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 Born
March 7, 1984 in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, Samuel Levi Parker
was one of those literally born to race. With a father who drag
raced motorcycles, Sam was at the track by the time he was only two
weeks old. He grew up as a regular on the Australian drag racing
scene. Unlike most kids who grow up at a race track Sam was never
afforded the luxury of having access to a mini-bike, dirt bike or
motorcycle. Oddly enough the first time Sam ever rode a motorcycle
of any kind, not counting 50cc tow bikes, was when he rode a car
tire, wheelie bar equipped dragbike.
Despite growing up with a racing influence Sam took a different path
through education. Sam’s focus was math, science, information
technology, business management, etc. He had a dual interest in
racing and computers. It wasn’t until he was eighteen that Sam was
allowed to race. Australia laws require one to obtain a driver’s
license before being allowed to get a racing license. And eighteen
is the earliest age to drive. So the next weekend following his
eighteenth birthday Sam was at the track and competing on one of the
quickest bikes in the field and made it to the semi-finals. His
schoolmates from high school had no idea that Sam was involved in
motorcycle racing until they saw him on national television
competing on his Modified bike. He continued his interest in racing
while earning a Bachelor of Computer Science degree and today works
in that field.
Although a racing career was started at eighteen, the road from kid
running around the pits to finally getting to race was a long one.
Sam started crewing for his dad at the age of twelve. The life of
being a kid was over. His dad won the number 1 plate that year. When
Sam turned fifteen his dad took his racing up a notch and purchased
a turbocharged methanol Funnybike style bike. That was the time that
the “family” modified bike that had taken his dad to a national
championship and had won just about every title available to
sportsman racers in Australia was sat on the shelf waiting for Sam
to turn 18. When the time came, Sam and his dad de-tuned the bike
for all of two races then started adding back “go-faster-bits” the
following season. The season after that, the bike received a 1327cc
ex-Pro Stock engine that had gone as quick as 7.70. That allowed Sam
to compete at a high level in Competition Bike (index class) and
ending up taking a number of wins.
While racing in
Competition Bike Sam started to build his dream bike for his dream
class – Pro Stock. With a local built chassis and a 1640cc GSX
engine from Chris Hope of the UK, Sam was racing in PSM shortly
after his 21st birthday. This combination took him to a best of 7.69
@ 169mph. The bad part was that dreams are not always what they are
cracked up to be. After only one season in PSM, Sam realized it was
not as fun as he had imagined. After only one season Sam sold the
bike in order to fund a nitro Top Fuel motorcycle.
Although it seemed like
an expensive choice, Sam’s father had just purchased an ex-Jay Upton
fuel bike and it made sense to run two bikes in the same class. Sam
found a gorgeous bike that had been built for Ron Webb, but had most
famously been raced by the duo of Geoff Pollard and Mike Dryden.
After half a season with the KZ setup, a motor was purchased from
Dryden along with some upgraded running gear. The first season
resulted in a drastic personal best improvement to a 6.75 and
215mph. Running on a budget about one quarter of their competition,
Sam and his dad finished as good as 3rd and 4th in the championship
in three years of competition.
After satisfying his
dreams Sam realized that the most fun he ever had racing was back in
the Sportsman days. Although his dad still competes in Top Fuel, Sam
is taking a step back and returning back to his Competition Bike
roots. He has taken on the challenge of building something slightly
left field and is tackling the national index record in Competition
Bike once again. Sam is very excited about racing again. He is
building a new nitrous oxide injected ZX7 based bike and hopes to
debut it late this year.
Other Areas of
Interest
Residence: Grovedale
Occupation: IT Manager
Team Name: Parker Racing
Crew Members: Greg Wilson, Jake Bowman, Scott Brown and Anna
Morgan
History of racing bikes and classes:
Suzuki GSX 1327cc in Modified (PB 9.00@145mph) and Competition Bike
(PB 8.35@156mph)
Suzuki GSX1640cc 4 valve Prostock Bike with Hayabusa Bodywork (PB
7.69@169mph)
Puppet Kawasaki 1500cc Top Fuel Motorcycle (PB 6.75@215mph)
Accomplishments: Having raced in each Australian National Drag
Racing Association class for motorcycles. PB of 6.75 seconds and
215mph
Current race bike / class:
2000 model Kawasaki ZX7 based bike with direct port nitrous oxide
injection. Being built for DD/CB
Goals: To take a national record or two
Interest outside of racing: Tinkering with street cars and
electronic gadgets.
Favorite foods: Pizza or anything my beautiful girlfriend
Anna cooks.
Favorite movie: The World’s Fastest Indian
Daily driver: A highly tweaked and nitrous oxide injected
Porsche Boxster
First motorcycle: Still never owned any bike other than drag
bikes!
Hero: My mum
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