Drew Brenner is to the work area at a World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series race what the neighborhood kid with the best arm was to backyard football growing up.
Brenner is the all-time pit guy, someone who is there to lend a helping hand most times any driver pulls into the work area during a World of Outlaws main event.
“I’ve been doing it since 2017, which was my first year out on the road,” he said. “The more hands you can have in a work area the more likely the driver will get back on the track. If I put myself in their shoes, I think it’d be awesome to have other people help to get me back on the track.
“I guess that’s just my personality. I want to be a helping hand whether it’s on sprint cars or somebody breaks down and they need a jump start. That comes with my background and the way my parents raised me.”
The short-track racing community has enjoyed a long-standing reputation for providing help to each other, but no one has been in the mix of repairing damaged sprint cars in recent years more than Brenner. His physique and long-flowing hair make him hard to miss, but it’s Brenner’s hustle and demeanor that has made him a favorite in the pits.
Brenner, a 27-year-old who hails from Orrville, Ohio, linked up with World of Outlaws driver Sheldon Haudenschild in 2015. Brenner helped out for a couple of summers before joining Haudenschild full time in 2017. He has been the team’s tire guy for each of the last four seasons.
“I’ve never raced,” Brenner said. “My dad used to take me to the races growing up all the time whether it was at Wayne County Speedway or Eldora (Speedway). I grew up pretty much as a fan. I was more on the sports side of things with football and basketball. One day I met Sheldon out at Wayne County. From there, we hit it off and grew as friends. I pretty much followed him from when he was racing the No. 93 at that time with Kyle Ripper, who is our crew chief now. He was Sheldon’s mechanic when I came around. I hung around and it grew from helping part time to more of a regular basis when I could fit racing around the football schedule.
“I did that in ‘15 and ’16 just over the summer when they were doing the All Star deal. Sheldon had his own race team. In 2017, the spring was my final semester in college. As soon as I graduated, I was full time.”
If Brenner’s hustle wasn’t what stood out on the gridiron his size certainly did as he was listed at 6-foot-3 and weighing roughly 205 pounds. Brenner received a scholarship to play collegiate football at Ashland University, which is a Division II school located in Ashland, Ohio.
“I had aspirations of trying to go to the next level, but late in my college career I battled injuries,” he said. “That took away from football playing time. With being in my junior and senior years I still played, but I battled those injuries. After that point it was, ‘I’ll accept the fact that I’m not going to the next level.’ I was already in the sprint car deal and really enjoyed doing that. I aimed my focus on racing after college.
“I have a finance degree, so I feel at some point in my life I’ll apply that. I don’t see myself on the road my entire life. For right now, to be the tire guy for Sheldon, I feel like our friendship has grown to a brotherhood,” Brenner added. “Once this deal splits up or I split from Sheldon, if I’ll continue to do it that’s an unknown. I’m taking it year by year, but I don’t have a plan right now for the future.”
Brenner had an opportunity to learn more about being part of a pit crew in NASCAR during the summer of 2019.
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