Amateur Race Car Drivers - Chasing the Spotlight

A major racing lifestyle change came in 2000 when he moved to the Midwest and competed in both the national USAC Sprint Car and Silver Crown series. In 2001, he won four of the final eight Sprint Car races, finishing Sixth in points.

It all came together for Keading in 2004 when he finished Second in both Sprint Car and Silver Crown. This past season, he was Third in Sprint Car points.

His father has also driven the new Silver Crown car, which Bud says is closer to a full-body stock car. "We will be running these cars in conjunction with the NASCAR guys, which will be great," he says.

"I think it's time in my career to get going in the stock cars. I definitely need the seat time, and I'd love to get into an ARCA or Hooters Pro Cup car. I did pretty well when I attended the Fastlane Driving School, but those stock cars are so much different. The aspect of the stock cars that I had to get used to was sitting on the left side of the car."
-B.H.

J.R. Norris
Norris, 26, is a star waiting to be found and may be the next great hope for the revitalization of the Alabama Gang. A native of Mulga, Alabama, Norris now resides in Mooresville, North Carolina, where he works on the Billy Ballew Motorsports Craftsman Truck Series team with crew chief Richie Wauters. He competes in the NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Southeast Series.

Norris started racing go karts at the age of 9 and then moved up to run the Allison Legacy Series, where he won the 1998 Alabama state championship. Norris made the move to the Southeast Series in 2004 and picked up his first win in only his fifth start at Nashville Superspeedway en route to winning the Rookie of the Year award.

This season, Norris opened up the Southeast Series season with a victory at Greenville-Pickens Speedway, in South Carolina, and the following week he was standing in Victory Lane alongside Wauters after Kyle Busch won the Quaker Steak and Lube 200 Craftsman Truck Series race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. In early summer, Norris was tied with Jason Hogan for the lead in the Southeast Series championship standings.

"Getting the chance to prove myself at any level of NASCAR would be like a dream come true for me," Norris says. "That's something I've always hoped and worked for my whole life. I quit playing sports in high school because I knew racing was what I wanted to do for a living. Racing is all I've ever wanted to do, and I want to be around the sport for the rest of my life."
-J.M.

Andy Eckrich
Eckrich, 23, of Iowa City, Iowa, was building race cars long before he could drive one. His parents, Larry and Penny Eckrich, own Precision Performance in Oxford, Iowa, where Andy, now a Late Model driver with a promising future, works as a fabricator.

"I was always involved with it," he says of dirt track racing. "With Dad having hired drivers and the business, we were always wrenching on cars. Dad always had the theory that you have to know a car inside and out before you actually got inside one."

Eckrich, who is single, began racing Hobby Stocks at age 16. He spent two years there before moving to Pro Stocks for another two years. Then he jumped to Late Models.

His accomplishments include five track championships at West Liberty (Iowa) Raceway. Last year, he won Rumble on the River, the Race of Champions in Dubuque, Iowa, and the Memphis (Missouri) Nationals as well.

Why does Eckrich race? "I guess it's in the blood. I wouldn't know what to do if I didn't," he says. This season, driving a Late Model owned by his parents, he's running regularly at the tracks in Farley and Dubuque, Iowa, in addition to special events.

"I'm trying to hit about 85 shows this year to see what we can do," he says.

Eckrich wants to eventually become a professional race car driver.

"I haven't personally tried the asphalt," he says, "but I would like to. I'd like to be on TV on Sundays. Let's just put it that way."
-P.R.

Dusty Williams
Williams is a diamond in the rough just waiting for the right opportunity. As a NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Southeast Series, driver from Garden City, Georgia, he may very well be the next NASCAR superstar.

Williams, 27, is doing all the right things with his racing career, as was evident this May at Lowe's Motor Speedway when he was walking around, shaking hands, and handing out his racing resum to the likes of Richard Childress and Joe Gibbs Racing president J.D. Gibbs.

"I just wanted the chance to introduce myself to those guys and let them know that I would love to have the chance to drive for them one day," Williams says. "It was a good chance for them to actually see me in person and put a name with a face. Plus, it was neat to be able to hand them my resum instead of giving it to somebody underneath them and they never see it at all."

Williams got his racing career started on dirt in 1996 at Oglethorpe (Georgia) Speedway, and he also competed in Legends Cars, Late Models, and the now-defunct NASCAR Goody's Dash Series before moving up to the Southeast Series on a full-time basis in 2002. He picked up his first career Southeast Series win last year at South Boston (Virginia) Speedway and is in championship contention this year.

Williams is simply hoping and waiting for that phone call from one of the top NASCAR teams.

"Getting the chance to prove myself at the next level is something I've really worked hard for," Williams says. "Getting that phone call and the chance to move up would really be huge for me, and it would let me know that all my hard work has finally paid off."
-J.M.