Parker Johnstone...
Samuel, and other Maters,
I too really enjoyed Parker Johnstone when he was part of the ESPN crew at NHRA races, but never knew about his racing background, which was pretty extensive, or his current job/career, as owner of Wilsonville Honda near Portland, OR. I doubt he will be coming back to ESPN doing pit reporting after seeing what he's got going on now. He had a blog on his dealer's website with stuff about his past racing exploits and his current interests. I had forgotten that he had joined Whit Bazemore and Mike Dunn and others on the Mt. Evans bike climb to the peak, of which they all made it this year! Here's Parker's blog about the experience. Pretty cool.
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July 13th
I just got back from Colorado, and <pant... pant...> I found out it's much easier to catch your breath here in Wilsonville!
I climbed Mt. Evans with NHRA drag racers (and my best buds) Mike Dunn and Whit Bazemore, Whit's sponsor from Matco Tools, John Torok, and a few other NHRA members who are avid cyclists. The climb to the summit of Mt. Evans is along the highest paved road in the United States, topping out at 14,186'. The ride started 28 miles down the mountain at a paltry altitude of 7,800'! We all made it (and back) on a perfect day. Although it was toasty at the start of the day (90F+), it was waaaay cold at the summit.
All of us had focused on the oxygen-debt and the challenge of an unrelenting climb for months in our training, giving no thought to the descent. Well guess what? With 60% less air pressure at 14,000' than you experience at sea level, we accelerated like race cars going downhill! Fortunately all of us pay a lot of attention to the maintenance of our bikes, because if our brakes had failed or experienced any significant fade, we would have been launched off the road at a very high rate of speed! We made up for our slow steady pace up the mountain with a rocket descent. Mike and I drafted back and forth, trying to catch Whit and his drafting partner, who were a 1/4 of a mile in front of us. It was a full-on race. Mike and I made some gains, before we both cried "Uncle!" It was an epic ride, followed by huge amounts of food and drink -- while we all relived our day on Mt. Evans. Last year this same group (except for me) had tried this ride, but didn't make it for various reasons. I was so proud of Mike Dunn -- he's had asthma since a kid, and Jon Torok -- a 3-pack-a-day smoker for 30 years until starting cycling 5 years ago. They both dug deep -- overcoming great physical obstacles in the face of no air pressure -- and made it. That's what I'll always remember -- the strength of their will overcoming what would have stopped most people... oh, and being met by a herd of mountain goats at the summit!
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I suspect Whit's friendship with Parker and their biking interests for exercise had a bearing on Whit's decision to move to the Portland, OR area. YOu always want to live near good friends or family whenever possible. Portland and the surrounding areas including all the way up I-5 to Seattle is just a beautiful part of the U.S. and other than the constant rain (drizzle) the weather is pretty nice too.
Check out Parker's Wilsonville Honda website too as it is well done.