(WGHP) – The speedway might not be the only place William Brown and his cousin Derrick know, but it’s probably the place they know best.

They both grew up hanging out on drag race tracks because their fathers, who are brothers, spent their time on the race tracks. And it was the natural place for both their fathers.

“Back then, everyone was street racing – had their own car,” William said of what got his dad and uncle into racing.

As the youngest of five boys, William had to wait his turn until his older brothers moved on to other pursuits before he got his chance. But once he did, he caught it.

“My second stint in the car was as quick as my dad, and I’ve never been out of the car since,” William said.

The Brown cousins ​​are now passing the torch themselves. Derrick’s 14-year-old son, Tristan, has been racing dragsters designed to go slower for three years.

But for Tristan, it’s pretty quick. This is also what attracts him.

“Speed ​​and community, really,” Tristan said.

Ahhh, yes. The community. Although Brown Motorsports (Derrick’s company) and Brown Racing (William’s version) are two of the few black-owned racing teams, it’s not something the Browns focus on much. For them, they are simply part of the big racing family.

“Everyone who races is part of the family. When I’m on the track or at any event…I can walk into any trailer and ask for something, and they’ll deliver it to you. You can walk into the pit anyone and eat, get coins, park your car there. Even if you race that person on the next lap, they’ll help you. You might even beat them,” Derrick said.

It can be an expensive sport. A decent race car can easily cost $250,000 to build.

“You only get 20 runs on this engine and then you go in there and put rods in there. So that means you destroy that whole engine,” Derrick said.

If the race that is most important to them is the one that lasts only a few seconds on the track, they are aware that they are in a way pioneers regarding the other definition of racing.

“You think about it, and it’s an inner joy to be able to do it and also to show other young black people who are in it or want to be involved in it that it can be done,” William said.

See more on Brown Motorsports in this edition of the Buckley report.