Some people are just born to race, and the kind of upbringing Dan Parker had pretty much ensured his direction in life. Dan took his first trip down the quarter-mile before he was born, with his mother eight months pregnant driving the family Chevelle, defeating Dan’s father in his race car in the finals on the day.
It was no surprise, then that, once out of the womb and able to get about on his own, Dan became obsessed with all things mechanical and fast — something that has never changed over the years.
Dan began drag racing on a Honda XR75 when he was eight. He also raced pushbikes through high school, winning age grade medals at state level. While at school he realised academia was not for him, partially thanks to his having ADD, and that his future lay in the machine shop and at the drag strip!
Having barely graduated, Dan knew back then he was destined for big things if he could find a way to combine his passions of racing, machining, and welding. Fast forward a decade or so and Dan had progressed from racing a ’68 Dart with a slant six that ran 19s when he was in high school and was building and driving Pro Mods and winning championships. He was in the first side-by-side, three-second Pro Nitrous pass and won the 2005 ADRL Pro Nitrous World Championship title.
IT WAS NOT UNTIL DAN BEGAN TO COME OUT OF THE COMA THAT THEY REALISED HIS EYESIGHT WAS ALSO GONE
Drag racing and building cars were Dan’s life — one that he could never imagine being taken away. After 15 years of
