Trading Up On the Track

Tim Norris and team start out strong, right out of the gate

Norris in the winner's circle. Tim credits his team of tradespeople for his unprecedented level of success on the track this season. Click for bigger.

It's been a fantastic year for Tim Norris, driving the apprenticesearch.com car in the Ontario Pro Challenge Series. Throughout the summer's races he's battled hard each time out on the track, and spent his evenings during the week constantly working to improve the car's performance.

It's been alternatively frustrating and exhausting, but entirely rewarding. And it's all paid off in the winner's circle. Tim has finished in the top three consistently, and overall is currently ranked second in overall points for the season.

It all adds up to his career best season, but Tim's not letting the success on the track go to his head. Instead he credits a great team of friends and tradespeople in the pit, who have amazed him with their ability to keep his engine running at optimum performance.

"It's a big advantage, having people who know skilled trades working on the car," he says. "We're always trying new things, and learning as we go. We try different suspension settings - we're stepping further away from the base setup. It's all about making improvements constantly, and getting better."

Tim gives all the credit to his friends and their skills, especially when it comes to repairing the apprenticesearch.com car after a crash, like the one that took out both the front- and back-ends at a recent race

"The car was a wreck," he explains. "Not a part on it that didn't look damaged."

Thanks to skilled repair work, however, Tim was able to get the car back into racing shape in record time.

"Without tradespeople there, we wouldn't have made it back onto the racetrack anywhere near as quick as we did."

It's impressive how easily skills learned and used in a factory or jobsite translate into working in a pit crew. Tim has people from a variety of trades working for him. Dave Buchanan, a machinist, continues to help with repairs, and has used his expertise often when it comes to preparing parts for the racecar.

Bill Ryan, an electrician who has worked with Tim in the pit all season, has been a big help when it comes to the car's overall performance. Click for bigger.

Tim's had some new help this season, as well, which has undoubtedly contributed to his success. Scott Haskins, a welder who does work for Caterpillar, has been instrumental in making quick repairs to the body of the car.  And electrician Bill Ryan has been a tremendous help when it comes to the electrical components.

"We've had more problems with the car than ever before," says Tim, "but we've still been doing better than ever before. I think a lot of that is having people who know the trades and have the skills in the pit."

Tim next races this Saturday at Sunset Speedway, in what will be the final race of the season. Thanks to all the work done already, the apprenticesearch.com car is already ready to go: "All we need to do is give it a wash," he says.

Tim's already got his sights set on next season, where he foresees further success. He's bringing with him a new motto for the coming year: "Top three every time."

It's a tall order, but Tim's already preparing, bringing in other tradespeople to help out on the side of the track. Morgan Illsley, a bricklayer, also has the sort of construction skills that could prove useful when it comes to racing.

"He was amazed at the amount of work that goes into it," says Tim of the new recruit. "It's nowhere near as simple as going really fast, and making left turns. There's so much skilled work that goes into getting the car out there."

Before he can really start thinking about next season, or even the next race at Sunset, Tim's got something else on his mind: helping the competition. "I'm heading out tonight to help some of the other cars get ready for the race," he says, with a laugh, "they don't have skilled tradespeople on their teams, so I thought they could use the help."

Tim's next race is this Saturday at Sunset Speedway. You can follow Tim's performance, this season and next, at prochallengeracing.com.

-Matt Elliott

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