Brian Morrison’s Path from Biology Professor to Building Championship Winning Sprint Car Engines
A youthful interest in drag racing and a wrong turn toward Charlie Garrett’s shop led Morrison to supplying World of Outlaws championship winning engines
CONCORD, NC (December 5, 2024) – One afternoon after moving to central Pennsylvania, a distant rumble caught the ear of Brian Morrison.
He decided to hop in his car and follow the sound. The rumble heightened to a roar as it lured him to Abbottstown, PA where Lincoln Speedway lies in the Pigeon Hills. Curiosity carried him to the ticket booth, and he entered the pit area to discover the source of the noise – a field of 410 Sprint Cars.
It was a piece of the racing world entirely unfamiliar to Morrison. He could’ve never predicted that years later the sounds of his own engines would fill the air at the highest level of the sport and even sing a championship ballad.
Morrison’s mechanical inclination goes back to childhood when he learned the fundamentals from his father.
“I would say that, as a kid, I was influenced by my dad,” Morrison said. “He was kind of a gearhead type that was always working on cars, swapping engines and transmissions and things like that. It was hobby-type stuff. He didn’t do it for a living, but that was a passion that we shared together. And that’s how I learned my basic mechanical skills and how to work on stuff.”
Teenage years brought a passion for drag racing and led Morrison to landing a job in both a speed and machine shop after high school. After a couple of years working there, uncertainty arose as he questioned if his current path could lead to a good living and being able to support a family.
So, he turned to college and fully dedicated his time to education.
“I went to school and studied biology of all things,” Morrison explained. “At the time, that decision was based on there are a number of career paths that can use a biology degree as a starting point. I could go to medical school or dental school or a number of things that maybe could end up supplying a good living down the road. And so that’s what I did. I hit the books hard and thrived and did well. Ultimately, I ended up getting involved in biological research and got a master’s degree and actually got some of my research published in peer reviewed scientific journals. I just worked hard and really thrived, and it clicked some of the same things in my brain probably that engine building does to me at this point. It was interesting to learn about complex things and how the world works.”
The master’s degree guided Morrison to being Adjunct Professor of Biology at Towson University, a position he held for several years. And while his career had shifted during the time through college and becoming a professor, the love for racing never flickered. He continued to stay involved in drag racing on the side and one day found himself needing to hone an engine block for his race car. Oddly enough, a wrong turn wound up changing the trajectory of his life.
“I just made a wrong turn, went down a road that I wasn’t familiar with and saw a little building that had a sign out front that said, ‘Racing Engines and Dyno Testing,’” Morrison recalled. “It was Garrett’s Racing Engines, and I said, ‘Man, I better stop in there. Maybe he can hone a block for me.’
“To that point, my experience in automotive machine shops was I had worked in two of them, and both of them seemed kind of dingy, dark, dreary. You were really ready to go home at the end of the day. You probably looked like a coal miner when you got home, and maybe 98-percent of what you’re working on was uninspiring and uninteresting.
“And when I opened the door and walked into Charlie Garrett’s shop, it was like my jaw just dropped to the floor. I mean this place just about knocked me down with cold air conditioning and epoxy-coated floors, and every machine was spotless. Everything was organized. The engines that were sitting around. There was an 810-cubic inch Pro Stock engine and multiple 410 Sprint Car engines, very exotic stuff for what I was used to. I just kind of knew right then and there that I wanted to learn some things from this guy.”
Learn is exactly what he did. That wrong turn led to a fortuitous introduction to Garrett and laid the foundations of a lasting friendship. Garrett eventually offered Morrison the opportunity to help him run his dyno with his one free day from teaching.
As the months went on, Morrison rearranged his schedule at the university to allow for more time at Garrett’s. That led to Morrison making the difficult choice to leave teaching and focus entirely on engine building. It was a scary move, departing the comforts of a career he enjoyed for a new one he’d have to build from the ground up.
“That was a really stressful time because I had invested so many of my years to that point in trying to get to the path where I thought I was going,” Morrison said. “I really had to make a decision that was tough to make, but I followed my passion. Really, my greatest passion, the thing that I couldn’t get out of my mind was thinking about engines.”
His passion birthed Morrison Racing Engines as he dedicated himself to crafting powerplants capable of taking teams to Victory Lane on the biggest stages in Sprint Car racing. The first World of Outlaws team to drop Morrison’s engines between the frame rails was Dave Helm’s Selma Shell crew. A Morrison motor first won with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars when Lance Dewease came out on top aboard the Catoctin Motorsports No. 30C at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in 2008.
A few years later, Morrison’s skills caught the attention of Tod Quiring. The two partnered, and Morrison began to supply engines for the Big Game Motorsports No. 7 car driven by Craig Dollansky. The combination went on to collect many victories, including three consecutive Ironman 55s (2011-2013). Morrison got a fourth straight Ironman in 2014 when Kerry Madsen topped the grueling event, wheeling the Keneric Racing No. 29. Morrison also powered Madsen’s Kings Royal triumph that year.
Morrison linked with Matt Barbara and Bret Nehring’s KCP Racing in the mid-2010s. Between Big Game and KCP, Morrison engines helped win three straight Knoxville Raceway track championships (2015-2017).
Other drivers that went on to win World of Outlaws races with Morrison’s engines include Danny Lasoski, Ian Madsen, David Gravel, and Giovanni Scelzi. This year, Morrison Racing Engines eclipsed 100 victories with The Greatest Show on Dirt, and he was awarded the Engine Builder of the Year.
“I think the biggest lesson that I’ve learned is that if you do good work in this business and if you treat people right and are honorable and honest and if you work hard to excel at what you do, you’re not going to have any problem finding customers,” Morrison said of his journey. “I don’t advertise. I’m not much into self-promotion because I feel as though I let my engines do the promotional work for me.”
Work ethic and principles have allowed Morrison to form many relationships along the way. Big Game and KCP continue to use his engines, and both team crew chiefs, Cody Jacobs and Adam Clark, speak highly of Morrison’s effort and care for his craft.
“I first met Brian, I believe, in 2016,” Jacobs said. “I was with Pete Grove on the 70 car with Danny Holtgraver driving when I first got to work with him. Big Game has been with him a lot longer than I have, and that was one of the main things. I feel like we really hit it off right away. We really worked well together. It’s nice to have him involved on race nights. We communicate every race night on what to do as far as engine tune up and conditions and different things. We really keep him involved with our race team.”
“Ever since I took over, he’s been pretty much an extended part of the crew,” Clark said. “Even at the racetrack he’s always a text or call away. He’s always been really helpful for me as far as me coming in pretty fresh, helping with fueling and even working on the engines, fixing stuff that I can fix. We may be clear across the country, but he sits there on the phone with me and talks me through it and has helped me learn a lot.”
This year, Morrison’s dedication took him all the way to the pinnacle of the sport. His engines powered the David Gravel piloted Big Game Motorsports No. 2 to the 2024 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series championship and the most wins in the country this season (16).
“It was absolutely very gratifying,” Morrison said. “You do this for a lot of reasons, but ultimately in racing it’s a competitive endeavor. So, to win the championship is what we’re all striving to do. It was very, very rewarding and a lot of fun.”
But the work isn’t done for Morrison. Far from it. Like anyone in racing, one achievement fuels the hunger for the next. The next checkered flag. The next crown jewel. The next championship.
Hard work and dedication continue in the Morrison Racing Engines shop in Pennsylvania, which he oversees with his wife. Preparation is ongoing for 2025 as David Gravel and Big Game Motorsports have a title to defend. And he still makes time to stay connected to what originally attracted him to motorsports by working on his drag racing car.
From chasing engine sounds to constructing them, Morrison’s career has come a long way. And it’s his goal to make sure those engines continue to sing their way to Victory Lane and intrigue curious listeners, inspiring the next generation of Sprint Car fans – as a professor would do.
“A lot of hard work goes into it,” Morrison said of his craft. “It keeps you interested and coming back and trying to do it again next year.”
Gravel and the Big Game Motorsports team will look for their Morrison Racing Engines to power them to another championship in 2025, and that pursuit begins at Volusia Speedway Park’s Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals, Feb. 5-8. For tickets, CLICK HERE.
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Founded in 1978, the World of Outlaws®, based in Concord, NC, is the premier national touring series for dirt track racing in North America, featuring the most powerful cars on dirt, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series and the World of Outlaws Late Model Series. Annually, the two series race nearly 140 times at tracks across the United States and Canada. CBS Sports Network is the official broadcast partner of the World of Outlaws. DIRTVision® also broadcasts all World of Outlaws events over the Internet to fans around the world. Learn more about the World of Outlaws.
Sources: Alex Nieten, World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series PR