It may seem like Eric Carlson has ­­­­quickly – and quietly – emerged as one of North America’s top drivers, but his overnight success has in fact been nearly two decades in the making.

By Kimberly French and Kimberly Fisher

Though no one in his department was any the wiser, the afternoon auto parts fabricator worked his shift in appearances only. His job was a necessity, a means to an end – a maddening method by which he sought to attain what he truly desired. It was neither a career choice nor a long-term commitment, and while he was there, all he could imagine was the moment he would be free of it.

It wasn’t that it was a bad job, actually. He recognized that he was lucky to have this sort of employment and he cherished each cheque that was deposited by the company into his account. He was certainly well compensated for his efforts, and thankful that the regular cash held bill collectors at bay while he built his savings for the future.

It certainly wasn’t a difficult position. That wasn’t the problem. His job was to trim parts for alternators – alternators ultimately destined to be bolted under the hood of the vehicle that someone else would use to drive to their own job.

But from his station at the automotive parts supplier, he longed for the day he could throw his punch card in the trash on his way out the door. All Eric Carlson wanted to do was race horses. And this job was simply the thing he had to do to get there.

In 1974, with the American political landscape in turmoil over the resignation of President Nixon and film buffs anxiously awaiting the sequel to cult classic The Godfather, Robert Carlson bought a farm.

His daughter, naturally, ended up with a horse. The horse was an off-track racehorse with some soundness issues, gifted to the oldest Carlson by Robert’s brother-in-law. Over the next few years, the family used their sole horse purely for pleasure driving, and before long, they crossed paths with Michigan’s C.J. Osbourne – at the time a powerful presence in the racing hierarchy of the Great Lakes state.

Robert soon after bought a handful of racing prospects and had some minimal success with a mid-level claimer, but it seems that more than anything, those early days around the farm set up his oldest son for a future in the business of horses.

His children – Christina, Eric, and David – rode ponies with the Michigan Pony of The Americas Club; weekend shows and regional meets taught them plenty about horses at a young age. Eric consistently ranked on top of his age division as the siblings tried their hand at western pleasure, stock seat, hunt seat, and gymkhana games. “They learned about horses by doing,” offers their father today.

When Robert raced, he nearly always took Eric along, piling him in the cart to warm up their horses before they went to the gate. He felt the only way his son could get a real grasp of the experience was to be actively participating on the track – not standing at the rail as a passive bystander.

Years later, trimming alternators by day, Eric longed yet again for that experience. And soon enough, he would get it.

In 1999, Eric graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in sports business management. He paid his dues at what he today calls decent paying jobs, working with a mortgage company and eventually the automotive parts supplier; banking up to 60 hours a week, he had enough disposable cash to purchase some inexpensive horses on the side. But doing things ‘on the side’ always means more work, and more responsibility – even if those things are more fun too. “I was really hustling hard with working full-time and working with my horses on the side,” he admits. “I was driving my horses and maybe driving my dad’s and for one or two other guys.”

Eventually, though, one of those horses climbed the ladder a bit and made some money for the then 25-year-old Eric, who jumped at the opportunity the second he saw it coming. “Finally, I had some money saved up and I had five horses,” he recalls, “so I signed my voluntary quit paper to do this full-time. I caught the bug when I was young and around my dad’s horses, and could never shake it. Racing was always what I really wanted to do, so I made it happen.”

Ten years later, Eric sits currently among Canada’s top 10 drivers for wins, leads the nation with his UDRS of .457, and is well on his way to grab the top spot in the standings at Windsor Raceway for the second year in a row when the season resumes in September. If you include his accomplishments south of the border, the list is even more daunting. En route to winning driving titles at both Raceway Park and Northfield Park and being named Michigan’s 2010 Driver of the Year, Eric set the record for the most driving victories on a single card at Hazel Park Raceway last July, crossing the wire first in 10 starts; he is presently North America’s sixth leading driver for wins, and third highest rated driver, with a UDRS of .401 while in the midst of his third consecutive million dollar season.

“There are a lot of factors in what makes a good driver,” he says. “Patience is definitely one and so is timing. You also have to know the horses in the field and be able to predict how things are going to happen before the race even begins. I don’t know how exactly you would word it, but you have to be sharp. You have to have the innate ability to be athletic and make split second decisions – to be able to react to how the race is unfolding and position your horse accordingly. All good drivers have this kind of ability.”

In 1997, someone gave him a nudge. A few friendly judges suggested that Eric try fair racing in the interest of obtaining his driver’s license, so the family took all their horses to the fair circuit that summer. On July 17 at the Fowlerville Fair, the young Carlson gave those in attendance a sneak peek at his potential. “I claimed a horse called Calamity Clyde from Paul Kennedy Jr. and he had gotten him from Tommy Wine, Jr.,” remembers Robert. “We were basically up against an Invitational pacer driven by Peter Wrenn and Eric beat him with Clyde while tying the track record. He created quite a stir then. People were like, ‘Who is this kid that beat Peter Wrenn and an Invitational pacer?’ Eric is an ‘overnight sensation’ probably 17 years in the making or more.”

But before Eric­ – who competed in cross country, relays and was a miler himself in high school and college – made the leap to solely piloting other people’s horses, he built up his own small stable and conditioned his own stock, enlisting the help of his older cousin John Potter. “Like 10 years ago he had one kind of cheap horse,” grins Potter. “I don’t know if he got it from a sale or if he claimed it, but I happened to be along in the trailer to help and he was always talking about the big catch drivers and the big trainers and he obviously wasn’t one for sure, so we would just go to the track and get whooped and come home. So it’s come a long way since then to him leading North America in wins [at one point this year].

“I’m really proud of him and I watch him on streaming video every night,” he admits.” It’s become part of my nightly gig. I’ll watch some basketball and then watch another race. I really appreciate what he’s accomplished.”

“I’ve never worked for anyone and no one really taught me anything except for my dad,” says Eric of his journey thusfar. “He was a good horseman, but it was a hobby and he never had a big stable. It was trial by fire, but I learned how to shoe, how to do as much vet work as I could on my own, and how I could make a horse go faster.

“I just kept working really hard with my own stable and drove all my own before people really started giving me a shot with their horses,” he adds, even today boasting a training summary that tallies $622,392 from 158 lifetime victories. “I got to the point where I probably could have gotten better drives if I didn’t have my own horse in the race and people were like, ‘How did that guy beat the 7-2 horse from the six-hole with a horse that is 15-1?’ Once people started seeing that and gave me some opportunities, I began to slowly phase out my own stable as my catch-driving career caught on.”­

“Eric seems to improve horses and is now getting horses from top stables in and around Michigan,” says Robert. “All kinds of other owners like to use him because he doesn’t just sit in back and then move to finish fifth. He can get a horse away on the rail, move them up, and if he has enough horse, he’ll get them there.”

“You have to have owners with class horses that want to use you,” he shrugs. “I don’t care who you are as a driver – you may be great – but if you haven’t got anything but a dog up in front under the shafts, you aren’t going to be in the money no matter what.”

But if getting his name out there is the way to find those owners – and those horses – then it seems Eric is more than a few steps (or a few miles) down the right path. “The opportunities in racing are shrinking and it is a bit unsettling,” he admits. “But this is the career I chose because I love it and I appreciate how hard the people in the sport work. Yes, it can be a bit discouraging and at times kind of sad, but you just have to try to do the best you can with what you’ve got or where you are. I’m driving six days a week right now and a lot of time on the road can be expensive with the price of gas, but you have to make something happen – and this is how you do it.”