Harry Jefferson's WC #95-1975
Stock Car Racing History
John:
I don't think I have any photos of the 95 car, but I did take a series of photos of Parky's shop in 1975 (Charlotte). I have pics of both the WindsorBoss and a 350 Chevy. I will try to find them. I went to work for Parky in June of '74. He moved to Charlotte in June of '75. I was the only employee that moved with him. I thought that my moving with him would make me his number one employee. But that thought soon ended when someone I recognized from magazine articles interviewed for a job, Robert Yates. Robert and I got to be good friends, we actually car pooled to work together. I left Parky and came back to Oregon in '76. Robert and I kept in contact for many years. I think it was the fall of '86 when Robert told me he was going to work for Harry Rainier. It was the year that Elliott ran 212mph at Talladega. Robert told me he had built his first Ford motor since leaving Parky and went to Talladega to test with Davey Allison. He said they tested at 214mph with a totally legal setup right out of the box. He gave Parky credit for what he had learned so many years before.
In the spring of '76 Parky sold a WindsorBoss for $8100 and a 350 Chevy for $6700. In my opinion the Ford was a better engine. Parky developed the WindsorBoss for George Jefferson (on George's dime). The first ones even used a stock cast Windsor crank (internally balanced with mallory metal). In '74 George had ordered a new engine, but Parky drug his feet building it, so George and Harry were forced to race their only engine (with cast crank) for 17 races (some of which Harry won) without a rebuild. They were pretty good engines.
Parky worked for Bill Stroppe in the '50s and was Parnelli Jones' crew chief for the stock cars. It was during this time that he had met Eddie Pagan and John Holman. Eddie was one of the people who convinced Parky to move to Charlotte, Parky's shop in Charlotte was next door to Hutcherson Pagan. In the '50s Parky was also involved with the Galpin Ford race cars, I think this is when he was involved with Ron Hornaday Sr. Sometime around 1960 something happened that made Parky wash his hands of racing. He never said why, but he got out of racing and moved to Portland. He worked as a machinist at a auto parts house. He eventually got involved in boat racing. He built engines for a 5 liter Hydroplane named "Pussycat". This boat held the world records for the 5 liter class. He also built the engine for the race from Portland to Astoria that is mentioned in his obituary. It was, I believe an SK type boat. It had a 427 Ford in it. Parky drove the race himself. He said he would run at full throttle for 20 minutes, breathe it for 5 minutes then back to full throttle. It seemed he said it took about 90 min. to run the race and second place was about 20 min. behind. The Astoria- Meigler bridge had just been completed adding extra distance to the race course. Although the race distance was longer, Parky broke the record. The boat was later sold to a "racing family" in Portland. When I worked for Parky in Portland, the boat came in a few times for repair after being torn up. Parky would always say, " Well, Doug was letting Annie Green Springs drive the boat again". In the late sixties Parky started building engines for local stock car racers. He also got to know Keith Randall in Portland, a very respected Indy car engine builder. Parky learned many secrets from Keith. I never heard how George Jefferson and Parky met but I think Parky started building George's engines around 1973.
As far as Harry's early years in racing, this is what I heard from George or Parky:
In the sixties, there was some unofficial competition for the fastest driving time from Yakima to Natches, I think on US hwy 12. Harry always held the record in a Ford. Later George and Harry decided to try stock car racing. The first car was a 64 Fairlane that George built. Parky said it was the best handling car George ever built. Harry won many races in it in the Late Model Sportsman class (Nascar). Harry liked to pass Hershel McGriff on the outside the wave ByeBye in the mirror. I recall that the second car was a 69 Torino fastback raced in Winston West. I watched Harry race this car at Portand in '73. He raced Dick Bown in a Hemi Roadrunner for third place during the first 175 of 200 laps. Harry would pull alongside in the turns and Dick would out power him down the straights. This lasted every lap for the first 175 laps until Harry completed the pass and finished third. I had never saw a Ford run fast in Portland. There was an article about this race in StockCar magazine, that indentified Parky as the engine builder. Because of that race, I went to Parky to have an engine built for the car I have in my profile pic. That was how I came to come to work for Parky. I think George's/Harry's third car was a '70/'71 Torino that George built, raced in WW also. George also built a 69 Torino notchback that I think was the second LMS car. I think the '69 Notchback was wrecked at Yakima in '75 when Harry broke his collarbone. I think the next cars in the order were the '72/'73 HP car, the Cougar, then the Granada.