Bathurst 1000 Supercars 2022 | How a friendly beer changed Bathurst champ Lee Holdsworth’s life
A lockdown beer with the father of his kids’ best friend has led Lee Holdsworth into his somewhat left-field career change for next year.
The reigning Bathurst 1000 champion, Holdsworth announced he would retire from competing full time in the Supercars championship end of the season, to move full-time into commercial real estate.
After being forced out of his seat at Tickford Racing at the end of the 2020 season, he picked up a plum co-driving gig with Walkinshaw Andretti United alongside Chaz Mostert.
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The pair then went to Bathurst and dominated the race, winning despite suffering a tyre failure about half way.
Still facing the reality of another year on the sidelines, Holdsworth got his real estate license and was set to leap into it full time this year before getting the call up to drive again for Penrite Racing.
Holdsworth, who celebrated his 500th race start at the recent Sandown event, said he never saw himself getting into real estate, but when the phone stayed quiet for much of the first part of last year, he was forced to go looking.
“Last year having to sit on the sidelines, I was looking for opportunities,” he told Wide World of Sports.
“My daughter and my son’s best friend’s dad works at CBRE and we were having a beer over lockdown. He came up with this cunning plan to put me into a real estate job.
“The perks of what I’ve done in the past within the racing industry, there are a lot of people in the property industry.
“If you’re not getting paid to race, you probably have a lot of money to race. There are a lot of gentleman racers out there that are heavily into the property game and I’ve got great relationships with them.”
Holdsworth made his debut in the 2004 Sandown 500, and started racing full time with Garry Rogers Motorsport in 2006.
He drove for GRM for six years before stints at Stone Brothers and Erebus Motorsport, and then a lengthy stint at Team 18.
He spent two years at Tickford Racing before missing out on a seat when the team was forced to downsize at the end of 2020 after it failed to secure a fourth Racing Entitlements Contract.
Holdsworth said he had all but resigned himself to spending 2022 on the sidelines before he put in the best co-driver performance by a country mile at last year’s Bathurst 1000.
He put Mostert in perfect position to win, which he comfortably did. Holdsworth’s drive put him back in the sights of several teams.
“You know, there was nothing, nothing, nothing, and then we get closer to Bathurst and all of a sudden I got two job offers,” he said.
“Then we go and win Bathurst, and then I got an offer to come back full time with with Penrite Racing, and I couldn’t pass on that.”
It was widely understood in the paddock Holdsworth was a stop-gap solution for a year to allow youngster Matt Payne to accrue enough points to qualify for his Superlicence – speculation that was all but confirmed this week when the team confirmed Payne would line up alongside Reynolds in Holdsworth’s seat.
Payne will make his Bathurst 1000 debut alongside Holdsworth next weekend.
Holdsworth had an opportunity to extend his career with Blanchard Racing, but has decided to pass it on.
“It’s time for me to put on my big boy shoes and go and get a real job,” he said.
It’s understood Holdsworth has an informal agreement to return to Walkinshaw as a co-driver next year.
The seat at Blanchard Racing has been filled by Todd Hazelwood, while it’s expected Tim Slade will land at PremiAir Racing.
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