1/8/04

"I was wrong...real 'Professional Sportsman' racers do exist."

Photo courtesy of Farmington Motorsports Park & Raceworks.com

ast month in this column I pretty much declared that true "Professional Sportsman" racers probably didn't exist anymore. Ok, I was wrong. (How many editors admit that?) There are a few. I do not think a racer who has a sponsor who picks up the bills for three or four cars, the trailer, the tow vehicles and gets thousands of dollars of free parts can be rated, and they aren't by me, as sportsman racers. I was looking for a guy who could race locally and regionally and make a profit from bracket racing as his only job!

Well, I found one. A really nice guy who was almost hesitant to tell his story. His name is Frankie Parrish and he is in North Carolina. If you race off the top bulb in this part of the country I would guess you not only know him but you avoid him in the staging lanes. To give you an idea of how good this guy is, here are a few stats that should have you rocking back on your heels. In 2003 alone he was in 12 finals and won nine of them. At one point during the season his record was 40 rounds won and only two rounds lost! Incredible huh? Does he use the latest "tool of choice" for his racing, the four link high horsepower rear engine dragster? NO! He has a back-half '79 Camaro that he describes as looking "real rough". I guess if I was towing my car to 60 events a year and making about 400 passes and wearing out four sets of slicks per year I wouldn't care if the car was white with purple blobs on it! (Oh wait, that is how my cars look!)

When I finally got Frankie on the phone I threw a bunch of questions at him and he took his time and tried to answer them as thoroughly as possible. I will try my best to relate to you what he told me about being consistent, what it takes to win, what made him decide to race for a living, how good is "good enough" in electronics racing today and many other questions. I hope you enjoy this column as much as I did when I got the information from Frankie. Here are my questions and his answers, in no particular order because I was going nuts asking him questions.

DRO: How long have you been bracket racing and when did you decide you thought you had a chance to do it full-time?

Frankie: The first full season I raced was 1994. I raced pretty regular from then on with the same basic combination and it got better and better and so did my driving. I tried it full-time in 2000 but had to go back to work in July to make some money for the family. I worked six months in 2001 and tried it again with a change in attitude. Did well enough to pay all the bills and I have raced full-time since the beginning of 2002 through the 2003 season.

DRO: A lot of racers dream of making a living racing but never take the chance. Has it paid off for you?

Frankie: It must be. I have never been more satisfied with things than I am right now. No boss to answer to, all my bills are paid and when I pull out of the driveway headed for a race I decide at that instant whether I go left to those races or go right to some other tracks that weekend. It used to drive my wife nuts, the not knowing where we were headed but now she doesn't worry about it. She is a very important part of the race team and we work well together. Last year we won about $30,000 with our old car and I did not even go to a $10,000 event yet.

Editor's Note: We talked about guys you hear about that win $100,000 or more year after year racing. While it is true we really don't know what their "splits" were and in some cases these guys have three or four $50,000 cars, $35,000 trailers and $125,000 motor homes or toter-trucks. Did they really make money or just shuffle it around? Doesn't matter really and who cares. Everyone has to do what feels right to him or her.