Ed Nazarian

Anyone who grew up with me, friends from high school, even friends from a few years back will be confused to see this website. I’m more than mystified. I have no idea how this all unfolded. Growing up I was never a car guy. Like most typical guys I was into cars to some degree, but I never imagined that someday I would be interested in motorsports, or actually be racing one day, let alone have a website dedicated to my racing adventures.

Honestly, I have never considered myself much of a driver. As a teenager/young adult, if I was ever out with friends and someone had to drive, I was never one of those guys that friends would turn to and be asked to drive. And if someone told me years ago that I would be here typing about my racing aspirations, and what I’ve accomplished the last 2 years, I would have probably been excited at first then reality would have set in and I would have thought they had no idea what they were talking about. Couple that with the fact that I was never a car guy, or at all into racing, and it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever that within the last 2 years I went from doing track days, to competing in NASA’s TT series, to car racing, and now I have a website dedicated to my racing adventures. How comical is that?

Up until about 2-3 years ago, as far back as I can remember, I have never worked on a car in my life. I had a Honda prelude in high school that I had for 10 years. Never modified it in any way. I never even installed a CD player in it, or got any nice wheels for it. After I sold my prelude, even though I was not a car guy, I still wanted to get something sporty. I had heard about Evos, and they attracted my attention. In high school I always wanted a VW GTI, but never had the opportunity to get one. And at the time I had heard that there was this new VW coming out, the R32. I figured other Evos would come out in time, so I was fortunate enough to get the R32.

It was after that when I really got into cars. And through people that I met because of my VW was when I first heard about track days. Before then I had no idea that some people take their car to race tracks and drive on them. It was news to me. In fact, the first time I went I almost left half way through. I was really slow, really nervous/overwhelmed, and I figured that it was just not for me. I was not good at it, and since I was not having a good time I wanted to leave. At lunch time I sat with a big group of guys. They started discussing a few drivers who were really slow, and my car was stressed heavily. They had no idea it was me they were discussing. They really got into it, and went on complaining back and forth about how slow I was, how clueless I was out there, and how I didn’t belong there, and so forth. At first I was a little embarrassed, but then I got a big kick out of it since I was sitting with them. It was embarrassing, yet unbearably hilarious. At one point I wanted to get in on it and act like I was hot and bothered by “that guy” also, but I didn’t. I really wish I had. Would have been hilarious to think about it now. That experience sort of validated for me that I wasn’t cut out for motorsports. But before I left I decided to chat with a few instructors. After a few brief conversations, and after thinking about it I decided to stay. So you can imagine why I’m mystified as to how I got into motorsports, let alone car racing. I eventually was no longer much into my VW, and since the Evo 9 had just come out, I felt it was time to move on. After I got my Evo I did a few more track days, and now here I am.

So, growing up I was never into car racing.  My family never had any interest in racing, so I was never involved with anything that had to do with racing or with cars.  Up until about 3 years ago I had never worked on a car either.  I never modified any cars in any way, and I never did any maintenance on any cars.  My interests throughout my life at times have steered into paths that I have never considered, let alone thought about.  And now I’m a racer. Who would have ever thought? I never did. There are no words with which I can articulate what I have been through to get to this point. I have put so much time, blood, sweat, and countless/restless back breaking nights and days prepping my car and myself to get this far, all the while not knowing anything about cars. Most of my friends don’t know, and the ones that do know have said at times that I’m wasting my time. A few of them actually believe I’m ignoring them and that I’ve neglected my relationships. What they don’t realize is that I’m focused. The stress of all this work has been tremendous, but it’s been well worth it. I am not a pro racer, or any good at racing. But I think it would be great that if someone reading this gets inspired to go after their dreams. The journey might be overwhelming and lonely, and you may never reach your goal. I may never be a pro racer, but I hope some day I can look back and value this journey of mine.