WHEN IT COMES to drag racing, passion isn’ t quite a strong enough word to describe the mindset of specific individuals towards the sport. Synonyms such as obsession, enthusiasm, and devotion certainly reflect the intended verbiage, but regardless of the phrase, the emotion is undeniably present when speaking to Brandon Barker.

The Ontario, Canada, native and father of two daughters has literally built his life around drag racing. He and his wife, Rachel, are both racers and co-own the drag racing lifestyle brand, BracketLife. Brandon co-hosts the BracketLife Brand podcast with Andrew Stirk and has even branched into the realm of education through this year’ s inaugural Bracket Racing 101 course.

It’ s believed that his infatuation began during his first visit to a racetrack, at only six months old, and Barker has never been more than a crawl’ s distance away ever since.

He has accumulated numerous victories, including being the first three-time Super Tour National Champion and becoming the winningest racer in Super Tour history with nine wins and 10 consecutive Top 10 finishes throughout 10 years. He claimed the John Scotti Canadian National Open Series championship in Super Comp this season during his first attempt at throttle-stop racing. Earning the Luskville Dragway track championship for the first time this season added a sentimental edge to his impressive season.

“ You feel those butterflies in your stomach, and you know it’ s a meaningful day that’ s going to matter,” Brandon explains.“ Luskville has been open for 40 years, and the championship trophy has so many guys’ names on it that I grew up watching since I was born, and so many legends in my mind. You see the winners every year, and then you add your name to that, so hopefully someone is going to feel that way in the future about seeing you on there. That’ s the cool part of winning a hometown series … it holds a lot of weight for the local guys and those who keep the sport going.”

Barker’ s on-track success highlights only a fraction of his impact throughout the bracket racing world. His cross-country traveling experience to various racetracks, combined with his candid nature, has created an audience of friends and followers throughout the years, which he has meticulously utilized to share the spotlight.

“ There’ s really no outlet for Canadians to get their name out there [ as compared to the United States ],” Barker says.“ The idea behind the BracketLife Broadcast was‘ Canada’ s Drag Racing Show,’ and we want to highlight Canadian racers and talk about them the way that they should be. The best thing for sportsman drag racing was the Luke [ Bogacki ] and Jed [ Jared Pennington ] podcast, because they are talking about such awesome racers and stories. I wanted to bring that here to give the Canadian racers a platform to be celebrated.”

Another way the Barkers are giving back is by sharing a wealth of knowledge through the Bracket Racing 101 course. Brandon believes that by helping the racers who may not feel as confident in their racing programs but are willing to put in the work if given the right tools, he can help ignite the same fiery passion for the sport that his family has. Everyone agrees racing is more enjoyable when you’ re winning, and in the iron-sharpening-iron mentality, the entire sport will benefit.

“ We all want to drive, we all want to be successful and get noticed, and I’ ve been fortunate to have my fair share of success on the racetrack,” says Barker.“ I wanted to be chosen [ for the 30 Under 30 List ] because of how I drive, but I want to keep building and be so much more than that. It’ s cool when you’ re doing the backend work,

just to be involved for the love of the sport and to keep growing it.”

Although well-deserved, Barker would like to acknowledge that his wife also shares his success and accolades.“ I wouldn’ t be able to do anything without Rachel being so supportive and a huge part of it,” he says.“ It’ s my name and brand on all of it, but you don’ t get to do all this stuff without a partner that’ s supportive and involved in it as much as you. I’ m just looking forward to what we can do as a team.”

Many people claim to eat, sleep, and breathe the sport, but there is a strong working theory that Barker actually does.“ I love racing, being part of it, and everything to do with it. And I just want more,” he says with a laugh.“ Racing is my life, and I want to make a career out of being involved in the sport. As much as we’ d all love to do that just on the racetrack, it’ s not very likely, so whatever fashion that is, I’ d like that to be my profession. When you have a lot of big plans and big ideas, there’ s only one way to get there … keep working and moving forward.” – JESSICA HICKS SPEARS DI

126 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 197