After competing at his first Westernationals in 2007, Darren Parker is returning to Perth in 2012, this time to compete in a strong field of Super Stockers in his Jerry Haas Pontiac GXP.
Parker’s journey to Western Australia in 2007 was a successful one, winning Super Sedan with a perfect 0.000 light in the final. With reaction times in all classes so important, Darren accepts that the perfect 0.000 light was a red light waiting to happen and will not be striving to be that close in 2012.
After a successful semi final finish at the season opening Australian Nationals in Sydney in September, Darren did not travel to QLD in January for the RARS round.
“Since racing at the Kwinana Motorplex in 2007 I have been hanging to come back and race at the beautiful venue,” Parker said.
“With the lush grass pits and very knowledgeable and keen crowd, racing in Perth is a privilege for us eastern state racers.”
It has taken Parker a few meetings to get his head around the Jerry Haas GXP and what it needs to go fast with the automatic transmission. With supervision and tuning guidance by Pro Stock legend Peter Ridgeway, Parker has run on the national class ET record and owns the MPH record at 182.65mph. There is more to come in this package with new gearing, transmission, suspension setup and engine tune.
Parkers GXP was built in 2010 by Jerry Haas Race cars in Missouri USA. The 400ci engine is maintained by Peter Ridgeway and Arthur Sagiaris at Custom Engines in Melbourne.
Darren would like to thank the following people for their on going support of his racing efforts;
Peter Ridgeway and Arthur Sagiaris (Custom Engines).
Neil Hendry at Cryogen Industries
Nick Xerakias (ERC Fuel)
Paul Rogers Snr and Matt Ramsay.
For some history on the build of the GXP or just to follow Darren and his efforts on the track you can follow his blog at Darren Parker Blog Link where you will be kept up to date with the latest news out of the Parker Motorsport Engineering GXP Camp.
