When Norris first began his career in a Super Late Model at Lernerville, he admits that it didn’t come to him right away. Much as every other driver experiences first-hand, it takes years of practice and thousands of laps to even begin to master the sport.
All of the work he put in to that point to better himself came together over 50 laps, and the jubilance he emerged from the car with that night made it all worthwhile in the end.
“When we first started there, we had a lot of years of struggle, heartache and just plain bad luck. It almost made me hate Lernerville,” Norris said. “I hated going there because it was like a pressure cooker. All of my friends and family were around, and we struggled.
“But it pretty much taught me to never give up, and that win was the reward for not giving up,” he continued. “At that point in my career, I had, and still have, an awesome crew and great equipment. All of that put together with a little bit of luck showed in that result.”
Norris certainly had every bit of his friends, family and crew members’ support behind him that night, as well as a father to make proud. He looks up to dad a lot, but also had his childhood heroes that he now stands with on the all-time World of Outlaws Feature win list.
Norris recalls watching them from the grandstands as a kid, and now joins them in the record books.
“I remember [Shannon Babb] came to Lernerville on a whim and mopped ’em all up for that one Outlaw race; he was definitely my all-time favorite,” Norris said. “I also looked up to Josh Richards, because he helped me a lot anytime he was racing around locally. He was always real nice and would answer any questions I had.”
In the Norris family, racing is a family affair. Michael’s father is his biggest role model, and looking back on that win, he couldn’t have been prouder to do what he had always imagined accomplishing with all of his family on hand.
“The biggest thing I was excited about was doing that for my dad,” he said. “Growing up, he, my grandfather and my uncle didn’t really have a lot of money. My dad just loved racing that much, he did whatever it took to get to the track. He never had very good equipment in his early years. So, to be able to win that for him, that meant the most to me.
“My grandmother and grandfather still go to the track and watch me every week,” Norris continued. “To be able to say the Norris family did something like that, that’s what meant a lot to me.”
Coincidentally, June 22 is the date of the 100-lap Firecracker finale this year, and Norris would love to make it happen again, this time, for $24,000 more.
“I like our chances, for sure. If I didn’t, we wouldn’t be going,” Norris said.
Norris’ 2019 campaign hasn’t exactly matched that of his previous two seasons, as a string of bad luck and mechanical failures has left him with only one win through five races.
However, he sits third in points and still knows how to get around the four-tenths-mile oval just as well as he did last year. It just comes down to consistency.
“Against the Outlaws, you can’t struggle in qualifying and try to dig yourself out of a hole in the heat race and get into the redraw,” Norris said. “We just need to go out and do our job and put a whole night together for all three nights, I think that mentality is going to give us our best shot.”
With that attitude, and a pinch of luck, “The Crusher Kid” may get to relive last year’s dream once again.
If he prevails, he’ll become the first local driver to win a Firecracker 100 title.