Keith Smith

Danny Parker of Fayetteville, N.C., a Hav-Tampa Dirt Racing Series winner at Fayetteville (N.C.) Motor Speedway where he was a member of the track’s Hall of Fame, died Sunday morning, according to family members. The driver of the No. 15 Late Model, who battled Parkinson’s disease in recent years, was 77.

Parker, whose stock car career spanned from 1969-96, piled up more than 400 victories overall, including special events in the Carolinas at Dublin Motor Speedway, Lancaster Motor Speedway and Fayetteville, where he earned a career-high $10,000 payday for a Hav-A-Tampa victory in 1994 during a season when Scott Bloomquist won 22 series races.

Parker, a 2022 inductee into the Fayetteville-Cumberland Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame, in 1984 won state championship races for Virginia (Wythe Raceway), South Carolina (Lancaster) and North Carolina (Dublin) and the following season won eight of nine wedge-car specials at Dublin along with Fayetteville’s Coca-Cola 100.

Other victories came at tracks including Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, S.C., Lake View Motor Speedway in Nichols, S.C., Concord (N.C.) Speedway and on asphalt at Southern National Speedway in Kenly, N.C.

Visitation is 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 15, at Rogers and Breece Funeral Home in Fayetteville followed by a 7 p.m. service.

Editor's note: Updates with arrangements.