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 the GT-4 class. 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 competed in the Tasman Formula Pacific series in New Zealand in 1987. 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. He left professional sports car racing having set the all-time IMSA race win record at 54 victories.
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 in Wilsonville, Oregon. Several of his historically significant race cars are on display there. He is currently racing in SCCA competition in a Huffaker built HP MG Midget as well as competing in vintage racing in several different types of cars. 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 and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. He has competed in triathlons and cycling races. He lives in Wilsonville where he served as member of the City's Parks and Rec board for 5 years. He also served on the board of directors for the Children's Cancer Association.
