CALL IN THE FAMILY FATHER-SON RACERS FOLLOW GRANDPA'S LEAD.Byline: Peggy Hager Staff Writer ROSAMOND - Racing is in the blood of the Erickson family of Rosamond. Fred Erickson and his son, Craig, are continuing a tradition begun by Fred's father, two-time West Coast Stock Car Champion and 2003 West Coast Hall of Fame inductee Eric Erickson Eric George Adolph Erickson (March 13, 1895 - May 19, 1965) was a Major League Baseball pitcher who played 7 years in the Major Leagues with the New York Giants (1914), Detroit Tigers (1916, 1918-1919), and Washington Senators (1919-1922). . The duo are putting together a 1968 AMC Javelin The AMC Javelin was a “pony car” built by the American Motors Corporation between 1968 and 1974. It was intended to rival other similar cars of the era such as the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro. to compete in the Limited Street Stock Car division at Willow Springs Willow Springs may refer to:
``I grew up on the racetrack,'' said Fred. His father raced stock cars that were street legal. In fact, the race car was also the family car. ``My mother took me to the grocery store in the car,'' recalled Fred. ``They race with license plates, headlights. They'd just tape the headlights up and the side windows up and go race.'' Fred has previously raced motorized mo·tor·ize tr.v. mo·tor·ized, mo·tor·iz·ing, mo·tor·iz·es 1. To equip with a motor. 2. To supply with motor-driven vehicles. 3. To provide with automobiles. karts and has been drag racing drag racing Form of motor racing in which two contestants race side by side from a standing start over a straight quarter-mile strip of pavement. Winners go on to compete against others in their class until only one is left undefeated. , but this is his first attempt at stock car racing
Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing found mainly in the United States and Great Britain held largely on oval rings of between approximately a quarter-mile and 2. . Craig has won trophies in drag racing. ``I've been going out to Willow Springs since about 1993 or '94 when they opened up the oval-track racing,'' Fred said. ``My father and I built a Pontiac Firebird The Pontiac Firebird was a pony car built by the Pontiac division of General Motors between 1967 and 2002. The Firebird was introduced in the same year with its platform sharing cousin the Chevrolet Camaro. to race in what they called daredevil stock class, which was basically a stock car with a roll bar. He found out we couldn't afford it so he sold the car (in 1996).'' The track was subsequently closed in 1997 and wasn't reopened until May of 2002. But Fred and his son have been working on the race car for the past three years in anticipation of racing once again. ``Now my son is working full time and we decided we wanted to get together and form a family racing team and go out and play. And that's basically all it is, is play,'' Fred said. Eric Erickson began racing stock cars in 1948 and finally quit in 1956 after pressure from his wife. ``Mom was not a big supporter of racing, which is why dad quit in 1956,'' said Fred, 56. ``It's a very family-oriented sport. If you don't have the support of the whole family, you're just spinning your wheels.'' His father, now 86, lives in Mojave. On Friday, he was inducted into the West Coast Racing Hall of Fame. The father and son team expects to invest $4,500 in the car, as well as $300 to $500 for tires, pit passes, gas and food each weekend that they race. ``It's expensive but so is a weekend at Disneyland with the grandkids,'' said Fred. ``This is fun and this is fun for everybody that's involved in it. It's fun working on the cars, it's fun driving the cars, it's fun sitting in the stands rooting for the cars.'' The red, white and blue car is being housed at the Save U Auto Parts Auto parts are components of automobiles. They mainly are, in alphabetic order (only car specific articles or articles with car section):
``I think it's kind of cool,'' said Dave Harvey, owner of the auto parts store. ``They're going to do something a little different here. We've all run Camaros and Novas and they're going to run this AMC (Advanced Mezzanine Card) See AdvancedTCA. . It'll be fun to be out here with them.'' CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- color) Fred Erickson and his son, Craig, are restoring a 1968 AMC Javelin to compete in stock car races at Willow Springs Speedway. They hope to have the car completed and ready to race on the 1/4-mile track by the end of August. (2 -- color) Fred Erickson, right, shows Denny Hudock the engine compartment of the AMC Javelin he and his son are restoring at a Rosamond auto parts store. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer |
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