Aaron Easler, 23, was the 2014 Western PA Rookie of the Year.

His racing roots are deep in his family and he doesn’t believe he is plagued with the sophomore jinx, despite the fact he’s had a series of random issues with his DIRTcar Sportsman No. 11 this year.

“Our crew is very upbeat and we will work out the problems soon,” the Butler driver said with a smile.

In July, he will graduate from Edinboro University with a degree in graphics design. Although Easler is done with classes, he is finishing his internship at Wexford Open Arc Software Applications. He has also been doing freelance lettering on race cars. Aaron and Amanda Clegg have developed a company called DOS that provides branding and marketing collateral, as well as web design and graphics.

Aaron’s older brother Ben is his crew chief. He graduated from Duquense with a music degree a few years ago and was hired as a teacher by the Johnstown/Richland School district, where he also is the orchestra director.

After school on Friday, he makes a high-speed run to their Gibsonia garage to get ready to come to Lernerville. Ben did race somewhat in the DIRTcar Sportsman class in 2014 but hasn’t had enough time to get his car ready in 2015. He had previously raced a Modified at Motordrome on asphalt for three years.

Other Easler crew members are Mike Stillwagon, Ralph Engel Jr, Rex Gibson, Dave Primrose and his dad, Sylvan Easler.

When Aaron and Ben were little, they watched NASCAR racing with their father. Aaron cheered for Dale Earnhardt and Ben was a Jeff Gordon fan. So they would see who finished the best each race and that brother was the winner.

Sylvan Easler’s Alternative Power Resources of Gibsonia sponsored Jamie Smith’s No. 5 Sprint car for about five years and the family would go to Lernerville Fridays to root for him. Aaron’s grandfather, the late Sylvan “Red” Easler, used to build engines for Bob Wearing Sr in the Heidelberg Raceway era. “Red” also built a number of engines for drag racers. He owned a 57 Chevy drag car called the ET Special and Gus Scholich was his driver.

After watching the Sprint cars and going to the go-kart track with his friend John Smith, Aaron and his older Ben at decided to race go-carts. They got their start in go-kart racing in 2001 when Aaron was nine and his first race was at the Naugle Speedway.

Aaron raced carts for a number of years and won a lot of races. He liked competing against A.J Flick, Kyle Fink, Brandon Spithaler, Colton Flinner and Michael Bauer, to name a few. Aaron moved to a full size race car during the latter part of the 2013 season. He raced about five times that year, which is the limit to be eligible for the 2014 rookie award.

Racing in the DIRTcar Sportsman class at Lernerville, one of the most competitive classes of its kind in all of western Pa., Easler put forth an impressive season to finish fifth in points. He actually ranked ahead of a number of seasoned veterans in the class. Although Aaron has yet to win a race, he was runner-up twice during 2014 and also secured third and fourth two times each. That gave the Butler driver six top five finishes and 13 top tens in the 15 races for the class that usually sees 20 plus drivers start the main race every Friday night.

Easler’s team has purchased Mike Pegher Jr.’s Crate Late Model, and this season, they plan to run it at Lernerville and PA Motor Speedway. They also have a Chris Schneider chassis that they will switch to in the DIRTcar division when time permits this season.

Sylvan Easler likes the quality time they spend together as a family unit, not only in the garage, but at the track. Aaron’s mom Leslie, films the races and is their track chef.

Sylvan’s company name graces many families racers like AJ Flick, Dan Holtgraver and Mike Pegher Jr.

Aaron’s dad believes that they have found and solved their speed and chassis issues. He is looking forward to racing this week. Sylvan said, “if the horse shoe is working and you are at the top of your game, sometimes you need luck and everything falls into place.”

New beginning

Tony Musolino decided to start the 2015 season with new colors and number on his race car. It worked with a win at Marion Center. He is a new father with the birth of his daughter Iliano. Musoino says, “I keep in shape by doing curls with my little girl in her car seat.”

Jet, pilot loaned out

Recently, Sprint driver Danny Smith was inducted into the Sprint Car Hall of Fame in Knoxville and wanted to be back in Ohio to run a UNOH All Star Sprint race the same weekend.

So Tony Stewart loaned him his jet and pilot. This grounded Stewart, who is one of racing’s busiest men in the sport, for a few days.

King wins No. 100

Veteran driver Rex King’s recent Sharon victory was his 100th. Racing statistician Walt Wimer reports that only six other area drivers have reached the century mark and they are the the following; Lou Blaney- 340, Brian Swartzlaner-170, Blackie Watt, -144, Kevin Bolland,-128, Ed Lynch Sr, -113, and Bob Wearing Sr.-107.

What’s on tap

Lernerville Speedway will have Mid-Season Championships for all classes Friday. The ARDC Midgets and Super Late Models will join the regular divisions at PA Motor Speedway Saturday. Mercer Raceway will have double point Mid-Season Championship races.

Carol Gamble is a racing columnist for the Butler Eagle