“I’ve always been involved with racing with my family, since I was born, basically,” Brevak said.

Brevak, 22, often traveled to the races with his family, which has been actively involved in racing for years.

But Brevak is not just a spectator of the action. Since the age of 12, Brevak has been racing competitively in different series of racing. This season, he hopes to compete in Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) races, a nationally televised series of racing that runs across the country.

Brevak said he aims to make a career out of racing, turning what was once an interest into a full-time job.

“The long-term goal is obviously NASCAR – either of the three (series),” he said, referring to the top series in the sport: the Camping World Truck Series, Nationwide Series and the elite Sprint Cup Series.

According to the ARCA Web site, many NASCAR drivers have competed in ARCA events. Some notable names include Benny Parsons, Ken Schrader, Kyle Busch and last year’s Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year Joey Logano.

Moving up to the ARCA series is a big step up in competition, Brevak said, as it runs races at some of the major tracks across the country and is often covered by the Speed Channel.

“It’s faster speeds, bigger teams,” Brevak said. “Everyone is there. It kind of gets that NASCAR feel to it.”

And for Brevak, competing in the ARCA series also takes a big step toward something else: making his longtime dream a reality.

Start your engines
Racing has been a way of life for the Brevak family for generations. Brent Brevak’s grandfather, Frank Brevak, built what is now ABC Raceway near Brent’s hometown of Ashland, Wis. His father, Bob Brevak, was the 1990 ARCA champion. His father and mother, Shelly Brevak, have also owned the No. 31 NASCAR Truck Series team since 1995.

As a result, Brent Brevak has been around motor sports his entire life, Shelly Brevak said.

“He grew up at the racetrack,” she said. “He’s been going to races since he was a baby.”

While Brent Brevak was raised in the racing environment, he said his parents never pushed him towards the sport and explained how he was the one who asked for cars to race.

His parents said they were delighted with his continued interest in racing. But wanting to race was something he had to discover for himself, Shelly Brevak said.

“You have to have a desire and inner strength to want to do it,” she said. “Bob always felt he would wait for Brent to make that choice himself.”

And he certainly did.

When he was 12 years old, Brent Brevak began racing go-karts at Eau Claire Raceway in the Midwest Kart Association, which is when Bob Brevak said he knew his son had a definite interest in the sport.

“It became obvious that he wanted to keep moving up to higher levels,” Bob Brevak said.

When Brent Brevak was 15, he said he began racing dirt cars at ABC Raceway. As time passed and he gained more experience, he moved on to racing late models at Madison International Speedway in Oregon, Wis. Next, he competed in the ASA North, a series that runs throughout the Midwest.

Brevak also made his ARCA debut at Rockingham in North Carolina in April 2009. He qualified 16th out of 40 cars – after limited practice, he said. Though a wreck took him out of the event, he still gained experience and said he is eager to compete in the series again.

Green, green
In fact it’s the competitive nature of the sport that draws him to racing, Brevak said. While he played many different sports in high school and intramurals during college – including football, baseball, tennis, basketball and volleyball – racing is even more competitive, he said.

“It’s really, really competitive because you’re not just playing another team,” Brevak said. “You’re playing like 20, 30, and then in NASCAR, 42 other teams.

“Basically, everyone’s on the same playing surface,” he said, adding in other sports it’s often the biggest players that excel; in racing, there isn’t a physical advantage.

“There’s no reason why my foot can’t hit the pedal as hard as someone else’s.”

In Wisconsin, Brevak said, talking about his chosen career path gets more odd looks than it would in racing-haven North Carolina. Providing people with a little history of the sport is something he has gotten used to, he said.

“I can’t just say, ‘yeah I’m running ARCA,'” Brevak said. “But basically I compare it to minor league baseball. It’s kind of a minor league for NASCAR.”

Brevak said some of his favorite racing memories stem from some of the highlights of his career.

One of his top memories was racing a Late Model at the Milwaukee Mile for the first time, Brevak said.

“When we were in the truck, that (racing at the Milwaukee Mile) was always the big homecoming-type deal,” he explained, as the raceway is one of the closest big-time tracks to Ashland.

Brevak said his whole family would go to the track for the Truck races every year, so to finally race there was exciting.

“This is a track that I’ve been going to for probably 12 years,” Brevak said. “To actually get to race on that was cool.”

Hanging out with NASCAR stars Tony Stewart and Matt Kenseth has also been a highlight, Brevak said. Kenseth, who is from Cambridge, Wis., often returns to race at Madison International Speedway, Brevak said. Brevak had connections with the team that fielded Kenseth and Stewart’s cars for the race and got to spend time with the NASCAR champions.

“During down times we’d be in the same trailer, just talking back and forth,” Brevak said. “So that was pretty cool, to kind of get to know them a little bit.”

Checkers or wreckers
Some not-so-pleasant memories are the races where wrecks caused disappointing finishes, Brevak said.

The high speeds associated with racing can make it a dangerous sport. Brevak said his hardest hit came at the former I-70 Speedway in Missouri. There was a wreck off of turn four, Brevak said, and the driver in front of him slowed up right as Brevak was hitting the gas. The result? A hard hit that tore the whole right front wheel off of the car and left it 30 yards away.

But the hard hits and potential risk has never been a deciding factor for him, Brevak said.

“I don’t even think about getting hurt,” he said. “I think about how the race is now over for me. … It (injury) happens so rarely that you get more disappointed than you do scared.”

Shelly Brevak said she keeps herself busy with tasks such as calculating fuel mileage when her family members are racing.

“I try to keep my mind on the business of the day and not focus on the fact that my son goes that fast,” she said, adding people often ask her how it feels to see her family competing at such high speeds. “They’re going very fast, but you don’t want them to go slow, either.”

In the pits
Brevak said he does more than just wheel the car during races. As a kid, he always helped out with anything he could, and now meeting with sponsors is one of his major responsibilities, he said.

“As a driver, you’re kind of the de facto spokesperson for the team,” Brevak said. “They always want to be involved with you because you’re obviously the one, if it’s televised, who’s going to be on TV.”

As a broadcast journalism major, Brevak said he also incorporates his field of study into helping the team by writing articles for local newspapers in Ashland, the Brevak Racing Web site and the Web sites of the different series in which he has competed.

Fan interaction is also a big part of succeeding in racing, Brevak said. Besides just signing autographs, being accessible to the fans is important to him, he said.

“Fan support is huge,” Brevak said. “With some teams, there is no way you could just go to them and be able to talk to the owner, talk to the driver.” He added that lack of access is a downfall of NASCAR as it becomes more corporate.

But it’s different with Brevak Racing, he said. Brevak said fans are encouraged to connect with the team via its Facebook page or Web site, www.brevakracing.com.

Riley Sharp, who has worked with the race team for two years, said the Brevak family is truly special.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a tight-knit family in racing,” he said. “It’s not just about racing, but about being there together and having fun.”

Let’s go racing
Looking ahead, Brevak and his family are laying the foundation to help keep his career moving forward. Brevak said the team plans to run five or six ARCA races this season, and perhaps a few Truck races in the near future, if it can get sponsorship.

Although he has another year of college left, Brevak said he hopes to have full-time sponsorship by then so he can run a complete schedule. If a deal isn’t in place by then, he said he hopes to find work in sports communications.

Bob Brevak said one of the toughest parts of making a career in racing is being in a situation to perform well.

“The big thing is having good enough equipment to get noticed,” he said. ” You need to get people to recognize that you can drive a race car.”

And driving a race car is something Brent Brevak’s family and people he works with say he can do.

“It’s been noticed, and people have commented on it a lot, that Brent is not afraid to go fast,” Shelly Brevak said. Other drivers will compete only on short tracks to avoid the high speeds, she said. Brent Brevak however, welcomes the challenges of the bigger, faster tracks, she said. “He’s not afraid of speed. . It’s something that comes with an instinct, a desire.”

Out on the track, Brent Brevak is truly a competitor, Bob Brevak said.

“He’s aggressive and drives the car hard,” he noted.

During races, Sharp said Brent Brevak provides useful feedback for making adjustments to the car and has become a more consistent driver over the years. He never throws in the towel either, Sharp added.

“Even if stuff isn’t going the way he wants it, I’ve never seen him quit and just give up,” Sharp said. “If he gets wrecked early, we get it fixed up and he comes out 15 laps down, he will still go out there and keep on driving.”

Though Brevak has already been racing for years, much of his career still lies ahead. And for him, making his dream come true is the only thing that matters.

“Making a living in racing is the only goal; I could care less if it’s tons of money. It would be cool to do that (racing) for your work.”