Temple Raceway - July 29-30, 2006

August 2, 2006 - Rockdale, TX - New Breed Racing, Ayrton and Alesi Gerthe, attended a two day race at Temple Raceway, July 29 & 30, 2006. Hoosier Thunder Motorsports team owners Terry and Rhonda McMillen, through the IHRA Adopt A Jr. Dragster Program, sponsor the IHRA Division 4 Junior Dragster Team from San Antonio Raceway, along with Amalie Oil, TORCO Racing Fuels, Flatout Gaskets and NGK Spark Plugs.

“The ‘triple double’ race format for the IHRA Division 4 Mr. Gasket Pro-Am Tour was a great idea to help with travel costs, but that meant we would have to fill our race schedule with other select events after the final event at Tulsa in June,” said Lisa Gerthe. “We decided to attend Ironman Classic events in our area and that put a large gap in our schedule, and although we haven’t been at the track as much as usual this summer, it’s been a nice break from the Texas heat,” continued Lisa. “Alesi and Ayrton are members of the Rockdale High School Student Council and that has kept them busy this summer with area service projects, but they were ready to get back to the track this past weekend and get the cars ready for the upcoming Ironman Classic events.”

Ayrton said, “We’ve had some consistency problems this year with both cars and haven’t been able to pinpoint whether the problem is the carburetor or clutch, so last week we went back to our old style clutches, hoping that would solve the problem and we also slowed my car down a bit where it was running 8.30’s instead of 7.90’s,” continued Ayrton. “First time trial, I had to be towed from the track after my car quit just after the finish line and when Alesi made it back to the pits, both cars had ‘spit out’ the clutch bolt, so to make a long story short, we went through six clutches and a fuel pump this weekend at the track, so we were pretty busy.”

Duane Gerthe said, “Despite the mechanical issues we were having with the cars, we had a great weekend, Alesi won the event Saturday night and we think we’re getting a handle on the problems we’ve been experiencing with the cars.” Duane continued, “From a mechanical standpoint it becomes very frustrating when you’ve checked the cars over and made changes and you still have the problems and it even magnifies my disappointment when the kids are doing their job at the tree and driving the cars and the cars let them down; as their crew chief, I take it real personal.”

Alesi said, “It felt real good to be back in the winner’s circle again this past weekend; I’d been to some finals and semi-finals lately, but it had been awhile since I was the last one standing and it was great!” Alesi continued, “Although we were having problems with the car, I remained focused and as the night went on, I kept going rounds and I hung in there!”

Alesi and Ayrton would like to thank Hoosier Thunder Motorsports Team owners Terry and Rhonda McMillen, Amalie Oil, TORCO Racing Fuels, Flatout Gaskets, and NGK Spark Plugs for being the best sponsors in the racing industry. Also, thanks to IHRA, Sherrie Barbour, and Drag Review for promoting jr. dragster racing. Have a great week!