Recent talk of the Marco Polo reminded me of a little incident during that
time period. In those years of the early ‘70s, virtually every touring
funny car racer spent the autumn months on the west coast, as there were big
races almost every week at Lions, OCIR, Irwindale, Fremont, etc. The Marco
Polo was definitely the hot spot to camp out. Anyway, during this period,
there was some kind of holiday party, or something going on at Pinks -- and
almost every name was there ... a real who's who get together. Meanwhile in
North Hollywood, Jim Tice of AHRA was paying Wally a visit. No big politics
-- just a friendly visit. (Wally and Jim actually got along pretty
well.)
I had volunteered to take Tice to the airport after his visit, and Wally
decided he would like to ride along. We had a little extra time, so I
suggested we stop by at Pink's for a couple of minutes -- just to stir
things up. When Parks and Tice walked in together, I have never seen so many
double takes in my life! The sanction wars were pretty intense in those
days, and seeing these two men together was a BIG deal! I wish we could have
heard the second-guessing and theorizing that went on after we left. I can
still see the look on Gene Snow's face ... Too bad we didn't have the
computer stuff around then ... the drag racing conspiracy crowd would have
had a field day. Those were magical times.
Hook