"Sprint Car Spotlight: Brandie Jass"

There are many things that a person would think about, when it comes to trying to figure out what makes these race car drivers tick these days. When you watch them lay it on the line every week, and you see some of the crazy things that go on at the track, during the heat of competition. You see cars driving on the ragged edge, nearly out of control at every turn. What it can be that drives these people to do what they do, and what is it, that makes up the “Heart of a Racer”.

From the first time she crawled in a go kart, and took to the dirt tracks of East Texas, she’s run fast against boys and girls older and more experienced than her, and eventually grown men that had been racing longer than she’d been alive. The first thing on her mind was to gain their respect, and then take home their check. Win big and win often. There are a lot of them still scratching their heads, wondering what just happened, and who was in the number twenty-four kart that just blew by them.

Soon Brandie had to take the next step and get into something faster, and Mini-Sprints were just the ticket. Her Dad sold the kart operation and put in enough overtime at the power plant, and with the help of another old sprint car racer, Nolan Wren, he was able to get her in her first Mini-Sprinter, and the race was on. She got out there and mixed it up with grown men racing every weekend, and she barely being a teenager, there were some hard knocks she had to learn, because she was traveling a lot more, and further, also she was now driving cars that were twice as fast, and have a staggering weight to horsepower ratio. But being the racer she is, she just got up on the wheel, elbows out, and earned her stripes. The first time she flipped end over end, she thought, her dad was going to have a heart attack, but she jumped out of that car, and was just mad that she’d torn her car up, and was upset that she’d scared everyone, taking no time to think about herself, and what she’d just gone through. That’s just Brandie, always worried about the other persons first.

Two short years later, she was holding the championship trophy over her head, and the laughing was gone and it wasn’t very funny anymore. Then came the opportunities that came with winning. Lyn St. James “Women in the Winners Circle.” The Bob Bondurant driving school. And one of her biggest accomplishments to date, being selected into the Project Podium Program, where a lot of avenues were opened up for her, and she was then exposed to professionals, that helped her get to the next level, consistency. The trophies stacked up, and it looked like it may be time for that next move……………Full size Sprint Cars oh boy!

In 2009, Brandie took a shot and applied for NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity Combine in North Carolina. She knew it would be a long shot getting selected, seeing as there are thousands of tough applicants each year. However, a few weeks late she got a phone call from the President of D4D Max Segal offering her a chance to try for The Driver for Diversity program and to be on the reality T.V. show Changing Lanes on BET. Even though Brandie did not make the top 5 drivers she still had an amazing experience. She made a bunch of new friends including Alissa Geving, Natalie Sather, Ryan Gifford, Darrel Wallace Jr, and Sergio Pena.

Brandie decided asphalt wasn’t where she wanted to be, her heart was in sprint car racing. So once again, the race cars were sold, to buy newer, bigger and faster equipment. And sponsorship came around to ease the pain of growth. Barnes Motorsports joined forces with her father, to put together a sponsorship with Tiremax of North America, along with several others, to help field a fast car that not only looked good, it ran good, and with time, the wins will start coming like before. With only a few races into the season, she is already catching the eye of the other drivers that are amazed at how well she’s been doing. Several top fives that year were the norm, after a rough start of the season, with some engine woes to get through.

Brandie didn’t start a full season of sprint car racing until 2012 were she stepped up to run with The American Sprint Car Series Gulf South Region. She knew she had a lot of information to learn but she was ready. At the end of 2012 she finished 11th in ASCS points which was a huge accomplishment to be racing which such top notch guys. Brandie also came out 5th in ASCS Gulf South’s hard charger award, and most importantly she received the ASCS Gulf South’s Most Improved Driver award.

This year Brandie is half way through her 2nd full season of sprint car racing and she is currently 10th in ASCS Gulf South Points. Our team is confident we can have a top 10 finish this year, if we work hard enough. We’ve had tons of help from other teams we race with and couldn’t be happier with how much the team has learned. They’re hoping the last half of the season goes as well as the beginning.

For more information, please check out www.brandiejass.com or find her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BrandieJassRacing! Sprint Car Girls is very happy to feature Brandie!