The Parker 400 race began in 1971 and was called the “Dam 500” for its inaugural running. Created by the Parker Dam Chamber of Commerce (now known as the Parker Area Chamber of Commerce) and race sanctioning body NORRA, the Dam 500 had more than 100 entries in its first year but slumped to 37 entries in year two (16 finishers) and 83 entries in year three.
Under the late Mickey Thompson and Sal Fish, SCORE took over and changed the name to the “Parker 400” and ran the event from 1974 until 1985, when the High Desert Racing Association joined with SCORE to promote the event that year. SCORE resumed promoting the race into the late 1990s, then Whiplash Motorsports took over for four years, and co-promoted the 2002 race with SNORE. Most recently Best In The Desert operated the race for the past 20 years.
The storied race has been won by a host of local racing luminaries including Dan Beaver and Manny Esquerra — who is still widely recognized as one of the greatest racers in the sport's history.