ELKHART LAKE – Matthew Brabham’s racing career could have gone any number of ways.
His grandfather, Jack, was a three-time Formula One champion and his father, Geoff, a star in prototype sports cars. Matthew set out on the Indy-car path.
He’ll remind you he nearly made the knockout stage in qualifying for his first race and completed the Indianapolis 500 with a tiny team in his second. It’s been a decade. You may have forgot.
And now?
“I’ll drive anything,” Brabham said. That’s his motto. “If anyone has a free car, I drive for food.”
At some point the dreams of youth morph into reality, and Brabham has accepted his. At age 32, he’s found a home at Dyson Racing in the Trans Am Series and is doing what he’s always known he could do: winning.
His latest came June 28 in the 25-lap, 100-mile race at Road America in the Cheese Capital Cup.
“It’s just one of these really, really good dream years,” said Brabham, who has won six of seven rounds and all seven poles. “I’m just trying to enjoy it while it lasts, but it’s all due to the hard work of Christopher Dyson and the Dyson race team.”
Dyson, too, is a road racing legacy. His father, Rob, fielded cars in IMSA when Geoff was winning titles at the end of the 1980s and start of the ‘90s. Chris stepped aside for 2026 and put Brabham into his car for the full season.
“Chris has been developing these cars, is one of the best … developers that I’ve really been around,” Brabham said. “His experience comes through in this and him and I have the same feedback and the same feel of the cars. A lot of the success comes from that.
“And the team is top-notch. This is one of the best teams. Their accomplishments show that.”
After spending the past two years chasing retired NASCAR driver Paul Menard on the track and in the standings, Dyson’s team has moved to the forefront with the versatile Brabham at the wheel.
Brabham has won in Indy Lights, more recently in Stadium Super Trucks and now in Trans Am. He spends time around the NTT IndyCar Series driving the two-seater before races occasionally or one of the pace cars ahead of the field.
Brabham also coaches the Cape Motorsports team in Indy NXT, where one of his drivers, Nikita Johhnson leads the championship.
For Road America, Brabham did a doubleheader, joining Team SLR, the premier team in TA2, starting that 100-mile race later in the day from the pole, as well. He finished second to Alon Day, the four-time NASCAR Euro champion from Israel, after teammate Helio Meza had an axle break with a lap to go while leading.
Competing against gentlemen racers, teen prospects and former NASCAR journeymen on a lower-level weekend isn’t exactly where Brabham envisioned his career might lead. But it’s a career nonetheless, he’s driving well and having fun.
“I’ve never had huge funding behind me,” Brabham said. “I’ve always been the best with my teammates and I’ve been really good at the top level.
“I have that attitude that I’ll drive anything, and someone in my situation without huge funding always struggles to get in things. I’m grateful for everything, all the opportunities I’m getting. And that’s why I’ve done so many random different things is because I’ll say yes to anything.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: ‘I drive for food’: How a onetime IndyCar hopeful found a home in Trans Am
Reporting by Dave Kallmann, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Dave Kallmann, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
