R.C. Enerson started his racing career going backward. Keep in mind that Enerson was 5 years old at the time.

That’s when his father, Team E Racing owner Neil Enerson, bought Richard Clay a go kart at the prompting of his wife.

“She kind of regrets that (now),” said Enerson, who now, at 17, is competing in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda.  “Whenever I’m racing, she’s either pacing back and forth or when I’m doing well she’s crying.”

After starting out driving back and forth in front of the houses on his block in New Port Richey, Fla., Enerson finally took on his first go-kart race at Sunshine Speedway in Clearwater 90 minutes from his home.

“I did not come in last,” Enerson remembers. “But I think I ended up going backwards somehow.”

Enerson followed up his debut by placing third of 55 drivers, and that set him on the path that has led to racing for his father’s team. He is in his third year competing in the Mazda Road to Indy, INDYCAR’s path to the Verizon IndyCar Series.

Enerson said his father makes sure there are few complications in the son/driver-team owner relationship.

“Since I’m the driver and his son, he stays out of it all the time, unless he really needs to be in there,” Enerson said. “He’ll be making most of the business decisions with the team and everything. But when I’m talking racing with my engineer or talking with my driver coach or getting ready to get in the car, he isn’t anywhere near.”

The Florida native earned his first USF2000 wins in February’s Winterfest competition -- one each at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala., and at NOLA Motorsports Park in New Orleans – in claiming the mini-series championship.

Enerson followed up his Winterfest success with two podium finishes in the season-opening races at St. Petersburg, including winning the second race by 2.59 seconds over Jake Eidson.

“The first one (in the Winterfest), you couldn’t get any better of a race,” Enerson said. “I started from the pole, led every single lap and finished first. Nothing could have gone any better. The same with the one at Barber.”

Enerson attributes part of that success to a biking and running regimen that has helped him lose between 25 and 30 pounds during the offseason.

“I lost a bunch a weight because I was not really good for last year,” Enerson said. “I’ve been working out a lot more than I did last year. I’ve been doing a lot better outside the car and even better inside the car.”

The USF2000 series will be back at Barber Motorsports Park on April 25-27 as part of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama race weekend.