Eric Norris - Racing Obsession

Eric Norris has enough excitement in his life working as a director and stunt coordinator. That's the career you'd expect for the son of actor and karate wizard Chuck Norris. But Eric's heart is in racing. He's coming off the best season in his racing career, and says Hollywood will now have to wait.

The year 2002 was incredible for me, all the guys at Norris Racing, and my major sponsor, Jani-King. Winning the NASCAR Winston West championship last year was the culmination of a goal we set back in 1998, our first full season in the series.

It's all the sweeter given that our core sponsor group and team members never gave up despite three frustrating years of could-haves, should-haves, and every bit of bad luck possible. But nobody jumped ship, and here we are reaping the rewards of all that hard work and determination. It is definitely the highlight of my racing career-at least for now-and gives me a good excuse for getting so obsessed in this crazy sport called racing.

My family was always involved in sports. It was a part of growing up in the Norris household. Most people know my dad, Chuck, through his karate and acting, but he also raced boats (he won a championship in the Popeye's boat) and drove in celebrity off-road races with me as his co-pilot. I also raced motorcycles for a while. Then a friend let me drive a Formula 2000 car in several road races. The hook was set and my life has never been the same.

I knew NASCAR was the best opportunity for a driver to find sponsorship back in 1996 with the CART/IRL rift. That's when I met Matt Stowe, who was able to put together a six-race deal in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series as a teammate to Mike Bliss and Ultra Motorsports

It was tough-my first real go at oval track racing. Making the races was an accomplishment back then. They'd have 50 trucks show up at every race, and we didn't have any provisional starting positions. I remember we were racing at Richmond and we had over 200 sponsors there, and my dad was flying in to watch the race. Well, we didn't make the race, my dad was in the air, and my sponsors were wondering why I was in their suite watching my race with them. It made for a long night!

That first year in the Truck Series made me realize just how important seat time was, and I set out to learn more about what the cars were telling me, how to convey that to my crew chief, how to drive ovals, etc. That's when Matt and I decided to start our own Winston West team in 1998.

It seems like such a long time ago now--especially as I look at just how far I have come as a driver and Norris Racing as a team. I'm surprised we were able to finish 14th in points our first year in Winston West given our resources. In 1999 we got a little better; we had our first Top 3 at the season finale in Japan and finished 11th. In 2000 we won our first race at Bakersfield and finished 7th.

We had a strong team in 2001, but everything imaginable happened to us--in a bad-luck way--and we finished 5th in points. Then we re-signed Jani-King as a sponsor a week before our first race in 2002 in Phoenix, where we won our first pole and went on to win the championship with an average finish of 3.5. It was a dream season for sure.

We aren't resting on our championship, though. In fact, right now we're working harder than ever to put a deal together to go Truck Series or Busch Series racing this year. We're ready for a new challenge. More than ever, I now understand why they say it's more about the journey than the destination.