A method and apparatus for controlling the parking of a transducer head in a disk drive. A drive current is provided to a motor which controls movement of the head in a direction to move the head to a parking position. The arrival of the head at the parking position is detected. Upon this detection, a drive stop sequence is initiated to stop providing the drive current a short time after the head reaches the parking position. In one embodiment, it is determined whether the head has reached the parking position by monitoring the back emf (bemf) of the motor controlling the head, typically a voice coil motor (VCM). The detection of a sharp decline in the bemf indicates the head has stopped.