When they were teenagers in the early 80’s, the three Hannagan brother—Jimmy, Terry and Randy, took turns driving their only go-kart. One of them would get to drive and the others would be his mechanics, supporting him and helping him try to win. Next race, they would switch responsibilities. Naturally, that exercise grew old quickly and soon they had their own karts. They dreamed of racing against the world’s greatest drivers. 

They brothers raced in separate classes for a while but Randy seemed to have the talent to win regularly. So much talent that the next year, 1983, Randy was the San Jose Kart Clubs, Junior Class Champion with thirteen consecutive wins after missing the first race of the season. This successes was all Randy needed to start his rise to the top of the sport. 

He moved through the competition relentlessly, a man on a mission. From 1984 through 1988 he was Baylands Raceway Track Champion in the San Jose Kart Clubs, Super Stock Lite class. He moved up to 360 and 410 cubic inch Sprint Car racing in 1989. He ended up Rookie of the Year at San Jose Speedway. While Randy’s racing career was rocketing upward, something else brought him slamming back to earth. 

In 1990, a gunman shot Terry Hannagan in the back five times during a robbery, putting him in a wheelchair as a quadriplegic. All of a sudden, racing took a back seat to his family and Randy was ready and willing to quit so he could help take care of his brother. Terry would hear non of it. “Randy wanted to quit,” Terry says, “but I told him that we couldn’t let go of our dream. We learned to driver together, how to take the race cars apart and put them back together, dreaming of being famous race drivers someday. There was no way I could let him quit after all that we’d been through and all his successes.” 

Fortunately the team remained intact with Randy as the driver and Terry as the team owner. There were a couple of rough years, but in 1993, Terry Hannagan Racing was an established presence on the California Sprint Car scene. Together they won a Track Championship at San Jose Speedway in both 410 and 360 cubic in classes, Randy was named Open-Wheel Driver of the Year by the Motoring Press Association. 

More successes followed, including being named the World of Outlaws Rookie of the year in 1995 along with numerous sprint car winds and championships in both the USA and Australia. With Terry expertly managing the team and Randy driving, they have realized many of the goals they dreamed about as kids. 

Randy is quick to credit Terry for laying the foundation for the team’s success. “He’s they one who kept me going in this,” Randy says. “He’s the one who worked with the guys day and night putting the cars together while I was in Australia, so that I’d have a winning car to drive when I got back home. It’s unfortunate that he can’t be a bigger part of this, but he’s a bigger part of this in my heart then he’ll ever know.”