Photo provided by Sasser Brothers Racing
BEDFORD – Coming from a lineage of racers, two brothers from Bedford are now making a name for themselves as drivers at local tracks, including Brownstown Speedway.
Zach Sasser, 20, said his grandfather raced, which sparked his father’s interest leading him to begin racing. Similarly, Zach saw his father racing, leading him to eventually get behind the wheel.
“I was born into it. Like when I was born in 2002. He was racing hot and heavy and I’ve loved it from the start,” Zach said.
Zach said he began racing go-karts around 2007 or 2008, shortly after his father stepped away from the sport. He moved to mini-stock cars around the age of 13, which he raced for a few years before advancing to Super Stocks, where he’s at now.
After moving to the Super Stock division Zach quickly found success, winning Rookie of the Year at Brownstown Speedway. He went on to win his first Super Stock race in 2020, eventually winning championships at both the Bloomington and Brownstown Speedways. In 2022, he won both the UMP East Region and National Championships, finishing 36 of 39 races in the top 10, with nine wins.
His little brother Isaiah, 16, had an early interest in the sport and watched tapes of his father racing, as well as Zach’s early go-kart races. He said he first began driving after Zach moved up from go-karts, leaving him his old one.
“I would always go watch him and I was always interested in it but he was always raced more than I did. I didn’t really get into it till he started moving up not to get like if he knew upper class and go karts and get a different car than I would get that one and kind of race it here and there,” he said.
After some work convincing his mom, Isaiah said he was able to compete in his first few Super Stock races as a teenager. His first full year racing in the division was in 2021, where he also won the Rookie of the Year award at Brownstown Speedway. Since, he has finished fourth in points at Brownstown Speedway in 2022, finishing in the top 10 in 12 of 18 races.
Some of Zach’s most memorable career highlights to this point include his first wins at the Bloomington and Brownstown Speedways. His first win at Bloomington came in the Josh Burton Memorial. Burton was a local driver who died from injuries sustained in a crash at the track in 2013.
“That’s like the biggest race at Bloomington each year for all the divisions. Like, they pay higher, it pays more to win and stuff so I won that race. It was my first ever winning at Super Stocks, so that was one that I’ll always remember,” he said.
He also recalled his first victory at Brownstown, which was this past year in the Scott Patman Memorial.
“I won the Scott Patman Memorial, which is the biggest race for the Super Stocks at Brownstown and that was actually my first win at Brownstown,” he said.
Though Isaiah has yet to get a first place finish in Super Stocks, one of his fondest moments thus far comes from the second race of this past season at Brownstown Speedway, April 23, 2022, where he said he was neck-and-neck with the first place driver until the final lap, where he ran off the side before finishing fourth.
“I’ve never worn a feature yet but got close a couple of times. In the second year at the second race at Brownstown this year, I started fourth then got in second on the first lab and was right there with the leader the whole time. Then, on the last lap, I didn’t see any flag but the white flag and that’s when I decided I better go. So, I drove it in hard into one and two and pulled beside him down the backstretch, going for the lead and I ran off the side of the track and came back on I ended up finishing fourth,” he recalled.
Isaiah also cited the Scott Patman Memorial as one of the highlights of his career thus far. Though he finished fourth, he said it was special for him to see his brother’s first win at the track.
“I started ninth and ended up finishing fourth in that race but that’s one that I always remember just because that’s Zach’s first win. I’ve always grown up watching him so that was pretty special for me to see him get his first win at Brownstown,” he said.
Though it can get competitive between the two of them at times, such as the Hoosier Dirt Classic at Brownstown Speedway this past season, when Zach and Isaiah finished in first and second place, racing alongside family is something neither of them would trade.
“It’s really cool. Like, we don’t have a big crew or a bunch of people that help us. I mean the people that do help us, it means a lot to us but like just in the middle of the week working on the car it’s my dad, my brother and myself. Just us three and when we go to the track, it’s just us three and it really means a lot,” Zach said. Working with family all the time, they say you get into, which we get into it sometimes, but there aren’t any other two people I’d rather be doing it with.”
Isaiah shared a similar sentiment.
“It’s hard at times to work together because we don’t get along all the time. You don’t see eye-to-eye, but once you sit down after the week, after Saturday night and you think about it, it’s all worth it because we’re all laughing, having a good time, enjoying it as a family,” he said. “If we weren’t doing it for each other then it wouldn’t be any fun.”
Zach Sasser’s 2022 Stats
- 39 races
- Nine wins
- 34 Top 5s
- 36 Top 10s
- Brownstown Speedway Champion
- UMP East Region Champion
- UMP National Champion
Isaiah Sasser’s 2022 Stats
- 18 Races
- Six top 5s
- 12 top 10s
- Fourth in points at Brownstown
Sasser Brothers Racing is sponsored by:
- Sasser Construction
- Davis Automotive
- Jerry Davis Racing Engines
- Tex-A-Con Cut Stone
- Iron River Trucking And Excavating
- Swift Springs Groomer
- Asphalt Paving
- DGR Customs
- Chase Cummings at Steele’s Barber Shop
- Caleb Thorne at Base Camp Country Real Estate
- Edge Collision Center
- Jeff Mounce Transmission
- Niflis Design
- Maraya Kate Customs
- TSR Chassis
