Manzanita Speedway
Parker ends Manzanita jinx with SWDLMS victory
By Kevin Kovac
Southwest DIRTcar Late Model Series
Lonnie Parker Jr.
Lonnie Parker Jr. of El Mirage, Ariz., continued his superlative campaign — and exorcised a personal demon — with a Sept. 13 victory in the Southwest DIRTcar Late Model Series Total Seal 25 at Manzanita Speedway. The $2,000 triumph was Parker’s seventh in 10 Southwest DIRTcar Late Model Series events this season. It also moved him closer to a fifth consecutive tour championship, building his points lead to a commanding 124 points (544-420) over Mark Fowler of Peoria, Ariz., with just three scheduled points races remaining.
But perhaps even more importantly for the 32-year-old standout, the triumph was his long-awaited first-ever on Manzanita’s famed half-mile oval. “I like racing at Manzy, but it’s always been kind of my Kryptonite,” said Parker, who extended his alltime-best SWDLMS career win total to 52. “I’ve raced there quite a bit, but it seems like every time I’ve been fast something breaks or goes wrong. I just haven’t had much luck at the place.”
Parker’s last appearance at Manzanita, on June 28 when the track hosted the SWDLMS for the first time since 2004, was typical of his fortune there. He finished 11th after blowing a tire early, snapping the six-race win streak he had brought into the event. And of course, the worst crash of Parker’s racing career occurred on Manzanita’s soil. He spent several years on the sidelines after suffering a serious foot injury in an accident there when he was 21.
“It feels good to finally get that first win taken care of (at Manzy),” said the relieved Parker, who drives a family-owned GRT car. “It’s the closest track to our (family concrete) business and quite a few people who normally don’t get to see me race were there (on Saturday night), so I was real happy to finally have everything go right there.”
What was the secret to Parker’s success at Manzanita? He attributed it to the fact that the track surface came to him.
“In the past the track has always had a lot of traction in it, and I do better when it gets a little slicker,” said Parker. “This time the surface was a little drier — at least for Manzanita. A lot of times it’s pretty hammer-down, but (on Saturday) it got slick enough where you could at least spin the tires and that worked out well for us.”
With one visit to Manzanita’s Victory Lane behind him, Parker is now focused on bagging an even bigger, richer win at the half-mile oval. He’ll return to the track on Nov. 14-15 for the Western World Championship for DIRTcar Late Models, a non-points SWDLMS program that promises to draw a banner field of drivers from across the Western states and beyond. Details are still being formulated for the major end-of-season weekend. “I’d really like to win that one,” Parker said.
