Midget racing appeared on the East Coast on June 10, 1934, just one year after the California introduction of the sport. In one year the sport was becoming more organized, especially by the promoters. The Eastern Auto Racing Syndicate was formed in 1935 and ended up with five tracks before the season was over. Sherman (Red) Crise owned stock in the syndicate and three cars driven byBob Sall, Johnny Hannon and Ernie Gesell. The two main tracks for the syndicate were Hinchliffe Stadium in

Paterson, NJ and Bridgeport, CT.
     It was Ernie Gesell who won the 1935 Championship as well as the Penn State Championship race held at the Yellow Jacket Speedway in Frankfort. PA.
     Ernie had a long and successful career in the mighty midgets and was a regular winter visitor to the West Coast tracks during the 1930s .
     He won the NMARC title in 1937 and was second in the ARDC points in 1940. In 1941 he won a 150-lap race at Yellow Jacket. He was still winning after the war and journeyed to the Midwest several times where he won features at Dowagiac, MI (Rendezvous Bowl), Crown Point, and South Bend, Indiana.
     He died in 1979 at the age of 66.