There are certain dates and times in a man’s life he’ll never forget.
For IHRA Alcohol Funny Car racer Dale Brand, the date was September 30,
2007 and the time was 6:45 PM, EST.
Brand, of Sully, Iowa, remembers the moment when he received a call
from a friend who worked on his hometown fire department. The voice on
the other end of the phone remains ingrained in his memory.
“Dale, where are you at?” the caller asked. “You need to get home immediately.”
Brand could only sit in shock as he was told his Co-Line Welding
Business had been struck by an F2 tornado that had traveled for 22
consecutive miles leaving a path of destruction. Not only had portions
of the business been leveled, the storm got personal as it did
significant damage to Brand’s home, the same one where he and wife Tana
had raised their sons Eric and Cory.
When a tornado destroyed his home and business, drag racing teamwork rebuilt the business
There are certain dates and times in a man’s life he’ll never forget. For IHRA Alcohol Funny Car racer Dale Brand, the date was September 30, 2007 and the time was 6:45 PM, EST.
Brand, of Sully, Iowa, remembers the moment when he received a call from a friend who worked on his hometown fire department. The voice on the other end of the phone remains ingrained in his memory.
“Dale, where are you at?” the caller asked. “You need to get home immediately.”
Brand could only sit in shock as he was told his Co-Line Welding Business had been struck by an F2 tornado that had traveled for 22 consecutive miles leaving a path of destruction. Not only had portions of the business been leveled, the storm got personal as it did significant damage to Brand’s home, the same one where he and wife Tana had raised their sons Eric and Cory.
Brand is a forward thinker. He’s got a trademark smile that could offer praise in the midst of a storm.
At least, his wife and the kids were at home. At least no was in the shop. There would be no funerals related to their misfortune on this day. What were the chances they would have gone drag racing for the first time in five seasons on the particular day this tragedy transpired?
Those were just a few thoughts running through Brand’s head as he flew in on a chartered flight looking down at the destruction. Many of the roads were still impassable due to downed power lines and the potential for gas leaks.
This is just worldly sticks and stones. We will rebuild and we will be fine. – Dale Brand
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Part of Brand wanted to feel saddened, clearly this was the minority.
“I think I had myself reasonably prepared for what I was going to see,” Brand remembered. “You know our organization is incredibly strong and life in its extremes pulls out the best in people, and best in organizations. Our entire team, our entire organization, viewed it as one great big project we had to get done, and they all jumped in.”
The mere leadership of Brand was enough to rally the troops into action in the early hours after the dust settled. A group of workers and volunteers showed up at daybreak to begin the arduous task of picking up a crippled corporation and dusting it off.
Then Brand spoke and provided all the motivation they needed.
“This is just worldly sticks and stones,” Brand said. “We will rebuild and we will be fine.”
The legendary “let’s win one for the Gipper” wouldn’t have stood a chance on this day.
By 9 AM the next day, Brand’s group of volunteers and employees [though not required to work] had a generator up and running allowing phone service to operate. Machinery still intact were dug out, relocated and cleaned. Broken windows were boarded up under the threat of more rain to come.
By noon, a makeshift cafeteria was set up to feed the hungry committed workers and volunteers. Employees continued communication with customers and vendors from their homes. Despite having no electricity and the major damage sustained to the main operating facility, shipments were still going out on time.
Electricity was restored to the building by 6 PM that evening.
“We didn’t allow the emotional side of it to get the best of us,” Brand said. “We’ve had a lot of ups and downs in 28 years of business, so we didn’t allow the emotional side to get in the way of the task at hand and every one of the tests we have collectively survived made us that much stronger, and our organization is better today. We’re much stronger and a better team than ever.”
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Case in point, by 7 AM the next morning, employees arrived and immediately went to work protecting the machinery from the elements. Heavy rains continued to drench the carnage of the building and the members of the team at Co-Line managed to have laser machines running underneath tarps.
The third day dawned with sun and an even more determined attitude. The front lawn of the office was cleared and a simple process such as the smell of freshly cut grass provided incredible motivation. Presses were running by mid-morning.
Goalsetter, Co-Line’s basketball goal manufacturing branch, was up and running under temporary power and made a shipment by mid-afternoon.
The Tool and Die portion of the company also gained power and began work on die sets from racks the tornado toppled over.
A day later, Co-line was running strong albeit without a roof. After what the workers had experienced, they didn’t mind applying sunscreen and wearing a hard hat.
That night, the Brands spent the night in their own home for the first time since the tornado attempted to rip their lives apart.
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RACING AND REALITY
Brand understandably didn’t race the car at the final event of the 2007 season but he and the team had the season-opener in San Antonio marked in permanent marker on the calendar. Come heck or high water, they were going to be at the event.
They turned the first wrench on the car in January because that is when they finally retrieved the rig from Jim Head’s Columbus, Ohio-based shop. Head had been kind enough to store the rig back in September when Brand and the family caught a chartered flight back to Iowa from there.
By then a life for the Brand family was returning to a semblance of normalcy. Well, almost.
“Tana and I are living in the home on the premises,” said Brand. “We found all the doors that blew out and screwed them back on, boarded up the windows, and put a section of roof back on it — kind of a temporary roof. Now I got that white trash look.
“All the trees are cut down around it, what wasn’t blown down. We’re living in a home, we have a couch, and a big screen T.V. and wood on the windows. It’s going fine.”
Brand’s experience is one he says has made everyone stronger. Such an experience can provide a major life lesson.
“There are obstacles in life no matter what we’re doing, whether we’re working or playing,” Brand explained. “A true sense of a team is the ability to overcome obstacles. Whoever does that the best and takes the worldly stick and stones that we have to work with here, and makes the best of them, wins.
“I think during our tornado recovery and race teams are two of the purest teams I’ve ever experienced in my life. Everyone had a common cause, with no motive, other than for everything to be the best it can be. That’s exciting; it’s fun to be a part of.”
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About the time Brand beams at the prospect of being part of the team, he picks up the remote control and continues to flip through the channels on his big screen television sitting in a house with the boarded up windows. He reaches a disaster on one of the major television networks and immediately relates to those in distress.
“It’s a complete different feeling,” Brand explained. “You know, you have that ‘it’ll never happen to me’ syndrome, and I had that. It’s completely changed our outlook. One thing that is a little misleading, while I am humbled by the support of the Midwest cause it is awesome, but tornadoes are much more isolated than a lot of other natural disasters, for example- hurricanes. We had 100’s of people come and help us, but if all of your neighbors for 100’s of miles are wiped out you’re not going to get that. There are other disasters that are much more difficult to recover from than a tornado because of the ability for your neighbors to help you.”
This time Brand’s neighbors came to his rescue and because of that Co-line kept their entire client list intact. He plans for the facility to return to full capacity in six to eight months.
What about the house?
“Tana and I have made a decision that we are going to build another one,” Brand said. “We are actually looking for a piece of land, wooded land, isolated and with a big view, where we can build another home. We are not going to rebuild this one.
“And, yes, it will have a storm shelter.”
