Driver Derek Parrott inspired by late mother

CEDAR RAPIDS — The 2023 racing season at Hawkeye Downs Speedway has special meaning to Hobby Stocks points leader Derek Parrot.

He’s driving with a purpose.

“This entire season I am dedicating to my mom,” Parrot said. “One of my goals is to win a championship in her honor. It would be huge for my family.”

Tink Parrot died on Dec. 31, 2022.

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“She lived in Mount Pleasant and she’d drive all the way up every week for the races and stay with me,” Parrot said. “She was always in the stands and always watching.

“I just really miss her.”

While Tink no longer is in her typical viewing area at the track, her spirit is with Parrot during every race thanks to his lettering and design ability.

“Her name was Tink, so I made a little Tinkerbell logo and I carry her on the back of the car,” Parrot said. “I redrew it from a photo I found online and customized it.

“I cried putting it on the car.”

Tink’s spiritual presence working in unison with Parrot’s desire to win has paid dividends thus far.

On the second night of weekly races (May 19), Parrot took the checkered flag. It was the perfect opportunity to pay homage to his late mother.

“The first win I dedicated to her in victory lane,” Parrot said. “Just to have everyone down there that night was pretty special.”

The following Friday, Parrot again outpaced competing Hobby Stock drivers on his way to another first-place finish.

“You can’t win them all, but I’m going to try for her,” Parrot said.

Through six races, Parrot leads second-place Adam Petrezelka by three points.

Dating back to his first win, Parrot’s been spectacular, finishing top two in each of his last five feature races. He’s doing it while driving just the way Tink always wanted him to.

“She would say, ‘race clean,’” Parrot said. “She was a big Mark Martin fan. He always passed everybody clean and raced everybody clean.

“He was a gentleman. That’s what she wanted from me.”

Parrot, 50, has been involved with Hawkeye Downs, both racing and lettering cars, since the early 1990s.

Over the years, Tink always knew what to say and how to approach her son and his team at the track.

“She just always told me good luck, that was it,” Parrot said. “She knew when we’re in the pits we try to focus, so she’d leave us alone.

“She’d always come down afterward.”

Parrot’s first win came in 1994. Since then, he’s had his fair share of success behind the wheel. In 2008, he took home the Hornets Division season crown.

Of all the fond memories Parrot’s made at the track in his 30-plus years at Hawkeye Downs, one of his favorite moments came after a victory last season.

“We won a feature here and we went out and celebrated at Cancun on 33rd,” Parrot said. “It was the first time she’d ever done a shot of tequila in her life. It was pretty cool.”

As for his aspirations to be the track champion this season, he knows what he needs to do to stay atop a competitive leaderboard.

“Pretty much everybody out there is tough competition,” Parrot said.

“To win, you have to consistently be in the top three and don’t put yourself in harm’s way.”

No matter how tough the competition gets, while no longer in the crowd, Parrot knows he’ll always have his mom with him on the track.

“I don’t remember her ever missing a race,” Parrot said.

She’ll never have to.