Driver Information

Brandon is a race car driver from Burlison, Tenn. His parents are David and Sandy Hanks and his older sister is Kym Hanks. Brandon attended Brighton High School before becoming home schooled so that he can work on his racing career and his education. When Brandon isn’t racing or working on the car, he is working at one of the two family-owned businesses -- D&B Farms and Performance Powder Coating.

Brandon’s love of racing began in his toddler years. He has been watching Nascar since he was three years old and has watched every race from then till now. He has an incredible amount of knowledge of racing, current drivers, and former drivers in the Nascar Series, and he uses this knowledge to help him in his own career.

At the age of ten, Brandon was fortunate enough to embark on what he believed to be the beginning of a long racing career. He was picking cotton with his father at a farm close to Atoka Raceway Park, a local go kart track. His dad took him over to watch the races that day, and by the end of the following week, Brandon had his very first go kart.

Brandon raced go-karts from 2006 through 2009. During these three years he achieved numerous accomplishments such as: winning two Championships in two different classes, several national events, and various races in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi.

In 2010, Hanks Motorsports made the decision to participate in a more advanced level of racing. Brandon began a challenging racing season in the 600cc Micro-Sprint Car Series. As a rookie and also only running a partial schedule, Brandon achieved numerous top five’s and top 10’s and finished eighth in the championship points at Riverside International Speedway. With a positive attitude and the goal of getting his first win in the 2011 racing season, Brandon began racing the USCS Sprint Series racing on several different tracks in the Arkansas, Missouri, and Alabama areas. With hard work, complete dedication, and teamwork, he got his first micro sprint win in Little Rock, AR. He finished out his second season with many top five and top ten finishes. As a result, Brandon finished seventh in the USCS Championship point standings.

The 2012 racing season marked another milestone in Brandon’s racing career. Brandon along with his parents and the entire Hanks Motorsports team felt it was time to move up to yet another level of sprint car racing. This racing season proved to be an unbelievable year for Brandon and his team. As a rookie in the 305 and 360 classes Brandon was extremely competitive with veteran drivers in the ASCS National Sprint Car Series as well as the USCS Series. The first couple of USCS races Brandon finished second winning the Rookie of the Race and the JE Pistons Top Gun Awards. Another successful achievement was making his third ASCS race in Wheatland, MO. With a total of fifty-one cars trying to race their way into the main event, Brandon made the feature starting in eighteenth position and finishing in eighth. This finish won him the title of Hard Charger of the Race, which is an incredible accomplishment for a rookie in this series. Brandon rounded out his season of several top 5’s and top ten finishes with his very first 360 USCS sprint car win at Riverside International Speedway.

On December 7, 2012 Brandon and his dad, David, met Paul Skibo, who works for Bobby Gerhart at Bobby Gerhart Racing (“BGR”), at the IMIS Show in Indianapolis, IN. After talking with David and Brandon about Brandon’s accomplishments over the past season, Mr. Skibo was impressed and asked David to call Mr. Gerhart. Bobby and David talked for a while and before the call ended, it was decided Brandon would be making a trip to Daytona Beach, Florida to test with Bobby and his team. On December 14, 2012 Brandon made his first laps in an ARCA car. He was 10th quickest his first time out, and as the weekend of testing came to a close on Sunday, he was 3rd quickest. It was a very exciting moment for Hanks Motorsports and BGR.

Brandon expanded his sprint car program in 2013 and 2014 to visit many new tracks and states. He finished 11th in the ASCS National Tour championship standings in 2014, which was the highest of any non-full-time competitor.