Early career and Truck Series Gonzalez became interested in racing when he attended a race that his father's friend was competing in at
Flemington Speedway. Gonzalez started racing motocross bikes and moved up the racing ladder, where he would then progress to racing go-karts,
microstocks, and
Legends cars. He then competed in the American Race Trucks Series and the (now defunct)
NASCAR Goody's Dash Series. In order to have enough money to move up the ranks, Gonzalez had to sell all his equipment from the previous series he had raced in, as well as his own personal motorcycle. Gonzalez would not make another start in the Truck Series either, and the rest of his stock car starts came in the
ARCA Re/Max Series.
ARCA Gonzalez made his ARCA debut at
Chicago in
Wayne Peterson Racing's No. 06
Chevrolet, and would make one other start in that car in the next race at
Salem. He crashed out of both races and would finish 27th and 26th, respectively. With these starts, Gonzalez became the first
Hispanic American to start an ARCA race. In
2005, Gonzalez would run full-time and for rookie of the year with the Peterson team split between their various entries (No. 6, No. 16 and No. 06). He was not eligible to run at
Daytona, so his first start of the year came in the second race of the season at
Nashville, which he did not qualify for along with a staggering twelve other races. The Peterson team was underfunded and had to
start and park in a large number of Gonzalez's starts. In the race at
Pocono which Gonzalez was going to run the full race in, he was running in the top 10 until he suffered a broken transmission and radiator and did not finish the race. For the final two races of the season, Gonzalez fielded his own team instead. Although he had his own car and equipment, he still used Peterson's car numbers (No. 06 at Salem and No. 16 at
Talladega) and owner points. Gonzalez's team partnered with
Lafferty Motorsports to field his Talladega entry. Gonzalez would not make any NASCAR or ARCA starts in 2006, but did return in
2007 in ARCA, when he attempted three races. He first returned to the Peterson team, with a DNQ in the No. 0 at Nashville. The first race in which he did qualify for was at the
Milwaukee Mile, where the team got to run the full race in
Darrell Basham's No. 94 car thanks to support from
Richardson-Netzloff-Harmon Racing (co-owned by driver
Mike Harmon, who at the time was competing in ARCA full-time). Although Gonzalez finished eight laps down, he picked up a solid 18th-place finish. He returned to the same car the following race at
Gateway, which was without RNH support. Gonzalez failed to qualify the No. 94, but was given a chance to return to the Peterson No. 0 again when team owner-driver
Wayne Peterson stepped out of the start and park ride for Gonzalez, who would do the same. This would end up being Gonzalez's last ARCA start. ==Personal life==