Condolences to the Family of a Racing Legend and Friend

Victory 1 Performance would like to send their thoughts and prayers to the entire Gaerte family. Yesterday morning at 8:50 am, family patriarch and legendary engine builder Earl Gaerte passed away after a long battle with an illness.

At this time memorial plans are pending, but it will be held sometime next week after the 51st running of the Knoxville Nationals.

A member of the 2007 class of the Sprint Car Hall of Fame, Earl Gaerte had humble beginnings in his hometown of Rochester, Indiana. He went from an engine shop ran out of his garage to becoming one of the biggest innovators in sprint car and midget racing. Over the years many racing stars such as Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Steve Kinser, Sammy Swindell and Levi Jones have won races and championships with a Gaerte power plant in their cars.

Gaerte Engines was founded in 1969 when Earl, who was at the time a parts manager at a Chevrolet Dealer, started his own business out of his two-car garage with $1,000 and some performance parts. Gaerte began making engines for drag racers, but soon switched to sprint car racing. His first customer on the sprint car side was Paul Hazen with driver Jimmy Elliott (the father of USAC champion Tony Elliott).

Over the next ten years, Gaerte's business grew by leaps and bounds, and he found himself building engines for some of the best in the business. One of the most legendary partnerships Gaerte had came about during the battle for the inaugural World of Outlaws title in 1978. The final race at Eldora Speedway saw Steve Kinser and Rick Ferkel separated by only a few points. When the engine gave out in Steve's car, a fellow competitor offered team owner Karl Kinser an engine built by Gaerte. That night Kinser won his first World of Outlaws title with a Gaerte Engine and in the off season a deal was signed to provide engines for Karl Kinser's team for the next season. This partnership added several World of Outlaw Championships and Knoxville Nationals wins to Gaerte's resume.

That was a turning point for Gaerte Engines as it became the "must have" power plant in the sprint car world. Sammy Swindell, Sheldon Kinser, and Rich Vogler signed on to run Gaerte's legendary horsepower. Gaerte even teamed with John Butera to put Dennis Firestone in the field of the 1982 Indianapolis 500.

Several notable racers began their racing careers sitting behind a Gaerte Engine. Jeff Gordon turned some of his first laps with a Gaerte Engine and Tony Stewart brought the Gaerte name several wins and championships in USAC.

Gaerte not only made gains in the sprint and midget racing, he also helped in NASCAR and Dirt Late Model Racing. He was a part of AJ Foyt's NASCAR effort and was involved in the development of restrictor plate engines.

Auto racing has lost one of its innovators. Earl was preceded in death by his wife Alice. Survivors include their daughter Brenda and son Joe (1987 and 88 All Star Circuit of Champions titlist) who continues to keep the Gaerte Engines name alive in auto racing.