THR Press Release

[NickHolt]

PRESS RELEASE Release: December 15, 2003

 

Veteran Race Official Nick Holt Named First Competition Director as Thunder Hill Raceway Prepares for Seventh Season

 

Kyle -- Thunder Hill Raceway owner and general manager Brian Callaway today named veteran race official Nick Holt as the track's first Competition Director as the track prepares for its seventh season. Holt, most recently the chief tech inspector for the Texas Pro Sedan Series, brings 30 years of experience in roles ranging from competition director and NASCAR Chief Steward at San Antonio Speedway to working as a suspension setup consultant for NASCAR teams to conducting seminars on suspension setup. He's currently working on his master's degree.

 

"The buck stops with me," he says of his new role at Thunder Hill. "I'll make the final calls on incidents on the track; and I'll be the one who tells a driver he's disqualified, and why, when necessary. Though the tech officials and the chief tech inspector will determine rules violations, I'll be the one breaking the bad news to the drivers."

 

"We needed someone like Nick on board," Callaway said in making the announcement. "Our last race of the season drew some 6,000 fans to watch 170 cars and crews compete in six different racing classes, and it became obvious that trying to handle the business side as well as overseeing the races on Saturday night was too much."

 

Holt got his start as a car owner in the 1970’s, helping build a Vega Mini Stock for the old Paramount Speedway in Austin and Pan American Speedway in San Antonio. Nick drove it exactly one race, climbed out and turned the driving duties over to co-owner, Johnny Ivy.

 

“That car handled so bad I vowed right then and there to learn everything I possibly could about suspension. From then on you could find me at the SAE library at Southwest Research digging out whatever was published about suspension engineering and chassis design.” He learned well: that Vega went on to win many races.

 

“Suspension engineering is not an easy subject. Many teams figure out by trial and error how to set up a car for a certain track, but few can explain the physics behind their set up. I help by explaining the principles in language that anyone with a high school education can understand, and get a kick out of seeing students apply the principles to their cars and do well.”

 

Holt was rules consultant with the Texas International Drivers Association for several years and for five years was motorsports columnist for The San Antonio Light. His suspension engineering articles have been published in national racing magazines such as Stock Car Racing Magazine, Short Track Racing Magazine, Late Model Digest, and National Speed Sport News as well as in various regional racing papers.

 

Holt also currently serves as the moderator on Texas Speed Zone, an internet-based community forum at www.texasspeedzone.com dedicated to racing in the state of Texas. He will continue in that role, seeing it as a valuable way for drivers to reach him and to drivers and fans to voice their opinions.

 

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T. Q. Jones P. O. Box 91346 Austin, TX 78709-1346

 

PH: (512) 266-4814 FAX: (512) 266-4833 Email: tqj@mindspring.com