ON RACING: Carson City teen has eyes on pro career

A couple of months ago I wrote about 76 year old Midget racer J.R. Williams. At the other end of the age spectrum is Carson City native Conner Ford, who is working his way up the racing ladder at the age of 14. I sat down with Conner on Friday and we discussed his racing history and aspirations.

Conner started racing karts at the age of five after a lost dog put him in contact with the Halen family and he saw their racing karts. Starting with 50cc karts powered by a glorified lawnmower engine, he moved up through the kart racing classes, competing at Desert Park Raceway north of Reno and tracks in California. He won a few races and philosophically noted that he had "lots of second-place trophies," but never accumulated enough points at any one track to win a championship. However, he got lots of seat time, which is critical to success in racing.

In 2010 he moved up to cars, beginning in the Spec Miata class with the National Auto Sport Association (NASA), racing at tracks like Willow Springs, Thunder Hill, and Buttonwillow in California.

Conner also attended the Skip Barber School at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca in California as well as the Jim Russell School at Infineon Raceway.

This led to some racing in the Barber Series, including the annual Shootout at Sebring in Florida.

This year he is campaigning a Formula 2000 car in NASA's Pacific F2000 series, and is currently first in points with recent victories at Buttonwillow and California Speedway. He also continues to race the Miata and drive his shifter kart to keep his reflexes sharp.

Conner turns 15 on August 1, and has another year before he can move into one of the professional sports car series he has his eye on.

"I really want to race sports cars," he told me when I asked about circle track or stock car racing.

Most of the pro road-racing series like the Continental Tire Challenge, Grand-Am, and American Lemans series require drivers to be at least 16. However, he allowed that if somebody offered him a ride in a Late Model stock car, he wouldn't turn it down.

From the time he first started in karts, he has had the goal of becoming a professional racer.

Eventually he would like to get into Indy Cars or Formula 1, but realizes how much more expensive and difficult each succeeding step on the racing ladder can be. He currently has sponsorship from Les Schwab Tires, Sparco Racing Gear, Western Nevada Supply, his father's company, J.F. Construction and Excavating, and the Kennistons, his aunt and uncle.

Conner just completed his freshman year at Carson High, but will be home-schooled next year in order to accommodate his racing schedule. So keep your eye on this young man from Carson City, because he might well become our next local racing star to hit the national scene.