When Brent Sherman joined the Air Force following high school, he wasn't even a racing fan. Now 31, he's competing against drivers who have been behind the wheel since they were children. He ran a handful of Busch Series races in 2004 and has since caught on with ppc Racing, where he'll finish out the 2005 season. Visit the Photo Place

Racing on the learning curve

Brent Sherman tries to make mark in Busch Series after late start in racing

Date published: 9/4/2005

By JIM McCONNELL

Imagine trying to compete against Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson after swinging a golf club for the first time at age 23. That's essentially what Brent Sherman is trying to do in the NASCAR Busch Series.

Unlike most professional drivers, Sherman wasn't born with a steering wheel in his hands. He didn't grow up racing go-karts on the weekends or work his way up through the racing pipeline until he reached NASCAR.

Instead, after graduating from high school, Sherman enlisted in the Air Force. For six years, he worked as an air surveillance technician aboard an E-3 Sentry AWACS, while assigned to the 963rd AWACS Squadron at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma. During that time, he logged more than 3,000 hours of flying combat, surveillance and instruction missions over Saudi Arabia, Turkey and several other countries.

During the final year of his enlistment, Sherman was bitten by the racing bug.

His father bought him a three-day session at the Jim Russell Racing School in Sonoma, Calif., as a birthday present. After completing the course, Sherman was invited to compete against about 100 other graduates for a racing scholarship in the Russell Champ Series.

Wouldn't you know it? He won.

Suddenly, a career in the Air Force no longer looked quite so attractive. Sherman was determined to make a run at driving cars for a living.

"It would've been very easy to just stay in the Air Force," said Sherman, a 31-year-old Minnesota native who now lives outside Chicago. "When I got out, I had no other income. So I moved into my dad's basement to save money. It wasn't always easy, but I had to suck it up and make some sacrifices."

When Sherman began his racing career, he was still employed by the U.S. government. So he worked his regular job on the base from Monday to Friday, then flew out to California and raced all weekend.

After leaving the Air Force, Sherman raced in the Skip Barber Dodge Pro Series and Grand American Road Racing Association before switching over to stock cars and running his first full ARCA season in 2003. He was an immediate sensation, finishing fourth and second in the series points standings.

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Date published: 9/4/2005