The History of Bryans Racing Enterprises

 

The Beginning

 

As a youngster watching his father and uncles out in the garage tinkering on their street vehicles, Eddie Bryans found his passion for working on cars.  Raised in a middle-income, hard-working family, his father, a SDG&E lineman, instilled a hard work ethic into him. By the age of eleven he was helping rebuild engines among other things. 

 

At the age of 13 Eddie began working at La Mesa Auto Center, which was owned by Roger Crossland. Roger and his brother Gary had a Sportsman (now called the Nationwide Series) race car that they raced along the west coast.  As Eddie stayed late sweeping floors and doing whatever he could to help out the team, Roger, who was the crew chief, saw the desire that Eddie had for racing and decided to take him under his wing.  With Roger’s guidance and Eddie’s hard work and never-give-up attitude, he became a valuable member of the team. It was there Eddie discovered his life-long dream of being a professional race car driver.

 

As much as Eddie enjoyed working on the cars, Eddie couldn’t wait to try his hand at driving them. He found his chance while working on a Sprint car at Ascot Park.  A friend of his had two cars and put Eddie in the second car when it was not being used.  Never having driven a race car was one thing, but being on dirt was a whole new experience. He quickly advanced to “humper” tires (tires with a lot of stagger) and gained speed tremendously. Before he knew it he was racing with some of the best dirt racers in the world.  Still dreaming of racing against the likes of David Pearson and the rest of the Winston Cup drivers, he had not yet found his chance to race on asphalt in a stock car.

 

Eddie continued helping Roger while planning for his own race team. His childhood friend Mark Meech started driving first and Eddie began working as his crew member building engines and honing his skills as a mechanic.  Together, they competed at the local track, El Cajon Speedway, in the Super Stock class.  The 3/8 mile short track was rough and very competitive but success was eminent.  While working with Mark, Eddie was saving his money to buy a race car of his own to drive. After 2 years, Eddie finally purchased an old Mustang.  It was still another year and a lot of hard work before the car was completed and Eddie was ready to try his hand at driving. Quickly, Eddie made a name for himself as a low buck driver with all the right skills to be competitive. It was at this time he also formed Bryans Racing Enterprises (BRE). As his success grew and he became more comfortable as a driver he conquered the 3/8 mile short track and drove to his first career victory - a tough road but nothing could be sweeter. 

 

In 1999, BRE moved from Eddie’s personal garage into a commercial industrial park. This new location broke new ground in a number of ways, including taking on two new clients: a rookie sportsman driver and a dirt modified racer. Both cars were housed and maintained out of the new facilities and the drivers were under the BRE banner.  BRE began to grow quickly and expanded its facilities, which also allowed the organization to become more self-sufficient.  Eddie quickly realized that the hard work and the wealth of knowledge he had obtained through the school of hard knocks was finally paying off.

 

The Next Generation

 

Eddie’s son Travis, who was exposed to racing from an infant watching his Dad race on Saturday nights, had

grown to love the sport as well.  He started his NASCAR racing career in North Carolina working for Jimmy

“Smut” Means.  In 2000, he joined Richard Childress Racing (RCR) while a full-time student at UNC-Charlotte

where he received his degree in Mechanical Engineering.  During his 10 years at RCR he soaked up the

knowledge, skills, and disciplines to be a part of a successful race team.  He learned the technical aspects of

the chassis dynos, building shocks, designing new and lighter components, and aerodynamics. He was

co-engineer to the teams that won 50+ races and 5 Nationwide Championships.  While he enjoyed the

success at RCR, his heart was always back home in San Diego.  He knew from a young age that he wanted to

direct his own future by owning his own company.  His schooling and experience at RCR poised him to move

back to San Diego in 2009 to dedicate himself to the family business of BRE and provide the professional

expertise to elevate the company to a new level.

 

 

The Here and Now

 

Eddie and Travis work side-by-side every day in BRE’s 6,000 sq ft facility in Santee, CA.  On occasion you will even see 3 generations of Bryans’ at the shop when George Bryans (Eddie’s father/Travis’ grandfather) comes in to lend a hand.   In 2012, fabricator Sean Dennis also joined the team when he moved from North Carolina after a 23 yr. career in NASCAR racing where his final stint at Penske Racing was the year they won the Sprint Cup Championship.

 

The BRE facility is currently comprised of an engine build room, CNC machine shop room, shock dyno and assembly room, and a race car build and repair area.   BRE's goal is to provide leading edge race technology with performance products and expertise. 

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