One day a few years back, Sheri Herberholz waited for her husband, Larry, and oldest son, Dana, to come home with the familys first real race car. The two returned with a flatbed trailer carrying car-body parts. It didnt exactly rev her up.


When somebody tells me they are going to pick up a car, I expect to see a car, Herberholz says. It was just a bunch of parts.


Within months, however, Larry Herberholz had reassembled the pieces into a stock car that would rev up most any race fan, his wife included. Since then, the Herberholzes have shifted into high gear, turning what started as an avocation into a family business called Herberholz Racing Inc.


Operating the business out of their Liberty Lake homeand garagethe family hopes to turn the company into a profitable venture next year.


Earlier this year, the company built two new cars, both sleek, Viper-red racing versions of the 2001 Dodge Intrepid. With son Dana behind the wheel of one of those cars, the company races in a small Northwest racing circuit that includes events here and in cities ranging from Kalispell, Mont., to Yakima, Wash. The race season ended earlier this month, and at final tally, the team had competed in a total of 15 races.


We didnt have that great of a season, Larry Herberholz says, though the team came on strong at the end. Sheri Herberholz adds, Everybody roots for the underdog. You want to win, but you dont want to win every time. Too much winning can cause a race team to become unpopular with the fans, she says.


As she implies, the business isnt all about tight cornering and high RPMs. She handles the companys marketing side, and at this stage, the couple says, thats as important as taking the checkered flag regularly.


The companys focus is the cars and the races, but the Herberholzes have spent more time this year showcasing the cars and marketing the racing team than they have on the track. They built one of the cars specifically for public display, and use it to make regular promotional appearances at events such as rodeos, county fairs, and car shows. The promotional appearances allow them to boost their sponsors and build public awareness about the team and local auto racing in general.


Herberholz Racings main sponsor is the Dishman Dodge car dealership in the Spokane Valley, as is readily apparent by the Dishman Dodge logo and Dodge Ram insignia splashed across the cars hoods. About 10 smaller sponsors also donate money or in-kind services, and those companies logos are stacked on the drivers side doors of the cars.


Marlene Hollenback, co-owner of Dishman Dodge, says the dealership has received more exposure from the racing team than she expected.


Im surprised by the interest in racing in our community, Hollenback says. It has a tremendous following that I wasnt aware of.


She says the Herberholzes havent approached the dealership yet about sponsoring the racing team again next year, but that the dealership is willing to renew its sponsorship.


The Herberholzes say increased sponsorship is the key to their companys growth. They hope to not only to maintain Dishman Dodge as its major backer, but also to lure DaimlerChrysler, which makes Dodge autos, as a sponsor as well. If Herberholz Racing could secure another major Dodge sponsor, it might be able to make the jump to a larger Northwest racing circuit sanctioned by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), Larry Herberholz says.


Thats big-league racing, he says.


If that happened, the company could hire a racing team, rather than rely on family members and one or two volunteers, he says. It also could lease out a shop instead of working out of the garage at the Herberholzs Liberty Lake home.


Herberholz Racing has yet to turn a profit. It invested close to $50,000 in the racing car alone, Herberholz says, far more than the company raised through sponsorships and modest prize purses. With the display car in mint condition, however, and the race car in need of relatively minor repairs, the racing concern hopes to attract the needed additional sponsors and become profitable next year, he says.


Larry Herberholz assembled both cars, using fiberglass bodies and high-performance engines and chassis. He built the display car first, then concentrated on the racing car.


The team currently competes in a racing division called Late Model 4s, for cars built after 1993 that have four-cylinder engines. In a race on a half-mile track, on which races typically go for 40 laps and last 20 to 30 minutes, the cars will reach speeds of up to 140 mph on straightaways.


Starting with karts


The Herberholzes got into racing in the 1980s when, on a whim, Larry Herberholz and his son stopped by Stateline Speedway east of Spokane for a Go-Kart race, and after seeing the little vehicles zip around the track, Dana, who was then 8, decided he wanted one.


The family bought a high-performance kart and began racing locally in childrens races, with Dana Herberholz at the wheel. After they started winning regularly, they stepped up to the regional level, racing on an International Karting Federation circuit that included events throughout the Northwest.


At age 13, Dana Herberholz qualified for the International Karting Federations national finals and traveled to the event in Bakersfield, Calif., where he raced against boys who have since become professional NASCAR drivers.


Competing on their own against corporate-sponsored teams, the Herberholzes recorded the fourth-fastest lap time, much to their surprise and the surprise of others, and ended up finishing sixth among a field of about 45.


On their way home, Larry Herberholz says his son decided he wanted to step up to car racing. Shortly thereafter, the family bought a 1979 souped-up Mustang and converted it into a race car.


At age 15, before he was old enough to drive legally on the street, Dana Herberholz started racing the Mustang. A few years later, he graduated to a built-for-racing, 1995 Mustangthe one that arrived in pieces on the flat bed and failed to wow his mom at first.


Larry Herberholz says he didnt get into working on cars until his oldest son became interested in racing. He still doesnt like working on everyday automobiles, but says, These race cars are differenttheyre the way cars used to be before computers.


While their son, now 22, was the impetus for Herberholz Racing and still drives the race car, the Herberholzes say he likely will stop racing soon. Hes been attending the University of Washington and flying home to race on the weekends. Hes scheduled to graduate this year and hopes to enroll in a medical school.


Were looking for another young, sellable driver, Sheri Herberholz says. Her husband adds, Theres no shortage of people who want to drive this race car.