Where is ... Hank Parker?

Hank Parker Jr. is at peace with himself and the way his racing career turned out.

Not that he shouldn't be. Far from it. A nicer, friendlier person than Parker has never stepped foot in a NASCAR garage. The two Busch Series races that he won seemed to poise the young driver for an even greater success in the sport. The kid presented himself well and had some talent behind the wheel. If there's a blueprint for today's driver, that's it.

In the end, however, Parker fell prey to politics.

Autostock

Hank Parker Jr. drove three Busch races for DEI in 2003.

Hank Parker Jr.

Busch Statistics

Starts	137
Wins	2
Top-5	11
Top-10	31
Poles	1
Laps Led	127
Avg. Start	21.4
Avg. Finish	21.3

• Driver Page

A sponsor that would've landed him a ride with Roush Racing at the last minute -- maybe for all intents and purposes, after the last minute -- turned to another program at a cheaper price. Who knows where he might've wound up had it not been for the ol' switcheroo that ultimately placed him on the sidelines for good?

Parker would go on to practice and qualify Carl Edwards' Busch Series car a couple of times in 2005 and again last year. When Edwards won in the cars that Parker helped prepare, he was vocal in his support of the out-of-work driver. He wondered why Parker didn't have a ride.

And, to be honest, there was probably at least a small part of Parker that wondered the same thing. Still, he is happy away from the sport, content that his racing career is a thing of the past. Just last week, he got a call asking if he was available to drive. He wasn't.

Parker is still involved in the sport, at least in small part, by helping Motor Racing Outreach with a number of Bible studies conducted at shops in and around the Charlotte area.

"Seeing how God is in control has been amazing," Parker said. "There came a point in time in my career where I really just laid down my career and my life, and gave my life to Christ. God has changed so many things and my perspective on things."

Parker and wife Wendy have three children -- daughters Alex, 4, and Madison, who will celebrate her third birthday Sept. 11, and nine-month-old Andrew. Parker already has plans for young Andrew, a kid the family calls "Boo."

"He's a tank," Parker said. "He weighed 25 pounds at three months old. He's gonna be my retirement account. He's already got a football, and I'm teaching him how to hold on to it."

Also keeping Parker busy is Hank Parker 3D, a hunting show on The Outdoor Channel in which he appears with his father, noted television outdoorsman Hank Sr., and brother Billy, whom they call "Catfish."

"Getting to do a show with my brother is a lot of fun," Parker said. "We're short on a lot of things, but good times is not one of them. He's so crazy. You just don't never know what he's gonna do. It's just been awesome to see how things have worked out."

The Parkers are big on family, always have been. When Hank Jr. began racing in the Busch Series, he did so in a car fielded by his father. The team did the best it could through the 2000 season, and after that, Parker turned to a team co-owned by Frank Cicci and Scott Welliver. It was with them that he scored his two career victories, one each in 2001 and 2002.

Parker appeared headed for even bigger things. He made the lone Cup start of his career for Ray Evernham late in 2002, completing 389 of 393 laps at Rockingham and finishing 33rd. After that, he went to work on putting the final touches on the deal that would've put him in a Roush Racing Ford for the 2003 season.

There's no such thing as a sure thing in racing, at least not until the check's been cashed and the money's in the bank. Parker was testing his car -- or what would've been his car -- at Daytona when word came down that the sponsor was going elsewhere. Parker was out, almost for good.

He drove just six Busch Series races in 2003, three of them in a Dale Earnhardt Inc. mount, a deal no doubt struck between Parker and his good friend Dale Earnhardt Jr. While Parker scored four top-10 finishes in those half-dozen races, he has just one other start in the series, at Nashville for Roush in a fill-in deal for Edwards.

While such a disappointment might've taken the wind out of a lesser person's sails, Parker has made the most of moving away from racing.

"I'm good ... I'm content," Parker said. "I actually had a phone call the other day to see if I'd come back, and I felt really good about saying no. ... It was time to bow out. I feel like I gave it a good shot. I feel like I gave it my best. A lot about racing is timing. Obviously, there's people that were better than I was, but I feel like I did the best that I could.

"It's even tougher, now, I think. These young guys, man, if they don't perform right off the bat, they're done and they get somebody else. You've gotta perform."