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Thursday, September 25, 2014
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NASCAR is Carrollton Lawyer’s Golf
Mary Helen Martin
Car racing is a way of life for attorney Cade Parian. As early as he can
remember, Parian joined his father and
other family members at the Atlanta
Motor Speedway. “We had to take
our chairs and everything to the racetrack,” he recalls. “There were some
stands, but they weren’t nearly as huge
as they are these days.”
Parian’s passion for NASCAR runs
deep. “It’s my golf course,” he says.
“I’d much rather be sitting there watching an automobile race than I would
swinging a golf club.”
But as much as Parian enjoys NASCAR, he knows very little about cars.
It’s the entertainment of the sport that
draws him in as a spectator.
Parian, a principal at the Parian Law
Firm, shares with the Daily Report
why he’s such a fan of NASCAR.
What sparked your interest in
NASCAR?
Growing up in Carrollton—I’m a
third-generation Carrolltonian—my
grandfather was the president of the
Cade Parian at the Atlanta Motor Speedway
bank in Carrollton. From the time I
can remember, he has always been
interested in stock car racing. Later,
I found out that came through his
dealings with local car dealers as well
as some guys who were into racing
stock cars. He attended the very first
Daytona 500.
So by the time I was born in 1978,
my grandfather and my father and
my uncle and a lot of local people
from Carrollton, including judges,
lawyers, doctors, pharmacists, all
John Disney/Daily Report
attended NASCAR races all over the
United States.
What is it about the car racing
that you like so much?
I think once you become a fan and
you watch more than one race, you
discover there is a whole bunch of
strategy that goes into a car race and
that strategy is something they began
developing years before they even put
the car on the racetrack. It’s like my
soap opera because during the race
Daily Report September 25, 2014
you never know what’s going to happen. These guys who are out there racing as well as the teams that are behind
them are making decisions on the fly.
It’s something that I keep up with
daily. I’m one of those guys who
reads blogs and all that kind of stuff.
I’m just fascinated by the teamwork
that it takes to become a successful
race team.
What do you think about the
recent accident involving Tony
Stewart and Kevin Ward?
I don’t think Tony Stewart purposely ran over that guy. Honestly, what I
believe is Tony Stewart was there at a
local dirt track to generate excitement
for that local race. He was out there
racing just as hard as he could because
that’s what he is—he’s a racer.
I’ve heard many race car drivers say
it doesn’t matter if they are in a big
wheel or in a race car, they are going
to race no matter what. I think that was
just an accident that occurred on the
track between Tony Stewart and Kevin
Ward. … Unfortunately, it was a tragic
accident with tragic consequences.
Have you ridden in a NASCAR?
I have ridden in a NASCAR. I have
never driven a NASCAR. I have been
to the Richard Petty Driving Experience, and I’ve ridden around the track
in one. It was terrifying.
How fast did you go?
I think we were only going about 150
mph. This was at Talladega and they
go 210 mph there and I can’t imagine.
I can’t imagine the physical toll it takes
on those guys’ bodies—to do that for
four hours with the G forces and the
stress and everything else. You’re basically riding around a racetrack at 200
mph with the tire barely touching the
racetrack. That’s part of it too—kind
of the thrill.
I’m not a very big risk-taker. You’re
not going to find me bungee jumping
or doing anything crazy like that, so I
guess this is as close to something risky
as I’ll get.
Do you get a lot of interest from
people who want to go with you
because they are curious?
Yes, I do. One of my favorite things
to do is to take people to a race for
the very first time. I love to see their
face when those guys come around the
track for the very first time—the noise,
the speed, the people in the stands
screaming, just everything about it.
I’ll be the first to admit there’s some
really good people-watching at a NASCAR race. It’s an experience unlike
any other. Every race that I go to, I try
to take somebody who has never been
to one. There are exceptions to that,
but I would say 85 percent of the time I
have somebody with me who has never
been to a NASCAR race. And their
reactions are varied. I’ve had some say,
‘That was boring.’ I’ve had some say,
‘That was cool.’ And then I’ve had a
couple who are now diehard race fans.
It’s what I love to talk about.
Is there some connection with
your wife, Kasin, to NASCAR?
Her father was a champion dirt
track racer at Dixie Speedway in
Woodstock. When we first met and
started dating, I had no idea of the
connection. When I found out her
dad (Tommy Collins) was a dirt track
legend in Georgia, I was sitting there
going, wow, I’ve got this pretty girl
and her dad is a race car driver. I may
have just hit the jackpot.
The funny part is, as we got more
serious, he wanted to talk about race
car racing with me. Well, the difference
between the two of us was he actually
knew how a car worked so he’d start
asking me these questions about carburetors and shocks and valves.
After about a year, he finally figured out that my face would just go
blank and I had no idea what he was
talking about. We’ve come a long way
in that respect.
What’s the most interesting fact
most people don’t know about
NASCAR?
It would probably be that stock car
racing was founded basically by bootleggers in North Carolina. During
prohibition, in the mountain counties
of North Carolina, the moonshiners
would stock cars up and when I mean
stock car it would be a Ford or a Chevy,
things of that nature.
They would fill them up with moonshine and the cops would come out
and start chasing them and that’s
where they learned how to race. They
learned how to race by outrunning
the police with their moonshine in
their vehicles.
Reprinted with permission from the 9/25/14 edition of the DAILY REPORT
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