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August 15, 2003: Shawn Parker has turned what started out to be a career in racing not only into an educational experience but a true adventure as well.

The 27-year old Avon, Mass., driver in the AllStar Racetrucks Series already has a pretty good-looking resume. He’s a three-time series points champion (2000-02); has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics from Boston University; is working on another Bachelors, this one in Marketing Management (also at BU), and has made several trips to Australia, one for a independent study for a course at the Boston-based university.

To consider Parker an enterprising person may be a bit of an understatement.

“I’ve always had this urge to keep learning,” Parker said. “I know that after I finish my work for this second Bachelors, I’m going to pursue a Masters in business. After that, I don’t know.”

He does, however, have his sights set on ending up in racing fulltime, either in marketing or management.

“Whether it’s at one track or with a series, either would be fine, Parker said. “Having come up through racing as a driver and now being a driver/truck owner, I feel that it gives me a good perspective. I know what racers go through. I know the ups and downs. The struggles. The good side as well as the bad.”

Most of the years in which Parker has already spent in the sport have been good ones. At age 17, he drove V6 Supermodifieds at Hudson Speedway where his father, Ted, once a driver himself, fielded a car. From there, he went to Late Models, also at Hudson and on to a Sportsman at Seekonk Speedway in Massachusetts before switching to the truck series in 1998.

He ran half of the first season and was going to drive fulltime in 1999. The season started on a down note. Parker was injured in a race at the Waterford (Conn.) Speedbowl. Then, he came back too soon, was injured again, also at Waterford and missed most of the season.

“I broke my wrist and injured my shoulder and needed surgery after the season to fix the wrist,” Parker said. “It wasn’t a pleasant time for me.”

Parker has been fortunate because he’s avoided most of the accidents since. In 2000, he won his first title and came back the following season to win again, this time by a single point over Ryan Posocco.

“I disputed Ryan’s finish in the season’s finale (at Thompson) and the video showed that he did indeed finish third in the race instead of second,” Parker said. “I’m glad that the video showed it because I wouldn’t accept the championship any other way.”

Because he decided to go back and pursue another degree, Parker is running less than a full schedule in 2003. He is, however, the owner of a second team truck and has put Mark Lowrey in as its driver.

Lowrey, an African-American who lives in Manhattan, adds a nice twist to the team.

“There aren’t many African-Americans in racing and Mark was really a perfect fit for us,” Parker said. “He’s a lot like me. He’s very ambitious.”

That ambition and determination got Parker to Australia for his chance to view Sprintcar racing “down under” and write a paper about it. Former World of Outlaws sprintcar driver Brad Doty, whose injuries left him wheelchair bound, made the trip with him.

“I was able to get some sponsorship from Stu Murray (at Wirtgren America in Nashville, Tenn.) because he helps out Bobby Seymour’s efforts in the Northeast Midget Association (NEMA)” Parker said. “It worked out as a good faith effort and they let me go along as well. We traveled around the country following the World Series Sprintcars (very much like the World of Outlaws circuit here in the U.S.)”

Parker soon realized that sprintcar racing in Australia was done primarily on tracks of a 1/3-mile in distance.

His efforts were well rewarded when he received an “A” on his paper.

“It certainly was a tremendous amount of work, but, in the end, it was worth it,” Parker said.In addition, Parker has gotten involved with Doty in the Boston Louie Memorial NEMA race held every year from now at the Waterford Speedbowl. This year’s edition takes place on August 2nd.

Being with Brad has also made Parker painfully aware of a person’s vulnerability in a racecar, especially a Sprinter or a Midget.

“Brad is a special person who never, ever allows any uncertainty about what happened to him transfer over to anyone else,” Parker said. “Still, I know how dangerous those types of cars are it’s pretty definite that I wouldn’t drive either one.

Parker is happy though that he learned to first race in open-cockpit and open wheel cars.

“It taught me how to run clean,” he said. “Not to get into people. You have to race that way in those cars, or you’re going to get yourself or someone else in trouble.”

“I believe if you come up through the closed-wheel ranks, you’re likely to start beating and banging on other drivers right away. And it’s not necessarily going to stop, the farther along you that you progress.”

The differences which Parker has found in moving from one to the other is that trucks and Late Models are more forgiving, especially in the corners.

“You can slide into and out of the turns,” he said. “You can’t do that in a Super. If you drive one with a wing, it plants itself going in and you have to steer it straight out.”

The 2003 season has been an interesting one for Parker, who, because he’s not running every race, will not be able to accomplish a four-peat.

“With my course load, I knew that I couldn’t run for points,” he said. “Several weeks back, I decided not to go to Wall Township Speedway (in Belmar, NJ) for a Saturday race. I thought that it was going to rain and they wouldn’t race and also because my work, which I needed to finish for Monday classes, was overwhelming.

“Well, Mark got down there and called, telling me they were practicing and it looked like they would race. He kept explaining to me how much fun he was having. After we hung up, I began to sulk. Then, he called back, and said they were rained out. I went through a series of emotions in a short period of time.”

Allowing yourself some range will no doubt come in handy when Shawn Parker finds himself either running a racetrack or a racing series.

With his drive and desire, it’s almost a given that this “truck driver” will be moving on down the road quickly.

Originally published in Trackside magazine and written by Peter Vander Veer.