About Pal Parker
Pal’s career as a race photographer began in1964 when he went to work for Bill France Sr. as a staff photographer at Daytona Speedway. He had already enjoyed a long time love and involvement in racing. Moving to Daytona as a teenager he attended the beach-road course stock car and motorcycle races. On the beach course he sold programs, pulled cables for the flying mile time trials
and anything else just to be close to the action. Thru the years Pal has been a promoter, car owner, mechanic, driver, announcer, flagman, drag strip operator, run the flying mile on the beach, Chief Stewart for the NASCAR Timing division, four time competitor in the Cannonball Run (coast to coast race) and most anything else in racing that seemed like the thing to do at the time. Working from his base in Maggie Valley N, C. Pal recorded life on the NASCAR circuit during the golden years of NASCAR, “When the Legends Began.”
In addition to being a photographer for “Big Bill France”, Pal served for several years as the Official Photographer for Charlotte Motor Speedway, as a special assignment photographer at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for seven years. He was Official Photographer for several major tracks including Atlanta and Rockingham. Pal covered most of the major U.S. speedways capturing all types of motor sports including motorcycles and boats. In Europe he covered the Grand Prix of Monaco Formula One Race and the 24 hours of LeMans. Photography has led Pal to 22 countries on 4 continents. He has been published in Europe, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States. He holds numerous awards for photojournalism. The Museum of The Living Legends of Auto Racing in Daytona Beach, Florida has a permanent exhibition of his NASCAR images. Pal’s historic race photos are featured in TV Shows and documentaries, Magazines and to illustrate books, as well as being used at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Pal Parker Archives was formed to preserve and make available the close to 500.000 diverse images created during his career.
