Steve Bren (born July 29, 1960) is a former American

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

from

Newport Beach, California Newport Beach is a coastal city of about 85,000 in southern Orange County, California, United States. Located about southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Newport Beach is known for its sandy beaches. The city's harbor once supported maritime indu ...

Early life

Bren is the son of Diane and Donald Bren, billionaire and chairman of the US-based real estate investment company, the

Irvine Company The Irvine Company LLC is an American private company focused on real estate development. It is headquartered in Newport Beach, California, with a large portion of its operations centered in and around Irvine, California, a planned city of more ...

. His paternal

grandfather Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, or Grandma and Grandpa, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a m ...

was

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

movie producer Milton H. Bren.

Career

After a fairly successful stint in US

Formula Super Vee Formula Super Vee was an open-wheel racing series that took place in Europe and the United States from 1970 to 1990. The formula was created as an extension of Formula Vee, a racing class that was introduced in 1959. Formula Super Vee in Europe w ...

in 1985, Bren moved to the new American Racing Series (ARS) in 1986. While he only participated in four races, he was competitive in all his ARS starts. That year he also completed rookie orientation for the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indian ...

but could not find a ride to make a qualification attempt. He made two one-off starts in the

CART A cart or dray (Australia and New Zealand) is a vehicle designed for transport, using two wheels and normally pulled by draught animals such as horses, donkeys, mules and oxen, or even smaller animals such as goats or large dogs. A handcart ...

Championship Car American open-wheel car racing, generally and commonly known as Indy car racing, is a category of professional automobile racing in the United States. As of 2025, the top-level American open-wheel racing championship is sanctioned by IndyCar a ...

series in 1988 at

Laguna Seca Raceway Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for sponsorship reasons) is a paved road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and motorcycle racing, built in 1957 ...

and 1990 at

Long Beach Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

, however he failed to finish either race. Steve's brother Cary also drove in Super Vee and Indy Lights. Bren later became a property developer and art collector.

Personal life

Bren has been married twice. In 1988, he married model Thais Baker in a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

ceremony. They subsequently divorced in the 1990s. In July 2010, Bren married Erica Spangler of Honolulu,

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. They have a daughter, Bella Rose Bren, born in Ketchum,

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

. In 2017, Bren was in trouble with the law for

stalking Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance or contact by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitorin ...

Spangler in Idaho and also held in contempt of court for failing to appear at a civil case where he allegedly owed creditors over $5 million as part of his real estate developments. Bren said he could not pay because he was in rehab for drug and alcohol addiction.Coker, Matt
Steven Michael Bren's Year has Included Jail, Rehab and a New Arrest Warrant
''OC Weekly'', July 26, 2017, Retrieved 2017-10-09

Motorsports career results

American open-wheel racing

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap.)

Indy Car World Series

References

1960 births American people of Irish descent American people of Jewish descent Champ Car drivers Indy Lights drivers SCCA Formula Super Vee drivers Living people Sportspeople from Newport Beach, California Racing drivers from California {{US-autoracing-bio-stub