Ryan Rochelle provided a memorable way to celebrate in victory lane. The nine-year-old took a bow after taking his first junior slingshot feature of the season at Shellhammer Dirt Track in Leesport, Pennsylvania.
“Some of the fans thought it was funny,” Ryan, of Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, said. “It is cool to bow. When I saw Kyle Busch do it, I thought it was different and nice.”
Ryan surprised himself with the win.
“I didn’t think I would win because there was something wrong with our engine,” said the well-spoken Ryan. “We put the old engine in and surprisingly it did the job for us.”
Despite his age, Ryan has racked up quite a bit of success. This win marks his 13th career victory in the junior slingshots. Prior to that, he had 25 .25 midget victories.
Ryan comes from a racing pedigree. His grandfather, Paul “Sandy” Rochelle” raced sprint cars. Ryan’s father, Jason Rochelle, raced Legend cars, late models, and sprint cars. His sister, Morgan Rochelle Bealer, is the current Ms. Motorsports and currently competes in 600 non-wing sprints. Morgan’s husband, Zack Bealer, steers 600s, TQ midgets, and 305 sprints.
Ultimately, racing brings together the Rochelle family, especially Ryan with his sister, Morgan.
“They complement one another,” said Jason of his children. “Ryan and Morgan have a tight brother-sister bond that as a parent makes me real proud. They both started racing at age five, and I stepped back from racing so they could race.”
Jason said his son, Ryan Rochelle, loves racing, but wants to provide him with a well-rounded childhood.
“He wants to help with everything on the car,” Jason said. “We want him to learn more without getting crazy into racing. He’ll see about playing baseball this year, and he’s really into iRacing. He is doing well in school — school comes first, if he wants to race. All these things are important for a nine-year-old.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
