Being 14 years old on a national Sprint Car tour with most of the competition double your age could be intimidating for any teenager. Not Brogan Carder.
The Sprint Car rookie from Sioux Falls, SD, is joining the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) National Tour full-time roster this season, piloting the family-owned Octane Ink, Kistler Engines-powered Schnee-Lawson Chassis No. 88.
He’s taking four years of Outlaw Kart experience in with him to begin his first Sprint Car season, but he’s ready for 2025 to become a learning year alongside fellow Rookie of the Year contenders Brady Baker and Garrett Benson, who’s also 14.
“I know I’m not going to go out there and set the world on fire; it’s kind of just more for experience with how many different tracks we get to race and the number of races we get to run,” Carder said. “It’s just the best bang for our buck that we have. I’m not going out there to do anything special, it’s mostly to just get laps, experience, stuff that comes with time.”
Carder made his Sprint Car debut last year in the regional 410 ranks, logging two appearances with POWRi before acquiring his 360 equipment and finishing out the season with ASCS. In that time, he and his team began to get a feel for the dynamics of a Sprint Car.
“Last year, transitioning from the Outlaw Kart, we didn’t have any bars, shocks — we didn’t have anything close to that,” Carder said. “So, I feel like going to get those couple starts in the 410 got me a little bit used to how the car would roll over and how everything felt. Mostly, for my crew, too. They didn’t know how to adjust shocks. We’re all relatively new to this, so I feel like going out there got our heads set in the right direction.”
His next appearance in the Sprint Car came at the 2025 ASCS National Tour season opener at Volusia Speedway Park in January before starts with the United Sprint Car Series (USCS) at Southern Raceway in February. Though he struggled to make it out of the lower mains in a field of over 50 cars at Volusia, Carder was again satisfied with the experience, knowing he’s a more well-rounded racer now having explored different track sizes, shapes and surfaces.
“I’ve never raced anything bigger than a 3/8-mile, so I feel like it was a good experience,” Carder said. “With the banking it had, it kinda got me a little bit used to sandier tracks. You don’t have as much to grip, so you have to drive it a little bit different. Also, on a big half mile, you have to hold the wheel straight, not make so many mistakes, don’t overcorrect the car and stuff like that.”
Now, it’s all eyes on his season ahead with ASCS. At each stop on the remainder of the schedule, he’ll compete side-by-side and learn from the biggest 360 Sprint Car names in the Midwest — several of which he grew up watching.
“I feel like the more I can take away from them — watching them and their lines out there, how they set people up, how they move the wings in the middle of the race — it’s all very valuable knowledge,” Carder said of racing against ASCS veterans Seth Bergman, Sam Hafertepe Jr. and Matt Covington. “So, me being able to race with them and watch them, I’ll be able to step up faster than I normally would just racing around the local guys.”
Carder continues his march toward the Rookie of the Year title in the next National Tour event — Saturday, April 12, at Salina Highbanks Speedway in Salina, OK. Tickets for the event will be on sale at the track on race day.
If you can’t be at the track, stream every lap live with a subscription to DIRTVision.
