Norris’ Favorite Stunts Are Winning Races

Eric Norris is an expert at crashing cars, rolling them over, racing through fire and climbing out of blazing vehicles in his day job as stuntman and stunt coordinator in the TV and film industry.

For his night job, the 37-year-old son of martial-arts legend-turned-actor Chuck Norris does his best to keep his No. 32 Ford Taurus as clean and as immaculate as possible--no crashes, no rollovers, no fires. The best way to accomplish that is by keeping it out front during Winston West races.

Norris has done that well this season, winning two of five races, claiming two poles and leading second-place Austin Cameron by 52 points with five races remaining, beginning with Saturday night’s Jani-King 200 at Irwindale Speedway.

“I started out racing as a hobby, but it has become my passion,” said Norris, who lives in Dana Point with his wife, Stephanie, and three daughters. “I’d do it full-time, but you can’t make a living running Winston West, so I have to keep on working. I enjoy stunt work, but I’ve got to the point where I’d rather plan and coordinate them rather than do them myself.

“I’m no adrenalin junkie who gets a kick out of scaring himself to death.”

He was director of “Walker, Texas Ranger,” starring his father, which used to air weekly on CBS.

Norris, whose wins came at California Speedway and Evergreen Speedway, in Monroe, Wash., hopes to parlay his Winston West successes into a Busch Grand National or a Craftsman Truck ride next year.

“Like everything else in racing, it all comes to finding a sponsor,” he said. “There’s a big difference between what we’re doing and what we’d like to do, but that’s not going to stop us from trying.”

The budget to run in the Busch series is between $4 million and $5 million. Norris’ Winston West budget is between $600,000 and $700,000.

Norris and Matt Stowe, co-owner of the car, will collect a $10,000 bonus from Winston this week as the leader at the midpoint in the series.

“The bonus money came down to Cameron and us at Monroe. We had to finish second, even if he won and that’s the way it looked like it was going to finish. We were just cruising along behind Cameron when he ran out of gas on the last lap, and there we were, in front.”

So, instead of carrying a two-point lead into Saturday night’s 200-lap race, Norris is 52 in front.

“Irwindale is our most important race,” said Norris. “Jani-King sponsors our car, and they’re also sponsoring the race, so a couple of hundred people will be there from the company. And my dad and all the family will be there too.

“I love the Irwindale track, but I hate my finishes there. I’ve never had any luck, but we’re coming to Saturday night’s race with a whole new set-up for the track and we figure to have a shot at winning.”

In three races at Irwindale last year, Norris finished ninth twice and 20th once.

“We’ll have the same car that won at Monroe,” he said. “It’s about 6 years old and was driven by Michael Waltrip in Winston Cup before we got it, but Jerry Pitts and the crew has it running like a new car.

“The difference between this year and the last couple is that we’ve quit having bad luck. We don’t look for good luck necessarily, but we like to avoid bad luck, and that’s the way it’s been this year. We’ve paid our dues, so it’s our turn to reap the rewards of the seeds we’ve sewn the past four years.”

Cameron, a winner at Irwindale in 1999 and a winner this year at Phoenix and Las Vegas, will challenge Norris in a Chevrolet. The El Cajon driver has been fast qualifier in three of the last four races.

In addition to the 200-lap main event, there will be late models and Grand American modifieds on the program.

Stock Car Hall of Fame

Thirty stock car racing personalities, headed by Jackie McCoy, Ray Elder and Hershel McGriff, will be inducted into the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame tonight at the Sheraton Four Points hotel in Monrovia.

McCoy is the winningest driver in what has become the Winston West series, winning 54 races and two championships. He is also author of a definitive history of West Coast stock car racing: “Racing’s Real McCoy,” ($39.95, McRacebook Publishing, Modesto). In its 550 pages are summaries of every Winston West race since 1954, when it was the Pacific Coast Late Model series.

Elder is a five-time Winston West champion and the only Winston West driver to win a Winston Cup race against big-name drivers. He did it twice, in 1971 and 1972 at Riverside.

McGriff was voted most popular Winston West driver for 12 consecutive years and retired only this year at California Speedway at the age of 74. He is the series’ oldest winner, having won at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield in 1989 when he was 61.

In addition to the banquet, many of the honorees will participate in the second annual West Coast Stock Car Reunion at Irwindale Speedway before Saturday night’s Winston West main event. The inaugural inductees:

Drivers--McCoy, Elder, McGriff, Bill Amick, Danny Letner, Eddie Gray, Johnny Soares Sr., Lloyd Dane, Lou Figaro, Marvin Panch, Marvin Porter, Parnelli Jones, Ron Hornaday Sr., Scotty Cain, Troy Ruttman, Bill Schmitt, Jim Insolo, Jim Robinson, Roy Smith.

Promoters--Les Richter, Bob Barkhimer, J.C. Agajanian, Ken Clapp, Charlie Curryer.

Car owners--Bruce Alexander, Carl Dane, Cos Cancilla, Jim Dane, Ernie Conn.

Car builder--Bill Stroppe.

Sprint Cars

While defending Sprint Car Racing Assn. champion Cory Kruseman of Ventura is showing the Midwesterners how racing is done on the West Coast, the SCRA will hold its final local race Saturday night at Perris Auto Speedway until September before heading east.

Kruseman won the first three features in last week’s Indiana Sprint Week series, winning Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights at Gas City, Putnamville and Haubstadt. The series continues tonight in Bloomington, Saturday in Terre Haute and Sunday in Kokomo.

Following Saturday night’s Perris main event, the SCRA will compete in the opening rounds of the Non-Wing World Championship in Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Kansas before returning to Perris on Sept. 1.

Three-time champion Richard Griffin won last week in Santa Maria, his third win this season, but he has not won at Perris since September.

While the SCRA is gone, Perris will host the Ventura Racing Assn. sprint cars on Aug. 3 and 17.

The VRA’s home track will be taken over for the Ventura County Fair.

Jack Hewitt, one of the U.S. Auto Club’s greatest sprint car drivers, is hospitalized with critical neck injuries sustained in an accident during a race Monday night in North Vernon, Ind. Hewitt, 51, winner of 76 USAC races, is scheduled for neck surgery today. He was in “serious but stable” condition Thursday at Indianapolis Methodist Hospital.

Last Laps

Oriol Servia of Spain will replace Townsend Bell of San Luis Obispo in Pat Patrick’s car for the next five CART champ car races, starting with Sunday’s Molson Indy Vancouver. ... Phil Clarke of San Diego has been appointed director of club racing for the Sports Car Club of America.

IROC officials announced that they will run an 11-car field in the Aug. 3 finale at Indianapolis rather than find a substitute driver for Al Unser Jr. Unser, who finished second in the last IROC, is undergoing substance abuse treatment at an undisclosed site.

Tickets for the 2003 AMA Supercross series go on sale Saturday. The season opens Jan. 4 at Edison Field, with two more races there Jan. 18 and Feb. 1. Last year’s races were sellouts.