There was a time when Garrett Gross thought he would never be a race car driver because it was “too dangerous.” Now, the 23-year-old Aberdeen man has gone from competing in the Super Stock division to being a dangerous foe in the Modified division at Brown County Speedway.

He currently sits third in the Modified points standings this summer.

Gross has been racing for five years but he’s been around racing for a lot longer than that.

“My two uncles, Rich Gross and Duane Zabel, both raced, so I was always in the pits when I was younger,” Gross said. “I started helping Duane and Rich in the pits when I was around 13 or so. In late 2018 or 2019, a guy that pit right next to him named Tyler Anglin ran a super stock. So, I started pitting with him too, and he moved up to a modified. So, he asked if I wanted to race a super stock and I said, ‘Sure, I’ll try it out.’ And that was the year after my senior year of high school, so I started racing that super stock and raced that for a year, and I guess that’s how I got into it.”

Even though Gross has been around racing ever since he was young, he didn’t know if he’d ever get into a race car.

“At first when I was younger, I didn’t really know what was going on with racing, but I had fun doing the mechanic part of stuff, taking off tires and doing that sort of stuff,” Gross said. “I had always told my parents that I was never going to race; I thought it was too dangerous, and I didn’t see myself ever really getting in a race car. But then I tried it out in that super stock and it just gives you a real big adrenaline rush when you’re going around the track and competing against people. It’s exciting, so I thought, well maybe I should do this more often.”

From the time Gross started racing until now, five years later, he has learned a lot and made major improvements.

“Starting my career, I didn’t finish a lot of races,” Gross said. “I wrecked a lot, but I think the more experience I get, the more I can look around the track and be more confident and see what’s ahead. I think I pay attention to a lot more things. I know how the track kind of shapes up during the night and what to look for and where to run my groove.”

Gross said getting experience behind the wheel has allowed him to obtain a better feel for what is happening around the track.

“I think more seat time, it really helps a guy out to be a little more consistent, knowing where to run on the track and looking ahead, making sure you don’t hit someone that spins out,” Gross said. “It just all ties together. Just being more consistent with how you’re racing and getting better.”

With Gross currently sitting third in points, he thinks the year has been pretty solid so far.

“It’s been a good year,” Gross said. “Before (the last race) I didn’t have any DNF’s. I finished every single race until this Andy Daily Memorial weekend, but I think it’s been pretty good. We’ve been second place in points most of the time, but I just fell back in third place recently. … But we were doing really well. I already got a win this year and we led the first three laps of the feature (recently) before my axle decided to snap in half and I had the DNF. But we’ve been doing really well and our lap times have been doing well, and we’ve been progressing pretty well. So, I’m happy with it for sure.”

The two drivers Gross is chasing in points, fellow Aberdeen drivers Mike Stearns and Kent Arment, have much more experience in racing and both are past national champions.

“I’m 23 and Kent Arment and Mike Stearns could be dang near my dad,” Gross said. “They have a lot more seat time than me. They’re definitely more consistent than I am, but I think I’m pretty dang competitive with them and I don’t know if it’s talent or just the car works for me or what. I could definitely get better than I am now, but I do compete pretty well with them. I’m pretty happy with myself.”

Gross thinks he needs to be more consistent in order to battle for the points lead.

“I need to be consistent for the most part,” Gross said. “The points go off heat races and feature races, so you need to do well in both of them to get the most points per night. I’ve been doing pretty well in the heat races, been gaining some positions. I won the heat race (a week ago) Friday and I think just being more consistent and patient when passing people. You can’t get too aggressive right away. You need to have patience and wait your time to have a good pass so you don’t screw up and end up off the track.”

While the racing season has gone well so far, Gross has some expectations for himself the rest of the year.

“I’ve never got above third in points for finishing out the year,” Gross said. “I’d like to finish second. … I’d like to get back up there in points, maybe win a time or two. I’ve only won once a year for the last four years or whatever it’s been. So, it’d be nice to win more than once a year. But we’ll see what happens.”

For Gross, racing isn’t just about trying to win every time his car takes the track. While he has proven he belongs, his biggest enjoyment takes place off of the racing oval.

“Honestly, my favorite moment is racing with my friends and family. Both my cousins sit right next to me, so it’s nice seeing them every night. They come from Selby and then I get to race with my best friend Tyler. He’s my crew chief now and I get to hang out with him every weekend,” Gross said. “And it brings out my dad, his wife, my fiancé and it just brings us all together. It’s a fun time and we all enjoy it. My fiancé’s family like it a lot too and my grandparents come up. It’s awesome seeing the whole family and friend group together and have fun on the weekends for sure.”