Sibling Speed - Town Boasts Two of Top Junior Dragsters

February 24, 2005 - The Rockdale Reporter, story by Becky Booker
Brother, sister duo have parents as their 'pit crew' - Alesi and Ayrton Gerthe are a brother and sister duo from Rockdale. When you first meet them, you might even think they're a bit on the quiet side. Alesi is a freshman at Rockdale High School, an FFA member and student council representative. Ayrton is a seventh grader at Rockdale Junior High and enjoys paintball and video/computer games. Just about what you would expect of two teenagers growing up in small-town USA. This unassuming brother and sister combo are the New Breed Racing Team and they are both 2004 Junior Dragster Ironman winners in the IHRA. Yup, you read that correctly - IHRA, as in "International Hot Road Association". They are also one of just a handful of brother and sister teams to win the drag racing top award in the same year.
IRONMAN - Alesi earned an Ironman trophy as the top finisher in the Division 4 Junior category at the IHRA Team Finals, held in San Antonio in October. Ayrton earned his Ironman by taking top honors as the IHRA Junior Dragster National Champion in the 12-to-13-year-old category at San Antonio Raceway last March. "I didn't want to race at first when my dad said, 'Let's build a dragster and go race'," Alesi admitted. "But now I love it. I didn't think there would be any other girls, but there are several girls racing in Division 4. Ask Ayrton is he likes to race and he sums it up in one word. "Yup." A big grin lights up his face. An Ironman is not easily earned. Some racers have competed for years and never taken home the coveted trophy. An Ironman for junior drag racers is only awarded for the top winner at the Junior Nationals, a Division 4 Pro-Am Event or the Team Finals. The Phil McGee PM1 Junior Dragster Program is designed for racers aged 8 to 18 and is divided into three age categories, beginner, advanced and master. Junior racers compete in half-scale cars that are near-replicas of cars that the pros drive. The competition structure is designed to be conducted on an ET dial-your-own format or a preset index on a heads-up breakout basis, much like IHRA's Quick-Rod Class. Drivers can be disqualified for exceeding time or speed limitations for each age category. Timer boxes, placed at intervals along the racetrack and photocells at the finish line, monitor each race.
STRATEGY - Winning involves a lot of strategy-more than just trying to be the first car across the finish line. Racers pair up at the starting line, but each has their own start time, based on 'dialing in' a finish time (think handicapping). Racers must have an understanding of reaction time off the line, how to handle their vehicle and how to make it across the finish line as close to the 'dial-in' time without going over. In addition to an Ironman, racers can also earn other prizes like a gold card (which pays their entry fees for next year's events), savings bonds, trophies, gear and clothing.
'PIT CREW' - The junior racers drive half-scale cars, but the toolbox for tuning the cars has gone high tech. Some engine tweaking is still done by hand with wrenches and tools, but some adjustments are made based on information downloaded to a laptop from each car's onboard computer. The computers monitor the cars performance, including cylinder head temperature, exhaust gas temperature, RPM and speed. Mom Lisa and Dad Duane work together as pit crew, mechanic, and "rig" driver. The family atmosphere of junior racing is what drew the Gerthe's to the sport in the first place. "During the race season we spend just about every weekend racing," Lisa said. "So, we always know where the kids are on weekends, they are with us at some track in Division 4. Duane has another perspective. "We built the first car in 2001 and the kids helped. They learned a lot through that - there's math and science involved," Duane said. "They're having fun and learning at the same time. From early on, we wanted something we could do as a family and we tried everything from BMX, to motocross, to showing animals." But with the Gerthe family background, Duane really wanted something with a motor, but would be safe. "In 2001, I was ordering house plans and Duane was ordering junior dragster plans. Since we are doing this story, you can see whose plans ended up on the shelf," Lisa laughed. "I like to tell folks that my new house is our 'rig', an F350 Powerstroke that pulls a 44' enclosed trailer with living quarters packed full with two junior dragsters and tow vehicles (a golf cart and 4 wheeler). I told Duane that the kids are only little once, so he'd better get busy building them a car because they sure were growing up fast. Hopefully, they won't mind too much that we spent our retirement and their inheritance on drag racing!" Earlier this year, the Gerthe's attended the 2004 IHRA Awards Banquet at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington, Kentucky. Alesi received an award for her successful 2004 season in the Jr. Master's Class of the IHRA Division 4 Pro-Am Tour and was also recognized at the "pros" banquet. Alesi and Ayrton's grandparents are Faye and Henry Davidson, Sr. and Shirley and Gunar Gerthe, all of Rockdale.