Membership Magazine of Oregon Region Sports Car Club of ...

Norton Gaston stands in the
shade of the tower at Portland
International Raceway, his hands
holding an imaginary steering
wheel.
As he turns the wheel to the left, his
hips sway to the right, mimicking a
race car powering through turn
three.
He pauses halfway through the
turn, his eyes narrow as he considers
the dynamics of motion.
``More front swaybar.’’ He smiles
and walks away to tackle another
problem.
Gaston has turned his love of things
automotive into a full-time
career. Today, he and a small group
of employees massage customers’
race cars from FMR Industries, located
in a series of shop buildings in
the 205 Industrial Park at 5705 N.E.
105th Ave.
He left Santa Ana, Calif., in the early
‘70s to attend the Oregon Institute
of Technology in Klamath Falls, majoring
in automotive engineering.
He worked as the service manager
for a local auto repair shop and
pursued auto racing as a hobby on
weekends.
For awhile he worked for Greg
Lapinsky, who runs Motor Sports
Engineering, a racecar building
and maintenance shop.
“We could work on the customer
cars and get paid, or we could get
time in one of the shop cars on
Remembering Norton gaston
Reflections on the
automotive life
by Jerry Boone
weekends. I always took the time.
“I was good,” he says, matter-offactly.
But not good enough to make
a ;iving behind the wheel.
“But people began realizing my cars
-- the ones I worked on -- handled
better than most of the others. So
I began spending more and more
of my time doing that, setting up
other people’s race cars.”
Word got around. People began
showing up at his front door with
trailers full of expensive toys.
Success bred success, and soon he
outgrew his garage shop.
“That’s when I decided to go full
time at it. I got to the point where if
I didn’t do it then, I might never do
it at all.”
8 Oregon Region SCCA
Norton Gaston
Photo by Darla Roberts
Formula Motion Racing opened its
doors.
“At first we were worried about just
paying the rent. Then we wondered
if we could pay it for two months
in a row.”
The jobs kept coming in, and today
he’s got a crew of four people working
full-time.
Inside his shop is an eclectic grid of
race cars. A brace of purpose-built
sports racers. A slender, open wheel
Formula Ford sits on stands, partially
assembled. There’s a couple
of sedans, with mostly fiberglass
bodywork covering skeletons of
steel tubing. In the warehouse is an
old International Motor Sports Association
sedan chassis.