Sprint

USCS: Brice Wrenn I-20/Riverside previews

Wrenn Set For Home State USCS Races FAYETTEVILLE, GA - Brice Wrenn of Lexington, SC is looking for his first Sprint Car Championship in 2004, as he prepares for two United Sprint Car Series events this weekend in his home state. Wrenn has posted ...

Published: Mar 31, 2004, 4:01 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Wrenn Set For Home State USCS Races

FAYETTEVILLE, GA - Brice Wrenn of Lexington, SC is looking for his first Sprint Car Championship in 2004, as he prepares for two United Sprint Car Series events this weekend in his home state. Wrenn has posted three straight championship runner-up efforts with the American Outlaw Action Series. USCS bought the North Carolina-based AOAS in January.

The USCS winged outlaw sprint cars will be at Riverside Speedway in Travelers Rest, SC on Friday night, and then move to Wrenn's home track, I-20 Speedway in Batesburg, SC on Saturday night. Wrenn knows the competition in USCS will be tougher, but he says he's up to the challenge.

"I think we've stepped up our program for this season, and I've even branched out a little and raced in other areas of the country," Wrenn said. "Last season, we won three AOAS races, finished second in points, and were just three points from winning the championship. I went up to Pennsylvania and finished in the top ten in the two races I ran there. There's some tough competition up there."

Wrenn is now into his fifth season of winged outlaw sprint car racing. The cars weigh 1,300 pounds, and are powered by 750-horsepower V-8 engines. Pound-for-pound, a winged outlaw sprint car is the most powerful short track racing car in the world.

After starting out in go-karts, Wrenn began running with the Dixie Outlaw Mini Sprint Association in 1995, and was the series Rookie of the Year. A Mini Sprint is a smaller version of the sprint car, weighs about 800 pounds and is powered by a 750 cc motorcycle engine. Wrenn won the Dixie Outlaw Mini Sprint Championship in 1999, but he craved more power and faster speeds.

"Everyone thinks that just because you're from the South, you should be racing a stock car," Wrenn said. "But after I saw my sprint car race, I knew that's what I wanted to race. The speed and excitement is second to none in auto racing. NASCAR teams are now looking at sprint car drivers because if you can drive one of these things, you can drive the wheels off of anything else."

Wrenn got his hands on a winged outlaw sprint car and began running with the AOAS in 2000. The first year out, Wrenn earned the series Rookie of the Year Award. In 2001, 2002, and last season, Wrenn finished second in points. For this season with USCS, Wrenn thinks he has stepped up his racing program to shake off the bridesmaid role.

For 2004, Wrenn will be running engines from famed sprint car engine builder Earl Gaerte of Rochester, IN. Gaerte has built some of the most powerful sprint car engines around through the years for drivers such as Steve Kinser and Sammy Swindell.

"Earl Gaerte has stepped up to help out our engine program for this season, and that's going to be a big plus for our team," Wrenn said. "I'm really looking forward to racing in front the fans in my home state. That's something that really gets me pumped up!"

Wrenn is a business owner when he's not taking care of business on the dirt tracks throughout the Southeast. Wrenn owns and operates Stainless Fabricators in Lexington, SC, which produces stainless steel equipment for restaurants and laboratories.

Wrenn's USCS competition will be tough this weekend and includes the defending and three-time USCS National Champion Terry Gray of Bartlett, TN. Other favorites will be Kenny Adams of Malabar, FL, Jim Raptis of Marietta, GA, Chad Allum of Kanapolis, NC, Butch Pendergrass of Winston-Salem, NC, Bill Moore of Denver, NC, and Johnny Bridges of Cherryville, NC.

Bridges is the driver who beat Wrenn for the 2003 AOAS Championship by just three points.

Retired NASCAR Legend and USCS co-owner Ernie Irvan will be at both South Carolina events this weekend, and will meet and greet USCS fans with an autograph session from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Friday night at Riverside Speedway and on Saturday night at I-20 Speedway. Irvan was voted as one of the Top 50 NASCAR Drivers of the Century.

The schedule of events for both races will be announced later this week. Riverside Speedway is located north of Greenville, SC on S.R. 11, one-half mile west of U.S. Highway 25. I-20 Speedway is located one mile north of I-20 at exit 39 on U.S. Highway 178.

For more information, visit the Riverside Speedway web site at www.race-tracks.com/riverside. For more information about I-20 Speedway, visit their web site at www.i20speedway.com. For more information about USCS, visit the series' Official Web Site at www.uscsracing.com.

-rh-

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article NHRA BoD election results

Next article Theys jikes Camelback for training

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Who slept worst last night: Fernando Alonso

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

9 min

Who slept worst last night: Fernando Alonso

Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed

MotoGP

MGP MotoGP

Qatar GP

39 min

Carlos Ezpeleta: Qatar GP “noise” left MotoGP unnecessarily exposed

Oscar Piastri splits from Mark Webber management

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

1 h

Oscar Piastri splits from Mark Webber management

WEC drivers question lack of full-course yellow after heavy Monza crash

WEC

WEC WEC

Monza

2 h

WEC drivers question lack of full-course yellow after heavy Monza crash

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts