A little delayed article about my race weekend with the Pirelli World Challenge

Well here we are, A week after my 1st and 2nd Pirelli World Challenge race weekend at Brainerd International Raceway with the Breathless Performance Racing team. Welcome to part 2 of my article about my experience of living out a dream of mine.

Through the first article, I took you back to when I was a kid watching researching race cars at Road America. All the visions in my head, and watching the drivers from the other side was now flipped. I was a driver, and I was "in the spotlight" so to speak. I travelled up on Thursday and got a good night's rest at a friend's house, set my alarm for 5am and went to sleep.

Fast forward to after I woke up a few times in a panic that I had missed my alarm, and to when I arrived at the track. the crew was busy getting everything set up. We had a 5 car stable at Breathless Performance Racing. My Mazda2, Ernie Francis Jr's Miata and Camaro, another  Camaro, Jason Fichter had his mini cooper, there was a mustang as well. I met the crew and was assigned Les as my crew chief.  He was there to take care of everything on my car, or any needs that came about. Les is a quiet guy, but he is funny as can be, and a very hard worker. Friday was the promoter test day, and it was raining. Not just a light sprinkle, raining cats and dogs. I had raced in a World racing League event a couple of months ago and described it one of the worst experiences I have had in a race car. Rain, fogging windshield, and generally not ideal circumstances. So having the rain this morning was literally my worst fear. Not to mention the fact that I had not put rain tires into my budget for the weekend. We worked out a deal for the rain tires, got them mounted on a set of rims, Les went to work swapping them out from the slicks that were on the car, and I was off to practice session #1 in the rain.

Throughout the next 3 sessions, I managed to learn the car and the tendencies of it in the rain. Saturday was supposed to have a low chance of rain, and Sunday was supposed to be a torrential downpour. For my last two sessions I had a drying track which was comforting. The whole TCB class besides the top 2 who were 3 seconds faster for some reason was within 2 seconds of each other. in racing, that is a lot of time but I felt that I was at least in the ballpark. Friday did exactly what it was supposed to do, give me some time in the car, and prepare me for the rest of the weekend. The main event! 

With Friday over I checked into my hotel, and set my sights on the 1st day of racing. Practice, qualifying and a race at 4:30pm. Saturdays weather was supposed to be the best of the weekend, it was bad but there was a constant mist, or drizzle in the air, nothing like Friday morning's test session. I started the day running 2.11 second laps in the rain, again we were all pretty much running within a few seconds of each other so I felt good about it. Practice ended with me in 11th out of 13 with a fastest lap of 1:57.798, just 3/10ths away from the next driver. ahead of me. Besides the top 2, then rest of the times ranged from 1:55 to 1:58.8.  On to the autograph section of the day, I had my promo cards set up and I sat down in the row of drivers to sign my name however many times I needed to. It was great to see the fans and the kids that showed up to grab a card from me, at one time I was one of those kids walking up to Al Unser Sr, and Danny Sullivan for their autograph. Just like when I was a kid, I watched what the other drivers were doing, just so I didn't seem out of place. It's weird to think that there is a way to sign autographs, but there is. I'll spare you the details on that one...back to racing things. The rain had let up and the track was drying so we switched over to a new set of Pirelli tires, headed out to the track. After our first warm up lap it was go time! Qualifying! I headed down the back straight and as I was exiting turn 2 I hear over the radio my teammate say, " it's raining in turn 3. I was going about 95 mph when the call came in so I slowed up, qualifying was a wash, literally. I ended up in starting 13th, dead last. My teammate Jason started in 12th, so I felt like I had a "friend" nearby, and really for my first race, it was ok to be in the back to see everything unfold in front of me rather than worry about being in the middle of a pack.

there I was, about to start my 1st professional race, it was a standing start and the weather was dry. I had not had the opportunity to practice my starts, but really, the idea is, " just don't stall it. The red lights come on, rev's go up, and they turn off, I dump the clutch and realize that I had a great start! Up the inside to turn 12 I went. I picked off about 3-4 cars leading into the 1st corner which was turn 12. The numbering of the corners is such because there are 2 course at Brainerd. The old school 3.1 Donnybrook course which uses the drag strip, and the 2.5 competition course. So here comes the first corner, a really tight left hander, and we were probably 3 wide at this point. I held my inside line and made it though.  TCB is a class of cars that are so closely matched that if the pack leaves you, your race is pretty much over, well at Brainerd it is. I rode around the track for 40 mins doing the best that I can to pick away at my lap times. I was taking corners that I would normally slow down for flat out, and braking later and later for each corner. Saturday's race ended with me finishing in 10th. A Top 10! And no damage!

on to Sunday. With one race behind me and a clearer idea as to how this all goes down, I was ready for Sundays events. Practice and a race. If there is one thing I am good at, it is running consistent laps, Sundays warm up had me at 1:57.7, good for 9th in the morning warm up, and  1second separated 4th through 9th. Again, In the ball park! I started the race in 11th spot, based on lap times from the previous race. oh by the way, the weatherman in Brainerd should be fired, a torrential downpour forecast was scrapped for a beautiful day, much to my liking. We swapped the rear tires to the front and went out for the warm up lap. Once again we were doing a standing start, red lights came on and went out. In the middle of that sequence I took my eyes off the lights at the exact wrong time. The result was not a great start but I moved up one spot by the time the first lap was done, another on the 2nd lap, and yet another on the 5th lap. Progress!  What took place from lap 13 to 20 was probably the most fun I have ever had in a race car.  After a tangle with my teammate the car driven by Michael Ashby was behind me, he eventually caught up. I made the mistake once of not drafting with him in the middle of turns 1 and 3, but wised up the next time around. He drafted me and got by, but every time into turn 3 I would brake later than he would. We swapped spots 5 times in 7 laps! Looking at the Chart for the race, we were pretty much the only two cars in TCB that were swapping spots. The racing was very clean on both of our parts, and very respectful. I wish I had started to draft with him earlier, Rookie Mistake! After a while I realized that I could not hear my pit crew on the radio, for whatever reason, so I had no idea how much time was left. Michael got by me on lap 19, and protected the inside line in turn 3, which was a smart move on his part considering that is the corner that I passed him in a couple of times. After the race was finished, on the cool down lap, we both gave each other a thumbs up through our window nets. I finished in 11th spot on Sunday but one of the best parts was getting to race with Michael Ashby, and having him come over to my pits to talk about our racing and both of us thanked each other for racing clean and hard. Thank you again Michael! My best lap time was down to a 1:56.5, 1 second away from 4th place. It's crazy how close this field is during the race.

Overall the weekend was awesome, I couldn't have asked for a better crew to be with, the SCCA officials were all very welcoming to me. They knew through my story and being 1 of 3 Minnesotans racing this weekend that this was my 1st pro race weekend.  Breathless Performance Racing did everything they could to make me feel welcome. I am sorry that I had to inform them on Friday afternoon that they bought 3.2% beer at the store, and not "real beer," but I was glad to set them straight. ( In Minnesota 3.2% alcohol beer is sold in gas stations, 5.5% alcohol beer is sold only in liquor stores) anyways.... We had a great time, I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. I think I was more nervous in my 1st chump car race in 2012. All the work leading up to this was a lot tougher than driving in the race, once I got to the track all I had to do was drive.

What the future holds, I do not know at this point, but I will be travelling down to Circuit of the America's for the Continental ST series race, and in October I will be travelling to Georgia for the IMSA Continental Series race at Road Atlanta. Hopefully I can secure some seat time in a car in either of those races, chances are slim of course. I would like to thank the 20+ people that came to watch me in my 1st pro race weekend, family, local teammates, family friends, and friends of mine, it was great to see everyone stop by the pits and get in the car to see how it was. Also I would like to thank my sponsors, First and foremost, Go Puck, if you don't have one of these, please go over to www.chrisholterracing.com and click on the Go Puck logo enter code " cholter " at check out for 20% off. this is a great product that will help your phone, tablet, or any other electrical devices stay charged on the go. #whereablepower .  First Gear Project, with Guy Cosmo! thank you for taking me under your wing and providing me the platform to tell my story and get some financial backing for this race weekend. If you have a motorsports financial need, check out www.firstgearproject.com and submit your project and GET FUNDED like I did! Thank you to the American Brain Tumor Association for their support, I hope we can do more in the future! Fuel Clothing for keeping my feet fresh with colorful socks, I love colorful socks....TMI.... Thank you Matt from NASportscar for asking me to write this 2 part blog! and thank you to Ernie Francis and the whole crew for working with me and providing the tools I needed to have a successful weekend!

Here is to hoping that this won't be the last time that you see my name on a racecar, or in the results category of a race. Till next time NASportscar fans!

Link to NASportscar

The week before

Hi everyone, My name is Chris Holter, and I have been asked to write a two part article about the weeks leading up to my first pro start in auto racing and then the aftermath of the weekend. I would like to thank NaSportscar for this opportunity.

So, where do I begin? I'm about a week away from being at Brainerd International raceway in my Mazda2  for Breathless Performance Racing in the Pirelli World Challenge. But in order to tell the story, I have to rewind, maybe too far, but here we go.

I attended my first race at BIR in 1978, I was 3 years old, and yes, you can now figure out my age, but all i remember from that event was that an airplane landed on the front straight.  Fast forward two years or so, and you would be able to find myself and my dad over in Elkhart Lake, Wis at the beautiful Road America race track. My dad Spencer took me to RA every summer, it was quite possibly the highlight of my summer, From 1980 on for many years, I grew up watching the CART Indy Cars back in the hay days of Mario Andretti , Al Unser Sr, Tom Sneva, Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan. As well as the IMSA Camel GT cars, legends like Al Holbert in the Lowenbrau Porsche, Hurley Haywood In the white and green jaguar, Paul Newman in the Nissan, Even Walter Payton from the Bears drove a few times. what an era to be able to witness .  As a little kid we camped nearby which is now someone's yard, and snacked on brats, Corn on the cob and chocolate Ice cream while at RA. Each race I went to, stirred up this desire to want to be on the other side of the fence, driving a car as fast as I could, on this very racetrack, so much that I told my family as a little boy that I wanted to race cars professionally one day.

Fast Forward many, many years, and you would've found me at a local SCCA Solo II competition, I finally had a car that I could "mess with" and finally found a place to drive on the edge legally. This was the base work for my future as a driver, I went on the win the SCCA-LoL Solo II Championship in 1999, and 2000, also Driver of the year in 2000 winning nearly every event I entered in my class. Fast forward again to 2012, after some life altering events I got back into racing. A co-worker asked if I wanted to be a part of a team for some fun fairly local endurance races. So I joined the team and we built a Mazda Miata which raced at Road America, Brainerd, and Iowa Speedway, placing 6th in the 24 hour race at Iowa. The next year we built a BMW, and after Road America I moved over to a team from the Twin Cities, Mn. We ended up 6th in the championship at the end of the year.

After meeting up with Ryan Eversley at Road America, I decided to put in my application for an IMSA Continental Tire ST License. I figured out who to contact, and sent an email to ask what I had to do, compiled the data, and sent it back. Low n behold, they approved it! I was really excited but had no idea how I was going to manage getting a ride. I had met up with Darren Law down in Mesa, Az in the fall and we talked about how difficult it was to get in the seat of a race car at the IMSA level. But the one word of advice he did give me that I thought was the best advice, he said " Go to the races, introduce yourself, shake hands with people, get your face acquainted with your name."  So I did just that, I bought my plane ticket to Daytona, Florida, well Jacksonville Beach to stay with my sister.  And we went to the Roar Before the 24, which is a test session at Daytona  for the IMSA cars. I thought, Cool, I will go there and talk with teams, owners, drivers, and a team will pick me up, right!?!? Not the case. I met a lot of teams, and owners, managers etc, but There was 20 other people that started this process years ago that were standing in line ahead of me, metaphorically speaking of course....I talked with teams and even sat up in a pit box to watch another driver " tryout" for the team I was most interested in.

I flew home and got back to work, all the while getting ready for yet another trip down to Florida to hit up the Sebring race. This is where I learned a great deal of information, mostly from Mikey Taylor, thank you Mikey BTW.... I saw how Mikey handled his business at the track, he had lists of people to meet, lists of friends to meet, and an agenda for the weekend. I guess you could say, "This is how you work a crowd". We had a sweet rental car and a terrible hotel, but the lesson learned that weekend were huge. I also started to get recognized in the paddock area. Team owners waved to me, PR people knew who I was, and some drivers didn't mind taking the time to chat with me. I learned the ins and outs of networking that weekend, another valuable lesson.

The main thing that I learned through all of this was that it was going to take a lot more than just having a license, and knowing a few people. Funding is key, and a struggle that even the big teams have to deal with. I took a racing marketing class and send my proposal off to people in the racing world that could critique it, and openly share their thoughts on it. I tweaked it, revised it, sent it back out, emailed, cold called, and met up with potential sponsors every time I could. Funding a car for an IMSA race is not cheap, the numbers actually are crazy, I'll spare you the details, but it is ridiculously expensive.

As the season progressed, I didn't have enough money to travel to the other IMSA races out in California, NY, and other venues, but I did what I could. I soon gathered that each team had their set of drivers and there wasn't going to be much shuffling, let alone give a unknown driver a shot. So I thought that i needed to expand my racing horizons a little bit. I applied for a SCCA Pirelli World Challenge license and was granted a provisional one.  A whole new world of opportunities opened up for me. I started to talk with Pirelli teams, some of which run in both IMSA and PWC. I had not planned on racing in PWC this year, I planned on sticking with IMSA, but there wasn't opportunity that I could afford.

I travelled to Road America to meet up with Ernie Francis of Breathless Performance Racing in the Pirelli World Challenge  to talk shop. We had a good meeting and I decided that this was going to be my one shot to get in a race. We worked out a deal, and I took out a loan for it. Every racers dream right?  I figured that it was tough to talk to potential sponsors without having a ride to speak of, so I would talk to them WITH a ride lined up. This has proved to be a better way of going about things, not financially, but we will see about that.

So here I am, the night before I travel to the track, Clothes are in the dryer, race gear is packed, sponsor swag has been delivered, and I am finally grasping some time to finish this. I havent been sleeping very well this week, not really a suprise, but after a talk with a friend, Vickie Miller, she helped calm my nerves down a bit. If you don't know Vickie, it's time you do, she is to a few of us, #trackmom . I have appreciated our talks at various racetracks around the country. She sent me an article, from the Pirelli World Challenge site, I had just purchased some supplies for the weekend and was sitting in my car. My name was mentioned in the article, and my eyes welled up with tears of joy. Relevant in the racing world? not in the least bit. But my name was mentioned in the articles that for the lifetime  of my existence  had always been another driver that has made an impact. Now is my time to shine.

I travel tomorrow with the hopes that this weekend is a great learning piece and stepping stone in my racing career. I am humble enough to know that while I may not turn the world on fire, at least I have the opportunity to showcase my talent that I have been researching since I was a little kid with my dad at Road America. I give thanks to the people that have motivated me when I didn't think it was possible. Some would call them "haters",  to me, they are my motivators.  Thank you to them for pushing me. I thank the genuine people in my life that have stood beside me, helped me, and positively motivated me to keep the pursuit. I thank all of my family, for letting me go after this, even though at times I was extending myself past my means. I thank my new sponsors, Go Puck, Fuel Clothing, and First Gear Project for believing in my ability to represent their company respectfully.  I thank Ernie Francis and the crew at Breathless Performance for giving me an opportunity, and preparing a car for me. This weekend is going to be amazing, I need to make sure that I take a minute to step back and appreciate where I am, because I don't think it has hit me yet. Most of all, I thank my wife Lisa for teaching me what it takes to be strong in the face of adversity, through her life and passing, I learned so many wonderful traits.

I'll end on this thought, the greatest thing that you can use to gauge your life is how well you show up in it, be here now. You can only concern yourself at any moment  with what is at your finger tips, and what is coming at you. Dig Deep.

let's go racin'

Chris Holter 

Auto racing: Rochester road racer Holter to make pro debut at Brainerd - PostBulletin.com: Local Sports

Auto racing: Rochester road racer Holter to make pro debut at Brainerd - PostBulletin.com: Local Sports

Holter make pro debut news article

Friday's local Rochester, Mn paper will have an article here, check it out!

http://m.postbulletin.com/sports/localsports/auto-racing-rochester-road-racer-holter-to-make-pro-debut/article_f9e2a842-d02f-5e1e-909e-9bd0c3db0c07.html?mode=jqm

Holter signs up with First Gear Project

Chris Holter has signed up with Guy Cosmo's First Gear Project to help with funding for the upcoming race in Brainerd! Give it a click here: http://www.firstgearproject.com/projects/active/holter-pro-racing

Holter signs with Breathless Racing out if Miami,Florida

Holter signs with Breathless Racing out if Miami,Florida for a double race weekend at Brainerd International Raceway, Minnesota. Chris will be driving the #9 Mazdaspeed2 in the TCB class.

     "This will be my pro debut and I could not be more excited for the opportunity from Breathless Racing, Ernie Francis and from The Pirelli World Challenge." Said Chris

Look for more updates about a crowdfunding website, and new sponsor announcements soon!

Week 4 Dark Horse Pros winner!

Chris was a weekly winner in the Dark Horse Pros, #ontheedge video contest! Congratulations to Chris! He has been hard at work reaching out to potential partners for upcoming races. We look forward to a big announcement soon!

Pirelli World Challenge APPROVED

Today was a good day, I submitted my paperwork for a Pirelli World challenge license, and graciously Staci approved it!

So the search for funding continues, but this helps to find a business here in Minnesota, for a Minnesota race, at a track that I am familiar with. Brainerd International Raceway. 

So let's spit out ideas for Minnesota businesses that would like to sponsor this kid that's itchin to get racing!

Pirelli World Challenge APPROVED

Today was a good day, I submitted my paperwork for a Pirelli World challenge license, and graciously Staci approved it!

So the search for funding continues, but this helps to find a business here in Minnesota, for a Minnesota race, at a track that I am familiar with. Brainerd International Raceway. 

So let's spit out ideas for Minnesota businesses that would like to sponsor this kid that's itchin to get racing!

April 4th!

Hey all, I haven't had much time to blog about much lately. But here we go!

I was able to get down to Sebring for round 2 of the continental series race! Got a spiffy upgraded rental car, a corvette.... And probably the worst hotel room I have ever stayed in. Literally disgusting. Mikey Taylor met up with me and we cruised the pits talking to team owners, drivers, and anyone that would listen. I listened to Mikey t talk to these guys, mentally taking notes.... At 17 he's got his head on straight. I was impressed. 

Sebring is wicked, I would love to race there. The crowd is crazy. The cows, turn 10 crew, the cowboys with their jeans tucked in their boots blastin dirty south gangster rap.... It's very confusing. And it seemed as though everyone had one thing on their mind, well maybe 2 or 3 . Beer, party, racing, in no particular order. The racing in conti was good, I am glad that Marc Miller is doing well after getting blasted into the wall. And I hope that the c360r team can put these two races behind them and make a solid run the rest of the season. 

Upon returning, I looked back on my weekend away, I got a sun tan, met up with the wheelmen group, got to chill out with Vickie, Michael G, and a few others. It's was great. I also got to talk with Karl Thompson, and Jom Johnson. And it seemed the whole weekend I was emailing back with a rep from red line oil. It's great to have the comraderie with the guys and gals in the series. Sometimes I feel like they are a whole 2nd set of friends, or a club that I haven't really been accepted into yet. I'm working in my membership.....

But once I got home the focus switched over to the next race, California, Laguna seca. I've been reaching out to potential sponsors, trying to figure out who would be interested, sending emails, making phone calls, etc....working on it....

But also I have been putting time into a local BMW that I ran twice at Road America. We grabbed a new motor for it, and put on a giant spoiler. Tons of drag, some things I don't get with this team. Like the need to worry about a paint job on it, while the motor is in pieces. It's a race car, not a show car....or the need to rip bumpers and cut fenders.... If you look at the cars beating this car, none if this is done. Those cars are prepared, and motor chassis wise, they are complete. Body work is secondary.

But nonetheless, I will help out as much as I can. As I feel a serious need to sit in a race seat, drive a race car, and feel the trill...

Hopefully we can find some funding for continental. I would live to race at least road America.  

I will try to update this sooner next time.

Cheers!

Trials and tribs

New update at www.facebook.com/chrisholterracing 

The trials and tribulations of searching for funding...,

New updates to web page

Hey everyone! I have added a blog section which will allow me to update the NEWS section from my phone. Pretty slick....

Just wanted to touch base and send well wishes to all the folks racing at Road Atlanta this weekend.

I need to check up and see how Schumacher is doing, also good to hear that Memo Gidley is out to be at home in California. 

I am gathering up information in regards to sponsors, as you might've seen I became an affiliate for Quest Nutrition. Hopefully that can turn into a solid partnership, but we have a few ideas marinating, so stay tuned, hope everyone has a good weekend!

News:

What's new with Chris Holter Racing?!

February 5th 2014
Holter racing has partnered as an affiliate with Quest Nutrition. Quest offers a healthy way to have a "cheat meal" Check out their products here!
To order Quest Nutrition, click here!









January 26th, 2014


After a great weekend in Daytona, Florida the  
 
 
Roar before the 24, Chris returned home to get back to work at securing funding. His trip to Daytona was about networking, showing teams, owners and fans that he is ready to put in the time and dedication that the United SportsCar Series deserves. 


Holter is currently in the hunt for a sponsorship from Champion Spark plugs, if you are interested in voting for Chris, please visit:

http://www.alwaysachampion.com/search-for-a-champion/entry/1536549

Chris also was interviewed by the local newspaper, the Post Bulletin of Rochester, Minnesota. Here is a link to the article:

http://www.postbulletin.com/life/lifestyles/seen-heard/article_95298626-1370-56bb-a974-65e00de990d2.html

 

Support from fans all over the world is greatly appreciated, Chris is in contact with fans and well wishers all over the United States, and across the pond. He is really working hard to secure funding for a ride in the Continental Sports Car Series. 

More news to come! Stay Tuned!