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WALLY GETS FREAKY ON THE RADIO

NHRA founder Wally Parks will be a guest on the motorsports radio show SpeedFreaks on Sunday, January 19. Other guests include rock 'n roller Alice Cooper, who sponsors a NASCAR Busch car, and his driver Chase Montgomery. The show with hosts Kenny Sargent, Crash Gladys, Lugg Nuttz and Statt Mann Caruthers, can be heard every Sunday night at 7 p.m. (Pacific) / 10 p.m. (Eastern). To find a radio station in your area that carries the show go to www.sportsbyline.com/affil.htm. Live coverage on the Internet is at www.sportsbyline.com.

If Wally survives the experience, he will celebrate his 90th birthday on January 23. Happy birthday, Mr. Parks. (photo by Jeff Burk) [1-16-2003]

GARDNER COMING OUT OF RETIREMENT

No, not Dallas Gardner the former majordomo at NHRA, but well-traveled crew chief to the stars Donnie Gardner. Gardner, who in the past has worked on Pro Stockers driven by Bill Glidden and Tom Hammonds, is returning to the Pro Stock wars with a new team and a new title. He'll be working for the two-car Yates team. That would be Jim Yates not Robert Yates.

Although Gardner is getting a Winston Cup/F-1 style title of "Team Engineer," according to the press release, it appears that Gardner will still be getting grease under his finely manicured fingernails and will be doing many of the same duties on the Yates team that he has done for other teams in the past, including working on the engine and car. Sounds like crew chief duties to the Agent. [1-16-2003]

STROPUS JOINS THE ARMY!

Public relations person extraordinaire Judy Stropus, who last worked in the NHRA arena as GM's PR flack for Chevy drag racing teams, is returning to drag racing. Ms. Stropus has a long history in the sport of auto racing as a factory rep for GM and as a works driver. Last year she worked with the NASCAR truck and some road racing programs. She's a past participant in the famous coast to coast Cannonball Run race. This season she will be working as the publicist for Don Schumacher's Funny Car teams and drivers Whit Bazemore, Scotty Cannon and Gary Scelzi. The Agent is glad she's come back to the really fast lane of automobile press relations work. [1-16-2003]

HOOTERS AIR TAKING FLIGHT

Hooters of America, title sponsor of the IHRA's national event circuit, announced Dec. 26, that its chairman, Bob Brooks, had acquired Winston-Salem, NC based carrier Pace Airlines. Brooks plans to establish Hooters Air as a charter air service for the golf industry. The extent to which the famous restaurant's brand representation will be used in that operation -- beyond the name -- is a work in progress, but the Agent can't help but wonder if the flight attendants will come equipped with their own flotation devices. [1-16-2003]

SPEED SCENE HITS THE AIR

SoCal bracket racer Scott Hudson has debuted Speed Scene, a new radio show for the Los Angeles area on KRLA Smart Talk 590. Hudson, who regularly campaigns a Super/Street '67 Chevy Nova in local brackets, will need to rearrange his racing schedule as the new show airs every Saturday evening from 6 to 6:30.

Scott says that he'll be concentrating on the "local scene" that has the "Need for Speed" - not the national drag scene. He'll spotlight the tracks located in the area, including Irwindale, Fontana, LACR, and Carlsbad. Hudson added, "This is a show by racers, for racers." [1-16-2003]