It saddens us to inform you that Drag Week racer Jake Brantner is gone. Brantner, 39, was gunned down in the parking lot of a strip mall in Kansas City, Missouri in the evening hours of Sunday, April 3rd, 2016. An off-duty police officer heard the gunshots and found Brantner in the parking lot, where he was pronounced dead at the scene. Brantner was well-known in the racing community as the namesake behind Jake’s Performance Fabrication as well as being the wheelman behind the gray 1980 Chevrolet Malibu that was a familiar sight on Hot Rod’s Drag Week. With a firm handshake and a blue sense of humor, Jake made friends wherever he went, and his skills as a driver and fabricator earned him respect. While his life was taken well before his time, the memories that many have of him will carry on.
(Brian note): The measure of anyone is in the friends they keep and boy did Jake keep a lot of them. The social media outpouring after his passing has been immense, sincere, and sustained. It is literally impossible to make sense of events like those that took the life of Jake Brantner. What can we do? We can keep the word out there until the authorities catch the horrid scum that did this, we can support Jake’s wife and his daughter through whatever means become available in the coming days, and we can remember the man for his talent, his ability, his sense of humor, and his good fortune to be able to pursue and master a trade that he loved.
I can’t say that I was a personal friend of Jake’s because I wasn’t, but watching the way the world has reacted to his death has convinced me that he was one hell of a guy.
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All of us at BangShift.com extend our condolences to Jake’s family and friends. May he rest in peace.
So sad, the disgusting side of America where the gun seems to be bought out too often to “solve issues”.
There is a time and place for political rants – this isn’t one of them.
It’s not political. It’s a practical issue. Someone who races cars should not be shot down in a parking lot. That shouldn’t happen.
He was in the ball Stadium parking lot selling a gun. His 10 year old daughter saw it all. That’s what happens when you don’t know the background of your buyer.
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/04/10-year-old-girl-sees-her-dad-shot-and-killed-after-he-takes-her-along-on-craigslist-gun-sale/
Please do not make statements about what you belive to have happen, for what has been said above is not correct. The family does not want this tragic event to be turned around and made out to be something that it was not !
Please continue to pray for the family as this will be a long hard process. Thank You
Godspeed Truckstop.Truly a one of one.
Damn it all to hell…. I am at a loss of words. A very senseless tragedy that shouldn’t have happened to this man and his family. Godspeed good sir.
Well said Bryan and Brian. As for helping his wife and daughter out.As I understand it(could be wrong) His wife was a stay at home mom.This link is to help her out. Whether it be 5 dollars or 500 it all adds up.This is approved by his wife. RIP brother from another mother. https://www.youcaring.com/kim-brantner-550540#.VwQwuYoNA-B.facebook