He reported this information to his skeptical father, but took charge of affairs and grooved the tires accordingly. Without hesitation, he told his dad that everyone is going to dive to the bottom; therefore, you need to go straight to the top. Executing this game plan, Ralph headed straight to the rim.
He rocketed form the 14th spot to second in a hurry, and from there powered to the win and the title.
Junior‘s own career began with a bit of chicanery, but it also reflected a measure of ambition that his father appreciated. In 1962, he would be a member of the first freshman class to enter the newly-opened Hirschi High School in Wichita Falls.
He would play football for the high school team and, while that was fun, he was still itching to race.
Finally, he decided it was time to take the bull by the horns. It was September 1965 and Ralph Sr. was busy competing on the Midwest fair circuit. His son had joined him for a time, but was forced to return with the beginning of football practice.
It was a lazy Saturday and Junior and his brother Frankie were piddling around the shop. When Ralph Parkinson wasn‘t off on the IMCA or BCRA trail he could be found in a supermodified in his hometown on Friday night, and then 50 miles north in Lawton. It was there that Junior hit on a bright idea.
Why not just scoot up the highway and do a little racing of their own? After all, his dad had let him hot lap from time to time.
Using teenage logic, he reasoned that he had acquitted himself well enough in practice situations, therefore he was clearly race ready. Seconds after Junior proposed taking the car to Lawton, Frankie asked a logical question. “Who‘s going to drive?” Without hesitation, Junior said he was.
Then came the next question, “How will we sign in?” The rules stipulated if you were under 18 someone had to be responsible for you. Junior was prepared for that query as well, and he was convinced he could enlist the help of their uncle.
Still unconvinced, Frankie also knew they would be directly asked who was assigned to the car. According to Junior, that was the easiest obstacle to surmount.
“We‘ll just tell them somebody,” he said. “And then we will tell them later that they just didn‘t show up.”
It wasn‘t a bad debut. Junior recalls that he finished third or fourth in his heat race and eighth or ninth in the feature. Well satisfied with their work, the boys scampered back home and took the necessary steps to cover their tracks.
“We took the car back to the shop and got it all cleaned up,” Junior recalled, “and didn‘t say anything to Dad, of course.
“So, Dad called that week and told us how he did at Topeka and he asked us what we did. We said we went to Lawton and watched the races but by the time he was back home his car would be ready. When he got back, he said, ‘Wow, you boys really got the garage cleaned up,‘ and we said, ‘Yeah, we didn‘t have much to do.‘ So, we were just talking and finally he said, ‘Well, what did you guys do with the money?‘ We said, ‘What money?‘ He said, ‘The money you got for running the other night.‘
“I looked at Frankie and Frankie looked at me and said I think the jig is up.”
The truth is Ralph Sr. wasn‘t all that unhappy, and shortly thereafter they all loaded up and headed to Abilene, Texas. When they arrived, it became clear the plan was to give Junior another shot. When asked at the gate who would be behind the wheel, Ralph said Buddy Parker. With no further questions asked, they set about the task before them.
It wasn‘t going to be easy. It was near the end of the year, so lineups would be determined by points. That meant Junior would start at the rear of the field.
Adding to the challenge, many of the New Mexico supermodified hot shoes were on hand, and to the best of his recollection, that included future Indianapolis 500 crew chief and USAC President John Capels and at least one of the Unser brothers.
In the end, he bagged a top-five finish and felt good about the day.
Click below to keep reading.