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Eric Abrams (right) watches his stepson, Adam Brenner, in a late model race. Abrams also drives in the U-Car series.
Adam Brenner's sister, Amber, gives him a good-luck kiss before a race. Amber has a been a key member of Adam's team.
Brenner takes time out to sign autographs for young fans at Old Dominion Speedway.
Adam Brenner (left) talks with crew member Jim Lutz before the start of the Big One, a 200-lap race at Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas.
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BY JIM McCONNELL
Sitting in the bleachers on a Saturday night, watching weekend warriors swap sheet metal inside Old Dominion Speedway's -mile bullring, 16-year-old Adam Brenner couldn't help thinking he could do it better.
When Brenner shared his thoughts with his mother, Patti Abram, she brushed it off as typical teenage overconfidence.
"I was like, 'Yeah right, we have no money and you're going to be a race car driver,'" Patti recalled with a laugh.
That was 16 years ago. These days, nobody doubts Brenner's drive or determination.
After winning the Grand Stock division at ODS last year in his first full season as a driver, the Stafford County native moved up to Late Models this season and finished second in points to Haymarket's Willard Lawrence.
In 20 starts, Brenner won four times, finished in the top five 13 times and earned 18 top-10s. But he doesn't seem surprised by his sudden success. He's simply doing what he said he was going to do all along.
"I've just always wanted to drive race cars. When I got a chance, I knew I made the right decision," Brenner said. "It was like being at home; it just felt right."
'ARE YOU CRAZY?'
A deck builder by day, Brenner cut his teeth in racing as a volunteer pit crew member after responding to an Internet classified advertisement.
Brenner eventually became friends with veteran Late Model racers Dave Moon and Robert Bruce. Moon taught Brenner the finer points of setting up a car in race conditions. Brenner, in turn, served on Bruce's pit crew on Saturdays at ODS in Manassas.
"A lot of the setup stuff is trial and error. You have to learn what works and what doesn't," Brenner said. "You can't ever stop trying to get faster."
Rather than satisfying his appetite for racing, Brenner's stints in the pits only further stoked his desire to get behind the wheel. When Brenner found out that Steve Smith, the owner of Bruce's car, planned to put the car up for sale, he knew he had to have it.
The $16,000 price tag wiped out Brenner's entire life savings and then some. He bought it anyway, put it on a flatbed hauler and drove it to his mom's house.
"He literally just showed up at my door one night and said, 'Mom, can I keep the car in your garage?'" Patti said. "I was like, 'Are you crazy?'"
Patti's car now sits outside in the driveway of the home she shares with her husband, Eric Abram, and daughter, Amber. Brenner's No. 22 Ford Fusion takes up half the garage; the other half is overflowing with tires, parts, tools and anything else associated with racing.
ALL IN THE FAMILY
Racing is a family affair for the Brenner-Abram clan.
Both Eric and Amber compete in the U-Car Division at ODS. Amber, who attends North Stafford High School, finished 12th in the 2008 points standings and Eric was 14th.
They work on each other's race cars and spot for each other during races. Even Patti helped her son hang the body on his car last winter.
Remarkably, 16-year-old Amber's greatest contribution to the team is her ability to secure sponsorship dollars.
One afternoon a couple years ago, she came home from school and began flipping through the phone book, cold-calling local businesses she thought would be interested in getting their names out to the community by sponsoring her older brother's car.
"I'm a very outgoing person. Adam's kind of on the shy side. It's hard for him, but words come easily for me," she said. "I knew if I didn't help him find money, he wasn't going to be able to go the whole year or even make a lot of races."
Eventually, Amber closed a deal with Moe's Southwest Grill to serve as primary sponsor of the No. 22 car. Brenner had a fast car, enough money to run an entire season and plenty of support from friends and family. When he won the ODS Grand Stock title as a rookie, all the pieces seemed to be in place.
His first season in Late Models, however, held significant challenges.
ROLLER COASTER RIDE
On the opening night of the 2008 ODS season, as Brenner watched from her pit stall, Amber crashed hard enough to warrant a trip to the hospital.
As she was helped into a waiting ambulance, Brenner informed her he planned to skip the Late Model race so he could make sure she was OK. Amber sat up quickly and told him in no uncertain terms that he needed to stay for his race.
Brenner did more than that. He won the feature event, then dedicated the victory to his sister. He even gave her the trophy from his first Late Model win, which still sits in a glass case in her bedroom.
Brenner won four of the season's first eight races before a broken crankshaft destroyed his engine and derailed his bid for a second consecutive championship. He spent his entire budget on a new motor, leaving him in the unenviable position of having to finish well just to make enough money to buy tires for the next week's race.
Brenner's new engine/carburetor combination didn't produce the same horsepower as the original motor, robbing him of the top-end speed that had helped him run upfront so consistently. On a short track with one preferred racing groove, it made passing the better cars all but impossible.
Over the final seven races, he had only two top-five finishes and Lawrence built an insurmountable lead in the points standings.
EYE ON THE FUTURE
Brenner learned about the dangers of riding around in traffic Sept. 20 during what was supposed to be the second-to-last race of the season.
With 20 laps remaining in the 200-lap Late Model feature, Brenner tried to squeeze past two slower cars and wound up in a three-wide tangle before he got clipped in the right rear and spun into the concrete retaining wall.
"It seemed pretty blatant. We had plenty of room there, but that's just from my point of view. It was a pretty hard crash," he said.
The impact left the No. 22 car with heavy damage. Brenner wasn't sure if he'd be able to get it repaired in time for the season finale. As it turned out, he didn't have to; a fellow driver, Larry Barford, offered to let Brenner drive his car in the final race.
"Like everything else, racing is a competitive business. For someone to say, 'You can borrow my car,' that says so much about Adam's character and how much respect he has at the track," Patti said.
Ultimately, the weather made Barford's generous gesture moot. A late-afternoon thunderstorm last Saturday washed out the final weekend of racing--a disappointing end to Brenner's remarkably successful season.
Brenner is determined to fix his car over the winter and keep turning laps as long as his marketing staff (i.e., his sister) can find financial backing. He's spoken with a few ARCA teams about driving some races in that series next year, and also has contacts within a few NASCAR operations.
"If the right sponsorship comes around, we can go far," Brenner added. "It's all about the money. You can drive whatever you want if you have money."
Jim McConnell: 540/374-5444
Email: jmcconnell@freelancestar.com
