SOMEONE YOU SHOULD KNOW
Fast and furious fascinate area man
by JILL SCHMELZER

Eric Lux

Williamsville resident Eric Lux, 18, became a professional race car driver at the age of 16.

Lux apparently developed the need for speed in the womb. His mother, Mimi, and her husband, Chris, raced cars as amateurs in the 1980s - until she became pregnant with Eric.

"When Eric was a toddler, he had a fascination with anything that would go fast," his mother said. "He wasn't content in going slowly up the driveway."

When he was 10 and old enough to drive a go-kart, Eric built a race track in his family's back yard and began practicing for his future career.

The freshman at Jacksonville University started racing go-karts during his preteen years, winning several championships.

The go-karts came equipped with motorcycle engines that raced at approximately 150 mph.

At the age of 14, Eric enrolled in a race-car driving course - two years before the legal driving age of 16. Once he was issued a license, Eric and his father went to the track, racing in Historic Sports Car races and for the Sports Car Vintage Racing Corporation, both amateur racing leagues, Mimi said.

Eric, then a sophomore at Nichols School, was noticed by Sahlen's Racing Team and signed a contract to race in his first professional competition. At age 16, Eric raced in two classes, which are based on the type of car the driver is racing. He participated in the Rolex 24, the 24-hour race in Daytona, Fla., and was the youngest driver in the race's history to ever take the checkered flag, Mimi said.

Shortly after his first pro race, Eric signed on as a full-time driver with Tafel Racing.

In 2006, he raced in the GT class and participated in 13 competitions that year throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. While with Tafel, Eric has raced in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, KONI Challenge Cup Race and the Daytona 200, where he was the youngest co-driver to win.

He will continue to race with Tafel this year and just participated in the 2007 Rolex 24 on Jan. 27. His team, equipped with three drivers - Eric, Wolf Henzler and Dominik Farnbacher - set out to take an early lead in the first 83 laps of the 24-hour race, but misfortune occurred, leaving the car with a broken left shock. Eric and his crew repaired the damage and got back into the race, but shortly after, the drivers were back in the pit repairing a broken radiator. This again didn't deter the competitors as they fixed it and got back on the road. However, the clutch failed and the vehicle had to be towed off the track.

"It was an exhausting night," Mimi said. "But this was Eric's third 24-hour Daytona race, and it is the only one he didn't complete. They were disappointed, but they showed a lot of team spirit."

During the races, Eric's vehicle reaches a top speed of 185 mph, and he said that while it is fun to race at that speed, he doesn't notice how fast he is going because of everything going on inside the car.

"I'm not too concerned with what the speed is," he said.

To prepare for each race, Eric researches the cars, which are often Porsches, Mazdas, Ferraris and BMWs.

He will next race on March 3 in the Mexico City 400, which is between a six- and nine-hour race on a 2.5-mile track.

"It's a lot of work," Eric said, noting that there are two drivers, and they switch seats halfway through the race. "It's exhilarating. It's challenging to be the best. You have to be focused and work well with your team and put forth a lot of effort."

Eric juggles pro racing and the pressures of college life. He is a business management and marketing major but said his teachers are always willing to help, whether it be scheduling an online test or permitting him to e-mail a paper in early.

"It's been great," he said. "All my teachers are really helpful."

He also credits his parents for his accomplishments in life.

"My parents did it (raced) amateurly in the '80s, so thanks to them I got my start," he said. "It's very competitive, so if they hadn't made the contacts they did, I probably would have had a harder time getting into it. I owe everything to them."

If you have a suggestion for someone to feature in this column, send it to Jill M. Schmelzer, Amherst Bee, Lifestyles Coordinator, P.O. Box 150, Buffalo, NY 14231-0150, or call 204-4914.