“The Dream” is the name of a big, special dirt-racing event that a lot of drivers want to win. It’s treated like a major milestone, not just another race.
“Right front” means the front-right side of the car. If something breaks there, it can mess up steering and stability fast—enough to crash into the wall.
Brandon Shepherd is a driver in the race. The hosts say he was running well, but something broke near the front-right and he crashed, which changed the outcome.
Levi Jones is mentioned as someone involved with the Eldora track team. The hosts are praising the crew for handling tough weather and still running a great event.
They’re talking about a specific track/venue near Fremont called Attica. Different tracks feel different, so racers adjust their car setup to match the track.
Ride height is how high the car sits off the ground. If you change it, the suspension works differently, which can make the car grip better and feel more stable in turns.
Shocks are the parts that help the suspension move smoothly instead of bouncing. In racing, changing them can help the car stay planted and predictable over bumps and in corners.
A go-kart is a small race car you drive on a track. Lots of racers start with them because they’re easier to get into and they teach you how to drive fast and race.
Place
FRP
FRP sounds like a local track or facility. They describe it as a paved road-course, meaning it’s more like a twisty road-style track than a dirt oval.
Place
free month speedway
A speedway is a race track. Here it sounds like there was an event or promotion that got the driver’s dad to try go-kart racing.
Tire prep means getting the tires ready to race so they grip well and behave consistently. Racers do extra steps beyond just bolting on tires to make them perform better.
Multiple lanes refers to the idea that on a dirt track there are several usable racing lines, each with different grip and speed. Drivers must constantly choose which lane to run based on traction, tire wear, and where other cars are.
Racecraft is how you actually race, not just how fast you go. It’s about picking the right line, timing passes, and making good choices when other cars are around.
It’s when the suspension design makes the car’s weight shift around during cornering. That weight shift can change which tires have the most grip, which affects steering and how the car feels when you’re exiting the turn.
Forward bite is how much grip the front of the car has when you turn and start accelerating out of a corner. If you have more of it, the car tends to turn in better and feel more controlled.
Dry slick means the track is dry but not very grippy, so the tires don’t bite as well. That usually makes the car slide more, so you have to be smoother with steering and throttle.
A tacky surface is dirt that feels sticky to the tires. When it’s tacky, the car usually grips better, so it can turn and accelerate more confidently.
Term
10 years or more
He’s saying that more experienced drivers have spent more time learning how to handle that low-grip track condition. That experience helps them drive the car more smoothly and consistently.
“Run the top” means taking the higher line in the turns on a dirt track. Sometimes it works great, but if that part of the track is loose or not grippy, it can be harder to drive.
“Fluffy” means the dirt is loose and not packed down, so the tires don’t grab as well. That makes the car harder to control, especially when you enter the turn.
“Slide up” means the driver steers the car toward the outside of the track while the tires are still slipping a bit. On dirt, that can help you keep speed instead of getting stuck or losing control.
“Banking” means the track is tilted in the turns. That tilt helps cars go faster, but if the tires lose traction, it can also contribute to a rollover.
“Hot laps” are quick practice runs where the driver tries to go fast to learn how the car feels. It’s usually right before qualifying or the race.
Term
boot off the top
“Boot off the top” means the car gets pushed away from the high line and doesn’t stick like you expect. On dirt, that can happen if the track surface or your angle isn’t right.
“Run the bottom” means taking the lower racing line near the inside of the track. Dirt tracks can change a lot, so sometimes the bottom is the fastest path and sometimes it’s not.
“Qualifying 40th” means they were ranked 40th based on their timed qualifying run. That usually determines where you start, which can make the race harder if you’re deep in the field.
“Race car engines” means the engines are built and tuned for racing, not normal commuting. They’re set up to make strong power and survive the hard use of racing.
In racing, “maintenance” means the team keeps the car in race-ready condition. That includes checking and fixing things so it’s reliable for the next event.
In sprint-car racing, tires matter a lot because they control grip. The right tires help the car turn and accelerate better, especially on dirt tracks.
In racing, “parts” are the components the team needs to keep the car running and competitive. Having parts available quickly helps them fix the car and race again sooner.
A shock is part of the suspension that helps the car stay stable over bumps. “Left rear shock” means the shock on the back-left wheel. If you change it, the car can handle differently on the track.
A gas shock is a shock absorber that uses pressurized gas inside. That helps it work more consistently when the car hits bumps. Using the right type can help the car feel more predictable.
Term
bleaters
“Bleaters” is a slang term racers use for a traction-related setup item. The point is that it affects how the car grips the dirt. Better grip usually means better control and faster laps.
“Spares” are extra parts the team keeps ready in case something breaks. If you don’t have enough spares, a crash can mean you can’t fix the car the same way every race. That can hurt how well the car performs.
In this context, “inventory” means the extra parts the team has stored. The more parts you have ready, the faster you can repair after a wreck. That helps you keep racing without falling behind.
Term
blew off the horse track
“Blew off the horse track” is a dirt-track slang way of describing a major loss of traction or control that sends the car off the intended racing line. It usually implies the car didn’t hook up and the driver got pushed wide or lost momentum.
“Engine work” means hands-on repairs or adjustments to the engine components, often to fix a fault or restore performance. In race-car context, it can include diagnosing failures and refreshing parts so the car is reliable for competition.
On some dirt tracks, they change the starting order by flipping the top finishers. “Invert four” means the top four get reordered so someone who finished high starts farther back.
“Body panels off” means the outer car covers are removed. That lets the crew reach parts underneath to work on the car.
LIVE
Well, hello everybody. How is it going? Hope you're all doing well. This is Elliott coming
to you with another episode of the dirt nerds podcast. As you heard last episode, Duane wasn't
going to be here. So what should we do? What should Elliott do? Should he babble on by himself
or do something productive? Well, I decided, hey, it's been a while. Let's get an interview in here.
Well, not in here, but on the phone at least. But, you know, we ended up getting an interview with
a driver you've heard us talk quite a bit about, Braden Harrison, 305 driver over here at Attica
in Fremont. We know his dad, his grandpa was a longtime racer, little 500 Hall of Famer, as Duane
mentioned last week. But, you know, if you know Dave Harrison, if you know racing at Fremont Attica,
you should have heard the name Dave Harrison, you know, over the last how many years. I was a
late model guy growing up and I knew who Dave Harrison was, right? So Braden's his grandson,
who stepped into the 305. You heard us talk about him on and off. So I kind of want to do an interview
with someone like that, with the dream going on and things. I was like, you know, who could I get?
And I was like, you know, I wonder if Braden would do it. So luckily, his dad was set us up and got
us together to do a podcast here. So we had Braden on the phone for an interview, and you will
hear that here in a little bit. So an interview for all those that want an interview, we got one
for you or I got one for you. Duane's in Mexico, I believe he's flying home today. So, but we hope
for him to have some safe travels and he will be back next week for us to go over all the racing
that may or may not have happened by the time we record again. We will see. But as always,
before we get into the interview, before we get into the meat of the podcast, we got sponsors
to talk about our first is our friends over at propane.com. If you haven't yet head over to
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sitting out in the parking lot. So a lot of propane being used down there. But as we say,
do yourself a favor, head over the website, learn more about it, rather than just listening to us
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propane.com there. There's the there's the jingle from me. How's that sound? Hopefully you all love
that. I say that we'll leave the good ones for Dwayne. How about that? Our next sponsors are
friends down at the whistle stop whistle bar and grill.com is the website just down the road
from Eldora Speedway in Ansonia, Ohio. I was lucky enough to make a trip there just went through
the drive through got me a breakfast pizza, which is absolutely delicious. It's literally a must
have every time I'm down Eldora's way. The breakfast pizza in the morning is is just the
frigging best. I mean, it just it just hits the spot. It gets you get you everything you want
for breakfast and pizza form. I'm here for it. It's good stuff. I even got a little bigger one
this time. So it was my lunch as well. I brought some home for the wife. It just fed, you know,
fed the whole family needless to say, but it's good stuff. They have great pizza, as well as
breakfast pizzas, but great burgers, sandwiches, different kinds of dinners, all kinds of stuff.
Be sure to check them out. They got their new shirts out 15 bucks. If you go there, you can buy
a new whistle stop shirt for $15. So check them out whistle bar and grill.com is the website.
They got door dash as well up to Eldora Speedway. So if you're camping, you can even get it delivered
right to your campsite. Works out real well. Great place. Make sure you check them out. If
you're in the area, you head a little further south to downtown Greenville, you can hit up the
shirt shot tap house. The website is shirt shot tap house.com. They got 46 adult beverages on tap.
They're all self poor taps. You're charged by the ounce. Works out real well. You try some of
those goofy beers for an ounce at a time instead of spending all your money on a pint. And then,
you know, you can try all kinds of different beers for very low cost. And then once you commit,
you can go ahead and fill your pint of what you'd like. They also got the barrel done,
which has got whiskies and wines. They got the bullseye game lounge upstairs with 24 arcade
games and four duck pin bowling lanes. And they newly added bunker in the basement where there's
some pool table, some cornhole. I know more stuff's going on in sure shot. Stay to date.
Visit their website, sure shot tap house.com. Follow them and the whistle stop on social media
if you get a chance. Great place. Great food. Great place to have a beer or two, especially
sure shot. So make sure you check them out and support them. We've been really great to us.
They're great places to be partners with. We're really appreciative of them.
Another little sponsor. It's really not a sponsor, but I do need to mention it. If you didn't see
the post on our social media, but horsepower hydration was kind enough to send us a package
to try out some of their products. So electrolyte mixes, there's lemon lime and a mixed berry. I
have tried the mixed berry now and it is probably my favorite one. Really good stuff. It's great for
super hot, humid days, especially like we had at El Dora. We got Sprint Speed Week coming up.
This week's supposed to be 90 plus with humidity coming up here. So
good way to stay hydrated with low calories or zero or five calories, zero sugar. If you're on
a weight loss plan or diet, it's one of those great things. It's just extra salt and minerals
for your bodies to have. A lot of bottled, traditional bottled water doesn't give that to
you. That's kind of what the Gatorades and those things of the world promote, but they also have
a lot of sugar in them. So this is just a good alternative. It's four racers,
bi-racers, Michael Riggs be over at Flow Sports and his wife Amber started it. Again,
nice enough to throw us a package to try it out. If you want a discount, you could go to
horsepowerhydration.com, use Dirt Nerd 10 at checkout for 10% off your order. But
probably a good, I would say it's a great thing just to keep in a hauler.
You know, if you're a part of a race team, hey, I've been a small family team guy. I get it.
You're working limited help, hot summer days. It's a good thing just to have you can throw it in a
bottle of water, shake it up real quick and you know, keep yourself hydrated so you don't get
lightheaded, dizzy, pass out stuff like that. Good stuff. So check it out. Horsepower hydration,
I know there's been all kinds of videos and reviews posted about it as they're kind of doing
that initial push. So if you go to the website, use Dirt Nerd 10. We'd appreciate it. But yeah,
good stuff. Check it out nonetheless. So before we get to our interview with Braden,
yes, the dream happened this past weekend. If you didn't see Bobby Pierce won his first dream. It's
weird to see him like it's his first one because he's won the world a couple of times. He won the
dirt track, but not the dream when he finished second the last two years, Jonathan Davenport,
and that was kind of the talk with Davenport, you know, rise to the occasion again. He was strong,
but you know, Bobby Pierce got up there, got the lead. Brandon Shepherd was looking like he was
going to come back and get it and something broke on the right front, sent him up into the law and
collected third place Hudson O'Neill. So that kind of gave Bobby the clear road to stay out in front
and get the win. So $100,000 for him and he won the prelim night, which was another 30 grand. So
he had a good weekend down at Eldora, needless to say, but yeah, another crown jewel.
Warm, hot, rainy, you know, they had the what seven tenths of an inch of rain,
like at five o'clock on Saturday and still got the race in not even that late. I mean,
they started late, but it definitely wasn't an all nighter by any means. So
kudos to Levi Jones and the Eldora track crew, you know, from the concession stand workers to
ticket sellers to the track crew, you know, putting together a good show with some adverse
conditions and that's what they're known for. They do a good job at that always have and
it's great to see them keep rolling and, you know, put on another good show. Track was in good
condition. Great for late model racing. We know the sprint cars don't like it that slick, but
I really, really left the track wide open for for this late model guys, you know, Friday
night Mason Ziggler took a nasty tumble. I was down there, watch that happen. That was a pretty
scary one, but Mason walked away, you know, unharmed, uninjured car, not so much, but
yeah, it's Eldora, man. When Rex happened, they happened big there, unfortunately. So we know
there's a lot of hurt feelings other nights and I mean, Dwayne will gloss on that a little bit
when he gets back. So I won't bore you any longer. We got an interview. Yay for once.
Our friend Braden now, I gotta tell you, Braden just turned 18. I actually had to
have a conversation with him because I couldn't remember how old he was. A young kid comes from
a race and family works his ass off as we're on the phone. You'll hear me ask him, but working on
a race car as he's on the podcast even. So, you know, if you don't like a young racer with that
kind of dedication, you must not like racing. We'll put it that way. So if you get a chance,
head over to their social media, you know, grab a shirt, grab a hat, they can order them for you,
all that good stuff. But yeah, just one of those young guys, like I said, I wanted to have an
interview and I was trying to think who and you know, Braden came to mind just his dad's always
been super cool to me. And Dwayne obviously does business with him and stuff. I knew his grandpa
when he raced, you know, knew of his grandpa when he raced. It was always a super nice guy.
Yeah, I talked to Braden last year at the track for the first time. I mean, I met him,
he was probably 10. Well, how old is he now? That was 2020. It's 2020. So he might have been 12
by at that point or 11. We did a live podcast over at Fremont Speedway just before COVID happened
because he did the Hoosierville auction and everything there. So,
Braden was this little kid that came up and my wife was there with me and she,
you know, he had like 40 bucks on him or $20, $30 on him and wanted to buy something dirt nerd. So
he bought a hat. Braden, if you're listening, you should be embarrassed. But I remember this, man.
It was the first time I met his dad, Josh, as well. So, but yeah, he's been a supporter of ours
for a very long time. And now we get to be a supporter of his. So, race go-karts, the whole
gamut came up through the ranks and got himself into the family sprint car now. So, great kid,
great family. You know, this is probably his first podcast. So maybe a little nervous to start, but
I think he did just fine. So hopefully everyone enjoys it. Again, find their social media, give
them a follow, keep up to date with what they got going on. And yeah, appreciative of Braden for
taking the time. He's working on race cars and talking on podcasts. So if you don't like, like I
said, if that's not a racer, I don't know what is. So, not any further ado, Mr. Braden Harrison.
All right, well, I told you we have a guest today. So today on the line, we have a 305 driver racing
with the AFCS series local over here to Attica in Fremont. Someone you've heard us talk quite a
bit about. I wanted to get him on the podcast. Just a young guy trying to make his way up and
you know, we're hoping for bigger and better things as time goes on. But on the line, we have
our friend Braden Harrison on the line. Braden, what you got going tonight, my man?
Just doing management and working on the car.
Yeah, we were talking a little bit about your season before we started recording.
You know, I guess talking about your last weekend and your, you know, results so far this year,
maybe haven't been up to par, but you haven't really been behind the wheel much. So how's your
how's your season been going? And it sounds like you've been getting a hang of things.
Yeah, I think I think we're figuring some stuff out. I figured out a lot of stuff with the car. So
it's just more me getting comfortable to the car being right, I guess.
We got some ride heights straight now. The car just drives in the corner so much better now.
And I can, I mean, I feel comfortable racing next to people a lot more than I did before.
Just got some, I've got a few things I got to break, but I think we'll be up there here.
We had a couple of runs, actually the first two nights, I think.
I actually, I think about one a year, yeah, Attica. First night I went out, but
Yeah, so did you?
We got in our wreckage, we got in the wreckage of Fremont and
forced some stuff up and then now we're just trying to get back to where we were, I guess.
Yeah. So did you upgrade equipment or anything over the off season to kind of give you that
different feel? Yeah, we got a couple of shocks trying to, trying to feel her out and see what
we can do. We're getting a little help from, from the Burmeister team and they've been helping us out
a lot. And we got, I mean, I've, I got a whole bunch of stuff this year. I spent way too much
money, but it's, I think it's worth it. You know, you know, your stuff's right. I got new bars, all
that, so. Well, good. So we talk about you being kind of a younger guy and I had to confirm with
Braden before we started recording. How old are you? And he just turned 18. So he's a full blown
adult now. So hopefully nobody in the pits hears this. If you piss someone off that they come and
actually can punch you in the face legally, but that's besides the point. We've been doing this
racing stuff for a while. Obviously we talk about you in 305s, you know, last handful of years,
but I know your career started early in the go kart ranks and how, and you still visit those
ranks every once in a while, I know, but you know, how's your progression kind of gone
from your youth? So when did you start racing versus kind of kind of what brought you to now?
Um, so let me think here. We, uh, I started racing like this little old mar game my dad had.
And he just, I used to race around the yard all the time and we took it to FRP like the little,
uh, there's like a little pavement track. There's road course. Oh yeah.
And, uh, he's like, man, I think he's liking doing this. So he ended up,
he went to a SWAT meetup free month speedway one year and, uh, there's this guy there selling
a go like a whole go kart operation. We went, he went and bought it. I rode that and the junior
one class, I did all right. We just, we didn't really know what we were doing. We were trying to
figure it out. And, uh, I think my, my dad will say it's his day, but, um, we, like, there was
some stuff we didn't like, we didn't tire prep. We didn't do none of that. And like, I was just driving,
like they're got to a point where I was driving past the equipment, I guess. And then that's when
we sort of like, oh, we got to, we got to find some people to help us. And then my dad got hooked
up with David Krum now. And, uh, and then a couple other guys, Adam Kozak, Nate Martin, Chuck Coleman,
all them. And, uh, they were like a whole group back then. And, um, we got to, we bought a go
cart off them of new motor and, uh, a bunch of tires and got it rolling. And I hacked, I think
second night I had that go car. I won a race and got, felt really comfortable on it. Definitely
was wild. I was reckless, but got, got yelled at by a few parents, I think, but, um, then,
then we just rode that for a while. I got, it took me a long time, I think, to get my second win.
Ended up getting that. And then I won like heck, funny after that. I think I ended up, I think I
have over 20 go car wins, something like that. Um, couple in the golf class, I ended up moving up to
the golf class, which actually when I ran junior three, um, that was probably the hardest three
class to run around this part of the country. It was tough, but it was tougher than an adult
class. It's just crazy. Was there, was there a lot of up and comers in that group? Yeah.
Like Blaine, Keckler, Ray and that, uh, Bradley Basin. Uh, there's plenty of guys that there's
so many people I can name off that are just so good that it made me better. I think as a driver,
because I was racing them every week and, uh, yeah, it just was a lot of battles back and forth.
One night we beat this guy and we, they beat us. And then you've been, you know, you did that for
so many years. And then where did this, when did the sprint car conversation come into play?
Because, you know, we joke about your dad having a race car, never racing it ever. Um, so, so we
know that thing has been, was sitting in your shop at your house and you're probably sitting there
staring at that thing for how many years before they actually let you, let you behind the wheel.
Well, yeah, I, well I, I always hope my dad worked on it back in the day too. So I kind of knew a lot
about it, but, uh, we, I think about 2022, he kind of decided like, oh, do you want to
move up to a sprint car? And I'm like, like the next coming year, not that year, like, do you think
you want to do that? And I'm like, uh, well, I was doing really good in the go-karts at the time.
We wanted to travel. So I was like, you know what, you want to give it one more year, we'll go, we'll
shoot for 2024 and we'll give us better time, you know, good time to get prepared for it and
everything. So we ended up piecing everything together and I was running go-karts at the
time. We're doing pretty good. And, um, we ended up, we ended up getting together around the middle
of June of 2024 and he's like, well, if you want to do this, we're going to do it. And I think it was
about the third week of June, we got out there and ever since then, I mean, I say screw them go-karts.
I was going to run them, but it's just a different feeling. Yeah. What's it, what's it like kind of,
I think every kind of young driver struggles with that kind of transition, right? And the
fact that you had so much success racing go-karts, being successful, and then you go into something
which again, you're very familiar with, family's been racing forever. You know what's going on,
but at the same time, it's a whole different animal and the results aren't, you know, you're
up there leading every week or battling for a win quite yet. What's that kind of feel like for a
young guy like yourself? Yeah, I think we're running probably one of the hardest support classes in
the country. And I mean, it's good to race these guys, I guess, every week. It's making me better,
I think. I don't get down on myself. I just try to be better every week, I guess.
Like there's, I mean, there's no room to get down on yourself, I guess. You just got to
beat them. You got to be better next week. Figure out what you're doing wrong.
Yeah. Watch what, like, you know, study, I study my race all the time.
Yeah. I was racing. I was going to say, what's it like, you know, I know I grew up watching guys,
like Paul Weaver, John Ivy, Jamie Miller racing, I can only imagine, you know, the generation you
watched, which had those guys in it as well, but now you're racing against them every week.
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, when I'm out there, I don't know, when you look at the lineup, you're like,
oh man, that guy's good, you know, he's gonna be tough to beat. But when I'm out there, it's like,
I'm just racing the track and racing myself. I'm not really worried about who's out there.
Most of the time, I just need to kind of keep myself in the right mind. Because if you're,
you know, if you're thinking about that, it gets you to where you're worrying, you know,
you should focus on yourself, Florida. Yeah, no, it makes sense. What's, uh, yeah, so what's it like
for you kind of coming from, you know, your grandpa, especially for my generation, you know, Super
Dave Harrison was was a very popular name back in the day. Now you got him helping you on wrenches.
Now to you, he's probably just your grandpa. But you know, many people appreciate Super Dave for
his racing career. And I guess you're fortunate enough to call him crew chief. Yeah, yeah.
He helps out a lot. Mostly me and my dad do everything now. He's sort of been like pulling
away a little bit, letting us do our own thing. But he does a really good job, you know, helping
us out, making sure we're set right, keeping an eye on us. But it's really cool to work with him,
though, you know, it's kind of cool to work as a whole family. But yeah, no, we were a family
operation for the late model. So I definitely get it. But yeah, yeah, I mean, is he just grandpa to
you? Or is he like, you know, Super Dave Harrison to you? Yeah, well, partly suck size. I didn't
really get to watch where I want to get got to watch him race one time. There's a race of
champions. I remember that he raced my dad's car. And they raced my dad's car and won. And
they showed my dad how bad he sucked. Because he took his car and won first night.
I hope your dad hears this because hey, Josh, I didn't give you a hard time on this one. It was
your own kid. So yeah, I mean, he probably do the same thing to me. But it just shows you how good
your car is and what how bad you're doing. I mean, it just shows you that to what your car could be.
I guess. Yeah, were you you probably weren't old enough then when your grandpa had to go
cart track? Were you? No, it actually closed the year I was born. I was gonna say,
yeah, I used to have an indoor fun cart track, you could just go and race go carts. And
yeah, I went to that a few times growing up. But yeah, brain's quite quite a few younger than
me. So unfortunately, didn't get to take any laps. Yeah, a couple, a couple guys get to say that
I was the downfall of the race place because my dad was too busy to work work to consent for the
tickets. Because I was born. No, I think it was just a tough year financially. But
so it's funny. Yeah, you hear hear any stories from that place from back in the day?
Yeah, I hear a lot of them. They definitely did a lot of
full things. Soap and water going the dark, you know, maybe one grandpa wasn't watching.
Have a little extra fun. Yeah, they weren't the ones right to check, I'm sure.
Yeah. But it's cool to hear the stories about it. I mean, even Harrison's a lot of people come up
and talk about it. It's like, man, that was something that, you know, our family owned.
And all these people know from it. Yeah, yeah, it was a place of legend back in the day, man. It was
back behind the old Kmart something you probably don't remember either.
So how's it been working with your dad? I mean, you know, me and Duane are pretty good at giving
him a hard time for his race and days. But, you know, obviously he's a pretty nice guy to
let you come through and take the reins on the beast. But I mean, hopefully you guys have a
pretty good working relationship. I haven't seen you throwing stuff at each other. So it seems like
things are going well. Yeah, for the most part, we have our ups and downs. But we just try to
we try to work together, figure stuff out, figure out what I'm doing wrong,
figure out what he's doing wrong. We're always open minded. And I try to get, try to get her
rolling, I guess. We thought we're just maintenance and every week together by ourselves. We have a
couple other guys that come around and up until now, we've been doing everything at the track
ourselves, too. It's been a lot of work, but we figure out a lot doing it ourselves, I guess.
Yeah, that's kind of how you learn, huh? Yeah. What was it? What was it like for you for that
learning curve? I mean, obviously, you guys had a learning curve on go-karts too. But like I said,
you're jumping into something new, but not that new, obviously, but still plenty to learn, it
sounds like. Yeah. I think a lot of it was a matter of getting comfortable. I thought I was
comfortable and then the more I drive it, the more I realized how uncomfortable I was before.
Like, I think once we get the car right in my idea of running the track right,
it'll come, like, sort of like when I went to random go-karts, I had an idea of how I was going
to race people, you know, where I was running on track all the time, this and that, which there's
more variables for a sprint car because you have multiple lanes, all that, you know, people running
all over the place. But I think now that I'm getting comfortable, I'm good at putting on
better racecraft, I guess. You know, it's like, it feels, it almost feels like I was driving
a go-kart as a fact. Yeah. What's that, I don't say process, but what's that feel you're looking
for, right? Like, sprint cars are different for me, especially. You know, you're getting air on the
left, your weight jacking towards the left rear and then towards the right front in your corners.
And I mean, are you looking for easier to steer? Are you looking for forward bite? What's kind of
that sweet spot for Braden Harrison? Oh, I like the drive. The drive off the corner.
That's why I'm just like my grandpa, right off the horse track at Attica. Trying to get all the
left rear drive I can get. I just need to get a good balance of it, but I think we've been getting
it pretty close. I tend to like a little tighter race car, but I like being able to, you know,
feel like, almost feel secure in, but I got to wheel the thing, you know. Cowboy up.
And I think, I think that's honestly just because I'm a newbie. The more, the more,
the more I get through it, I need to get more patient, which I'm working up to, but.
Yeah. Do you like kind of that tacky surface or have you messed with dry slick much? I mean,
I know it's happened a few nights here and there, but have you found any liking for that?
I'm getting better at the dry slick. It's just more, I think it's more effective to take
putting laps on it. A lot of you guys, you know, they got 10 years or more on me running in the
dry slit and uh-huh. Some of these guys pick up on it faster than others and I think I'm closing
the gap. It's just taking time. The more we get the car right, the more, the more I figure it out,
the more, you know, the more we'll start passing. Because I'm confident I can pass race cars. It's
just once we get it, the balance between the two.
Ben, you've had a few nights where you made some ground up. I know, I forget the particular
night. I think it was last year. Obviously, we barely raced this year, but I think it was a night
last year. You had a pretty good passing count on the night. So it's like there's light at the
end of the rainbow here. Yeah. Yeah. There was a night at Attica. I think I barely made the feature.
Tried something different. I said I'm going to run the top because everyone was piling up on the
bottom. The top was really fluffy and you had to enter up right on it. At Attica, it sort of gets
tricky in three and four because it's, it's sort of, I don't know, it's like tighter. There's like a
lot more fluff than going into three than there is coming out of four, I guess. Like it's easier,
I guess easier to blow over it, blow your right ear over it. So you've got to, got to enter weird,
especially in a 305 because you got to slide up to it a little bit. But I was, it took me a couple
laps and I was bouncing off of it, trying to figure it out. And then once I figured it out,
oh man, we just, I started taking off. I got mad because I was, there's people holding me up and
I think in two laps, I passed four or five cars and just kept railing the top more and more,
trying to get more out of there. I think I started like 22nd or 23rd and I can't remember,
but I ended up like 13th or 12th and then I spun it out on top, but trying to get,
trying to get more out of it, but. Well, happens is the best of us. You got to find the final,
you got to find that fine line, right? Yeah, trying to, trying it until you figure it out, I guess.
Yeah, so, so I guess to derail a little bit, but speaking of fine line,
I wanted to ask you about your race at Tony Bieber's place last year.
Oh yeah, that way. So the fall classic, a go kart race, Tony Bieber who does some chassis work for
people, you know, he's got a jig and table and everything. So he, he straightens a lot of sprint
car chassis out, but in November he's got a big go kart race he puts on and Braden kind of
accidentally will say had the highlight of the race, even though it was just from qualifying,
I believe, but needless to say, Braden went ass over T kettle, literally nose, you know,
ass end over nose off the banking at the track and walked away just fine, but what was that ride
like for you, Braden? Yeah, well, I think a lot of guys are expecting it because in hot laps,
I boot off the top twice too. We, I was kind of trying to convince myself to run the bottom
because I've seen a lot of people getting hit in that hole. And I was like, oh, somebody comes up
to me, he's like, man, Chad Wilson has ripped the top and set like third quick or something
right before I'm going out. So I'm like, all right, I'll do it. And so then I go and pound it on the
first lap and it just goes right over. And we get her flipped over throwback on the track.
And then I, I got my, I got only got one lap. And I think we end up qualifying 40th there,
there was only 40 that made the heat races. So the rest of non qualifier. So it ended up working
out, but heck, it didn't tickle it. And I let's say knocked the wind out of me, not from my stomach.
Yeah, I was gonna say watching it. It looked pretty gnarly. You know, go-kart accidents kind
of in general do, but that one was definitely a little bit of a wild one. Was that, was that
the wildest ride you've ever took in a go-kart? Yeah. And it was for no money.
Yeah, it was all for glory.
Oh man. Yeah, you have, luckily you haven't done anything like that in a sprint car yet, right?
Uh, I felt pretty good last year too. Well, I felt twice, but one, I got concussion last year.
Yeah, I was gonna say, I remember you kind of, did you have to sit out a week or two?
Yeah, I did. Yeah. It was May 30th, I think, you know, last year, three months. Going off
to two, I blew it off and went and over and got hauled away on ambulance. Yeah. Yeah. What's going,
I mean, obviously you had a concussion, but maybe reflecting on that, what's kind of like,
you know, going through your mind, your young guy got a got a lot of life to live in front of you.
Obviously there's a little bit of danger associated with sprint car racing, but
you know, it's what your family's known for, for your entire life. So,
you know, do you ever second guess your decision maybe at times like that, or is it just kind of
keep going forward? Just keep going forward. I think racing will burn you out, but you just,
you gotta love it so much, you know, never give up on it. It'll, as much as you give it, it'll get back.
Yeah. What, what is your, your dad, your mom, your grandpa, your family all think when, you know,
that kind of scenario happens? I mean, they're, they're all worried. I didn't really know where
I was at for that whole day, but they're all worried first couple of days. And then,
then we're just thinking how, thinking how we can get the car back together and
how we can get back out there. Cause I heck, I was ready to put an old race car together on
Tuesday and then that started setting back here. Maybe take a, maybe take a break, right?
Yeah. You're young. So your body's not all, you know, once you start getting into your 30s and
you take something like that, it'll probably affect you a little more. Yeah. I'm sure.
So we were talking a little before we started recording. I just was talking brain about,
again, how old he is. He graduated high school, which congratulations. Good job on that.
You know, he's, he's an adult now. So I asked if he had a job and he said, oh yeah, I work at
Kisler's and been there on and off for a few years. So, you know, not only is he racing
sprint cars, but he's working in sprint cars and seems like, I mean, hell, when I was 18,
that would have been a dream scenario for me, Braden. Yeah, it's pretty fun. I get,
I get to see race cars all the time, race car engines, work on, it's like everyday race cars.
Yeah. Have you, have you worked on anything or any cool, particularly cool driver's stuff or
anything like that? Oh yeah. They're JJ are all them guys. Like we'll come in, they'll come in,
they'll come in the shop. We'll see them. They'll talk to us and we'll get to, you know,
deal with them and help them go through their engines and all of that. You know, it's really
cool to be right there with it and get to see, honestly, they do the maintenance in the shop too
sometimes. So it's cool to see how they do all that so quickly. Dan, and you're not just sweeping
floors. I mean, you know, tell some people listening kind of some of your duties while you're working.
Yeah. I mean, I work, I work tear down and then I'll, then every now and then I'll,
you know, go between the homes, run the homes and stuff like that.
There's pretty much, I'm pretty much the catch up guy. I'll help catch people up,
figure out what we're doing, run some engines through, ship stuff out, whatever we need to do.
I'll get it done. Yeah. And have you caught any tips or tricks from seeing some of those other
teams coming through maybe to change your program a little? Yeah. And they've helped me out. They've
gave, I mean, I bought tires off of them, plenty of stuff. It all has its perks. So
plus kind of cool work right there because if I need any parts, you know, just walk right in
work, grab some parts, my paycheck goes right back to it. Yeah, you may not take any pay home,
but at least you got a race car, right? Yeah. So we kind of talked about everything
past and present, but kind of looking forward maybe to the future. Where does Braden want to
go with sprint car racing? Are you, you know, 410s at Attica Fremont? Or do you want to travel?
What's kind of your life aspirations at this point?
I mean, honestly, I'm not even sure yet. I want, I mean, I would love to go
four times racing across the country with, you know, everything. If I can do that. Oh,
I mean, that'd be a perfect scenario, but I'm just trying to figure out where I'm at now and
sort of work my way up. I definitely think I could be there one day.
Just all the matter of how hard I want to work for, I guess.
Ben, and you saw, like I said, you hear the legend of your grandpa racing. Do you have
any aspirations? Obviously you do, but are we trying to match his resume or are we trying to
I'm trying to make my own resume. But I mean, if I can beat it, then I can show him one. But
if I could feel like, Hey, grandpa, I got you.
So, so what's your, what's your dad have to say about all this? Obviously he's in it with you.
He hears us giving him a hard time about, you know, having a race car, never racing it always
here and it's going to be out and then never seen it on the racetrack. But seems like he's,
he's fine to help you out and give you all the support you need.
Yeah, I think he misses it some days, but he definitely loves helping me and figuring it out
and he'll put the time in and get it done with me. That's for sure. He, I guess he won't,
he almost wants to live his success through me, which is good, I guess, for me.
Yeah, it's good for you. He'll pay for, pay for it, right?
Yeah. Well, okay. We kind of kind of work for it, work for it together and see what we can do.
Yeah. So have you had any of those interesting shop nights where,
you know, or racetrack nights be it where dad and grandpa have differing opinions on something and
you know, I don't know, are there swear words thrown out? Does anyone get mad? What happens?
I think that happens with everyone, but there's been times,
there's, there's definitely been some words said, but I think it's just,
yeah, I think we worked pretty, pretty good together for what we have.
Well, and yeah, you have to with the smaller family team, right?
Yeah, I was gonna say, we gotta, we gotta make do with what we got.
Yeah. What do you, what do you see in maybe not in 305s, but you know,
I'll compare it to late models, right? Where you see these small family teams, weekly teams will
say really struggling to keep up with things going on, right? Like late models, there's engineers
involved now and you know, simulations and software and things. And you know, is there,
is there anything in sprint car racing you guys see kind of out there with the bigger teams that,
you know, just kind of got you, got you pinned for now until you can afford the more resources?
Yeah. Like I said, I just got, only got a left rear shock for now. I want to get a whole
set of the old FKs. I got a gas shock on my left rear. So I want to get somewhere around the whole
car. I want to get, you know, I got the old style bleaters, stuff like that. I think all of that
helps. I mean, just the little things add up. I mean, we don't got the deep selection of spares.
So a lot of our stuff, you know, you wreck it and you got different stuff for the spares, but
I think, I think over time, it just takes time to build up an inventory, like, you know, for a small
team. I think eventually we can, we can be pretty good for what we got as long as I ain't going
through stuff every night. Yeah. And like, I think, I think that's not a way to look at it either,
because, because if you're worrying about tearing stuff up every night, it's not,
you might as well not even be going. You got, I mean, you can't be worrying about that.
Yeah, it's especially, you got to be especially sprinkler racing, you know, you got to be aggressive
at times. So you can't, can't always be worrying about the bottom dollar, although sometimes others
maybe hope you are, but just the way nature of racing these days. What's it mean for you,
you know, growing up at these race tracks, specifically obviously Attica and Fremont,
right? Like now it's probably the second nature to you. You're going racing, you know, hopping in
the race car, going on the track, doing your thing, but was there any part of you when you first
kind of showed up in that sprint car and you're like, man, I'm finally getting to race at the
tracks my grandpa and, you know, dad raced at? Yeah, I thought it was, I honestly thought it was
the coolest thing. Yeah, I, it was a long, a long thing to take in, I guess, the first couple
weeks. I was like, man, I'm really doing this. And once I got doing it, I was like, oh, that's
what I want to do for sure. So was it, was it like, man, I'm doing this? Oh, shit. And now I've got to
turn. Yeah, exactly. Can't watch the grandstands. Actually, the first time I went out,
sorry, I went and ripped the top. I said, I want to be like grandpa.
How'd it go for you? Not very well, blew off the horse track.
I was saying a copy in there too.
Well, good stuff. You're young, you're learning. I guess for the fans listening right now,
what are you up to right now? What are you doing? We're hearing, you know, like some wind it sounds
like on your phone. And I feel like you're working on a race car right now. Oh, I definitely am.
I just had to, I just was doing all my bars and stuff like that, finishing her up.
We had to do some engine work. We had some stuff go wrong, but fixing her up and should be ready.
We're actually not racing this weekend, but it's we're racing Friday next, the next Friday
at Fremont with Speed Week. So we should be ready by then.
Yeah, so everyone's listening. This is this is Braden Harrison in a nutshell,
just a kid who's bleeding racing at any costs. And, you know, he's always on a podcast. He's
tinkering in the shop. So it's well, it's much appreciated by the people listening in case
you're wondering, Braden, it's not I'm not trying to to deter you or anything. It's it's one of
those things people like to hear from especially from a young driver, you know, you see young
drivers these days, we see a lot of them fizzle out many because they lack maybe some of that
work ethic you got. And, you know, you see, have you noticed that much with younger drivers over
the years? I mean, I know you're young, but you've been around enough to kind of or was the work
the work on the team expect as you know, as you expected, or is it been more or or kind of,
you know, where do you see that younger generation feeling going?
I mean, it's definitely a lot of work. And there's definitely some people that get
a hand into them, you know, they don't got to do a whole lot. There's been a show up in race.
And some, I don't know, I think it's good both ways. I think it's
it's good, good to know your car. It's good to know, you know, work on everything yourself,
you know, what you got, you know, everything's right. You know, you did that, and now you can
race it. And, you know, it's also good to show up. I think this is what makes it easier for
drivers that show up with their helmet bags is they just show up and all I got to worry about
is driving, you know, and that's, and honestly, that might not be a bad thing. I don't like looking
that. I mean, I don't like that way. I like working for everything I have, but
and I think we'll have work for you. Yeah. And I guess I'd like to say maybe the
some of those guys that get to show up with the helmet bag are guys who were in your position
when they were younger, you know, had to work on their stuff. So while they may not actively be
doing it, they know the car, stuff, right? And I think that's probably the more important
side of it. Yeah, they put their time in to get where they're at. Yeah, they work for it.
Yeah, like, I don't know if you were around, but when David Gravel started racing in our area,
trust me, he got plenty of experience working on race cars because it seemed like they were
torn up every weekend, right? But you look now, obviously, he's got Cody Jacobs at the helm,
too, which helps. But, you know, David's a guy who worked on stuff. Trust me, we've all seen it
with you around here those years. So he does just show up, but he's he's got a little little more
background than just driving the car. Yeah. It's good to know all that.
So it's a good feeling to know that you don't you did it all yourself, too.
Yeah, like you're sharing in the not only the win as the driver, but as the car person, too, right?
Yeah, like getting to see all your efforts end up in victory lane.
Yeah, it makes it feel sometimes better, which we got to get you there, man. When's that happening?
I'm hoping soon.
What's that? What's that realistic expectation for you? Obviously just starting out halfway
through 2024, you know, racing a few times so far this year. Are you are you pissed you haven't won
yet? Or are you fully expecting this as part of the progression? I mean, I'm I'm mad. Don't get me
wrong. I think we can have what it takes to win this year. You just got to get get going.
Got to get comfortable.
We've had it. Like I said, we just had a few off nights here. I think I think once I get
we get back into a rhythm of where we need to be, we'll be right up there.
First, I mean, the first night I thought we almost had a shot to win and just didn't fall that way.
I qualified really good. I think I started third in my heat race ended up second.
Because they invert four and
reger the number four started four, ran a good couple laps and then just
lost it. This is part of the running up there, I guess. I'm just getting more comfortable running
up front and that's all that matters. But yeah, one of these days, you know, when you're up there
every weekend, it'll be like nothing to you, right? Yeah, exactly. Well, Braden's working
on a race car. We don't want to hold them up too much longer. But Braden, before we go,
there's obviously a lot of people sponsors and whoever else helping you with this effort.
You know, who's who do you got to thank? Who's name you want to get out there for helping you out?
Yeah, crown battery, ice bar and grill, the golf cart guy,
more lock mark home maintenance, full tire management,
crown battery velocity, kissler engines, kissler racing products.
Oh, there's definitely more. I was going to think.
If you're out in the shop at the race car expert.
Yeah, well, I thought I was looking I have body panels off, but Jector experts
keep your help out helps out a lot fuel. And
yeah, they just they all help us out a lot.
And all of them stuck with us this whole time. Oh, damn sure. The roofing too. Sorry.
That was not a good one to miss.
Because they've helped they've helped me out since the go kart days.
They've been with us a long time.
And I know another way race fans can help out me being one of them already has to my own horn.
You usually have some merch available. How can how can people get a hold of your merch? And before
I let Brayden answer, I will say I bought a hoodie that was actually for my wife in the powder
blue, which was a cool color. But she says most comfortable hoodie she has. So, you know, for what
it's worth, we've got some comfortable stuff on top of cool stuff. But yeah, just reach out to me
my dad on Facebook and we'll get you settled in.
Yeah, we just to order it up for you. It's preorder. That's all it is. Come in.
Yeah, just cake. Well, anything else you want to share, Brayden, before we wrap her up here?
Oh, yeah. There's two more people I like to think. Go for it.
Carcel and Todd Langston. That's all. Gotcha. And I'm sure you'd be willing to thank more people
if they wanted to sign up and be on board, right? Oh, plenty.
Well, Brayden, we know you got the weekend off, but hey, next time you're on the track,
we're all rooting for you, man. All righty. I'm good. I'm ready. Hey, Rip.
About this episode
Brayden Harrison, a 305 driver at Attica/Fremont, joins the Dirt Nerds Podcast to talk about his path from go-karts into sprint cars and what it takes to keep improving. He credits setup changes like correcting ride height and shock tuning, plus studying his races, for better cornering and racecraft. They also cover dirt-track line choices, traction feel, and a concussion recovery timeline. The hosts add context with recent Eldora “Dream” race details and sponsor shout-outs.
This week we bring you an interview! We've talked about this young man on the podcast a few times so we figured we'd get him on the show to tell us a little bit more about himself. Brayden Harrison is a 305 sprint car driver at Attica and Fremont and comes from a sprint car family. He tells us about his early go kart days and tells us how he's been progressing in his first few years as a 305 driver.
