By Jordan DeLucia
CONCORD, NC (March 19, 2026) — Imagine at 16 years old, packing up your life, going to school online, and moving to Texas to become a crew member on a national Sprint Car racing team.
That’s the story of the newest employee at Hill’s Racing Team, Brody Brown.
The former Micro Sprint and 360 Sprint Car pilot from Lawton, OK, has traded his own steering wheel for a set of wrenches in 2026, converting from a driver to a full-time crew member for six-time and defending American Sprint Car Series champion Sam Hafertepe Jr. Together, they lead the points standings after the first seven races and boast the highest average finish (5.0) of any of the nine championship chasers.
Between 360 and 410 Sprint Car competition, Brown and Hafertepe have spent only 12 races together through the first two-and-a-half months of the year. But their professional relationship has blossomed, making good of the opportunity Brown had hoped for and producing the consistent results Hafertepe needs to make a run for another championship.
“I’ve enjoyed it, and I think we have had the good, strong runs — maybe not the wins that we want, but I think we’ve got a good direction going,” Brown said. “I feel like we’ve been consistent in the speed of our racecar, especially going to two places so far that are a little bit different than we’ll see all year with ASCS.”
And the boss agrees.
“Every week, [Brown] works side-by-side with me and learns certain intricate things the way I like them, and his skills just continue to get better,” Hafertepe said. “I haven’t had to teach him a whole lot of things — he has the know-how on a lot of stuff — just more so teaching him the way I like to do things.”
Starting in Outlaw Karts in the late 2010s, Brown later joined the ranks of Oklahoma’s competitive Micro Sprint scene before his full-size Sprint Car debut in 2023. Since then, he’s contested events in both the 305 and 360 cubic-inch divisions, including an appearance with the American Sprint Car Series at Salina Highbanks Speedway in April 2025.
It was during those steps up through the open-wheel ladder that Brown began to forge his mechanical capabilities and garnered a knack for both the steering wheel and the wrench.
“Whenever I raced myself, I did both sides of it,” Brown said. “I did pretty much all the shop work by myself and then had people at the racetrack to help me, but I felt like I lacked a lot of knowledge on that front, and that was an opening where I felt like I could get a lot farther in the sport working on that side of things, especially working for a guy like Sam.”
Though he came in with some skills, Brown has since molded them to fit Hafertepe’s championship-winning program, be it preparation in the shop during the week or at-track maintenance.
“There’s a lot of things you can do to be flashy in this sport, but the attention to detail is really important,” Brown said. “That’s something that I have understood with people in the past that I’ve worked with or been taught by. But Sam really brings that to a new front for me.
“It makes sense to why he’s been so successful for so long in our industry. Just doing that and trying to be successful but understanding that it takes a team working together to do that. It’s gratifying.”
It’s only year one, and Brown has no plans of ditching the grind of a new adventure. He’s in for the long haul on a path to bettering the future of Sprint Car racing with his youthful involvement.
“I made a commitment to Sam for the year because that’s what he asked,” Brown said. “Whenever you do this deal, it’s something that you want to have a guy for at least a year. You never want to have to change up crew guys mid-season; it doesn’t work well for the morale or flow of a race team.
“This is for sure a this-year thing and would like to keep it going into the future.”
And again, the boss concurs.
“Most people that young don’t have that much knowledge at that age, so he’s definitely far advanced beyond them,” Hafertepe said. “As long as he has the desire to keep going, he should do well.”
The American Sprint Car Series returns to racing on Saturday, April 11 at Salina Highbanks Speedway in Salina, OK. Tickets for the event will be sold at the track on race day.
If you can’t be at the track, how can you watch the American Sprint Car Series in 2026? Every event is broadcast live on DIRTVision.