By Gene Ostrowski
For The Daily Item
---- — Like many young boys, Gabe Earnest of Jerseytown looks up to his dad, Mark. In the minds of a lot of 9-year-olds, there are many things that dad does as an adult that Gabe would like to do as well once he gets older.
One thing on the bucket list was to be a victor at Numidia Dragway while behind the wheel of a dragster. Well, Gabe can cross that one off his list, as he recently shot to three wins in the last three weeks while racing his Junior Dragster at Numidia Dragway and Skyview Drags in New York.
According to the NHRA website, the NHRA Jr. Drag Racing League offers kids ages 8-17 the opportunity to experience the thrill of racing half-scale dragsters in a controlled racing environment at many of NHRA's 140 member tracks across the United States and Canada.
Gabe's Junior Dragster appears much like his father's drag car at a much smaller scale. Like all Junior Dragsters, Gabe's car is half scale and powered by a five-horsepower, single-cylinder engine. This might not sound like the most productive power plant, but a Junior Dragster can go as fast as 85 mph and as quick as 7.90 seconds in an eighth-mile.
Safety is always a concern in motorsports and the Junior Dragsters are no different. Actually, the safety equipment required for the youngsters is the same as the "big time" racers. The kids are required to have a Snell-approved helmet, SFI fireproof-rated gloves and jacket, a neck collar and arm restraint.
Although Mark Earnest has always drag raced, he didn't push his son toward that route when Gabe showed interest in motorsports. Instead he looked into go-kart racing.
"A friend of ours had a kart and we decided to put Gabe in it for a race at Greenwood (Valley Action Track)," noted Mark.
Laughing, Mark recalls that Gabe spun out a couple of times on the track and then proceeded to circle back around, but in the wrong direction. "That's when we knew that he needed to stick to going straight and we talked to Bob DiMino about the Junior Dragsters at Numidia".
DiMino is the owner/promoter of the track. To help kids gain interest in the Junior Dragsters, he has a "house car" and allows kids to try drag racing once or twice before the decision is made to purchase a race car of their own.
"Bob let Gabe run the car in the "test and tune" last year and following his second run he ran the car straight up a tree", said Mark.
A lot has changed since that test run.
After gaining experience behind the wheel and working on his reaction time, even with a mild case of ADHD, the young Earnest has been on a rail. He's pulled out three wins over the last three weeks at two different circuits.
"We're all very proud of him", said his father. "He's come a long way in the last year and he received a lot of compliments from people about how well he's been doing. He's been beating kids more than twice his age".
Gabe currently sits third in the Junior Dragster points standings at Numidia and hopes to move even higher up the chart before the season is through.
Mark Earnest commented on the start-up cost to get into Junior Dragster racing. "We found a great deal on our car and there are plenty of them out there. For anywhere three to five thousand (dollars), you can get a car and go drag racing for the entire season. It's a blast and win or lose, we all have a great time".
n Gene Ostrowski covers Motorsports for the Daily Item. He can be reached by e-mail at gjtost@verizon.net.
