If you are a dirt-racing fan in Central Minnesota, there’s a good chance you will see a member of Mehrwerth family on the track. The siblings from St. Stephen, Minn. — 27-year-old Ashley, 24-year-old Brandon and 17-year-old Corey — are formidable competitors on the racetrack.
Ashley and Brandon both race in the Wissota Midwest Modified class. Ashley drives the #17 car while Brandon drives the #7. Corey, who will be a senior at Sartell-St. Stephen High School this fall, is in his fourth season behind the wheel and drives the #27 Wissota Hornet.
Since both Ashley and Brandon started in the Hornets and now are in the Midwest Modifieds, it’s a natural progression for Corey to end up in a B mod as well.
“It was a chain reaction,” Corey Mehrwerth said. “Ashley started, and Brandon went (into racing) because of her, and I went because of them.”
Because of work schedules, finding all three at the track on the same night doesn’t happen all that often.
Ashley is a nursing assistant at the St. Cloud hospital. She has one win, which came at KRA Speedway in Willmar on July 23, and four top fives this season. Brandon works for the railroad and has six top fives and two wins this season and leads the points at KRA Speedway. Corey has become one of the top Wissota Hornet drivers in central Minnesota. Since 2017 he has 29 feature wins, including a career-best 11 in 2019. Corey has raced seven times in 2020 and has three wins and finished second twice.
The Mehrwerths’ cousins, Justin and Ryan, helped get the family into racing. Justin is still racing a midwest modified, in his 21st year behind the wheel of a race car.
“Our cousins, Justin and Ryan Jones, they started out in a hornet, and we watched every Friday night,” Ashley said.
There was an adjustment for both Ashley and Brandon as they moved into the B mods years ago from the hornets.
“Everything is so much quicker in a B mod; everything reacts a lot faster,” Brandon said.
“The more rotation everything has, how free everything feels compared to a hornet. It’s a lot to get used to,” Ashley said.
Corey is learning from his older siblings as well.
“You take a little bit of what they do to what you can in the hornets, helps a lot,” Corey said.
The Mehrwerths, between the three of them, have travelled all over the region to race in 2020. That includes trips to Sheyenne Speedway in Lisbon, N.D., Devils Lake Speedway, I-94 Sure Step Speedway in Fergus Falls, Ogilvie Raceway, KRA, Gondik Law Speedway in Superior, Wis., Rice Lake Speedway and Norman County Raceway in Ada. When work schedules allow, they try to race at I-94 on Fridays.
“We try to come here as much as we can on Friday,” Ashley said.
There haven’t been a lot of on-track incidents between Brandon and Ashley in the midwest modified class, but one sticks out at Buffalo River Race Park in Glyndon a few years ago when the two siblings got together.
“I didn’t know who hit me,” Ashley said. “I was kinda of ticked. Then I seen it was Brandon.”
“It can be frustrating, you can’t race as hard next to each other — if you hit each other, you’ve got to fix it,” Brandon said.
Corey’s eying a move to the Wissota Midwest Modified class in the future, even though he enjoys the competition in the hornet class.
“That’s the plan,” Corey said.
In all their cases, their family has enjoyed racing and being at the track together.
“What racing has meant to our family is bringing everyone together,” Ashley said. “It’s like another holiday we get to spend together. Not only family goes but friends will go too. And even though there's stress, frustration, sweat, tears — there follows the laughter and memories made and the people we get to meet.”
Driver Profiles
Ashley Mehrwerth
Wissota Midwest Modified #17
Residence: St. Stephen, Minn.
Age: 27
Sponsors: East Central Sports, Collins Brothers Towing, GM Drilling, Bud Jones and Sons Auto Salvage, Schwieters Chevrolet (Willmar), Granite City Lumbar, Jack's Unique Movers Royl Masonary, Traut Custom Harvesting, Rizer Fabrication
Brandon Mehrwerth
Wissota Midwest Modified #7
Residence: St. Stephen, Minn.
Age: 24
Sponsors: Bud Jones and Sons, Collins Brothers Towing, East Central Sports, GM Drilling, Royl Masonry Rizer Fabrication, Jim’s Snowmobile and Marine
Corey Mehrwerth
Wissota Hornet #27
Residence: St. Stephen, Minn.
Age: 17
Sponsors: East Central Sports, Collins Brothers, Bud Jones and Sons, Royl Masonry, GM Drilling
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