About Pal

Pal’s career as a race photographer began in 1964 when he went to work for Bill France Sr. as a staff photographer at Daytona Speedway. He had already enjoyed a long time love and involvement in racing.

Moving to Daytona as a teenager he attended the beach-road course stockcar and motorcycle races. On the beach course he sold programs, pulled cables for the flying mile time trials and anything else to be close to the action.

Thru the years Pal has been a promoter, car owner, mechanic, driver, announcer, flagman, drag strip operator, run the flying mile on the beach, Chief Stewart for the Nascar Timing division, four time competitor in the Cannonball Run (coast top coast race) along with most anything else in racing that seemed like the thing to do at the time.

Working from his base in Maggie Valley N, C. Pal recorded life on the Nascar circuit during those golden years, “When the Legends Began.”

In addition to being a photographer for “big Bill France”, Pal served for nine years as the Official Photographer for Charlotte Motor Speedway, as a contract photographer at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for seven years and was Official Photographer for several major tracks including Atlanta and Rockingham. Pal covered most of the major U.S. speedways capuring all types of motor sports including motorcycles and boats. In Europe he covered Formula One Racing and the 24 hours of LeMans.

Photography has led Pal to 22 countries on 4 continents. He has been published in Europe, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and holds numerous awards

The Museum of The Living Legends of Auto Racing in Daytona Beach, Florida has a permanent exhibition of his Nascar images.

Pal and his children formed Pal Parker Archives to persevere and make available the close to 500.000 diverse images created during his career. These images are currently being used to illustrate books, magazines, exhibits and T.V. documentaries