When NASA MidAmerica member Bryan Cohn’s parents divorced back when he was just 9 years old, Bryan’s mother allowed a local racer to keep a Bugeye Sprite at the house. When Bryan was 15, that Sprite was the first car he drove on a track.
Tragically, Bryan Waldman Cohn passed away May 30 from a stroke as a result of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. His immediate family had enough time to travel to Kansas to be by his side when he died. He was 59 years old.
Bryan’s exposure to motorsports began early. His parents and grandparents had been involved in amateur sports car racing as far back as the 1950s, but that Bugeye Sprite was a talisman in Bryan’s life, which would come to be consumed with and defined by racing.
Bryan first worked for NASA in 2006 to help the organization set the stage for its inaugural NASA Championships at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Fortunately, Bryan knew a tremendous amount of people in motorsports, and the breadth of his experience was every bit as lengthy as his list of contacts.
“It was my honor and privilege to work closely with Bryan at our very first Championship event, in 2006 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car course,” said NASA founder Jerry Kunzman. “This was an event of monumental proportions compared to just a regional event. There were so many unknowns. We knew we would need vast resources that likely spanned outside of my network.
“There were many great things about Bryan, and some of those things also included sheer reasoning, logic, and brain power,” Kunzman recalled. “I admired that, and it added to the synergy that made all that work so much fun.”
Over the years, Bryan raced and owned upward of 30 different racecars, according to his younger brother, Scott Cohn. Production cars, formula cars, spec racers, prototypes, you name it. He owned them and raced them, wrenched on them and supported and coached other drivers in them.
He held many various roles in the racing industry, including working for NASA as technical director of competition, the American Motorcyclist Association, the Sports Car Club of America, working at a Nissan dealership, for a Formula Atlantic team, and for Skip Barber’s driver coaching program. He founded a full race prep shop in the early 1990s, Bryan Cohn Racing, which he closed just before the end of the millennium.
“When he was a teenager, he didn’t want to go to school. He was not the best student,” Scott Cohn said. “He skipped a lot of classes, but he had already figured out he wanted to be a race car driver.”
About five years ago, Bryan found that same Bugeye Sprite that first appeared in his life when he was 9. Bryan had kept tabs on the car over the years and finally persuaded the owner to sell it. Bryan sent it to fellow NASA MidAmerica member Brett Westcott to have it painted and to begin the restoration process. Bryan died before he could finish the project. His brothers Scott and Joe are going to see it through. Sometimes race cars are more than just cars.
“He fully expected that whenever the car was done and we did that drive, it was kind of his goodbye to it,” Scott Cohn said. “So he knew where his health was, but we just all thought he was going to be able to finish the project.”
Bryan is survived by his widow Elizabeth, daughter Emma, brothers Scott and Joe, and his dog Roscoe.
“As we all do when we lose a loved one, I wished I had more time with him. He will be sorely missed,” Kunzman said. “I send my condolences to his family and other friends for this great loss to them and our community.”
My condolences to his family. Met him some 20 years ago at my event at Lime Rock where he helped coach our new tech inspector. He had a voice to remember.
He was a great mentor to many young racers and will be missed.
What a great person . When I started my NASA journey in 2007 in the Midwest (Great Lakes) he was always there to coach, critique and make sure, with subtle humor, that you stayed grounded.
Rest in peace my fellow “gear head”.
Bryan was a great friend, coach, and mentor. I will always appreciate how much he supported and advocated for women in this sport. And how imuch he helped me in not just getting faster, but gaining a deep understanding about the why and how. Bryan had a way to talk sense into you. I appreciated that above all else. You are dearly missed, Bryan! My love to Emma, Elizabeth, Roscoe, and the whole family.
Bryan has been a part of my NASA experience my entire journey. We met in 2017. He became my friend. He became my coach and then a better friend. I can’t express how much this man gave back to the community he loved. Life won’t be the same at the track without you. Thanks for all help and confidence you instilled in me to become a driver instructor and person. WOT.
I got to know Bryan over the last couple years while he was building a Jensen Healey race car for a client in Australia. What a talented and experienced builder , racer , official, and overall great gear head. My condolences to his family .
Bryan was one of the first NASA officials I met when I started HPDE, and what a great introduction to NASA and racing he was! Always helpful, always funny, and loved the sport and everything that went with it. He will be missed.
I feel inspired just reading about him. Well done, Brett. This sounds like the obituary of a legend—one to which we can all appreciate and aspire to emulate. There’s no better testimony than investing in people.
A beautiful soul, the likes of which, I’ve not met since knowing him 25 years ago. My condolences to his family and friends.
I talked on the phone with Bryan for a very long time about my non-race Bugeye. He was fun to talk with and super knowledgeable. I had hoped to bring my car to his shop one day, just for a chat. I’m sorry I missed the opportunity. K Smith, Salina, KS