GRIGAS, III TURNS HEADS WITH STRONG CANAAN PERFORMANCE

Bobby Grigas, III and the #09 Triple G Scaffolding team turned some heads when the True Value Modified Racing Series visited Canaan Fair Speedway (NH) this past weekend. That was where the number two kept appearing. It was only Grigas’ second TVMRS star, yet he finished second in his heat race and ran second for much of the feature before a parts failure sidelined him early.

Grigas did not enter the race with lofty ambitions after finishing 13th to start the season at Monadnock Speedway (NH) three weeks previously.

“I went there hoping for the car to go halfway decent. I didn’t expect it to be as good as it was,” said Grigas. “I had never raced at Canaan before and had never even seen the track. Our run at Monadnock was very poor. Then, when I realized that there were 35 cars at Monadnock, I was pretty nervous. My goal was just to make the race.”

Grigas shattered his goal. He made the race alright. He also set the fastest time in practice, finished second in his heat races and was flying in the feature event. He was solidly

running in the second position when the mount for his panhard bar broke, dropping him out of the race and leaving him with a finish of 21st.

“I just all clicked at Canaan,” said Grigas. “The car went extremely well and that allowed me to go from sixth to second in the race. I was just planning to ride out the race until the panhard bar mount sheared off. I know that I wouldn’t have won, [race winner] Les [Hinkley] was just a touch faster. But I know that we could have finished second.”

Lending a hand to the Grigas team for the Canaan race was Brad Lafontaine from Northeast Racecars, who helped out as a consultant. His years of experience in making Modifieds go fast guided the Triple G team into make the right preparation for the Canaan race.

“I had the right guy giving me advice for the race,” said Grigas. “He couldn’t make it up there, but we talked on the phone throughout the day. I was bummed to drop out, but so excited that we got the car to go. My crew and my parents have done so much for this team. This was a confidence booster for everyone. It put a smile on everyone’s face. We aren’t just going to run back in the field. We can compete and it’s good to know that. It’s good that we got the car to go.”

After the Saturday night race at Canaan was completed, Grigas still had some unfinished business for the weekend. His team took their #99 Late Model to Lee USA Speedway (NH) to compete in a 100-lap Late Model feature on Sunday. Once again, Grigas saw a potentially good finish end early.

“One of the Lee regulars was messing around with Roger Brown from ACT,” said Grigas. “They were messing around and two cars spun out. I bumped into one of those cars barely. Then two cars came from behind what seemed like a half hour later and smashed into the rear end of my car. I could have backed up and finished the race without even pitting until that happened.”

Grigas was knocked out of the race early and left with both a DNF and a battered racecar.

Grigas returns to action next Sunday, May 21st, as the True Value Modified Racing Series heads to Lee USA Speedway for a 100-lap feature.