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HIGH OCTANE MEETS HIGH POINT:
WASATCH’S
DEVASTATOR By
JP jp@slugmag.com
Jon Lee is an adrenaline junkie and self-described
former “snow bum” who cut his teeth boarding fast
in the Wasatch Range and the Rockies. He’s a highranked
local race car driver and brewing professional.
As head brewer at the Utah Brewers Cooperative (which
combines the talents of Wasatch and Squatters under
one roof), Lee splits his time crafting award-winning
beers and driving number 93—The Devastator—named
after the popular Wasatch label brew. Over a bottle of
his car’s namesake, several facts became clearer as
reaction times slowed: There are more than just ovalshaped
racing tracks, and Jon Lee knows his shit about
beer.
Lee started brewing at home in 1997, transitioned to
Squatters as a paid brewer 13 years ago, then worked
his way up to his rank as second-in-command at the
Utah Brewers Co-op. Lee was a key player alongside
Dan Burick, brewmaster for the Co-op, in 2007 during
the creation of Devastator’s recipe. The doppelbock
lager was one of the first of its kind in Utah beer history:
a legally brewed “high-point” or “high-gravity” beer that
was double the Utah norm at eight percent alcohol by
volume and one of the most successful in the Wasatch/
Squatters family.
Lee found his racing outlet in 2003 when he started
auto-crossing (parking lot obstacle courses) with his
wife Heather in their new Subaru WRX. The racing
bug bit him hard, and Lee
eventually found himself
racing in his newly wrapped
1996 Miata—complete with
Jon Lee, head brewer at
the UBC, stands with his
Devastator race car.
Devastator’s fiery ram motif. “I thought it would look kind
of evil,” says Lee. He’s right, especially when that car is
driven by a racer who ranks in the top three locally.
Lee races a stock Miata in a sprint style format. The
green flag goes down, and racing continues until
a checkered flag drops. It’s a “very intense type of
racing—no pit stop strategy, no nothing. Something
breaks? You’re done,” says Lee. The Miatas race on
tracks that have left and right turns with breaking zones
and acceleration zones—atypical of what you might
think of standard NASCAR-style racing. Lee has raced
for two national championships in The National Auto
Sport Association (NASA), and has placed as high as
10th nationally (2009) and holds the distinction of being
the only local beer-themed car on the tracks in Utah.
He qualified in 2010 and would have placed better than
12th, but says he was thrown off a little bit by last year’s
Great American Beer Fest awards.
Two hours before race time, Lee discovered his brewery
had won Mid-Size Brewery of the Year. “For me, that
was a national championship right there,” Lee says, yet
“two hours later I was supposed to start in a televised
national race and I was kind of spent. I got the green
flag, and I was like ‘go guys,’ and I didn’t really fight for
position. I lost that drive.” Who cares? Utah Brewers
Co-op had been recognized as a top brewery. If he did
have to choose, Lee says he would choose beer over
racing. That’s a no-brainer.
Although his car sports the
Devastator beer logo, Lee
would like to remind people to not drink and drive:
“There is some responsibility, we’ve talked about it.
We have to have some conscience and advocate that
people do need to stay safe. We recommend drinking
after [racing],” says Lee. “After everything is done and
calmed down, we’re gonna crack a beer and hang out.”
And what better place to do that than the camping area
at the Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele—which Lee
says is one of the finest facilities in the United States?
Although he loves his local track, he also embraces the
club racing mentality and travels often. As an avid club
racer, Lee goes to other tracks in packs of other racers
with all their families and friends in RVs—cars in tow.
It’s a real lifestyle choice, and the time spent not racing
is at a pace that sounds almost idyllic and peaceful to
the observer.
Seemingly peaceful—until Lee reminds you he likes to
dance with death on the racetrack. “There’s nothing
quite as thrilling as bumping somebody at 120 down
that front straight then diving into a corner at the same
time,” says Lee. “Or driving side by side in a corner at
85 mph—brushing mirrors—while you’re heavily loaded
in that corner.” All that fancy race car talk means Lee
will own your ass in a street race.
“Thanks, everybody, for the support, fellow racers,
fellow beer drinkers—they all go hand in hand,” Lee
says. “Would there be no race cars without beer?” I
ask. “Without beer, there would be no people,” says
Lee, laughing with a smile on his face. Yet, you can see
in his eye a little bit of the angry horned beast from the
Devastator art and you realize you’d never want him
ramming your fender at 120 mph.
Photo: Jesse Anderson
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