FORMER PRO MOD
DRIVER DAN PARKER
BECOMES FASTEST
BLIND MAN IN
AMERICA, AIMS FOR
WORLD RECORD
BY AINSLEY JACOBS
EV ERYONE LIKES TO THINK that they’re invincible and that it “won’t
happen” to them…until it does. On Saturday, March 31,
2012, Pro Mod driver Dan Parker took to the track to make
a hit like he had done countless other times. A seasoned
professional with a Dixie Pro Stock title and the ’05 ADRL
Pro Nitrous championship to his name, Parker knew the
ropes, knew the routine, and knew the risks – but he didn’t
know that his day would ultimately come to a life-shattering end.
Driving for owner Bill George since 1999, Parker was testing a new
Fulton 864ci engine in their Pro Modified ’63 Corvette at Alabama
International Dragway in Steele, Alabama. With a soft 1.01-second
60-foot time on the first pass, the Columbus, Georgia-based racer
knew he had more room in the tuneup and his next run produced
a new personal best short time of 0.947-seconds.
“We decided to try to qualify for the race that day, so we got
in the lanes to make my first pass to the 660-mark,” recalls
Parker, who crossed through the traps in 4.07-seconds at
175 mph. “I was in serious trouble as I went through the
beams sideway and heading straight for the right wall.”
DAN PARKER GREW COMFORTABLE IN A FIRESUIT
AND HELMET AFTER SEVERAL YEARS OF PRO
MODIFIED COMPETITION. NOW WITHOUT HIS
SIGHT, PARKER IS BACK WHERE HE BELONGS:
CHASING THE THRILL OF SPEED AND COMPETITION.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY RICK HEAD
By all accounts, Parker should not have survived
– but he surprised everyone around him with his perseverance,
a trait which still serves him well today.
With his girlfriend-now-fiancée, Jennifer Stegall, by his
side, Parker regained consciousness two weeks later, after
having been put into a medically induced coma as a result of
the horrific accident that ensued. “I could only hear her voice,” he
explains, still unaware that he had completely lost his sight and
had been deemed 100% blind. “I always accepted the fact that, as
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