They believe their background in motorsports helps create a welcoming environment.
“Steven has drag raced for years and I grew up in a family that did circle-track racing,” Amy said. “When we got married, it just made sense to get me a car and go race with him. We are racers at heart who just happen to run a race track.”
Since taking over the track in 2016, it has been thriving even back in the COVID year of 2020. As many other tracks were closed with restrictions, Brainerd became an extremely popular place to race. In fact, it was so popular there were a couple of times they had to turn some racers away due to simply running out of space, which they certainly hated to do.
The competition is fierce at Brainerd, evident by how their racers have performed at the IHRA Summit Team Finals and IHRA Summit Super Series World Finals.
In 2021, Marty Goldsmith (Sportsman) and Maddie Calhoun (Junior) won titles at the IHRA Division 2 (Heatwave) Summit Team Finals along with Box driver Kevin Pass being runner-up at the World Finals. The domination of BMP drivers led to Brainerd being named 2021 IHRA Division 2 Track of the Year.
Goldsmith represented Brainerd again in the 2022 IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Finals in Holly Springs Mississippi. Other BMP representatives were: Tony Callaham (Box), Jesse McKnight (No Box) and Avery Bolding (Junior). Bolding was also the 2022 Race of Champions winner for the Junior Dragster ranks.
“It has always been said if you can win at Brainerd, you can win anywhere,” Amy said. This being a good reason why her own family competes at the Georgia track, with Steven and Amy’s son and daughter becoming the next generation on the track competing in Junior Dragsters.
They also work with other regional tracks in order to not schedule big events on top of each other. In the past, they’ve teamed up with other IHRA-member facilities, Knoxville Dragway and Crossville Dragway, to create programs that add even more value for their racers.
Beyond bracket racing, major events include the Big Dog Brawl, the 4.40 Bad Boyz and the Southeast Drag Bike Association just to name a few.
With the IHRA programs, Amy tells a familiar story of how enjoyable the IHRA Summit Team Finals are for the racers.
“We all want to go out there and win,” she said. “But everybody goes to have a good time. A guy who races with us has a mobile food trailer and for two years we hauled that track and some of his cooks out there to feed the whole team. We go to get away and have fun. We park together and we have all the kids that enjoy playing together. We have a ton of kids in our Junior program. It’s like going on a big camping trip with your family, but we all get to race while we’re there.”
Brainerd boasts one of the top Junior programs around which bodes well for the future of the sport. To encourage junior involvement, they host two major Junior Dragster races every year — the Junior Jam and the Thanksgiving Junior Nationals.
With great hospitality, strong IHRA programs and other events, Brained Motorsports Park continues to be a popular destination for drag racers. For more information about this well-liked venue, click here to check out the track’s website.
