nals, as Norton and Weatherford drew each other in the random chip draw. Norton didn’ t show any rookie jitters when he lined up against the veteran eighth-mile Pro Mod standout. He cut a. 011 reaction time to Weatherford’ s. 028 and charged to a 3.608 at 210.28 to turn on the win light and secure the championship. Weatherford pedaled to a 4.877 at 101.46.
“ You wheel around the corner out of the staging lanes and you have all these people and you’ re going to burn out, your heart’ s beating through your ears, and you know you’ ve got to be good,” Norton says.“ I knew going into that Randy probably had a faster car, numbers-wise. The only way I’ m going to get him is either he’ s going to make a mistake or I’ m just going to have to kill him on the tree. And he’ s good on the tree generally, anyways. We took all the delay out and I went an. 011 against him and then he shook, so it was kind of a no contest after that.”
Norton and his crew celebrated at the top end, then DI’ s J. T. Hudson paraded him back up the track in the bed of his pickup truck, complete with a police escort to the starting line, where FloRacing’ s Courtney Enders introduced him as the DIWS champion and interviewed him.
“ You almost feel like you shouldn’ t be there,” Norton admits.“ I’ m new to this and it should probably be somebody else standing in the back of a pickup truck and in front of a bunch of people. But we took advantage of the moment. My wife rode with me and I got to talk to Courtney in front of a whole crowd. It was cool to tell my story.
“ I know it’ s something that’ s never been accomplished, somebody that’ s never really been around
drag racing at all to jump right into a Pro Mod and have the success we’ ve had,” Norton continues.“ I know we’ ve had some luck on our side, but we’ ve got a really good team as well. We’ ve worked hard and I don’ t feel like there’ s been any gimmies either. Wes [ Buck ] does such an awesome job of making you feel like you’ re a superstar, and I guess in his eyes, maybe we are. It was a once-ina-lifetime feeling. I’ ll never forget it.”
Norton then had to shift his focus back to the final round, where he’ d meet NHRA Pro Stock standout and three-time NHRA Factory Stock Showdown world champion Aaron Stanfield. Norton moved first, his. 049 light to Stanfield’ s. 055, and while he powered to a race day best of 3.585 at 210.57, Stanfield got to the finish line first with a 3.576 at 210.83.
The WSOPM magic that has produced career-defining victories struck again. Two Pro Mod rookies squared off in the $ 150,000 final round, with a true drag racing beginner holding his own against one of the most naturally talented drivers of our time.
“ It’ s cool for [ Stanfield ] to have the success he did as well,” Norton says.“ Aaron’ s a worldclass Pro Stock driver, and it’ s just cool lining up against some of these people that you get to watch on TV every weekend. Just to be there is an awesome feeling.”
A few weeks later, Norton and the Hurricane Motorsports team proved their WSOPM success wasn’ t a fluke when Norton raced to victory at the IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series season opener at Darana Motorsports Park – Benson, NC. His march to the winner’ s circle included round wins over Weatherford and fellow DIWS title contenders like John Doc and Jason Harris. It was Harris who Norton defeated on a holeshot in the $ 50,000 final round.
“ It doesn’ t get any more validating than that,” says Norton, who thanked his wife, his team, his employees, and brands like Pro Line, M & M Transmission, Harts Charger, Larry Jeffers Race Cars, VP Racing Fuels, LAT Oils, and Stroud Safety.“ We went through some tough competition there as well. Going up against Jason, I knew I had to go up there and just crush the tree – that’ s the only way I’ m going to beat him. And that’ s what happened. He was later than normal and I was good. My team did their job, I did my job, and it all came together to create another win.”
With the rain still coming down, watering the fields Norton and his crew just planted, he reflects on it all. He went from the grandstands to the championship winner’ s circle in one calendar year. He proved he belongs in the deep, shark-infest Pro Mod waters. He got not just a taste of success, but a gracious plenty, though his WSOPM runner-up finish left him wanting more.
Norton’ s Hurricane Motorsports team recently completed a new car, a very lightly used RJ-built’ 24 Camaro, and he plans to hit a variety of races this season, including possible appearances in PDRA Pro Boost and even NHRA Pro Mod. But after that, it’ s back to the Winter Series for another shot at WSOPM glory.
“ I don’ t know, I guess a guy can only win so many things in one race,” Norton laughs.“ Maybe it was just meant to be to not win the World Series. Gives you something to come back next year and try harder for DI.”
DI DI
DI DI DI DI DI DI DI
96 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 200