MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Philip A. Holmer, a staple in the NASCAR garage for more than four decades, died Jan. 5. He was 78 years old.
Holmer retired in 2008 after a 32-year career with Goodyear as field manager and marketing manager for the company’s NASCAR program.
In 2003, Holmer was recognized with the annual Buddy Shuman Award that recognizes individuals whose contributions helped advance stock car racing.
“Phil managed our NASCAR program for the most formative years of Goodyear’s racing program,” said Stu Grant, Goodyear’s general manager of global race tires. “He scheduled production and managed the inventory on a yellow legal pad, and never missed a thing. An excel spreadsheet and a computer couldn’t have done any better. And he was part of the incredible growth of the sport until he retired just over a decade ago. He was a great ambassador for our company, and was never seen at the race track without his familiar blue Goodyear cap. When asked by a member of the racing media about the cap, he replied, ‘I’ll never wear another cap.’ He never lost that focus — he was proud of Goodyear and proud to represent the company he worked for.”
Holmer graduated from Culver Military Academy and Bradley University and joined the Army after college and later became a motorsports writer for the Orlando Sentinel.
Eventually, he went to work as a public relations representative for NASCAR and eventually joined Goodyear in 1976.
One of the more popular personalities in the garage area, Folmer was known as both gruff and entertaining.
Known as Papa Holmer, Uncle Phil and Philsey, Holmer co-founded the popular Boot Hill Saloon in Daytona Beach.