At Talladega Superspeedway, Bret Holmes goes from hearing the roar to being the roar
Bret Holmes at the Talladega Superspeedway (Bruce Nix/Alabama NewsCenter)
Bret Holmes can remember being a youngster and hearing the roar of races at Talladega Superspeedway from his home in nearby Munford.
The roar was louder when a 14-year-old Bret visited the 2.66-mile-long tri-oval, walking along the front stretch and visiting the garage with his dad.
But the roar was even louder Friday as Bret went behind the wheel for the first time at the track on which he has longed to race. The 18-year-old made his superspeedway debut in the ARCA General Tire 200 in the No. 23 Veterans Oil/Southern States Bank Chevrolet.
Holmes placed 10th as the race finished under caution.
Earlier today, Holmes talked about his long history and fascination with racing.
At Talladega Superspeedway, Bret Holmes goes from hearing the roar to being the roar from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
At Talladega for the #GeneralTire200 supporting @bretholmes_2 ! Let’s go Bret! pic.twitter.com/4vDmMKr2JL
— Jacob Heath (@JacobHeath1) April 29, 2016
Holmes made his ARCA debut two weeks ago at Nashville Speedway, qualifying second before finishing fifth out of 34 drivers. He qualified 13th for Friday’s 5 p.m. race.
The oldest child and only son of Stacy and Lisa Holmes lives about 10 minutes away from the superspeedway.
As an 8-year-old, he raced go-karts at Talladega Raceway Park, which is just across the road from the mammoth track. He did that for about four years and moved into stock car racing and bigger cars.
Holmes has amassed four championships in the Talladega area, three in go-karts and one on the short track. His obsession with racing came naturally from his father, who picked up dirt late model racing in his 20s.
“Whenever Davey Allison would come here to race, (Stacy Holmes) would help be a part of his crew, just volunteer to work,” the son said. “That’s when he got the racing bug, I guess. It was something he kind of fell into. But as soon as he started helping Davey a little bit and he started doing his own thing, that’s when he really got into it.”
Grant Enfinger won the ARCA Series title last year. The Fairhope native, who was inducted to the ARCA Wall of Fame on Thursday, lent his experience to Bret as his crew chief.
“It’s definitely a big jump,” Enfinger said. “The first step was Nashville a couple of weeks ago. That was his first-ever ARCA race but he did really, really good there.
“Obviously, Talladega is a different deal. He’s got a lot of good guys around him but he’s pretty mature for his age. He transitioned really, really well in Nashville and I don’t expect him to be any different here in Talladega.”
Bret Holmes (Bruce Nix/Alabama NewsCenter)
When Stacy and Bret Holmes visited the superspeedway during race weeks, they would go to the garage and talk with Carl Edwards and Ken Schrader, with whom they developed close relationships.
“I’d usually talk to them whenever we came,” the young racer recalled. “We’d just walk up and down pit row, just me and my dad, and watch the cars pitting and go down the front straightaway.
“Talladega’s so big you can only watch one part of it at a time. That’s what I remember most about coming here in the past. Just being so big and walking around everywhere and taking in everything.”
Bret Holmes admitted to feeling nervous in his early races but experience has settled his nerves. Looking toward Friday’s race, the nerves were back.
“This race, it kind of came back to me a little bit,” he said. “Being from here, I’ve got a lot of friends and family who are going to be at this race. It’s just going to be special. It’ll be a little advantage but it’s making me nervous a little bit too.”
Holmes said winning in his first run at Talladega Superspeedway would have been great.
“At the same time, this is not where I want to stop,” he said. “I want to keep going and move up into the upper levels, into the Truck Series and the Xfinity Series and maybe one day the Sprint Cup Series. I’m going to do all I can to see as far as I can make it. I’m going to definitely give 100 percent to see how far I can go.”
