Ken Brenn Sr.
An open-wheel and dirt-track Modified stock-car racing car owner with an unblemished record of integrity and professionalism, Ken Brenn Sr. of Warren, New Jersey, was involved in many areas of auto racing. But win or lose, his efforts were always first class and he treated everyone with gentlemanly courtesy and respect.
Brenn’s stellar Midget history shows a long association (1954-1972) with the American Racing Driver’s Club. Listed on its Honor Rollas a Lifetime Member, he was a five-time champion car owner with fellow EMPA Hall of Fame members Len Duncan (1963-1964) and Johnny Coy Sr. (1968-1969 &1971) handling his immaculate No. 24s. And the construction company owner and former Warren mayor was also a two-time (1969-1970) ARDC president.
But Brenn didn’t just race with ARDC as he took his Midgets far and wide in search of competition and they raced in such iconic events as the “Turkey Night Grand Prix” at the old legendary half-mile Ascot Park Speedway in Gardena, California. And at one point he and his longtime mechanic Dick Briggs fielded four Midgets that were each capable of winning.
Historians figure Brenn provided rides for over 150 top drivers, including EMPA Hall of Famers Larry Dickson, Jan Opperman, Jiggs Peters, Mitch Smith and Ray Tilley, plus others like Don Branson, Bert Brooks, Ernie McCoy, Jimmy Caruthers, Gary Bettenhausen, Bobby Unser and Jimmy Kirk. And EMPA Hall of Famer Wally Dallenbach Sr. credits his rides in Brenn’s Midget, Sprint and Championships Cars as the big boost that got him to the Indianapolis 500.
But two drivers– Indy 500 winners Rodger Ward (1959 & 1962) and fellow EMPA Hall of Famer Mark Donohue (1972) – had the unusual distinction of winning races in Ken Brenn Racing Midgets on the 1.5-mile road-course in Lime Rock, Connecticut.
Ward’s victory came on July 25, 1959,when he beat some of the top Formula-1 and LeMans Sports Car drivers with Brenn’s 12-year-old Offy Midget in a “Formula Libre” race (any kind of cars with no restrictions) that made national headlines. While Donohue – who went on to have great success in world-class Sports Car competition – used Brenn’s rear-engine Offy-powered Midget in July 1963 to win his first professional race.
And there is also this interesting side note to Brenn’s career as a car owner in major open-wheel competition.
In 1958, he designed and added a roll bar to his Midgets and in 1959 that roll bar was adopted by the entire circuit.
Then, on July31, 1966, his No. 24 Sprint Car – which driven by future three-time (1968, 1970& 1975) USAC Sprint Car Champion and EMPA Hall of Famer Larry Dickson – was the first USAC Sprint Car to ever use a roll cage when it did so at thethen-new half-mile-dirt Cumberland (Md.) Raceway.
Plus, as the ARDC president, he had a great deal to do with the group making roll cages –and shoulder harnesses – mandatory for 1970. In the early1970s Brenn’s interests changed to Dirt-Track Modified Stock Cars when he found he could make more money racing those cars in New Jersey than he could traveling all over with his Midget.
So, he bought a 1937 Chevrolet coupe built by EMPA Hall of Famer Budd Olsen and with EMPA Hall of Fame driver Stan Ploski Jr. driving the fuel-injected 427-cubic-inchChevy-powered yellow No. 24 won: Flemington’s 1971 & 1973 Modified titles and 1973 National Dirt Track Championship 200; 1973’s East Windsor title; and the 1973 N.J. State Modified honors.
After Ploski left the team, Ken Jr. – who won Flemington’s first-ever Rookie title in 1972in the team’s original ’37 Chevy coupe – filled the seat in the No. 24s and won the 1978 New Jersey State Modified title and Flemington’s 1982-1983 Modified championships. And Brenn’s youngest son Jimmy – Flemington’s 1978 Rookie titlist – also ran a second KBR entry.
Brenn’s Modifieds also included a unique Gremlin-bodied car built by Indianapolis-based open-wheel builder Grant King in 1976. And Ken Jr.’s big victory on July 3, 1983, at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse came in a car built by Sprint Car wizard Gary Stanton.
Ken Sr. – who promoted East Windsor and Bridgeport (N.J.)Speedways briefly in the 1970s – fielded winning Modifieds for Ken Jr. until the talented driver with the Old Western look became the “hired gun” in Mike O’Shea’s No. 74 Trenton Mack ride in the early 1980s. And while that ended Ken Brenn Sr.’s active years as a race-car owner, he continued to be a man who the racing community regarded as one of its finest representatives.
An open-wheel and dirt-track Modified stock-car racing car owner with an unblemished record of integrity and professionalism, Ken Brenn Sr. of Warren, New Jersey, was involved in many areas of auto racing. But win or lose, his efforts were always first class and he treated everyone with gentlemanly courtesy and respect.
Brenn’s stellar Midget history shows a long association (1954-1972) with the American Racing Driver’s Club. Listed on its Honor Rollas a Lifetime Member, he was a five-time champion car owner with fellow EMPA Hall of Fame members Len Duncan (1963-1964) and Johnny Coy Sr. (1968-1969 &1971) handling his immaculate No. 24s. And the construction company owner and former Warren mayor was also a two-time (1969-1970) ARDC president.
But Brenn didn’t just race with ARDC as he took his Midgets far and wide in search of competition and they raced in such iconic events as the “Turkey Night Grand Prix” at the old legendary half-mile Ascot Park Speedway in Gardena, California. And at one point he and his longtime mechanic Dick Briggs fielded four Midgets that were each capable of winning.
Historians figure Brenn provided rides for over 150 top drivers, including EMPA Hall of Famers Larry Dickson, Jan Opperman, Jiggs Peters, Mitch Smith and Ray Tilley, plus others like Don Branson, Bert Brooks, Ernie McCoy, Jimmy Caruthers, Gary Bettenhausen, Bobby Unser and Jimmy Kirk. And EMPA Hall of Famer Wally Dallenbach Sr. credits his rides in Brenn’s Midget, Sprint and Championships Cars as the big boost that got him to the Indianapolis 500.
But two drivers– Indy 500 winners Rodger Ward (1959 & 1962) and fellow EMPA Hall of Famer Mark Donohue (1972) – had the unusual distinction of winning races in Ken Brenn Racing Midgets on the 1.5-mile road-course in Lime Rock, Connecticut.
Ward’s victory came on July 25, 1959,when he beat some of the top Formula-1 and LeMans Sports Car drivers with Brenn’s 12-year-old Offy Midget in a “Formula Libre” race (any kind of cars with no restrictions) that made national headlines. While Donohue – who went on to have great success in world-class Sports Car competition – used Brenn’s rear-engine Offy-powered Midget in July 1963 to win his first professional race.
And there is also this interesting side note to Brenn’s career as a car owner in major open-wheel competition.
In 1958, he designed and added a roll bar to his Midgets and in 1959 that roll bar was adopted by the entire circuit.
Then, on July31, 1966, his No. 24 Sprint Car – which driven by future three-time (1968, 1970& 1975) USAC Sprint Car Champion and EMPA Hall of Famer Larry Dickson – was the first USAC Sprint Car to ever use a roll cage when it did so at thethen-new half-mile-dirt Cumberland (Md.) Raceway.
Plus, as the ARDC president, he had a great deal to do with the group making roll cages –and shoulder harnesses – mandatory for 1970. In the early1970s Brenn’s interests changed to Dirt-Track Modified Stock Cars when he found he could make more money racing those cars in New Jersey than he could traveling all over with his Midget.
So, he bought a 1937 Chevrolet coupe built by EMPA Hall of Famer Budd Olsen and with EMPA Hall of Fame driver Stan Ploski Jr. driving the fuel-injected 427-cubic-inchChevy-powered yellow No. 24 won: Flemington’s 1971 & 1973 Modified titles and 1973 National Dirt Track Championship 200; 1973’s East Windsor title; and the 1973 N.J. State Modified honors.
After Ploski left the team, Ken Jr. – who won Flemington’s first-ever Rookie title in 1972in the team’s original ’37 Chevy coupe – filled the seat in the No. 24s and won the 1978 New Jersey State Modified title and Flemington’s 1982-1983 Modified championships. And Brenn’s youngest son Jimmy – Flemington’s 1978 Rookie titlist – also ran a second KBR entry.
Brenn’s Modifieds also included a unique Gremlin-bodied car built by Indianapolis-based open-wheel builder Grant King in 1976. And Ken Jr.’s big victory on July 3, 1983, at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse came in a car built by Sprint Car wizard Gary Stanton.
Ken Sr. – who promoted East Windsor and Bridgeport (N.J.)Speedways briefly in the 1970s – fielded winning Modifieds for Ken Jr. until the talented driver with the Old Western look became the “hired gun” in Mike O’Shea’s No. 74 Trenton Mack ride in the early 1980s. And while that ended Ken Brenn Sr.’s active years as a race-car owner, he continued to be a man who the racing community regarded as one of its finest representatives.