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April 10, 2003: Mark C. Lowrey is a rookie on the AllStar Race Truck Series circuit but the Bristol, CT native is hardly a stranger to auto racing. Lowrey will be a teammate with 2002 champion Shawn Parker on the Avon, MA-based Parker Racing Team, driving the No. 6 Truck.

The AllStar season opens at Waterford Speedbowl’s Budweiser Modified Nationals April 12-13. The African-American sees it as the first step of a very long journey.

"My family was part of a team that raced at Plainville Stadium when I was just four years old," he remembers. "Ron Imfeld was the driver and the team was actually next door to us. My mom (Beverly) was the one really involved, doing the scoring and things."

He also recalls "when I was about 20 going to my father (Charles) about putting a race team together. He explained the financial situation could not handle it." Lowrey went off in pursuit of other things, finding success in the computer field. He did not, however, forget about racing.

"The Truck is a first step," says Lowrey, now a New York City resident. He point out the costs, in both time and money, are too great to think otherwise. Being African American is a factor, he says, because "there have not been that many who have really tried and I would like to be the first to win a major race."

Lowrey started putting it together in 2002, enrolling in the Speedbowl’s Left Turn University – a program that puts students in Legends Cars. Parker is a LTU instructor and after several sessions, Lowrey enrolled at a Racing Reality course at Thompson Speedway.

"The question was could I handle speed?" continues Lowrey who tried a variety of machines at five-eights mile Thompson including a Pro Truck, Modified and Busch North car. He felt "very comfortable, " satisfying some tough demands he put on himself.

He drove in the Legends feature at The Speedbowl’s Finale last fall in a LTU school car. "It was hardly competitive," he says. "It didn’t want to turn left. I started last and was determined not to get lapped. I accomplished that and passed some cars as well." Lowrey was offered the ride in the second Parker truck after the race.

"He is a natural," says Parker. "He is also a hard worker and showed how determined he was last year. It’s really going to be exciting."

Lowrey brings a strong competitive desire – "you either have it or you don’t," he says – to the very successful (three straight championships) Parker team. He was a standout football and track performer at Bristol Central High School, helping the football team go to the championship game in his senior year. He was also a competitive freestyle skier.

"I think what I learned from football is going to help me in racing," Lowrey says. "Like auto racing, it is tough and demanding. I think I know what it takes to win."

The Parker team will practice at Thompson on March 29 and at Waterford on April 5 before the season opener.

Originally Published at http://www.racewaymedia.com/article1851.html