The next generation of drivers and owners is emerging at Western Pennsylvania racetracks.

Kelsey George, 23, daughter of champion Sprint car driver Rod George, made her debut at Mercer as a Sprint car owner with Garret Krummert as the pilot.

Krummert is a Modified driver who will be running his own brand-new 358 Modified in addition to driving a Sprint for the first season.

George would love to get behind the wheel, but Dad says, "No way!"

The next best thing was to field a car. She did it by pounding the pavement searching for sponsors. As the money became available, she added pieces to Dad's old Sprint chassis.

The younger George is excited to have her own Sprint car and said, "I am taking it one week at a time."

Racing is in the blood of the Matus family. When baseball season is over at Mohawk High, Brandon Matus will be the newest member of the family to get behind the wheel of a Sprint car.

Matus, 16, will have the daunting challenge of carrying on the racing tradition of his predecessors

His great-grandfather, John Matus, drove a race car once and decided to be an owner. His grandfather, Jerry Matus, won three Lernerville Sprint crowns. His father, Brent, has been in the Lernerville top 10 for 20 years with a third place as his highest achievement in points and has won several races.

Brandon builds and assembles the Sprints for his dad and also a spare that Budd Watt drives on Fridays and Joey Butera controls on Saturdays at Mercer.

Recently, the younger Matus has been racing go-carts, but now he will make the transition to the Sprint division.

Shawn Fleeger is a rookie in the Modified division in 2009. His father, Doug Fleeger, has raced the car for several years and turned the reins over to his 18-year-old son this season.

Shawn works at Baglier Buick and is enjoying his new role. His number is 88, which is the combination of his dad's No. 8 and his go-cart No. 8.

In other racing news:

• It's Ladies Night at Lernerville Speedway Friday. All female fans who enter the gate before 7 p.m. will be admitted free to the Fab Four events.

• Dog Hollow Speedway's defending Late Model champion Shawn "Sheetz" McGarvey, 40, of Coalport, Cambria County, was killed last week in a work-related accident. In his short career, McGarvey collected track titles at Dog Hollow, Thunder Valley Raceway, Thunder Mountain and Central Pennsylvania Speedways.

• Our condolences also go out to photographer Dan Fennell's family on the recent death of his mother Dorothy, who was a long time racing fan.

• Tom Henry, founder of the Chevrolet dealership in Bakerstown that bears his name, died Monday. He has been a friend of racing for years, sponsoring many cars, including the Dave Reges car in 2009.

• A speedy recovery goes out to Art Osmer, owner of Late Model No. 15, who had a quadruple heart bypass at Butler Memorial Hospital.

• Sprint icon Johnny Beaber has returned to racing, along with his son, Tony. He appeared at Mercer last week and is slated to return to Lernerville Friday. The Gibsonburg, Ohio, native has more than 200 career Sprint Car wins all over the Midwest and Northeast. Beaber will be driving for New Jersey's Jeff Taylort. Tony, who owns three career non-wing wins at the Lawrenceburg Speedway in Indiana and was the track champion in 2006 driving for Alan Toth, will pilot his own car.

Carol Gamble is the racing columnist for the Butler Eagle.