Parker Johnstone

Parker Johnstone III (born March 27, 1958) is a former race car driver and motorsports announcer from Redmond, Oregon. An accomplished musician, he was the principal trumpet of the International Youth Orchestra, touring Europe, playing with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic, and famed pianist Van Cliburn. Instead of attending Juilliard School of Music, he went to the engineering school at the University of California, Berkeley, where he received his degree in 1982.

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Early career

He began his amateur racing career while in high school while working as a systems programmer in Silicon Valley part time to pay for his new hobby, racing automobiles. Winning at SCCA events, he worked as an instructor at the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving after college. He continued to win while driving Corvettes and import sedans. Honda hired him to drive during the 1984 season. He won numerous events in the IMSA Firehawk series. He finished 2nd in the Renault Cup National Championship in 1984, earning a spot with the factory Renault team to race in Europe. He returned to the United States to win the Renault Cup championship in 1985. In 1986 he won the SCCA National Road Racing Championship driving for Honda in GT-4. He also won IMSA championships in International Sedan for Acura in 1987 and 1988. In 1987 he was also the rookie of the year in the pro-Formula Atlantic division. He won the IMSA Camel Lights sports car championship 3 years in a row, from 1991 to 1993, setting all-time qualifying and race win records, including winning the 24 Hours of Daytona twice, the 12 Hours of Sebring, and 1000km Suzuka event in Japan. He finished second in both 1989 and 1990 in the IMSA International Sedan Championship.

CART

A road course specialist, he drove in mainly road course races in the 1994 and 1995 CART/IndyCar seasons for Comptech Racing. Significantly, in his oval debut at the Michigan 500 in 1995, he qualified on the pole with a new track record, giving Honda its first ever champ car pole position. He dominated the race until sidelined with a mechanical problem. In 1995, he also set the closed course world speed record in excess of 238 mph. He then moved up and ran the full season in 1996. For 1997, he moved to Team Green Racing. Although he led several IndyCar races, his best CART finish was a second place that came in 1996 at the Long Beach Grand Prix.

Retirement

After he retired from professional racing, Parker became the color analyst commentator for ABC's/ESPN's coverage of IndyCar/CART racing. When ESPN stopped covering IndyCar/CART he was moved to cover the pit action and work as the technical pit analyst for the NHRA coverage. After three years of covering the NHRA Drag Racing Championship, he left broadcasting to oversee and operate Parker Johnstone's Wilsonville Honda in Wilsonville, Oregon. Several of his historically significant race cars are on display there. He is an Eagle Scout. He is an instrument, commercial, certified flight instructor pilot and has competed and won in aerobatic competitions. He is scuba certified. He has appeared in over 50 TV commercials as well as performed as a stuntman in the movie Speed. He is a member of both the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Ferderation of Television and Radio Artisits (AFTRA). Currently he competes in triathlons and cycling races. 2006 marked his first full year of cycling competition in which he won twice. He lives in Wilsonville where he is a member of the city's board on parks. He also serves on the board of directors for the Children's Cancer Association.[1]

Racing record

American Open Wheel

(key)

CART

Year Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Rank Points
1994 Comptech
SRF
PHX
LBH
IND
MIL
DET
POR
19
CLE
17
TOR
Ret
MIS
MDO
23
NHM
VAN
13
ROA
NZR
LS
17		 35th 0
1995 Comptech
MIA
SRF
PHX
LBH
NZR
IND
MIL
DET
Ret
POR
ROA
12
TOR
CLE
11
MIS
Ret
MDO
Ret
NHM
VAN
11
LS
17		 27th 6
1996 Comptech
MIA
DNS
RIO
Ret
SRF
Ret
LBH
2
NZR
20
500
Ret
MIL
16
DET
14
POR
5
CLE
Ret
TOR
Ret
MIS
Ret
MDO
Ret
ROA
Ret
VAN
11
LS
13		 17th 33
1997 Green
MIA
8
SRF
Ret
LBH
5
NZR
Ret
RIO
12
STL
7
MIL
Ret
DET
Ret
POR
9
CLE
10
TOR
12
MIS
Ret
MDO
12
ROA
Ret
VAN
11
LS
12
FON
11		 16th 36

References

  1. ^ Johnson, Patrick (May 27, 2009). "Prisoners counted in city population". Wilsonville Sokesman. http://www.wilsonvillenews.com/ArcStoryPage.asp?Database=Story&StoryID=5967. Retrieved 2009-06-26. 

External links