Champion racecar driver meets and greets fans

February 20, 2025

Belton Journal

Race fans in Central Texas attended a meet and greet for IMSA race car driver Chris Walsh at BMW of Temple last Wednesday.

Walsh is an enlisted officer in the U.S. Air Force in special tactics and loves to race.

“As a kid, I got into formula one and games that I could play. My Dad, Bob Walsh, was into cars. My race on Saturday is a circuit of COTA. I’m always excited to race. We won the championship last year in a BMW. The car I drive now is a step up, series wise. The team moved up to a higher level, top sports car series,” said Walsh.

Walsh tried out for the U.S. Olympic bobsled team then transitioned into car racing. He first started racing motorcycles and rode a Ducati 1199 in motor cross then transitioned into cars.

“The cool thing about motor sport is everybody has a role to play to make a driver be successful. I asked my daughter, Kate Walsh, what do you think the car should look like? She said a phoenix, like ash. I like it because a phoenix rises up from the ashes. The blue color on the car came out of AI,” said Walsh.

There was food, lemonade and tea at the meet and greet. They had giveaways like Stanley cups, wireless chargers, and BMW dog tags.

“Everybody lives in different places and everybody flies to meet. A couple of guys live close enough that come to the shop. We have everybody that’s usually at the shop come to the truck cause it’s all the same guys. We want them to gel, where they all get to know each other, and they work together,” said Anthony “Tony” Callas, co-owner of Carrus Callas race team.

Callas has a shop near Orlando, and another shop Los Angeles. They work on street cars likes Porsches and BMWs.

“If he wins, it’s very little. A gentlemen race car driver is somebody that is not a pro, but they are paid to race and that’s very common. It is hard to get into this business. Very few people actually make it. Very few people can maintain being able to be a race car driver because you start off in go karts and motorcycles. Everybody thinks it’s so glamorous and everything but it’s a very difficult sport,” said Callas.

For example, the team has a transporter that costs $1 million.

“We have a partnership with Daniel Espinosa. He pays the money for the transporter, and he bought the car. I own the shop and the equipment. NASCAR has TV coverage. The sponsors make a difference. They get to see their name on a car and they get to see their name on TV. NASCAR is popular. There’s a bunch of different car manufacturers out there, but all of these cars are run by gentlemen drivers. There are teams where one individual is paying for everything. It’s rare we even have sponsors,” said Callas.

The team was in Saturday’s first race of the IMSA and they won second place.