When Cole Bruce stormed to the lead at Langley Speedway on Saturday night, he was focused on winning the race. His heart, however, was heavy.
Bruce, 21, from Fredericksburg, Virginia was competing for only the third time since his father and former racer Robert Bruce passed away. After starting sixth in the second of twin Late Model Stock Car races, he took the lead on the eighth lap of the race and looked to the sky after scoring the most emotional win of his career.
“I was just going as fat as I can,” Bruce told Short Track Scene. “I knew Danny Edwards was going to be our number one guy. We had to worry about him for the second race because he was starting right behind me and I knew he was super fast. He saved his stuff as well and, after that, it was a little bit over 40 laps and I was just running straight qualifying laps. I had my spotter yelling in my ear, just marks and rhythms for 40 laps straight, telling me to breathe, and I’m doing everything I can to be as consistent as I can for 40 laps. 40 of the best laps of my life, that’s for sure.”
After scoring the win, Bruce celebrated not just by honoring his father, but by also honoring Shawn Balluzzo as well. Balluzzo lost his life in an accident at Langley Speedway in 2020.
“I went to the Shawn Balluzo memorial area in turn two,” Bruce recalled. “I really didn’t know Shawn personally, I think I only spoke to him once or twice, but I went over there and took and knee and bawled. I screamed and I cried, because I know that Shawn and my dad were looking down watching the race together, so that was the spot I wanted to go to first. I was upset, I was so torn, but I was so happy that we got the win.”
After that, Bruce paid tribute to his father in victory lane.
“I got out of my car and I pointed to the sky to him,” Bruce continued. “The first person I saw and hugged was my mom. This has been super hard for her. I think it was just a moment of relief, knowing that I still got it in me, I’ve got a great group of guys and women that help me and support me and show me so much love. I am very thankful and blessed for that, but it’s just super emotional like that. I was a little bit of every emotion in the book of just happy, sad, mad, and relieved.”
While Saturday was the best of times, recent weeks have been the worst of times.
“It’s just surreal just trying to adapt,” Bruce explained. “I feel like, now, everything’s kind of settled down to where we’re trying to get back to this realm of a normal life. I’m back at school with a bunch of my friends. Being with them and staying busy helped out a lot. Obviously, the whole month of July and even the end of June was super rough and we’ve had to kind of let it soak in and now we’re just trying to adapt to reality. It’s still not the same without him. It’s just emotional. I know, sometimes, when I’m not busy or I’m just kind of sitting there, thinking about it, or even just racing, all my memories, man, it gets to me a little bit. You know, it breaks my heart.”
Robert had been racing for decades before Cole strapped in the saddle. The elder Bruce began racing in the 1990s at the now-defunct Old Dominion Speedway, first in Grand Stock, then in Late Model Stock Cars. After Old Dominion Speedway closed down, the Bruce family competed at Dominion Raceway.
For Cole, it was the memories of watching Robert race at the historic Manassas, Virginia track as well as watching races with him on television that made him want to follow in his father’s footsteps.
“He was the main reason I got into racing,” Bruce stated. “My dad started racing in the late 90s. I was born in 2004, and once I was old enough, when I was younger, I used to come to the racetrack all the time with my family and watch him race. Whether it was Saturday night or Sunday afternoon on the couch watching races with him on TV, that’s what we all always did and he was the main one who got me to love the sport and be involved with it.”
While Saturday nights will be different for Cole Bruce, he will continue to race with plans to finish out the season at Langley Speedway. He’s also working on lining up sponsors to compete in the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway in late-September and at South Boston Speedway in November.
