Gerrit Wayne Van Liere, also known as “Gerry”, since his freshman year of high school when upperclassmen deemed him worthy and bestowed upon him the iconic nickname “Gerry”. Gerrit has lived in Madison, South Dakota his whole life. He is the son of Doug and Bridget Van Liere and has one sibling, Emily. During the summer he did ground maintenance; when asked about the most rewarding part of his job, he answered, “The lines in the grass satisfy me.” Something that Gerrit would recommend not only to his peers, but anyone who might need to hear it, is to find something you are passionate about.
Gerrit is passionate about racing. He is a second-generation race car driver after his dad, who has been racing stock cars for forty years. In his free time, they spend time together working on cars. When he’s not focused on fixing and racing cars he posts vintage racing videos on his Youtube channel where he has 800 subscribers, with his most popular video gaining tens of thousands of views! His love of racing is evident; his bucket list includes winning the WISSOTA 100 and making heaps of money in the process.
After high school, Gerrit plans on attending South Dakota School of Mines to become a mechanical engineer. He hopes to make use of his education to fund his racing hobby and improve himself as a person. If Gerrit could live anywhere in the world he would choose northern South Dakota, because it’s closer to race tracks. With $5 million to spend, he would pay off his parents' house, and any future loans. The rest of the money would be used to build a house, with a big garage, and three race cars. His advice for underclassmen is, “Get your work done and try to have fun.”