Steve Park remembers his days on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour fondly.
The East Northport, New York native practically grew up in the pits at race tracks across the Northeast while traveling with his father, fellow Modified racer Bob Park.
It was at those races where he acquired his passion for Modified racing, one that would eventually take him to the highest levels of NASCAR as a driver for the late Dale Earnhardt at Dale Earnhardt Inc.
“My dad, they use to call him ‘The Travelin‘ Man‘ Bob Park,” said Park, now 57. “He used to travel all up through New England racing Modifieds. I kind of grew up in a Modified racing family.”
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This Saturday, Park will be recognized for his NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour achievements when Riverhead Raceway hosts the Miller Lite Salutes Steve Park 200.
The June event at Riverhead annually honors a driver who excelled with both the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and at Riverhead. Park, as a native of Long Island, spent many nights racing at Riverhead during his formative years.
“It‘s an honor. We never set out in racing with the goal to be idolized or memorialized or to be put in Halls of Fame or have races named after you,” said Park, who was named as one of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour‘s 40 Greatest Drivers on Wednesday afternoon. “I think at one point I probably thought I‘d never get old enough to have any of that done.
“But it‘s an honor. It just goes to show you that even though you didn‘t think about it at the time, people respected what you were doing and what you were able to achieve and are proud you came from a place like Riverhead Raceway. Even though I moved and cut more of my teeth on a national level in Connecticut, I was still born and raised on Long Island.”
Park began his career racing four-cylinder modifieds, also called Pro 4 Modifieds, before stepping up to the headlining Modified division.
He still remembers the first time he climbed into a Modified at Riverhead in 1984. His father was competing for the track championship at the quarter-mile bullring, but a scheduling conflict prevented the elder Park from being at Riverhead to practice and qualify.
That opened the door for Steve Park to jump behind the wheel.
“My dad was racing ARCA at the time, and he was racing for the points at Riverhead Raceway when I was like 16 years old,” said Park. “He needed somebody to qualify his car while he was coming back from, I think, Pocono running the ARCA car. Him and his crew chief tagged me to give me the shot at it.
“I was kind of surprised and caught off guard. They felt they had enough confidence in me to run practice and run the heat race and get the car qualified for my dad and then my dad would fly back and race it. That was really my first experience, in my dad‘s car.”
Naturally when it came time for Park to make his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour start midway through the 1986 season, it happened at Riverhead. He drove to a 16th-place finish that day, which he followed with an 11th-place run in another Modified Tour event at Riverhead a few weeks later.
It was during this time that Park moved from his home on Long Island to Connecticut, a strategic move meant to garner even more racing experience.
“That‘s why I moved off Long Island to Connecticut, so I could race one more night a week and try to improve my talent to the point of deciding I wanted to go full-time in stock cars,” Park said.
Park ran his first full NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season in 1988, but it took until 1991 for him to break through for his first win. That victory came at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park during a 300-lap event while Park was driving for team owner Curt Chase.
It took two more years for Park to earn his second series win, which came at his home track, Riverhead. On that day, Park, who was now driving the No. 1 Modified for owners Tony Marciel and Guy Ronzoni, led 205 of a possible 209 laps to secure a dominant victory.
A year later Park backed up that Riverhead win with his third career victory, another stalwart performance that saw him lead 162 of 201 laps.
“Just growing up on Long Island, I‘m so proud of the people we had behind us. My uncle Bill, he owned a NAPA store and raced a Modified at Riverhead. He was one of my first sponsors,” Park recalled. “He gave us the opportunity for the parts and the paint and the things that we needed for the Pro 4 car.
“Then again, with Jack Merkel and even Dennis Freese from Oval Speed, I can‘t tell you how many times I didn‘t have the money to pay my full bill, and he‘d let me slide a week or two. He‘d always come looking for me after the race was over. All the guys [would], the tire guys, the parts guys, they would all come looking for a little bit of a check to keep me going. Really, it felt like family. Everybody we were involved with at Riverhead Raceway felt like family.”
At the conclusion of the 1994 season Park secured a new ride, this time at the wheel of the potent No. 8 Sunoco Modified for Sheba Racing owners Scott and Patty Bandzul.
During the next two seasons, Park truly came into his own. He scored 12 wins in two years and nearly won the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship each time.
In 1995, Park, who had Tommy Baldwin Jr. as his crew chief, finished just three points Tony Hirschman for the series title. The following season Park came within 12 points of the title, once again losing out to Hirschman.
After that, it was on to bigger and better things for Park. He signed with Dale Earnhardt Inc., winning three NASCAR Xfinity Series races in 1997. He signed to run a full-time NASCAR Cup Series schedule in the No. 1 Pennzoil Chevrolet for 1998, but an injury-riddled rookie campaign prevented him from running the entire year until 1999.
Park would spend the next five seasons racing at the Cup Series level, scoring wins at Watkins Glen International and Rockingham Speedway. He eventually retired from active NASCAR competition after securing wins in all three NASCAR national divisions, a feat accomplished by only 41 drivers.
Now, all these years later, Park is returning to the track that helped give him the skills necessary to eventually make it all the way to Victory Lane in the Cup Series.
“It starts at places like Riverhead,” Park said. “For them to honor (me) by naming one of their biggest races after (me), it gives me the pleasure to know that when I go up there I‘ll be able to see some of the fans and friends that have stood behind me all these years and gave me the opportunity to go on and win races at the highest levels of NASCAR.”
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