Now Showing: Brandon Spithaler

When I look back at 2023, a few drivers come to mind when I think about who made the biggest gains. Rico Abreu was impressive all season long. Corey Day made the next step in his young career. Freddie Rahmer won 17 races in Central Pennsylvania. But, when you look at the statistics, there is one driver at the top of the list who was above all others. That driver is 2023 FAST Series Champion, Brandon Spithaler.

Unlike most drivers who started racing at a much younger age, Brandon Spithaler started racing go-karts in Western Pennsylvania at age 12. After winning 28 features in 99 starts, Spithaler moved over to limited sprints in 2007, where he would win the rookie of the year award at Sharon Speedway. In 2009, Spithaler won the limited sprints track championship at Sharon before moving into a 410 sprint car in 2010.

“It was a class that (Dave) Blaney started at Sharon,” said Spithaler. It was basically a full-size 305, essentially a crate before crates were popular.”

Early in his 410 career, Spithaler stayed local to Western PA, primarily racing at Lernerville, Sharon and Mercer. In 2010, despite running a limited schedule, he picked up his first career 410 win at Mercer. During 2011-2012, Spithaler began to up his program and get more laps under his belt. He won three more races before having his first breakout season in 2013, where he would go on to win the Lernerville track championship.

The success that Spithaler found locally had him searching for more. From 2014-2016, he began to branch out and hit more Outlaw and All Star shows. It was a bumpy ride at first, but in 2016, he had a strong season and carried that momentum with him to the All Star Circuit of Champions.

“We kind of ran local for points when I got started. I got the Lernerville track championship in 2013. After that, I bounced around and struggled for a few seasons. I started to get rolling again in 2016 and then went out with the All Stars in 2017-18.”

It’s the stories like these that I love to hear about. A small team with maybe one or two crew guys helping out going on the road to compete with some of the best drivers in the sport. A team that, despite not finding victory lane, never gave up and continued to battle every night. Spithaler would end up running almost 20 more races than he ever has in the past during that first season with the All Stars. In 2017, he finished a very respectable sixth in All Star points, while coming home seventh in 2018.

“We pretty much did that with the same situation (as we have now). Same truck and trailer. We hit the road and I like to think we out-performed our budget. Our program has grown leaps and bounds since then. I do think I got better as a driver from doing that.”

On paper, and to anyone who follows sprint car racing, there is no doubt that Spithaler’s experience with the All Stars improved his skills. He returned to the winners circle in 2019, before producing one of the most consistent seasons of his career in 2020, where he would win two races and finish in the top 10 in 26 of 37 starts. 2021 would present Spithaler with one of the most bittersweet moments of his career. On May 21, 2021, Spithaler timed 2nd quick with the World of Outlaws at Attica. He won his heat, finished 2nd in the dash, and led the opening lap of the feature. A, what Spithaler categorized as a “racing deal,” ended his impressive run on lap two of the feature.

“When I woke up that morning, I can’t say I was expecting to lead a lap with the World of Outlaws. We had a top 10 car and I didn’t get the chance to show it.”

Again, Spithaler didn’t let that discourage him, and he continued his improvement as a driver. After collecting a couple more wins and finishing in the top 10 in over 50% of his races in 2021, he began to earn a reputation as someone who can get the most out of the car without tearing up equipment. He progressed into a model of consistency behind the wheel of a 410.

All of the facts to back up that reputation and consistency are on display in the picture below. Take a look at that top wing, it lasted two full seasons on the car without being replaced.

Spithaler went into the 2023 season with his usual plans in terms of a schedule. Early success with the FAST Series led to him altering his schedule so that he could chase the title. Outside of the FAST Series, he was racking up wins in local competition at Mercer, Knox, Wayne County and Lernerville. For Spithaler, the success was not going unnoticed.

He played the role of the ultimate fill-in driver for a few teams fighting to finish out the All Star schedule. Due to his prior commitments to the FAST Series, he was unable to completely finish out the season for some of the teams. We saw him put the McCandless Motorsports no. 29 in the dash at Utica-Rome. Then, to cap off his 8-win season, Spithaler drove the Seeling Motorsports no. 97, a team that endured a tough year with the All Stars, to a win from 15th at Wayne County.

“In 2023, we decided we were going to chase the FAST Series and ended up bringing that home. The last two seasons, I have kind of played fill-in driver for some quality teams. Logan (McCandless) called me on a weekend that FAST was off and asked me to drive the car. We had some respectable runs.”

Today, Spithaler works full-time as a sales engineer to support his family and his race team. It is a balance that he has mastered, working hard all day and spending a couple of nights in the shop getting the cars ready. Over the years, his team has not changed much, he makes the set-up calls and a few friends and supporters help him out in the shop and at the track.

“My team is pretty much composed of me and my main supporter and sponsor, Tom. He has been with us since 2010 and without him we wouldn’t run at all. I thank all of our sponsors and partners that have been with us for a long time.”

“My wife usually comes to the races. It’s usually just me and one other guy at the track. I am thankful to have the good help that I have and I am always looking for an extra hand. It is difficult being a small team and not really being able to pay someone to work on the car. I don’t have a lot outside of the people who help me and my own paycheck.”

Going into the 2024 season, Spithaler is keeping all of his options open. He races in an area that became the center of the offseason controversy after High Limit Racing acquired the All Stars. While he remains neutral on the situation, he can’t help but wonder if he would have landed a ride on the All Star tour in 2024 if the series was still around.

“Last year we were with McCandless and Seeling to help finish out their All Star season. This offseason I have gotten more phone calls than I ever have. My stock is finally to the point where I could be in a ride for that potential regional series. I’ve raced for 12 years trying to get to this point and now that regional series doesn’t really exist.”

For Spithaler, the phone calls from car owners are well-deserved and welcomed. Nothing has come to fruition yet, but he is happy that his hard work and success is starting to get him noticed. He will continue to build his own race cars and have two race-ready by time the season begins. If that means he doesn’t have to use them in 2024, you won’t hear any complaints from him.

With all of the offseason unknowns, Spithaler has not committed to anything yet for 2024. He considers anything within 4-5 hours of his home in Western Pennsylvania fair game. Starting the season with the FAST Series is on the table, as well as hitting all of the Outlaw and High Limit shows in the area.

“There are a couple shows on the FAST schedule that conflict with shows I would entertain going to. I intend on starting it and if we are running consistently and in contention in points, we will likely keep going. I was happy to see the World of Outlaws increase their presence in Ohio outside of Eldora. We will probably be at most, if not all of those shows.”

When Brandon mentioned to me why he prefers to tow west into Ohio instead of East into Central Pennsylvania, he provided an answer that, as someone covering the sport and not partaking in it, I never really considered. He said it was because of the expensive Pennsylvania Turnpike tolls and the handicap system put in place by the Central PA tracks for the local teams running for points. In Ohio, he has more of an opportunity to hit different tracks without being penalized for not racing for points.

His answer provided context for what some of these smaller, regional teams have to endure. It’s the small details like those that get overlooked by fans and possibly even the larger series. It’s the small details like those that will make me think twice before wondering why a regional team doesn’t travel to the big races more often. Sure, the Outlaws and High Limit pay tow money to their full-timers, but the smaller teams will never see those benefits.

Despite the ever-changing landscape of sprint car racing, one thing remains the same, Spithaler doesn’t show up and unload to run 20th. The Outlaw and High Limit shows are going to be difficult to make, but you will still see Spithaler on the entry list. While he is unsure of how things will shape out, he is appreciative of the changes going on within the local racing scene in Ohio and is confident that someone will step up to fill the void.

“The FAST purse has increased. The local Attica/Fremont purse has increased. Sprint car racing is so competitive right now. You can not transfer one night and then go run top five the next. Being able to be good enough everywhere, every night is the challenge.”

Spithaler is certainly up for that challenge.

Look for Spithaler to be passing race cars in Western PA and Ohio in 2024, just like he did at Sharon in 2023 when he went 22nd to 3rd and battled it out with the Blaney’s for the win. You can support him by visiting his Brandon Spithaler Racing website and his Brandon Spithaler Racing Facebook. His team is always looking for sponsors and his phone line is always open for opportunities. In the meantime, he will continue to build his own race cars, work on them, and set them up to win races.