Article by Kerby Gerughty

KERBY

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erby Gerughty is a junior at Freestyle Academy of Communication Arts and Technology. He loves running track and cross country. He is a very passionate leader in his youth group. He wants to become a full time recording engineer or audio engineer for concerts.

He wants to help artist spread joy and promote love through their music. He also wants to design promotional material and artwork in his free time.

Kerby wants to achieve both of these goals by going to college and majoring in audio engineering with a minor in graphic design.

GERUGHTY

THE DRIVING BATTLE

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harles Gerughty’s loves racing. His first experience racing was at the Wednesday night drag races at Sonoma Raceway. He met people there who became his friends. They all just wanted to have fun on Wednesday nights drag racing. He enjoyed the competition on the drag strip.

The specific type of drag racing Charles enjoyed is known as bracket drag racing, when the slower car leaves before the faster one respective to the speed of the two cars. The race is then more about the skill of the driver than the speed of the car.

The competition of racing forms different kinds of friendships. Racers bond when they race; whether they win or lose, they eagerly get ready to try to win the next time. Charles loves the rivalry. Throughout Charles’ racing experience, he’s blown up five engines, three transmissions, and two rear differentials. The joy and excitement it has given him in return has been worth it.

Charles eventually transitioned from drag racing to track racing. One of his buddies that he

KERBY GERUGHTY

met on his first night of drag racing kept on telling him that he should come out to Thunderhill. He started his track racing experience in a beginner class to learn the basics of track racing. He had to put his ego in his back pocket and take the class even though he had been drag racing for years. The course taught him how to be safe on the track. After the first day of racing at Thunderhill, he didn’t really like it. He went back though, because he wanted to be with the friends he made while drag racing. After two or three days on the track, he was hooked. He has made so many friends throughout the years because almost every person that he has met on the track he has a special bond because of racing.

A PROFILE ABOUT CHARLES GERUGHTY, HIS LOVE FOR RACING, AND HOW HIS LIFE CHANGED WHEN HE WAS DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER. ALSO CANCER AS A WHOLE AND THE MENTAL HEALTH STRUGGLES THAT COME WITH IT Through the years Charles has had different nicknames because of his license plates. His first plate was BUDSLS3. “Bud’s” because his father’s nickname was Bud, and he bought the car with the money from his estate. “LS3” because that was the engine in his Corvette. This plate gave him the nickname of Papa. His next plate was TAX MD, which gave him the nickname of Doctor.

License plates are a way for the racers to show off their personalities and are just as expressive as the type of car they drive.

Over the past 11 years, Charles has owned 12 Corvettes, a Subaru, and a Camaro at different points in time. He’s had coups and convertibles.

Right now, he’s racing a Corvette ZO6 with the ZO7 racing package and a Supercharged 6.2-liter V8 engine. It has 650 horsepower with 650 foot-pounds of torque through a 7-Speed manual transmission. It has a top speed of 195 miles per hour and can go zero to sixty in 3.2 seconds.

Charles loves both track and drag racing. One of his favorite parts about drag racing is the fast pace. He described, saying “what I like about drag racing is, here, then gone tomorrow, boom smack, it’s done. After racing then you have to have the joy of winning or the heartbreak of defeat for the next two hours”. Track racing, “you have wide open straightaways, elevation changes, and unbanked turns. Plus going crazy fast down the straights and hitting a turn perfectly

having the back slipping out and gunning it out of the turn. Next, hitting a split in the tarmac and the car becomes airborne coming back down to the ground and burning rubber at one hundred miles an hour. Coming up on someone’s tail and having to break, hoping to not wipe out into his back end. While track racing, you have to be able to see everything going around you and react within milliseconds.”

Charles loves both styles, whether it be the fast-paced, 8-second flood of adrenaline of drag racing, or the careful, ripping, controlled power of track racing. The one try for perfection flying down the straightaway then waiting for two hours to try again when drag racing, or the chance to try again on the next lap for the perfect turn when track racing. These two different styles both attract the same people, the people who love the comradery of racing.

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harles course changed last year when he went out dinner with a couple of friends one night. The first bite of the hamburger he took got stuck in his throat. With the hamburger stuck in his throat, he hurried off to the restroom. The next day he called his doctor and scheduled an appointment because it didn’t seem right to him. He went to his appointment and his doctor said it might’ve been an upset stomach, but because of his advanced age (69), the doctor wanted to do some testing. The doctor ordered an endoscopy and a lab test. The endoscopy discovered cancer on his esophagus and a CAT scan was ordered to find out the extent of the cancer. Charles was diagnosed with terminal esophageal cancer.

When he found out the extent of the cancer, he went straight to treatment. He wasn’t able to eat solid food for three months.

He was sleeping almost twenty hours a day for two months because his body was putting all his energy into fighting the disease. He had a stent put into his throat to his stomach so that he would be able to eat more easily. Cancer hit him like a ton of bricks, sapping all of the energy from his body.

Charles continued to fight his battle. Now every two weeks he goes to the Kaiser Walnut Creek Infusion Center to get a chemotherapy infusion. He is there for three hours and then he goes home with additional chemo drugs.

Charles waited to tell his daughters in person so that they

wouldn’t freak out when hearing it over the phone. He took his daughters out to lunch to tell them. When they found out, they were shocked, but it didn’t really set in that their father had just told them he was dying. When he told his racing buddies, they were extremely upset. Everyone knew that Charles had been very healthy and in good shape. However, cancer doesn’t care what type of shape you’re in or what you do, it will come after anyone. After everyone in the racing community found out about his cancer, they reached out with love and support. Charles said “I was really surprised at the outpouring love and support. People came to my assistance with their prayers and with their good thoughts.” Many of his friends have reached out with cards and well wishes. He jokingly said, “I should get sick more often then I would realize how many friends I really have.”

After finding out about his disease and starting treatment, Charles had to take a break from racing for a little while. This was especially difficult because he had got so much joy and happiness from racing. When he started back racing, his lap times actually became faster. Cancer has really opened his eyes the world around him. Before the disease, he would go to the track and enjoy his time there, but now he’s able to have less fear on the track and closer bonds with friends. He is able to have more fun on the track because he isn’t as afraid of going too fast into a turn and having the back of the car slip a bit. He knows that he is going to die one day, whether it’s going to be from cancer or any other of a multitude of things. He is able to better appreciate his days on the track after being diagnosed with cancer. He said, “Overall, cancer has made my racing experience better, much better. I can really appreciate the time that I’m at the track with my friends.”

For Charles, racing has become more joyful even though he can’t do as many track days or make as many runs in a day because of his cancer.

Despite the fact that this horrible disease has a ruined his life, he’s able to find joy in the things that he loves to

do. He hasn’t sunk into depression because he’s able to look at the little things in life, and finds joy in them and doesn’t dwell on the hardship that is cancer.

Charles summarized his experience with cancer: “I have no regrets. If I were to die tomorrow, the only regret I would have, would be that, and this is a joke, that I didn’t get to visit all 70 wineries in Livermore where I live.”

Charles plans to live each day to the fullest. That’s the practice he has followed for the past 8 months. His health is getting better. Charles has lived 6 months past his original prognosis. He still continues treatment for his cancer hoping that he will go into remission. He still has pain but not all over anymore. He used to throw

up often and now he doesn’t as much.

Things are looking better. His spirit is better.

His rock through this entire ordeal has been his wife, Deborah. Whether it’s taking him to his chemo appointments or blending his food so he can eat it. She has been there with him through it all. He also has reached out to several members of his family.

His daughters Kelly and Julie have helped by being there for him. Spending quality time together. His brother drove Charles up to Willows for his first race at Thunderhill Raceway after his diagnosis and treatment for his cancer. This was his journey to recovery. His pathway back to the joy of racing and look at cancer from his rear-view mirror.