Monday, October 10, 2005

2005 Division 4 Team Finals - San Antonio Raceway

October 10, 2005 - Rockdale, TX - New Breed Racing, Alesi and Ayrton Gerthe, attended the 2005 Division 4 Team Finals held at San Antonio Raceway, October 7 – 9, 2005. Hoosier Thunder Motorsports team owners, Terry and Rhonda McMillen and the Amalie Oil InstiGator Team, 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. A cold front brought cooler temperatures and rain that halted the racing on Friday, but the rest of the weekend was picture perfect. In the main event on Sunday with a field of 56 cars, Alesi made it down to fourteen cars and Ayrton went to the quarterfinals. Although we missed our goal of bringing home another Ironman, our team did help San Antonio Raceway win another track championship.

Sunday, October 02, 2005

San Antonio Raceway - "Double" & Final I-10 Race - October 1, 2005

October 2, 2005 - Rockdale, TX – Alesi and Ayrton Gerthe, Jr. Dragster drivers for New Breed Racing attended the final race for the 2005 I-10 Series and track points at San Antonio Raceway on Saturday, October 1, 2005. Hoosier Thunder Motorsports team owners, Terry and Rhonda McMillen and the Amalie Oil InstiGator Team, 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 day was packed full of racing with time trials starting just after noon and the team arrived home at 3 a.m. this morning. The day was unique and challenging because our crew chief/dad Duane had to stay behind due to work commitments, but thanks to our friend Travis Crim and the support of our racing family, we had an awesome night. It’s nice to have great friends and you don’t realize it until you’re faced with a situation. Many knew Duane wouldn’t be with us and when others noticed, they offered help and support. It’s a good feeling, but we know IHRA racers are special people. Duane had the cars tuned and ready, so all we had to do was pour in the TORCO Racing Fuel and go rounds. The only mechanical failure was a flat on our tow dolly, but Todd Zampese helped us out offering a replacement wheel. Ayrton stayed in on both color tech cards several rounds and put six elimination round passes on his car. Alesi made a final round appearance, finished second, and put ten elimination round passes on her car. Although we had a great day of racing and wanted to prove we could go rounds, it didn’t feel the same without our crew chief there with us. We called him after each pass and were thankful for the performance of our Hardens Race Cars powered by Blossom Racing Engines. We look forward to the Division 4 Team Finals next weekend at San Antonio Raceway and our goal is to bring home another “Ironman”. Alesi and Ayrton would like to thank Hoosier Thunder Motorsports Team owners Terry and Rhonda McMillen and the InstiGator Team, 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.