When Briggs Danner won the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series event at Grandview Speedway last summer in Fran Hogue’s Boulevard Truck Repair No. 39, the sprint car world was not surprised.
The track was a short distance from Danner’s Allentown, Pa., home and he’d raced there with USAC’s eastern 360 series. But when he went to Indiana and ate everyone’s lunch, the USAC faithful and other observers around the racing world knew a new contender was on the way.
“The Eastern Storm shows were crazy,” recalled the 23-year-old, a racer since his debut in quarter midgets at age five. “After we won at Grandview, I ran out of fuel while leading at Williams Grove, coming off four to the checkers. Then I led at Port Royal until I got in the fence. And we closed it out at Kutztown by finishing second by a bumper.
“That’s why it felt so good to go to Indiana and run good,” Danner continued. “We won at Lawrenceburg, then we got another one at Bloomington during Indiana Sprint Week. That’s a tough deal, because the local guys in Indiana are as good as the national guys. They really know their home tracks. That first win at Grandview was neat but winning in the Midwest was awesome.”
“I think the fans were generally positive when Briggs won in Indiana,” recalled USAC announcer Bryan Hulbert. “They were excited to see him get his first Indiana wins. He’d won back East but that showed he could be competitive in the land of USAC. He’s got raw talent and he’s got speed. With some experience I think he’ll be a contender for the championship year after year.”
Some of that talent, or at least the desire to race, may be inherited.
“My dad raced Legends and midgets and my grandfather ran stock cars at Dorney Park and Nazareth,” explained Danner. “I moved from the quarter midgets to TQs, micro sprints, modifieds here and there, the SpeedSTRs at Kutztown and even winged sprints, which we try to run when we can fit it in.
“But non-winged sprints are my favorite,” he added. “I love sprint cars in general and the non-winged racing is more action packed. You don’t have the air off somebody else’s wing limiting what you can do. And I like to think that non-wing racing suits my temperament more. I’m just more comfortable here. If the car is not spot on, you can move around and pass cars anyway. I think the driver counts more here.”
That said, Danner blushes a little when it’s suggested that while that may be true, he lives near some of the best and most lucrative winged racing in the country, with Williams Grove, Lincoln and Port Royal a short drive from his home. Racing there would seem to be a lot easier than hauling to the Midwest for USAC shows.
“Yeah, it’s tough to stay away from winged racing in our backyard,” he said. “But we were consistently fast last year and it’s really hard to walk away from the results that we had. We have to see what else we can make happen.
“If I was doing this for a living, I’d need the money you can make with winged cars,” Danner explained. “But I work for my dad’s excavating and paving business, which makes my life easier because I can get off to race whenever I need to. We’ve got 53 races on the schedule for this season, so I’ll be off a lot.”
Eventually taking over the family business would sound good to most twenty somethings, but that is not Danner’s focus.
“I don’t really have a career planned out. I just want to race,” Danner said. “For me, having fun equals success. It’s always fun when you win. It’s like when someone asks you what your favorite track is. For me, it’s where I won last. In this business, you never know what will happen. Guys move up but they usually have to spend their own money to race and I don’t have that kind of money, so I’m just concentrating on racing and winning.”
Established USAC star Kevin Thomas Jr. thinks that those goals are well within Danner’s reach.
“I think he’s fairly talented and he seems very mature behind the wheel compared to most guys his age,” offered Thomas. “He’s fast but he’s not out of control. They ran a bunch of races in Indiana and he did well. Dirt is dirt and I think he’ll be competitive anywhere he goes.
“He won three races last year and has the potential for that and more this season, though for our sake I hope he doesn’t win a bunch more. Bottom line — somebody young like him with a good head on his shoulders is good for our sport.”
“I agree,” added USAC stalwart Chase Stockon. “Briggs is a good, clean racer who drives hard and I respect that. Some were surprised when he won in Indiana but not me. I know how good he is and that he can drive anything.”
“Anything” in this case refers to Danner’s well publicized success in indoor TQ midget racing, both in his hometown and at Atlantic City, N.J., during the offseason.
“I guess that racing anything over the winter keeps you from getting rusty,” said Danner with a smile. “But seven and a half second laps in a TQ on flat concrete really puts you on your toes.”
“Racing different types of cars has helped Briggs a lot,” added versatile sprint car racer Brady Bacon. “He’s got a lot of talent but he also puts in the time to hone his craft. He came to Indiana and won out there and now he’s one of the top guys.”
The maturity recognized by Thomas carries over into Danner’s view of racing in general and his place in the sport, both now and in the future.
“Every division I’ve been in has its best guys,” he noted. “But my ultimate goal is to end up like Kyle Larson, who is good in everything. I think it’s much more impressive when you are good in more than one type of car.
“And it amazes me how he can recall the smallest details of a race. He pays attention to a lot of stuff that other guys overlook, which is a big plus in the long run, and I’m trying to follow his lead.”
Whether Danner can be like Larson over time remains to be seen. But one who knows him well, his crew chief, Tim Hogue, has a simple but well thought out response when asked about Danner’s future.
“I wouldn’t trade him for the world. He’s going places.”
