MUSCATINE, Iowa —  Hank Brown’s face is filled with joy when he talks about his most recent achievement in drag racing.

Last week at Cordova Raceway in Cordova, Ill., Brown, 39, of Muscatine received the Wally Parks Award, affectionately dubbed “The Wally.”

The award, which is one of the highest honors in drag racing, is named in honor of Parks, the National Hot Road Association founder who died in 2007 at age 94.

“Some people work all their lives to win one of these,” said Brown.

Brown took his “Wally” at the Lucas Oil Divisional Race Aug. 7 and 8, where he became the Lucas Oil Top Dragster out of 32 qualifying cars. His competitors came from throughout the nation, including California, Pennsylvania and Kansas. They  qualified by covering a quarter-mile strip in 7.7 seconds or less.

Brown qualified by traveling the quarter mile — or about 1,320 feet — in 6.9 seconds.

Brown said he beat out the No. 3 and No. 8 racer in the country for Top Dragster.

“This is the best year I ever had,” said Brown whose voice conveyed a mix of humble awe and enthusiasm. “My friends said it best: ‘The better you do, the more luck comes your way.’ People notice that and try to race you and they make  mistakes.”

Kudos

Brown’s happiness is shared by his friends and family. 

Brown, general manager of his father’s (Jim Brown) trucking company, JRB Target of Muscatine, is a busy man who, with his wife, Tina, is raising four children.

“You really have to work for this,” said Tina, 35.  “Hank is having a stellar year.”

Mike Riggan, owner of Tantara Transportation of Muscatine, said he couldn’t be happier for his friend. “Hank works real hard at it,” said Riggan.

A car and a dream

Hank said he’s always been interested in hot rods and racing, and one day, he started chasing his dream.

“First, I got a muscle car in 2001, a 1969 Camaro, and started taking my family in it,” he said. “Then, I got to where I wanted to take it out to the track and see how fast it would go.”

Brown learned the car could reach a speed of 100 mph in 12.2 seconds on the quarter mile. In 2001 he began racing the car at Cordova.

But he wanted to build a dragster that would go even faster.

His dad helped Hank buy a year-old chassis in 2002. Hank, who does all his own motor work, built a Chevy, blown-alcohol 580-cubic inch motor, which has been modified to hit about 1,400 horsepower.

He entered his first race with that dragster at the Tri-State Raceway in Earlville later that year.

A family affair

Tina said she was concerned about safety when Hank began his new hobby, but now she’s the chief of Hank’s pit crew.

And Hank and Tina’s children, Dakoda, 14, Isaac, 13, Jody, 10, and Bailey, 8, are all junior dragsters.

“It really is a safe sport as long as you double check everything,” said Tina. “It’s safer than riding their bikes across the streets.”

And their grandmother, Karen Brown, is right there to cheer them on.

Hank said his mother is his biggest fan. “She gets more excited than anybody,” he said.

Online

Learn more about the Wally Parks National Hot Rod Association             museum at: http://museum. nhra.com/news.asp