Dan Parker and Michael Eckerson January 18, 2023 All Feature Vehicles
Dan Parker lost his sight in a drag racing accident in 2012. His Pro Mod Corvette hit the wall at 175 MPH while doing performance testing runs. The Corvette broke in half. Dan was put into an induced coma and woke two weeks later to find his world had completely changed. But Dan was determined to continue life as usual and to keep racing.
On February 23, 2020, Dan proved that his passion for racing would prevail as he broke the world record for the fastest blind man to operate a racecar without any human assistance. The record-setting run of 153.8 mph at Spaceport America in New Mexico was Parker’s first time driving a racecar competitively since his accident eight years ago. Parker accomplished the feat in a 2008 C6 Corvette that was customized at his shop, “Tragedy to Triumph Racing.” Modifications included RideTech coilovers which provided traction and stability to keep the vehicle on course at high speed. A special guidance system within the vehicle provided audible feedback for Parker to stay on course.
Dan is an inspiration and lets nothing stop his dreams. We learned more about Dan and his motivation to succeed. It started early on, perhaps before he was born.
In his own words, “You can make excuses, or you can make it happen.”
Dan: I was born into a racing family on July 2, 1970, in Salem, Alabama. My father, Jimmy Parker, still races today. Back in the day, my mom arrived at Phenix City Dragstrip in Alabama one hot day in May of 1970. As she opened the trunk to lay out the chicken she prepared [for lunch], Dad informed her that he was racing her Chevelle that day so she would have to set it up somewhere else. So, as Dad won rounds that day in her Chevelle and [own] his race car, he got into the finals with both cars. The track operators told Dad they would not pay for a win and runner up if both cars did not go down the dragstrip. Dad’s answer?? Put Mom in her car to drive and he would drive his! Mom won the race, not sure if Dad let her as either way he would be taking home the money. Mom did great seeing as she was 8 months pregnant with me at the time.
I was 8 years old when dad entered me into a mini bike class at an all-motorcycle event, and I placed second! In 1997, I started driving Pro Mods for Ellis Milner. I have won one Dixie Pro Stock championship as well as the 2005 ADRL Pro Nitrous world championship title. I was also in the first side-by-side 3-second Pro Nitrous pass. Racing was my life, and I never imagined it would be taken from me. In 2012, I was involved in a horrific wreck. It was a miracle that I survived the accident at all, but I was rendered completely blind as a result. I was determined to continue life as usual and to keep racing. I made a plan. I built a motorcycle and became the first-ever blind man to race at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 2013, then set my class record in 2014 with no exemptions for blindness. I race with no human assistance, and I use a custom guidance system that gives me audible feedback on how to correct my course.
Fourteen was a busy age for me. In the summer of 1984, I was working at “The Bike Shop” owned by Family friend Mike Tidd. I won my first medal of any kind (shown here) when I won the 14 age group as a bicycle road racer for the Georgia State Championships. As Lance let me work on his prized project, like putting an extra spark plug in his heads for his personal Harley Davidson, I fell in love with metalwork.
“I’m not a blind man trying to race – I’m a racer who went blind.”
Halfway through my junior year, I found out my mom was remarrying and we would be moving to the outskirts of Detroit, Michigan. As I entered Seaholm High School on my first day after being at the Vocational High School about 10 miles away for half a day that morning, I was greeted by the school clown. After he decided to make the new Southern boy the brunt of his jokes, I gave him a good Southern ass-whooping that he most likely still remembers today.
So, as my social circle was my friends at SEOVEC that came from the blue-collar working families of Detroit’s auto industry, and as I stood out like a sore thumb at Seaholm, I was introduced to the HUGE street racing scene in downtown Detroit. I saw my first Lenco on the streets of Detroit. Cars were in my blood for life at this point. My buddies convinced me to enter my brother’s 1968 Dodge Dart with a slant 6 powerplant in the High School Nationals. At the end of the day, I came in second with its 19 second quarter mile passes and I waved to my buddies on the fence as I made a pass. No worries, I still had PLENTY of time to judge the stripe because the old Dart was so slow!
After BARELY graduating high school the summer of 1988, I quit working in bicycle shops, as I had done since I was 14, and got a real job in one of Detroit’s finest machine shops owned by Veterans of World War II Navy machinists. I learned so much from men that had to make or machine anything needed from thin air in the belly of a warship as bombs exploded around them.
On February 26, 1989, I called my dad and told him I would be home down South tomorrow as I had quit my job and I had finally threw in the towel on cold climates and snow. I drove my lowered 1988 Nissan extended cab truck that I bought new without any help and reflected on my past. From racing at 8 years old on the dragstrip, winning bicycle racing championships, and racing the Dart, I knew that I would have big things to accomplish in life and I would have to find a way to blend the things of life I loved: racing, welding, and machining.
In 1997, I started driving Pro Mods for Ellis Milner. I won one Dixie Pro Stock championship as well as the 2005 ADRL Pro Nitrous world championship title. I was also in the first side-by-side 3-second Pro Nitrous pass. Racing was my life, and I never imagined it would be taken from me. It was a miracle that I survived the accident in 2012 but I was determined to continue life as usual and to keep racing. I made a plan. I built a motorcycle and became the first-ever blind man to race at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 2013, then set my class record in 2014 with no exemptions for blindness. I race with no human assistance, and I use a custom guidance system that gives me audible feedback on how to correct my course.
Dan forges ahead despite his sight loss. Even though he has achieved so many milestones in his life including the record-setting run, but Parker is not done yet. The current record for a human-assisted blind driver is 200.4 mph. Dan is working with his Tragedy to Triumph Racing team to break that record this fall and do it without human assistance.
We’ll be following along.
If you want to follow Dan’s inspirational achievements, his website is theblindmachinist.com. You can also help fund his endeavors with purchases of personally-made shaving razors and specialty pens, including one that celebrates the World Record achieving speed run.
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Suspension, Wheels, Tires, Brakes, Cooling, Exhaust
Customization
Aerodynamics
Interior & Guidance Systems
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