Tanner Holmes was hoping to catch the eyes of those heavily involved in winged sprint car racing.
The 20-year-old driver from Jacksonville, Ore., ventured to the Midwest for a month this summer. It was the third time in the last four years he’d left the West Coast to tackle marquee events several states from his home.
“We made a couple of trips before, just really spread out,” he said. “We ran ASCS Speedweek in 2020 during COVID. In 2021, we ran a small stint with Ohio Speedweek and some other All Star races in July. We did not get to go in 2022.
“The first two years were more like two or three weeks and this one was a little longer. The goal was to go out there and get that little extra you don’t get on the West Coast,” Holmes continued. “We were going to run 410 Nationals (at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway) and go home and get ready for the (World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series) West Coast swing, which is big.”
Holmes was successful, earning a runner-up result during a Midwest Sprint Touring Series show at Rapid Speedway in Rock Rapids, Iowa; a top-five finish at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D.; and a Hard Charger Award during a top-15 outing in his first race of the season at Knoxville Raceway.
“I think the main thing is to run the biggest sprint car race each year – the Knoxville Nationals,” he said. “That was what the whole trip was planned around. We ran weekly three times before Nationals, just trying to hit that place and figure it out a little bit to take into the 360 and 410 Nationals. We got to run Huset’s. We got to run 16 shows in the Midwest. We got to run as much as possible to make the most of the trip.”
Holmes placed 11th during his preliminary night at the 33rd annual 360 Knoxville Nationals before making the feature and finishing 20th during the finale.
The last scheduled week on the road was the ensuing weekend as Knoxville Raceway hosted the 62nd annual NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals.
“We were focused, doing our own thing,” Holmes said. “We’d been on this crazy wave for four weeks in a row. Saturday of Knoxville Nationals rolls around and our trip is about over. At that point you’re set in stone on Saturday. We were in a C main. The goal was to move forward and get better because we were still struggling with some balance stuff.
“Bobby (Allen) came up to my pit stall. It was pretty quick. I’d never talked to him before (that week). He said they need a driver for the rest of the year. It was a quick deal, a couple of minutes. I was pretty interested,” Holmes added. “By that night the plan was we were going to run Huset’s on Tuesday to get some laps because they had the High Limit show there. Pretty quickly it was we were finishing off the year.”
Holmes landed his biggest opportunity in racing as Hall of Famer Bobby Allen — the patriarch of Shark Racing, which has featured two drivers on the World of Outlaws tour for the last decade — tabbed him to fill the seat for the remainder of the season after Jacob Allen elected to take time away from racing.
“I was thinking of what we were doing that night, but also ahead because with our family program we do everything,” Holmes said. “We’ll be home in two days. What do we need to start doing to get ready for the Outlaws. There was so much going on. Seats open up here and there and you keep your eyes open. I was definitely surprised, but knew it was something I had to take advantage of. I knew they are a family team, but their operation is similar to ours. It couldn’t have worked out much better.”
The first World of Outlaws race together came less than a week later at Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minn., which hosted the 45th annual AGCO Jackson Nationals. Holmes set quick time during qualifying before capping the night with a third-place performance — his career-best World of Outlaws result.
“Our first night in Jackson was really good,” he said. “We went quick time and ran third in the feature. You can’t complain too much about that.”
Holmes finished 10th during the second preliminary night before closing the event with a seventh-place showing.
“It’s huge,” he said. “We’re building to get to a consistent point where that happens more often. I think my best Outlaws finish before all this was an 11th-place finish. I got that out of the way the first night. That initial head of steam was really big.