From going to the track in the ‘60s with his parents through his current endeavors, David Norris has spent his entire life chasing speed and working towards the championship title he finally clinched in 2019 with the Northeast Outlaw Pro Mod Association. His wife, Mary Lou, has been by his side since he was a street racing teenager, too, and also avidly wrenches and races.
Now, Norris has found his stride with a G-Force Race Cars 2018 Corvette Pro Mod. A Noonan Race Engines-headed Hemi built by the renowned Jeff Fowler of Fowler Engines huffs compressed air courtesy of a PSI Superchargers screw blower. While the combination is menacing, Norris prefers to keep the car itself on the subtle side and lets its performance speak for itself.
Norris started the year with a No. 2 qualifying effort at the NEOPMA season opener held in conjunction with the 11th Annual MDIR Door Wars at Maryland International Raceway in April. Unfortunately, trouble struck in the first round and he went out early. His misfortune continued at the following race at Capital Raceway, as he qualified second but a broken transmission meant he couldn’t return for the final round.
Incidentally, Norris, who “dabbles in some amateur MMA stuff” had torn his ACL in February and had to suffer through one race with the injury, then went in for surgery in May and had to sit another out as a result.
Fortunately, Norris’s luck turned around and he was able to close out the year with a string of strong performances. Scoring the No. 1 qualifier spot at NEOPMA race six at Atco Raceway in August with a 5.769 at 255 mph pass positioned him well for eliminations, but he made an exit in round one. The following month, back at Capital Raceway, Norris qualified in the No. 2 spot, and he proceeded to power through rounds one and two of eliminations with matching 5.76-second hits. Tire shake in the finals, though, meant Norris went home as the runner-up.
In October, Norris headed back to MDIR and clicked off a cool 5.654 at 259 mph blast to begin eliminations from the No. 3 position. Another runner-up finish there, too, gave him a good advance in the points chase.
It was tight between Norris, Tyler Hard, and Chuck Ulsch in a battle of the superchargers, but when the ninth and final race of the season at Atco was rained out and the standings finalized, Norris was honored by being named the NEOPMA Pro Mod Elite 2019 points champion.
“The NEOPMA is a great group of guys to go racing with and thanks to John Mazzorana for promoting it,” says Norris, who came out of a challenging season with a new personal best of 5.63 at 250 mph on top of his new title. “We haven’t been able to seal the deal on an event win yet – we’ve come close and something always pops up – but we got the championship regardless and I’m really happy with that.”
This story originally appeared in DI #152, the 2019 Champions Issue, in January of 2020.