REX PARKER is having a ball in his first-ever season of stockcar racing. "I'm loving it," the Masterton brakes man said last week. "I wish I'd done it years ago." "The people are so friendly and helpful ... and we have a lot of scares and a lot of laughs." The most recentof the scares happened the weekend before last, when Rex, 46, got on the gas in his Pontiac Transam Limited Saloon too soon and found himself going sideways down the main straight at Te Marua. With everybody watching. The week before that he was punted backwards into the wall ? just another "racing incident" in a supposedly non-contact sport. It was "just a light scrape", but when he got the car home and was unloading it the front suspension fell off ? a rose joint had broken. "We're getting there, but it's a big learning curve," says Rex. "We've cut our lap times by 5 seconds ... but it's just so different." Rex has some rally experience and has raced both at Manfeild and in local sealed events. "The first thing you learn is not to use your tarseal experience on dirt. It's more like tractor driving ? you've got to be as rough and tough as you can. It's very aggressive, agricultural stuff." However, the Limited Saloons, with their 300 ? 400hp engines, race with the 700hp Super Saloons, so while you're being agricultural and aggressive you have to watch the mirrors and keep clear of the even more aggressive and agricultural big boys charging up from behind. There are almost enough Limited Saloons to race on their own, and Rex is looking forward to that. So far he's done seven meetings "and at each one we've learned something different". He's gaining confidence in handling the car and starting to look for ways to go faster. "Now we've decided we need some new tyres," says Rex. There's another go-faster bit he needs too. "I need some brave pills, if you've got some."
