who built his modified engines when he raced, decided to field an entry for Hickory’s vintage racing division. As often happens in racing, one thing led to another.

“We still do a lot of business together,” Park said about his Salisbury partner in the racing effort. “I’ve built a street rod. I’ve been working on it for about five years, and I finally got to where I need an engine. He said to let him build the engine, and I told him what I wanted. Then we started talking about this (race) car, and he said he could get the parts from Robert Hamke.”

Hamke, owner of Hamke Race Cars & Parts near the Mooresville drag strip, provided the chassis, which was sitting in a barn on his property. After obtaining the chassis, Park and Deets sandblasted it and put a 1968 Nova body on it.

“The car is kind of a tribute to Robert, when Robert used to drive in Florida,” said Park, who carries Hamke’s name above the driver’s door. “It’s got all of his old sponsors on it. It looks just like one of his old cars.”

When Park isn’t focusing on his race car, he’s providing his expertise to local modified and late model racers, and building transmissions and rear ends.

“That’s what I did when I worked for Dale Earnhardt,” Park said. “I always worked in the engine, rear end, transmission shop. I’ve kinda been a rear end expert all my life, so that’s what I do for hot rods

.”

During his spare time, Park works on a ’36 Chevrolet sedan that he’s turning into a street rod.

Ryan wins at Myrtle Beach

Fifteen-year-old Payton Ryan celebrated the Fourth of July weekend with a pair of victories at Myrtle Beach Speedway.

The Concord resident, who competed in Denny Hamlin’s Short Track Showdown earlier this year, captured his first and second career late model victories in the twin 50-lap events.

The achievement made Ryan the youngest driver ever to sweep twin late model races at the South Carolina short track.

This story was originally published July 22, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Bob Park of Concord still winning races at 73."