INDIANAPOLIS –Â As a young business owner, 17-year-old Noah Gass has the familiar mantra, “The only way to learn is to be out in the field,” on multiple occasions.
Those words spoken by Noah’s father, Randy, have translated to the race track.
Gass, from Mounds, Okla., will take on the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series full time this year and compete for rookie-of-the-year honors in his father’s No. 20G, a Triple X chassis powered by a Claxton Chevy engine.
The car will carry sponsorship from Arrowhead Electric, Food Safety Group, DMI Inc. and Gass’ own Big G Transport trucking company.
Gass has been a familiar sight on the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series trail over the past two seasons, making a total of 11 starts in 2019-20.
His USAC Sprint appearances have been less frequent, however, with just one previous feature start. Interestingly enough, that came at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla., where Gass launches his new season Feb. 11-13.
Prior to the midgets, Gass cut his motorsports teeth in a sprint car, competing weekly near his Oklahoma home at Creek County Speedway while racing with OCRS and traveling to compete around the region.
Although Gass does plan to participate in around 10 or so midget events in the coming year, after winning the USAC Wingless Sprints Oklahoma season opener in June at Monarch Motor Speedway in Texas, Gass got the itch to return his main focus to sprint car racing.
“Every time I’ve gotten on track (in a sprint car), I’ve felt more and more competitive,” Gass said. “So, we said, well heck, we might as well go sprint car racing. So, (for 2021), we said ‘let’s go USAC racing.’ We want to be the best so let’s go race against the best.”
Gass’ weekday routine begins with online education for his high school during the first half of the day, then he uses the second half of the day to operate Big G Transport with his business partner, learning the tricks of the trade and absorbing as much experience as he can – much like he does when slinging dirt versus stiff competition.
As far as his growth process in the sport, Gass pointed to personal consistency and for he and his team to develop a system and pin a routine down in order to mold themselves into the kind of team they aspire to be, one that routinely competes up front.
That’s part of the process and Gass welcomes the challenge.
“It all goes back to, if you want to be the best, you’ve got to race against the best.”
Gass joins previously announced Rookie of the Year contenders Paul Nienhiser and Carson Garrett as full-time competitors on the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series, which begins Feb. 11-13 at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla., with Winter Dirt Games XII.
A practice night on Feb. 10 precedes the three full nights of racing.