Hermiston herald., August 01, 2018, Page A10, Image 10

A10 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2018
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SONS OF
Go see it
Hermiston Raceway is hosting its Friday Night Bash from 6-10 p.m. on Friday. Racers
in the Late Models, Street Stocks, Legends, Mini Stock & Super Mini, Bombers, and
Hornets categories will compete. The race will be capped off by the CrashMania
Demolition Derby.
Team 123 WILL BE RACING THEIR
’76 MONTE CARLO IN THE BOMBERS
DIVISION.
Second generation of racers
take the wheel at Hermiston
Raceway
The opportunity couldn’t have presented
itself more perfectly. Coe was working for C.
Rob Carter’s plumbing business when Erb was
given the Monte Carlo back in 1991.
“Rob let us use his shop to rebuild this old car
and bring it back to life,” Erb said. “In a way,
this wouldn’t have happened without him.”
By BRETT KANE
STAFF WRITER
he summer sun sizzled high over Mil-
ton-Freewater on Sunday afternoon as Jerry
Erb, 51, and Terry Coe, 48, wiped sweat and
grease from their brows while polishing up
their ’76 Monte Carlo for its next outing at the
Hermiston Raceway.
The duo is used to the heat and hard work,
though — together, they’ve been building and
racing cars since they met 27 years ago.
Their wives, Liz Erb and Mindy Coe, used to
compete in equestrian team penning, and intro-
duced their husbands to each other. From there,
the two raced in courses in Walla Walla, Enter-
prise and Hermiston.
“I was a huge NASCAR fan growing up,”
said Coe. “It was always something I wanted
to do.”
“The kids weren’t doing
anything but playing video
games. It was time to get the
car out of the garage again.”
Jerry Erb, Team 123
Erb and Coe enjoyed racing together for sev-
eral years until it came time to settle down and
start a family. Aside from the occasional week-
end fishing trip, the two lost contact when they
began focusing more on raising their kids.
Their car found itself sitting in Erb’s garage
STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT KANE
Terry and Shade Coe, and Jeremy and Jerry
Erb, pose next to their ‘76 Monte Carlo, which
they race at Hermiston Raceway.
for the better part of a decade until one day his
son Jeremy showed interest in following in his
footsteps.
“The kids weren’t doing anything but playing
video games,” Erb said. “It was time to get the
car out of the garage again.”
Jeremy, along with Coe’s son Shade, learned
to drive in the Monte Carlo, doing circles out in
the pasture when they were as young as 9.
“Jeremy lit the spark up again,” Erb recalled.
These days, however, Jeremy and Shade, both
25, are ready to race the car on courses bigger
than the pasture. Ever since March, the father-
and-son teams have been hard at work gearing
up the Monte Carlo to compete at the Hermiston
Raceway. This is Jeremy and Shade’s first full
season as drivers.
“We’ve always loved racing in Hermiston
because the audiences are huge, and it’s always
exciting,” Coe said. “It’s one of the last courses
in the country because so many are closing
down. Hermiston is great because it’s local, and
it’s good family fun.”
Hermiston Raceway’s longevity could be
attributed to Greg and Laura Walden of the
See SPEED, Page A11
Big River and Hermiston partner for youth golf camp
Big River Golf
Course youth camp
wraps up ninth
year
By BRETT KANE
STAFF WRITER
UMATILLA — Big
River Golf Course was filled
with enthusiastic parents,
coaches and aspiring young
golfers on Friday morning
for the ninth annual Junior
Camp Tournament.
The tournament, played
by kids aged 6-14, is part of
a summer program that fol-
lows a week-long camp that
teaches kids the essentials of
the game. More than 50 kids
met every morning from July
23-27 and were instructed
by high school golf coaches,
course employees and vol-
unteers on how to swing,
chip and putt. At the end of
the week, their newfound
skills were put to the test
in the two-hour tournament
that awarded first- and sec-
ond-place winners in each
of its age-based categories.
This year’s turnout dou-
bled that of last year’s
thanks to a newly acquired
partnership with Hermiston
Parks & Recreation, which
handled registration duties.
“We wanted a bigger
reach than we’ve had before
and we knew they could
provide that,” said Megan
Olsen, one of the owners of
the Big River Golf Course.
“We wanted to grow and
get more involved with the
youth — they’re the future
of the sport.”
On the day of the tour-
nament, families and vol-
unteers, including approx-
imately 10 head coaches
from local golf programs,
flocked the greens to cheer
the kids on. At the end of
the day, 27 first- and sec-
ond-place prizes were
awarded, including three
ties.
Prizes this year included
Adidas sports gear, golf
bags, and emoji-themed golf
balls for the younger kids.
Buckets of golf balls were
also awarded to motivate
participants to keep their
game going beyond their
involvement in the Junior
Camp.
“Golf is awesome, and
it’s amazing to see younger
generations who feel the
same way,” said Scott Bow,
who coaches at Umatilla
High School.
Bow could be seen walk-
ing the courses with groups
of kids, advising them along
the way, and cheering after
every play.
“I’d love to come back
and do this every year,” he
said. “It’s great seeing these
kids get better every day.”
WINNERS: First Place:
Maxton Hughes, JT Hud-
son, Brody Whitbeck,
Mikey Payan, Connor Mar-
tin, Maxwell Adair, Jack
Lathrop, Kaiden Dam-
meyer, Ryan Rettkowski,
Carter Swanson, Brekker
Edwards, Nadalie Cannell
Second Place: Gabriel
Amos, Carolyn Herman,
STAFF PHOTO BY BRETT KANE
Brayden Cortaberria tees off at Big River Golf Course in
Umatilla during their Junior Camp Tournament.
Franco Gonzalez Mendoza,
Paycen Crawford, Kohen
Krueger, Brody Coller, Bret
Corey, Ty Hansell, Cindy
Howard, Dakota Ferguson,
Karter Arritt, Jace Wallace,
Ian Baxter, Adam Thomas,
Mykal Graham