Washington driver making noise in Arca Menards racing series

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PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — NASCAR teams have made it to Portland for the Xfinity Series Pacific Office Automation 147 on Saturday, out at Portland International Raceway.

But there is an appetizer before the main course. That would be the Arca Menards race on Friday, which features 22-year-old La Center, Washington native Eric Johnson Jr.

“I’m just enjoying this with my family, my partners, my friends. Really just want to soak it all in because I don’t know how long it’s going to last”, says Johnson, Jr.

He’s a young man who has it all — charisma, passion and a ton of drive.

“For me, the bottom line is that I want to make a living driving a race car. I don’t care if it’s behind the wheel of a stock car, Indy car, endurance racing. I just want to make a living driving a race car.”

Johnson, Jr. is the youngest of seven kids. And his path to tracks and raceways across the west took a rather unusual path in how he learned how to drive a stock car.

“There is this new generation that’s coming through that’s learning on the simulator side, which was uncommon 10-20 years ago. But it’s become more and more what you are now hearing from folks. Just because it’s much more inexpensive to be behind a TV screen than it is in really beating up race cars in real life.”

Yes, you heard right. Johnson Jr. said that he initially learned to drive by putting in sometimes up to 10 hours a day on video games.

“I spent the better part of a decade teaching myself the basics from scratch — developing good and bad habits — but once you get into a car, at least you have a foundation, right? And for me, that’s really helped speed up the learning curve,” he said.

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