Teams

Parks Novelty Machine

Garage Headquarters: Mooresville, NC

Driver: “Mystery NASCAR driver”

Mechanics: Brandon Angell, Caleb Clark, Joe Harmon, Steve Pegram, Blair Stopnik

Nuts and Bolts:

Everything about the Parks Novelty Machine team sounds promising. Three of the teammates – Caleb Clark, Steve Pegram, and Blair Stopnik – work for Motorsports Management International (MMI), a leading talent management company founded exclusively to further the careers of both young and experienced racing drivers. Their cohorts Brandon Angell and Joe Harmon work in mechanical engineering and industrial design, respectively, at Corvid Technologies, a company that applies advanced physics analysis techniques to the benefit of national defense programs and auto manufacturers alike. And their driver? The team is reluctant to name names, but rumors are flying that he’s a bona fide NASCAR stock car driver. (Given that MMI works with many of NASCAR’s top stars, the possibilities are tantalizing.)

Collectively, the everyday mission of these teammates is to recognize what’s fast and make it faster. And when the method of propulsion involves horses, they’re very, very good. But their success with engineless racers is an unknown. They’ve never built a soapbox car.

Steve, the team’s captain, isn’t worried. “When Joe Harmon was an industrial design grad student at North Carolina State University, he designed and built a mid-engine supercar called the Splinter using wood composites for the chassis, body, and much of the suspension and wheels,” he comments. “For our racer, he’ll skip the wood and fabricate a chassis and body made up of metal, foam, and fiberglass.”

To cover all the bases, the teammates are going all out in terms of presentation. Their racer is a scaled replica of “Parks Novelty Machine” – the vintage racecar that won NASCAR’s first official race and the season championship in 1948. The history of the car is part of Atlanta's heritage. Steve explains, “The Parks Novelty Machine was built in Atlanta and owned by Raymond Parks, often referred to as the ‘Godfather of Stock Car Racing.’ The Ford V-8 had a colorful history that included running whiskey in addition to winning races.” Adding to the flavor, the pit crew will be kitted out in period costume as they present the racer to the accompaniment of the Blue Grass Boys, the famed folk band formed by Appalachian mountain music pioneer Bill Monroe in 1939, the same year the original Parks Novelty Machine Ford was produced.

The whole entry seems like a well-oiled machine. But the question has to be asked: In a freewheeling competition where some of the whimsical entries look more like parade floats than soapbox cars, is it perhaps possible to create an entry that’s too refined? Too meticulous? Will Parks Novelty Machine win the hearts and minds and stopwatches along Tenth Street – or will it come off like a Wagner aria at the Grand Ole Opry? A confident Steve offers the rhetorical reply, “It won in 1948, so why not in 2009?”