Gus Dean: Bluffton’s Daytona Champion, Mega Truck Racer & HVAC Entrepreneur

From a childhood go-kart to the winner’s circle at Daytona, Bluffton’s Gus Dean turned his dream into a reality

Story by Leslie T. Snadowsky + Photography by Daylon Barr

NASCAR driver Gus Dean became a Daytona champion on Feb. 17, 2024, when he won the Hard Rock Bet 200, the season-opening ARCA Menards Series race.

Bluffton native Augustus “Gus” Dean has enjoyed quite a ride.

He started zooming around in go-karts at about age 4. In 2024 he won the Hard Rock Bet 200, the season-opening ARCA Menards Series stock car race at Daytona International Speedway, making a long family dream come true.

“I’m semi-retired now,” said the 30-year-old NASCAR driver. “I don’t know that you ever fully retire from racecar driving. It’s kind of like being an addict in recovery.”

Dean’s racing addiction runs generations deep. His grandfather, Charles Dean Sr., who attended Daytona back in the wooden-bleacher days, was one of his best friends and biggest supporters. Winning there was their shared vision.“We always wanted to win at Daytona,” Dean said. “My dad, Charlie, and my granddad and I were extremely close, and we traveled the world together stock car racing. I had been leading with about three laps to go probably six different times at Daytona and didn’t finish the races because of unfortunate circumstances. It was starting to feel like my Achilles’ heel. About two weeks before Daytona in 2024, my granddad passed away, and it was a really hard, emotional weekend for us to go down there. We felt like he was riding along with us, and we were able to pull out the win. It was a crazy ride, and I don’t know that I’ll ever experience a high like that again in my career. That’s the high point I decided to end on.”

From stock cars to mud trucks 

A three-time ARCA Menards Series winner, Dean has shifted gears and now competes in mega truck events. His truck, Vengeance, puts roughly 2,500 horsepower to the wheels, has 27 inches of suspension travel and rides on two-and-a-half-ton military axles.

“It’s much more of a laid-back sport,” he said. “They’re like monster trucks that you race on a motocross track. We jump them really high in the air and go really fast through the mud. It’s a lot less pressure and a lot more fun.”

Dean remembers steering souped-up cars on the very streets where he now lives in Hardeeville. The neighborhood sits on land that once held a stalled housing development. “In high school we’d take our cars back there and race around the roads,” he said. “There were several mud holes where we’d go mud bogging. We developed our own little racetrack. The cops left us alone because we weren’t hurting anybody back in the woods. Eventually another developer bought the neighborhood. Now I live there with my wife, Briar, and I’m pretty sure I used to race down the same street we live on today.”

Cool under pressure 

Today Dean is in the business fast lane, taking the wheel of his family’s HVAC company, Dean Custom Air, founded by his grandfather in 1968 and based in Bluffton. The heating-and-air outfit serves builders and homeowners across the Lowcountry and Georgia.

“We serve all of the Lowcountry,” Dean said. “My granddad started the business, and my dad grew it to the size it is now, which is fairly large. I’m the third generation to take it over and hopefully can grow it even more.”

Racing wisdom and lasting lessons

Even though Dean has put the brakes on full-time racing, he still remembers the rush of running north of 220 miles per hour. “When you’re a race car driver, you experience surges of adrenaline so often that you grow used to them,” he said. “Fear doesn’t really come into play anymore. That adrenaline gives you the edge you need to perform at those speeds. If you know how to use it, it can be your greatest ally or your biggest enemy.”

If he could own any car? Dean said it would be a hard choice between a McLaren P1 and a ’68 or ’69 Camaro. “The technology in the McLaren is incredible, and I just think it’s a hell of a machine,” he said. “But as far as old-school hot rods go, the Camaro’s big-block horsepower and that sound have always been favorites.”

Safety has always been serious business for Dean, who relied on Impact Racing gear throughout his career. He has also long supported Folds of Honor, which provides scholarships to the spouses and children of America’s fallen or disabled service members and first responders. When younger drivers ask for advice, he passes along what IndyCar Series champion Tony Kanaan once told him.

“He said if you want to be a professional race car driver, it will be, without doubt, one of the hardest things you’ll ever try to do in your life, but it’s never impossible,” Dean recalled. “That really gave me the inspiration I needed. It doesn’t matter how hard it seems to accomplish a goal. It doesn’t have to be racing. It could be any goal in life. No matter how hard it beats you down or how low you get, you can still see that light shining from the top when you know it’s attainable. It’s just going to be really hard to get there.”