LateModelStock.com - News

Tony Grady Returns

by Tom Hamm

Kenly, NC (May 19, 2001) -The arrival of late May, as has been the trend at Southern National Speedway the last few seasons, usually signals the appearance of Raleigh driver Tony Grady in Victory Lane.

The 37-year-old Grady returned with a convincing dash to the 100-lap Late Model Stock checkered flag during the Kenly Area Chamber of Commerce 245 auto racing program at SNS on Saturday night.

Grady, in a Monte Carlo, posted his first 2001 triumph at SNS after setting the 2000 wins (10) pace in his division.

Neither were Ron Langley of Elm City, Andy Smith of Goldsboro and Steve Mendenhall of Clayton strangers to Victory Lane. With a dramatic finish, Langley, in a Cutlass, collected his third Super Stock victory of the year. Smith, in a Toyota, remained undefeated in five Four Cylinder Stock outings and Mendenhall, in a Monte Carlo, outclassed the rest of the field in the 25-lap Baby Grands main event.

Pikeville's Linwood Mozingo captured the checkered flag in the 60-lap Pro Trucks feature, in which the rivalry between Goldsboro drivers John Jones and Brandon Head flared. Head outbattled Jones for the division championship last year.

"I think we just might be back," said the jubilant Grady. I don't know what it is, but we just don't win a race until late May. "We have just been struggling. That was not a monkey we got off our back tonight _ it was a gorilla."

Starting from the pole, Grady's Monte Carlo had lapped half the field when the first caution occurred at the race's two-thirds mark. And after a couple of laps on the restart, Grady poured away from his challengers again. "I was just riding and then I saw that caution," Grady said. "(Kinston's) Hank (Jarman) lost one like that and I didn't really know how good I was. But the guys just told me to do what you have been doing. We went out of sight again."

Jarman encountered more adversity. Jarman's Taurus battled the Monte Carlo of former NASCAR Busch Grand National driver Wayne Grubb of Mooresville for the second spot much of the race and occupied the runner-up spot when the car's rear axle broke with some 15 laps remaining.

Grubb, in his first SNS appearance in three years (when he launched his Busch career), bested Wilson's Billy Ray Lucas in a Monte Carlo for second. Lucas scrambled to third from a seventh-place start while 2000 champion Jim Kelley of Newport salvaged fourth after starting 13th. Rookie Ryan Rhodes of Sanford took fifth.

The 24-year-old Grubb found the 4/10-mile SNS oval much slicker than a few years ago, while Lucas contended an incident with Grubb with five laps remaining cost him second. Lucas worked his Monte Carlo high and low in an attempt to get around Grubb. The Monte Carlos finally collected and Lucas' racer careened across the track, narrowly missing the infield wall.

"I was very lucky to save it," Lucas said. "I missed the corner of the wall by six inches. I couldn't run with Tony but I could have gotten second. I had used the tires up getting up there. I had a little bit left. Not bad for an old man."

"We used pretty much the same set-up as before," Grubb said of his return to SNS. "The track is a lot, a lot slicker now. After about 40 laps, the tires went away. We didn't have anything for the No. 1 (Grady) car and we're pretty satisfied to finish second."

Grubb described his incident with Lucas as "just hard racing."

Lucas remembered the two tangling in a SNS a few years ago. "He cut me off," Lucas said. "About the same thing happened a couple years ago and I'm sure it will be the same the next time."

Grady, from his viewpoint, hopes so.

"That was unbelievable," Grady said of his winning run in just his third race in a new car. "It isn't often that you get one that good."

In the Super Stock 35-lapper, Langley, starting on the pole, and Goldsboro's John Whaley, the outside pole sitter in a Monte Carlo, raced bumper-to-bumper and door-to-door from the drop of the green flag. Whaley led from the start until the final straightaway. Contact was occasional and, after the final rub in the fourth turn, Langley gunned his Cutlass to the high side and outraced Whaley's Monte Carlo to the stripe by a third of a car-length.

"I was scared," said the 53-year-old Langley. "I didn't know what the track conditions were up there. He was leaving me on the straightaways and the only way I could catch him was run him down in the corners. I got to him, we bumped, he got loose and . . ."He could have bumped me, but he ran me clean and I appreciate that. But when it comes his turn, I know he is going to do the same thing to me."

"I could have taken both of us out," said Whaley, who settled for a season-best finish of second.

Whaley said, on the final lap, Langley was left with no choice except to slide to the high side. Neither did Whaley voice any objection to the contact. "I knew he was coming," Whaley said. "I got sideways and the only place he could go was up high. I was hanging on for dear life. It was just hard racing. He was a little better on long runs. But it was good round-track racing and, if we are not going to bump and rub, we ought to be drag racing."

Stacy Wood of Benson finished a strong third in his Monte Carlo, while points leader Gary Gardner of Wilson settled for fourth in his Monte Carlo. Gary Davis of Kinston completed the top five.

The Pro Trucks issue was whether Jones, in a Ford, or Head, in a Ford, would have the final shot at overtaking Mozingo's pole-sitting Dodge. Mozingo led from green to checkered. The rides of Jones and Head tangled on the 37th lap, with Head's racer being damaged and crippled after being pinched into the wall in front of thegrandstand.

The final 10 laps saw Mozingo racing comfortably out front, with Jones, the Ford of Raleigh's Wil Smith, the Chevrolet of Wilson's Mickey Adams and the Ford of Raleigh's David Clark bunched in the next four positions. "I have been ready (to win) all year," said the 53-year-old Mozingo. "We have been getting a little better, little better. I like to run on the bottom and we finally got it where it will run on the bottom. And we were mean on restarts."

Mozingo, victorious for the first time this season, credited his crew's decision to change a spring rubber. "I objected," he said with a laugh, "but majority rules." Jones claimed second, while points leader Smith grabbed third. Then came Adams and Clark, respectively, to round out the top five. The finish was Clark's best. Jones expressed regrets over the incident with Head. After the race, the two had to be restrained by Wilson County Sheriff's deputies. "I hate it," Jones said. "I probably slid up the track a little. But we have this rivalry and he just wasn't going to give me the position. All he had to do was check up a little. I would have been satisfied with me finishing second and him third."

Damage to his truck, Jones said, was extensive enough to wreck any chances of catching Mozingo. Jones fended off Smith for the second spot. "When I hit him, it bent the rear end," Jones said. "But we are tickled to death (to finish second). We have been so far behind, and we finally got the truck working."

However, Jones, understandably, was not as elated as Mozingo. "Even though we were good," Mozingo said, "old Linwood prayed every lap." Andy Smith charged to another Four-Cylinder Stock top finish from a fourth-place start. He steered his Toyota into the lead for keeps on the 11th of 25 laps. Smith has now won all six of his races at two different venues this season."We had a problem with the car in qualifying," said the cautious-spoken Smith. "But in the race, it was good _ really good."

Smith expressed no apprehension about extending his victory string from a fourth-place start. "I'm not beat in the pits," he said. "I'm not beat until the checkered flag falls."

Veteran Wilson driver Al Lane, strong on restarts in his black Pinto, outbattled the Mustang of Raleigh's Mike Stodder for the second spot. Lane initially took second after a multi-car pile-up on the opening lap, then relinquished the position to Stodder and regained it. However, Stodder wound up with second after protesting Lane's Pinto. Lane refused the post-race inspection and was disqualified. Jamie Purvis of Bethel moved up to a season-best third place and Roy Creech of Clayton wound up fourth after early-race problems. Mike Bridgers of Goldsboro took fifth. Smith bolted into a commanding position to seize the division championship. Can he win every 2001 feature?

"I do not want to go there," Smith responded and walked away.

Mendenhall, who introduced Baby Grands racing to North Carolina less than three years ago, was dominant from the pole. Rivals continued to be frustrated in chasing Mendenhall, who not only drives but franchises the scaled versions of Winston Cup cars. "I don't know what I could have done to make it better," second-place finisher Kenneth Tripp Jr. of Knightdale said of his Thunderbird. "These are his (Mendenhall's) cars. It's hard to beat a man on his own course."

In the best battle for position, Luby Morgan of Smithfield, in a Dodge, bested the Monte Carlo of Leland's Mike Jones for fourth. Chuck Gafrarar of Mooresville crossed the stripe fifth in a Monte Carlo. "He's in a league of his own," Morgan said of Mendenhall.

"I had a good-handling car," Mendenhall said.

Why is Mendenhall, who also competes in the Late Model Stock and Late Model Sportsman divisions, so dominant in Baby Grands?

"I hope it's 30 years of experience," Mendenhall said.

Mendenhall announced he will not contend for the N.C. Baby Grands championship, but indicated he is abandoning the practice of leading much of the race and then deliberately relinquishing the lead in the final laps. "I'm doing it for car count," Mendenhall said. "But I am either not going to race or I'm going out there and give it my best."

Mendenhall's best, say his peers, is a league of his own.