“Readin', Writin' and Racin' ” are the basic 3R's for Lernerville Speedway announcer Eric Westendorf.

You see, “Big E” is a teacher who loves to educate the fans on current events and the history at the track. A Freeport graduate, he got his nickname because he stands 6-foot-5.

His first recollection of racing came when he was 5 years old, attending Lernerville. At that time, Rod George was his favorite Sprint driver because George lived in Kittanning, where Eric's parents had a Hallmark store in the 1980's.

When he was in junior high, his parents divorced and his father moved to North Carolina. His grandmother's sister was Pearl Swartzlander. Pearl and racing icon Dick Swartzlander became like surrogate grandparents to Westendorf.

“I remember seeing all the trophies in their basement. The track became my “Dirt” therapy in dealing with my parent's divorce.” he said. “When I came here for four or five hours, the rest of the world just kind of went away!”

Westendorf became a “turn one” fan, watching Dan Swartzlander (Dick's son) race each week.

“At that time, I never realized the magnitude of Dick Swartzlander's history. I had no idea how many races he won and what he meant to the community until after I started working at Lernerville!,” Westendorf said.

He went to Penn State, New Kensington for two years and then transferred to the main Penn State campus, where he majored in Social Studies.

“I remember that when my class ended at noon on Friday, I would drive home to get to Lernerville each week, drop off my laundry and get to the track,” Westendorf said.

When the Sprint feature was over, he would pick up his laundry and drive back to Penn State, getting there before the last call at the bar!

“All those years, I was about a half hour from Port Royal and Williams Grove, but never went that direction. I just wanted to be at Lernerville!,” Westendorf said.

Westendorf never realized what a great voice he had and was not involved in broadcasting at college. After graduation, he went to North Carolina and did substitute teaching work for a half year. He couldn't find a full-time teaching position and he missed Sarver, so he returned to the Butler area.

Again, he could not find a full-time teaching position and went to work at Sprint driver, Chad Hill's newly owned Kittanning Pizza shop.

“When things got slow we would go out back and work on the racer,” Westendorf said.

After a year and a half, Westendorf finally got a teaching position at Summit Academy. He later was asked to announce at their home football games and he coached basketball and golf.

Westendorf would substitute for the announcer at Lernerville bus races. Don Gamble asked him to co-host the Lernerville pre-race show and he would also help Bud Daum with the track's WISR pre-race show. He was hired to be the Lernerville Publicity Director in 2007, and after the sudden death of announcer Dow Carnahan, Westendorf became the 'Voice of Lernerville Speedway!”

“Being with the track public relations really helped me be familiar with all the drivers and their stats,” he said. “Knowing all that, I could put it into context and convey it to the fans.”

He added “when you know the history of the track and it' stories, you can share a driver's first victory or his number of wins.”

Westendorf's wife, Tara, is very patient and understanding with his Lernerville passion, but she hates racing. Every Friday, Tara and her mom have quality time with their four boys, taking them somewhere special.

Their sons are Payton — who is 14 and going to Freeport High School this fall, playing football, basketball baseball and track — Owen is 10, Avery is 8 and Maddox is 3. By the way, Westendorf is also the Freeport basketball game announcer.

He got his principal certification at California University.

He said: “Through all that I have seen, I realized now how hard it is for some kids just to come to school. They can't process their feelings. This experience helped me to become a better teacher, husband and parent.'”

Westendorf decided to make a career change and went to work for #1 Cochran, where he was a part of Internet sales. After a year, the break came that he had prepared himself for; he was offered the position of Principal at Central Westmoreland Career and Technology Center. He was promoted to the position of Assistant Director two years ago, where he helps to conduct the operations at the school.

Westendorf is happy to see the Tomson family, a local track owner, investing a lot of money in the speedway to make it nicer for the fans and race teams.

“I think Don Martin would be happy that his track is still here.” he said.

Nationally he said, “It is nice to see the NASCAR drivers giving back to the sport with their developmental dirt Sprint car and Late Model teams. “

Modified driver Chris Rudolph put together a special Lernerville event for the “kids” with pediatric brain tumors recently. It was great to see the smiles on the faces as they waved their checkered flags!

Carol Gamble is a racing columnist for the Butler Eagle