Brea Lopez - A Girl and Her Dream!
Brea Lopez was born into a family with a long and successful history in
Motorsports. Her Grandfather, the legendary West Coast racer Dan Press, enjoyed
a great career in racing and upon his retirement from racing in 1997 is where
the story truly begins.
Brea showed much interest in racing at an early age and Dan Press wanting to
stay involved in racing to some degree, decided to purchase a quarter
midget-race car to launch Brea on her way. Brea, who was nine years of age at
the time, turned her interest into a passion for the sport as her skill level
developed immediately and she was victorious in a high percentage of the events
she competed in at the local level. Her Grandfather, sensing the need to move
Brea to another dimension in her racing, began touring the country with Brea and
the pair was soon racking up an impressive list of wins and National titles
along the way, among them two Grand National Championships, four Winter National
Championships and two Regional Championships. Brea's crowning achievement in the
quarter midgets ranks was to win the 2003 Eastern Grand Nationals where more
than one thousand racers competed, making the event the largest quarter midget
race of all time. She emerged victorious that weekend despite the fact she was
suffering from some broken bones in her hand from a previous on-track race
incident. With the assistance of a cumbersome splint fitted to her hand and
steering wheel, Brea went out and dominated in a race she felt she had to win.
Once again the determination of Brea Lopez allowed her to focus on her mission
and rise to the podium.
Grandfather Dan, feeling that Brea had
accomplished everything she possibly could in the quarter midgets, looked high
and low searching for the next racing division for Brea to conquer.
On a trip to a nearby raceway to watch one of her
friends compete, Brea witnessed her first glimpse of the full-size midget racers
in competition and immediately fell in love with them.
Grandfather Dan went shopping and purchased a top
of the line Beast Chassis midget fitted with an Ed Pink Ford motor, and within
weeks of her sixteenth birthday Brea was hustling the powerful little racer
around the pavement bullrings in the State of Washington while competing with
the Washington Midget Racing Association.
For the 2005 racing season Brea set her sights on
winning the Rookie of the Year title in the WMRA. Adapting to the powerful
little car with ease, Brea captured the Rookie title and finished as the
runner-up in the series points, quite an amazing accomplishment for the young
racer.
The 2006 racing season found Brea setting her
goals high as she sought to win the series championship. A series of misfortunes
during the 2006 season had Brea struggling at times with the race car. Missing a
set-up here and having motor problems there, the team was reeling a bit as they
dropped to a still respectable ninth in points, but very disappointing for the
determined young racer.
The team made plans to showcase Brea at the PRI
show in Orlando, Florida in October and the Team set off for the sunshine state.
While staying at a hotel in Kansas City overnight enroot to Florida, the team
woke up to find the entire rig was stolen as they slept. Quick action by the
racing and trucking communities later found the rig, but upon close examination,
almost all of the contents inside the trailer were stolen, including all of the
spare midget parts and the lifetime of tools that belonged to her Grandfather.
The off-year suddenly became the year from hell as now the team was faced with
repairing the vandalized rig and to replace all of the missing racing components
and tools back to the trailer.
The 2007 racing season for the most part was a
joy for Brea as she was quick and determined in all of her outings the season.
The team traveled with both the WMRA and the BCRA. (Bay Cities Racing
Association) In traveling with the latter group, Brea accomplished one of the
goals she set for herself in 2007 and that was to win a main event. Brea
captured her initial win at the Redwood Acres Raceway in Eureka, California on
May 19th. Brea made the win a race to remember as she drove from 12th starting
place to take over the lead with five laps to go in the main event. Brea
finished the WMRA season by finishing third in the final points tally and being
named the Most Improved Driver by her peers.
The 2008 racing season for Brea has been a
challenge as some of the funding the team enjoyed over the past couple of years
diminished due to the rising costs associated with not only with racing but
through the downturn in our National economy as well. A long road trip slated
for Canada challenged the Lopez Team financially and it was decided to keep the
Team parked until racing returned locally. While Brea was frustrated over the
situation, she also realized their limited racing budget could not be taxed to
the point of not being able to compete in local races where she would have the
opportunity to showcase here driving ability. With the extended costs for more
traveling, the team sat down and began to plan the next step in Brea’s racing
career. Brea competed in another Midget race to complete her season and she did
remarkably well as she was able to finish the season in the top five in WMRA
points despite the limited schedule of racing during the 2008 racing campaign.
The 2009 racing season has brought about vast
changes for the Lopez Team. The Midget equipment was sold off and replacing it
is a Limited Late Model race car fitted with a crate GMC engine. The new deal is
quite a bit heavier than what Brea raced in the past and is considerably wider
and longer as well. The team entered the class to do battle at the South Sound
Speedway, a venue that Brea had enjoyed much racing success with during her
Midget competition days.
The team was hindered by the early season rain in
the Washington area and only had the opportunity to track-test the new race car
one time before the start of the 2009 racing season. The jump to the much
heavier and bulkier car proved to be an initial burden to Brea, but track-time
is essential in the sport and after a few races Brea was challenging for her
piece of the race track real estate. In only her fifth attempt in the new
division, Brea secured her first win at the South Sound Speedway and with the
win is now challenging the top runners at the speedway in the point’s chase. In
securing her initial win in the new division Brea held off noted West Coast and
NASCAR star Dirk Stevens to accomplish her goal. Since Brea was hoping to land a
win at some point while running for Rookie of the Year honors at the speedway,
the win will force her to alter her goals a bit as her adaptability to a race
car is unbelievable.
Brea is kept busy not only with her racing, but
she works fulltime in the capacity as the office coordinator at AllStar
Staffing. She is attending college on a part-time basis at Centralia College, a
two year associates degree school.
Brea graduated from high school in an accelerated
educational program from Apollo High School. Brea has been spending more time
working on the race car as well as it is one of her goals to be able to be hands
on with everything she accomplishes from now and into the future.
Brea has appeared on numerous local
Radio/Internet racing shows, does great interviews, and is quite an accomplished
speaker. Steve Pados, the host of the popular CARQUEST Gasoline Alley and
On-Track TV shows generating from the East Coast, had this to say about the
young lady racer.
“Brea Lopez was brought to my attention by Nex-Gen
Motorsports guru Charlie Patterson. He was of the opinion she would be a great
fit for our show since we follow the progress of all of the lady racers in the
sport. I immediately went to her website for more details about this gifted
racer. I was totally impressed to say the least and called her immediately to
join us on the show. She has been with us numerous times and her engaging spirit
carries through on all of the interviews and the listening audience through the
many emails we receive have really taken to her with her free spirit, sincerity,
determination and speaking from the heart. She would be a welcome addition to
any show, and we will certainly have her back with us many times in the future.
With more and more females rising into the racing ranks once totally ruled by
their male counterparts, the obvious rivalries are the fuel that will return
racing to another level of achievement in expanding their fan base. Brea Lopez
will play a major part in the elevation of female racers on the National level”.
Brea, shares a very special relationship with her
Grandparents, Dan and Bonnie Press. Brea feels she owes them a lot for their
guidance in both racing and in life's journey. Since Dan was a championship
racer, Brea will settle for nothing less herself. Brea's ultimate goal is to
become the first female NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion.
