Bobby Grigas Pleased with World Series Performance
Strong Runs After Early Misfortune Cap off Exciting Week
The 2009 Florida Speedweeks at New Smyrna Speedway will definitely be an experience for Bobby Grigas to remember. It was his debut with new Crew Chief Kevin Crowley at the helm, as well as a chance for the entire Triple G Scaffold team to get a kick start on what they hope will be a big 2009 season by competing well at the 43rd Annual World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing.
Grigas produced solid runs in both the Tour-type Modified class as well as the SK Modifieds. In the end, Grigas walked away with 11 top-10 finishes in 15 starts and tons of confidence heading into the 2009 Whelen Modified Tour schedule.
“The first few of races were kind of rough,” explained Grigas. “Me and Kevin Crowley were just trying to gel on how he sets them up and on how I drive them. Monday night we had an incredible car and then we got taken out in an incident. I bent the clip on the car, but Crowley and the whole team worked until four in the morning to get me ready to race the next day. We had an awesome car for the rest of the week after that.”
Grigas put a lot of pressure on himself to perform at Speedweeks. After all, Crowley had been to New Smyrna before and always seemed to be in the winner circle. Grigas held his head high after the nine-night racing extravaganza at New Smyrna, but he was still disappointed that he didn’t visit victory lane.
“I am kind of bummed out that we didn’t get to win,” said Grigas. “Kevin is used to winning down here. He’s had a lot of success and I wanted to excel like the other drivers he has worked with. We had a couple of great races. I just wish we could have had a better week.”
The high point of the weekend came when Grigas was involved in perhaps the best Tour-Type Modified race ever at New Smyrna Speedway. Grigas finished the 24th Annual Richie Evans Memorial third behind Ted Christopher and Ronnie Silk, who swapped the lead a dozen times during the final 50 laps. Grigas worked his way to second on several occasions, but could never grab the top spot.
“Looking back on Friday I was excited to be in the spot that I was in,” said Grigas. “The night before, Teddy beat Ronnie Silk and I was just waiting for those two to get into it. I was biding my time and waiting for the tangle, it never came and we ended up third. Nine times out of 10 they would have wrecked.”
The low point of the weekend actually came in the final Tour-type Modified feature when Matt Hirschman drove into turn one and hit Grigas' left front tire. Hirschman then crossed over with Grigas on the backstretch as the #2 car of J.R. Bertuccio made the battle three-wide. The three-wide battle, and the cut tire, set off a chain-reaction string of events that stuffed JR Bertuccio and Grigas hard into the wall.
Bertuccio had a few words for Grigas among other things after the wreck.
“It’s very unsportsmanlike to go after a guy when their car is on fire and there is gas running down the track,” said Grigas sternly. “It doesn’t matter what your fellow competitor did to you or what you think he did to you. You should try to help him get out of the car or wait for him to get out of the car, instead of beating up a poor driver who is strapped into a car and has no way to defend himself.”
Grigas will have a few weeks off before the Modified Tour season starts up their season at the Thompson International Speedway (CT) on April 5th.
