Jethro #69 Race Biography
Jethro Halbert was born in Washington on October 9, 1985, son of Willy and Shannon Halbert. He has three brothers, Andy, Zach and Sam.
At the ripe age of six years old, Jethro started riding a Yamaha PW50. Racing was in the family blood with Willy first racing quads and then turning his attention to motorcycles and ran ProSport flat track races. And Mom got in on the fun and raced the quad. When Jethro turned 12 and his brother Sammy turned 10, watching Dad ridebikes inspired them to give it a try. And thus, innocently enough began the racing career of Jethro Halbert.
In 1998, Jethro raced one race on a RM80 before moving to a Champion-framed XL250. He started the year by racing indoor tracks at Elma, Oakwood and Monroe, Washington. That summer, he and his brother raced at Castle Rock (TT), Rainier Bowl (ST) and Bellingham, WA. (ST).
Since starting, Jethro raced pretty much every weekend as he grew up; Dad and Mom are still paying off the credit card bills, but as Shannon says, “We are wealthy in that we have four talented, healthy boys.” For most of his early career, Jethro’s main bike was a lightly-modified Honda CR250 but he raced a few air cooled 250’s of various types.
In 2001, Willy bought an old school bus for $3,000 and proceeded with repairs consisting of replacing the rear end, and installing a new motor and transmission. With the repairs completed they made it into a support vehicle by ripping out the old seats and adding a kitchen, a stove, and bunk beds that had been pulled from an old camper. With a new form of transportation in place, they now raced regularly at tracks in Washington, Oregon and Lodi, California. At 15, Jethro starting racing a Knight-framed Rotax 600 in the Open A Amateur class and took at third place overall in AMA District 27. At 16, Jethro advanced to Pro Sport and in the 2001/2002 season, won the District 27 Pro Sport class. Along the way he moved from the Knight frame to a modern C&J chassis.
In 2003, he had a brand new CRF450 and contested eleven GNC Pro Singles class races across the country. It was a merry family band, Willy driving and wrenching and younger brother Sammy contesting local races along the way. By this time the bus had lost the “S” and “H” from the sign on the front, and was now the COOL BUS as it remains today.
This was also the last year of FUSA (Formula USA) racing and Jethro was able to get some mile track experience at Sacramento and Del Mar. At the end of the season, something quite fortuitous occurred. Zanotti Racing owner Dave Zanotti was looking for a fast young rider with whom to team and was given a strong endorsement of Jethro by Ray Abrams at A&A Racing. e. Dave made a call to Jethro, a discussion ensued and an agreement was reached to have Jethro join Zanotti Racing.
2004 would prove to be a pivotal year for the young Halbert. Gaining major sponsorship from Zanotti was a huge boost. In their first year together they managed to make several GNC events and Jethro earned his national number plate at the Cow Palace. In a wonderful stroke of luck, Nicky Hayden had just forfeited his national number and Jethro was there to snatch it up. Not only was it great fortune to capture the coveted #69, it also kept it in the family as Willy had campaigned under that same racing number.
In 2005, at 19 years old, Jethro campaigned on a Harley Davidson XR-750. His first race on the big bike was at Springfield, Illinois. In an effort to get a closer working relationship, Dave moved Jethro from Washington to San Jose, California, the home of Zanotti Racing. That year they made the main in five events and Jethro finished one point out of the top 20 riders.
2006 was the year that Dave decided to trim down his sponsorship from three riders to now only Jethro. This was also the year that Bubba Shobert became involved in Jethro’s career offering considerable mentoring over the season. It was also this year that Jethro gained an important sponsor in the name of Greedy Leathers. Plus, Gary Rogers of Custom Chrome made the connection and a long term sponsor was secured. This would be the first full year of GNC competition, Jethro was making great strides in his riding, and Dave and he were beginning to gel as a team. They qualified for nine main events, earned a front row start at the Castle Rock GNC, and finished the year 17th in points.
Kicking off the 2007 campaign, Halbert won the San Jose Indoor race. In GNC racing, Jethro improved, qualifying for 12 main events. He had six top ten finishes and earned his first podium finish with a 3rd place at the Castle Rock TT race. It was another year of steady improvement and Jethro finished the year 9th place overall.
In 2008, Jethro qualified for all of the GNC main events except the first Topeka race of the year, finishing one spot out in the semifinals. However, that disappointment was overcome by year end as the series returned to Topeka’s Heartland Park Track, where Jethro set a fast qualifying time and finished fourth in the main. In a steady march forward, in 2008 Jethro had ten top 10 finishes and was 6th in points overall for the year.
Dave Zanotti deserved much of the credit for this young man’s success. In addition to providing meticulously-built motorcycles, he hired Ted McDermott to help. Ted was stationed in Michigan and specialized in the XR-750 engine and maintenance work while Dave maintained the singles bikes in San Jose. The Halbert boys lived in the Cool Bus that race season. After each race, they’d drive back to Georgetown, Ohio where they’d park the bus at Larry Zumbrum’s place. Larry runs LZ Racing and was the crew chief for Screamin' Eagle Wrecking Crew’s Joe Kopp. The man knows dirt tracking and the boys were fortunate to have his support.
It was a page straight out of old school flat track barnstorming. Living in the bus with no toilet or shower last race season, the brothers showed true dedication to the sport. Living on a shoestring budget, driving that old rattley from track-to-track makes for a great story, but the reality was they were living a life filled with sacrifices. Not many 20 year old kids would make the sacrifices that Jethro and Sammy have made to be in the sport they love. It’s certainly not for the meager race purses and contingency monies paid out.
For 2010, Jethro has teamed once again with his brother Sammy to form Halbert Brothers Racing. Stay tuned for an exciting year of GNC racing.