Casey Putsch is a man of many talents, as he is gifted with balanced abilities in both art and engineering. He is an automotive YouTube personality, a racing driver, engineer, philanthropist, and founder of Genius Garage and Putsch Racing. Often described as a modern-day renaissance man, Casey Putsch is a history lover, as he not only restores racing cars and street cars but also antiques such as a 1915 DWM Parabellum Luger 9mm pistol, Newtonian Telescope, and a 1690 Bing champleve’ verge fusee movement pocket watch.
Putsch has an exotic car collection made up of Lykan HyperSport, Dodge Viper, 1985 Lotus Esprit Turbo, Lamborghini Gallardo, and lots more. Casey Putsch is truly living the dream of many and here’s what you need to know about him.
10 He’s A Famous YouTuber
Casey Putsch is a popular YouTuber with over 187,000 subscribers on the platform. He joined the online video-sharing platform in 2007 and has gathered over 21 million views from 652 videos posted so far.
Putsch posts videos of his racing game, restoration projects, and aerospace adventures on his YouTube channel and received the YouTube Creator Awards for hitting 100,000 subscribers in 2020.
9 Auto Restoration Guru
Auto restoration is a dirty, back-breaking, and time-consuming job very few people like Casey Putsch are cut out for. Putsch has restored a number of racing cars including a1965 Lola T70 Spyder MKI and MKII, 1991 Porsche 968 Cup Car, 1956 Lotus 11 LeMans, and 1998 Swift Formula Atlantic.
Besides racing cars, Casey also spends his time restoring antiques and street cars. The 1981 DeLorean DMC-12, 1992 Ferrari 512 TR, and 2004 Dodge Viper SRT/10 are a few examples of what Putsch has worked on over the years.
8 Philanthropist
For many celebrities including Casey Putsch, life isn’t just all about the glitz and glamour. Even singular acts of kindness aren’t enough for Casey Putsch, as he has formed solid partnerships through non-profit organizations for long-term social good.
Besides his great work at Genius Garage – which we will shed more light on next – Casey also supports All Clear Foundation, an organization that provides volunteer Emergency Response to communities. The foundation helps communities get access to frontline medical workers, disaster responders, wildland firefighters, and crisis counselors.
7 Founder Of Genius Garage
Casey Putsch graduated from the Ohio State University with a degree in Industrial Design, but he felt ill-equipped for the real world because the educational system didn’t offer the necessary hands-on experience to thrive outside the classroom. He also noticed that the younger generation was uninterested in automotive history and getting their hands dirty with restoration projects, so he established Genius Garage to address these problems.
Genius Garage is a non-profit organization that aims to bridge the gap between academia and industry. The educational program is aimed at students in engineering, design, business, and communications.
6 Plays The Guitar
Casey is a man of many talents, but one of his lesser-known talents is playing the guitar. He picks up his guitar whenever he wants to unwind after a busy day at the garage or on the racetrack. Casey Putsch has been playing since college, so he must be pretty good by now.
Putsch owns a Gretsch Corvette Electric guitar with a cherry finish. The electric guitar is professionally set up and ready to rock right out of the case. Putsch had to sell some of his old car wheels to get the vintage Gretsch Corvette guitar, and according to him, it was worth the trade.
5 Flew The USAF Thunderbirds F16 Jet
Casey Putsch is living the dreams of many as a motorsport racer, automotive designer, YouTuber, and wannabe pilot. He enthusiastically honored the invitation by the United States Air Force Thunderbirds in 2019 to fly the F16 Viper jet.
The F-16 Viper is a single-seat, multi-role jet designed for air-to-ground and air-to-air operations. With its lightweight and 31,000 pounds of thrust generating capacity, the Viper can exceed the speed of Mach 2. Casey successfully flew the Thunderbirds F16 over Death Valley.
4 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
First off, Putsch didn’t win the award for his philanthropic gestures, as the President’s Volunteer Service Award is specially reserved for voluntary service and to be eligible for the highest honor – the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award – you must contribute at least 4,000 hours of service.
The President’s Lifetime Achievement Award is by far the most meaningful honor Casey Putsch has ever received for his selfless service to his community and the United States at large. This recognition is given to US citizens and lawful residents with more than 12 months of volunteer service.
3 Plays Horse Polo
For many celebrities, polo is a glamorous game to enjoy from the stands while sipping champagne, but just like Tommy Lee Jones and Sylvester Stallone, Casey Putsch prefers to be a part of the action instead of being a mere spectator. Also, Putsch believes the equestrian sport is not just all about having fun, but also an avenue to support great causes.
The Putsch Racing once organized a polo match with Studio 47, and La Chatelaine restaurant in Ohio, and all proceeds from the event went to the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus.
2 Legacy Autosport Driver
If it has a steering wheel and a set of tires, then Casey Putsch has most likely driven it. At the age of 15, he started auto-crossing a Volkswagen Scirocco with his dad and got a Yamaha KT100 kart when he was in college. In October 2021, Putsch was signed to Legacy Autosport for the 2022 Indy Pro 2000 Championship.
Reacting to the announcement, Putsch says he is excited to be a part of the Meyer family and for what the future holds. His motor racing career goal is to compete in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and the Indy 500.
1 Casey Built The Batmobile Replica
Putsch is an automotive restoration guru and this is evidenced by the fact that he built a replica of the iconic Batmobile at the age of 29. Fans are no stranger to the many replicas of the Batmobile, which have been made since the days of Adam West, but very few of the replicas can match Putsch’s version.
As the founder of Genius Garage and Putsch Racing, Casey knows a lot about cars, so the Batmobile replica took him just five months to build. The Batmobile replica was inspired by The Dark Knight‘s ride in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman, and it’s the first turbine-powered bat car in the world.