HENDERSON, NC  --  Perhaps the most successful of the late Mickey Thompson’s drag racing efforts was this Ford Mustang Mach I Funny Car.  Standout drag racer and later Indy Car driver Danny Ongais drove this car to victory and track records at the 1969 NHRA Nationals, at Indianapolis Raceway Park. Thompson has been posthumously named the 2009 recipient of the Wally Parks Motorsports Statesman of the Year Award.  His son Danny will receive the award for his father at the East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, October 18, 2009, in Henderson, NC. PHOTO COURTESY OF JOEL NAPRESTEK

HENDERSON, NC  --  Mickey Thompson (in car) and Wally Parks (right) often worked together to promote safe, sanctioned drag racing events that took young people off the streets and gave them a supervised place to race.  Here they look over Mickey’s AA/Dragster prior to the 1962 NHRA Winternationals, in Pomona, CA.  Thompson was posthumously named the 2009 recipient of the Wally Parks Motorsports Statesman of the Year Award.  Mickey’s son Danny will receive the award for his father at the East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, October 18, 2009, in Henderson, NC.  PHOTO COURTESY NHRA AND NATIONAL DRAGSTER

HENDERSON, NC --  Mickey Thompson, a backyard hot rodder who dreamed big and achieved even bigger has been selected to receive the Wally Parks Motorsports Statesman Award during the East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame weekend in Henderson, NC, October 16-17-18, 2009.

            “Few individuals in any form of motorsports accomplished as much as did Mickey Thompson”, noted Nancy Wilson, East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame Executive Director. 

“Mickey Thompson began as a teenaged, backyard hot rodder and in his lifetime became a world class racing driver, engineer, promoter and entrepreneur whose life and activities touched nearly every facet of motorsports.  Mickey’s amazingly rich heritage in drag racing includes the design and creation of the first slingshot dragster, aluminum hemi cylinder heads for Pontiac and Ford engines, a revolutionary redesign of the Funny Car chassis, “zoomie” exhaust headers for Funny Cars, and drag racing’s first monocoque, Funny Car chassis.  In his remarkable lifetime he set hundreds of land speed records in dozens of different vehicles, was the first American to top 400 mph and establish an official one-way land speed record, created the concept of indoor and outdoor stadium off-road racing, designed the first low-profile, “wide-oval” tires for Indy racing, founded a major racing products company, and was responsible for achievements in all forms of motorsports. He also successfully founded, managed and promoted the legendary Lions Drag Strip, in Long Beach, California.  Mickey Thompson truly was the ‘Renaissance Man’ of motorsports”, observed Nancy Wilson.

            “Mickey Thompson’s son, Danny Thompson, and other family members will be our honored guests, and Danny will accept the Wally Parks Motorsports Statesman Award posthumously for his dad”, added Ms. Wilson.

            The East Coast Drag Times Hall Of Fame® Weekend happens each year in Henderson, NC.  Festivities include Friday’s  Southern Style Barbeque and car show sponsored by the Ambassador’s Inn & Suites.  Saturday’s main attraction is the all-types Show & Shine car show, with 1,500+ hot rods, street rods, race cars, musclecars and antiques occupying the entire downtown area of historic Henderson, NC.  On Sunday, October 18, the weekend event wraps up with Hall of Fame induction ceremonies and racer’s reunion at the Vance-Granville Civic Center.

            Wally Parks, for whom the award is named, was the founder of the National Hot Rod Association and a primary force in the creation of the NHRA-Wally Parks Motorsports Museum, in Pomona, CA.  Parks and Thompson have been internationally recognized for their efforts at taking drag racing off the streets, organizing it, implementing safety rules and moving it into becoming a professional motorsports activity now contested around the world. 

January 23, 2009, the date on which the award recipient is announced each year, would have been Wally Parks’ 95^th birthday.   

Previous honorees include Ed Iskenderian and Bones Balough, 2008 co-recipients, Bret Kepner, 2007, and Linda Vaughn, in 2006.

            For information on attending or participating, contact:  Vance County (NC) Department of Tourism, 946-T, West Andrews Avenue. Henderson, NC 27536, or call (866) 438-4565, ext. 21 or view additional information on the event and Hall Of Fame ceremonies on the web site.

            The Hall Of Fame Weekend, October 16-17-18, 2009, is sponsored by The Vance County Tourism Department.