NIBJ Innovation Edition: Brent Regan
<p>After purchasing an experimental airplane, Brent Regan decided the design wasn't up to snuff and re-engineered the entire engine mounting and hydraulics system while making the plane lighter, faster and more reliable. (JEROME A. POLLOS/Press)</p>
COEUR d’ALENE — Brent Regan figured out a way to earn $28 an hour as a 13-year-old in California. Yes, it was legal.
To impress a girlfriend a few years down the road, Regan built an electric car for her doctor father, who had been complaining about the Carter-era high cost of gas getting to and from the hospital two miles away.
At 19 he was racing cars he’d built. And winning.
Later, there was the plane he built and raced. And won again.
Along the way the entrepreneur/design engineer/inventor and problem solver built stuff most of us can’t pronounce, let alone comprehend. His creations have made millions for his own and others’ companies. The thing about Brent Regan is this: Once he decides to get into something, he’s all in. Especially when his wife’s life is on the line. Mike Patrick/North Idaho Business Journal