Parker Eatmon To Complete 2025 zMAX CARS Tour Schedule With Hettinger Racing

Parker Eatmon has joined Hettinger Racing for the remainder of the 2025 zMAX CARS Tour schedule, with the soon-to-be 19-year-old piloting the team’s No. 71 Chevrolet in the Late Model Stock division of the nation’s premier Late Model touring series.

Eatmon made his debut with Hettinger Racing on May 3 at Ace Speedway, in Altamahaw, North Carolina, and finished a solid eighth. His next race comes on the CARS Tour’s biggest stage – North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway. The May 16 Window World 100 at the historic, .625-mile oval will be broadcast live on FS1 for the first time in series history. It will have some star power in the booth too, with NASCAR Hall of Famer and CARS Tour co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., and fellow CARS Tour co-owner Kevin Harvick calling the action alongside series play-by-play announcer Eric Brennan.

“FS1 broadcasting the North Wilkesboro race is a really big opportunity for the CARS Tour and a great platform for drivers, teams and the companies they represent,” said Eatmon, who is using the race to debut a new partner, Vetted Ventures.

Vetted Ventures is revolutionizing private sales and acquisition management by pioneering an integrated, cross-industry platform tailored for a highly exclusive clientele. Built to serve discerning individuals and businesses across luxury sectors that include automotive, private aviation and elite real estate, Vetted Ventures eliminates the need to work with multiple brokers by delivering a seamless, full-service experience under one trusted brand.

“At Vetted Ventures, everything we do is built around access – real access to what others can’t see or secure,” said Jesse Piccolo, founder and owner, Vetted Ventures. “Partnering with Parker Eatmon and Hettinger Racing at North Wilkesboro is a natural fit because they represent the next generation of elite performance. This collaboration brings together the exclusivity of our brand with the raw talent and drive that defines true competitors. It’s a reflection of our belief that when you align with the right people, wins follow.”

Eatmon earned an impressive victory last December when he won the prestigious Thanksgiving Classic 250 at Southern National Motorsports Park in Lucama, North Carolina. It was a home track win for Eatmon, who is from nearby Wilson.

“I had to fight for that win,” Eatmon said. “It definitely wasn’t given to me.

“With about 50 laps to go, I knew I had a pretty good shot to win. We played our strategy right and my racecar really came to me toward the end of the race.

“We had a long, green flag run and I took the lead with about 10 laps to go. But then the caution came out with seven to go, and that’s when I really had to buckle down and fight. I got moved up a couple times, but finally regained the lead with about five to go, and that’s when I drove away.”

Since beginning his racing career at age 9 in Bandoleros. Eatmon has been driving away. With numerous wins in that starter division, Eatmon moved to Legend Cars. From age 14-16, Eatmon drove these scaled-down, purpose-built racecars and racked up 21 victories, three track championships and the 2021 U.S. Legend Cars National Championship. After that, it was time to move to Late Model stock cars, with Eatmon debuting in the 2022 season opener at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

“The transition was different than I expected,” Eatmon said. “I came off that year in Legend Cars winning everywhere I went, and I was expecting to win in Late Model. But a Late Model is just different, and the level of competition is a lot higher. I went from sitting in the center of a Legend Car to sitting on the left side of a Late Model. And then, instead of eight to 10 guys who you were battling for a win, well, now there were 20-25 guys. Plus, a Legend Car race is 20 laps. In the Late Model, you’re out there for 75 laps.

“We were still running top-five, so in hindsight it was good, but when you’re used to winning, not being able to punch through to finally get that win wears on you.”

So, Eatmon took a break. Similar to a student who takes a gap year before college, Eatmon took a gap year from racing and focused on school. He took all of 2023 off and didn’t start racing until the end of 2024, which coincided with his graduation last May from Rocky Mount Academy and enrollment at Wake County Technical Community College in Raleigh where he is studying construction management technology.

“When I graduated, I was like, ‘Alright, I can focus on racing now,’” Eatmon said. “I was at the Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway helping coach some of the younger kids who were racing for the Legend Cars team I used to drive for. I had just graduated, so the stress of school was gone and I had this newfound freedom to get back into racing. I missed it, and I had a renewed focus to get back after it.”

The Thanksgiving Classic victory at Southern National was confirmation that Eatmon had made the right choice.

“It was kind of like the monkey off my back,” said Eatmon of that breakthrough win. “It was like I’d been waiting for this.”

Now the only wait Eatmon has is the time in between each CARS Tour race, and he has a fulltime teammate in Donovan Strauss to confer with before, during and after each event.

“I used to race against Donovan in 2021 when we ran Legend Cars down in Georgia at Atlanta and Lanier, so I know him pretty well,” Eatmon said. “It’s helpful having Donovan as a teammate because I can go to him and see what he’s feeling and, if he’s better than me one weekend, then I can go to him and see what he’s doing and relay information back and forth to see where we can both pick up. Donovan’s been running pretty solidly inside the top-10 every week, so it’s a good move to come to Hettinger Racing.”

Practice for the Window World 100 begins on Thursday with two, 40-minute sessions from 12:45-1:25 p.m. and 2:15-2:55 p.m. EDT, respectively. Qualifying takes place at 7 p.m. Friday’s 100-lap race goes green at 8:15 p.m. with FS1’s coverage beginning at 8 p.m.

-Hettinger Racing Press Release