KNIGHTDALE, NC :: November has been a challenging month for the Grady family but the father and son duo know better days are ahead. Both father (Tony) and son (Andrew) ran in to problems during the Halloween Spooktacular earlier this month. Now, they are returning to Southern National Motorsports Park one more time with the hope that one of them will be standing in victory lane at the end of Sunday night’s Thanksgiving Classic.
The challenging days began in October when the family suffered the loss of their eldest, AT Grady, who was 91. During the Hallowen Spooktacular, Tony was involved in a frightening accident while Andrew had problems late in the race and fell out of contention. The weeks after that saw new grief for the family when Tony’s wife (and Andrew’s mom) Pam was hospitalized with a kidney infection. Since then, Pam has returned home from the hospital and is in recovery.
“It’s been an interesting month around my house,” Tony said. “It was our turn I guess. Every family goes through with it. With my dad and Pam and trying to run a business and this racecar thing, it keeps up wide open, literally. We have very little downtime.”
Tony said Pam, who came home from the hospital earlier this week, is recovering.
“She’s okay, she’s back home. She was in ICU for 5-6 days, had a kidney infection but she’s resting at home now and bouncing back. She was in bad shape last week, really bad.”
Andrew said the week when she was in the hospital was tough but now that she’s home, he hopes she can be at the racetrack and he hopes he can dedicate a victory to her and to his grandfather.
“It was pretty tough but she’s better, back home where she needs to be and she’ll be at the racetrack with us this weekend hopefully so we’ll try to get a win for her and my grandpa,” Andrew stated, saying that the grief of the moment is relieved when he gets to the racetrack. “Whenever we get to the racetrack, no matter what’s going on, it all goes away. At the racetrack, you’re stress-free; you just have to worry about driving the racecar, that’s about it.”
Saturday’s race itself will prove to be a challenge. With a distance of 150 laps, it will be the longest race Andrew has ever competed in and, while the Tony is used to long races, he knows age isn’t his ally. That said, the elder Grady feels confident that he hasn’t slowed down. Tony scored the pole for the Halloween Spooktacular before being relegated to the rear of the field off the front bumper of Rusty Daniels and then being involved in a frightening crash in which his car got airborne and tore down a section of the catch fence.
“I’m all for a longer race,” Tony said. “That was always my strong suit in the past, longer races. Our cars just seem to do better and I always learned to save a little bit. That came from the motorcycle days. It will be good as long as I don’t get tired. I’m 50 years old. I think it will be Andrew’s longest race. It will be interesting for these kids. You get two stickers and two scuffs so there’s a little bit of strategy there but this car always rises to the top with a decent wheelman and a little bit of luck.”
The 150-lap race is what Andrew’s been wanting all season long. Now that he’s got it, he’s ready, willing and able to answer the challenge of the longest race of his career.
“This is the longest race I’ve ever run,” Andrew explained. “Heading in to this weekend, I think everybody will be looking at us when we unload to see how good we are. The long races really fit our racecars. That’s why I’ve wanted a long race. To me, you see who’s got the best car and who the best wheelman is. Tire management’s going to be huge as well as physical endurance. There are going to be a couple drivers at lap 85 who will have their tongues hanging out and will be begging their spotters to end this race.”
The last race either driver competed in was in the Halloween Spooktacular which was held on November 2nd. Both drivers enter Sunday’s race with unfinished business after on-track incidents knocked them both out of the lead in the race and out of contention for the race win. Tony was leading the race early when he was spun off the front bumper of Rusty Daniels while Andrew was leading the race late and appeared to be destined for victory until problems on a restart proved to be his undoing.
“It was a funny turn of events,” Tony explained about his race. “We all had a plan. I talked with Rusty and me and him are great. He wanted to lead that fast and, if I would’ve known, I would’ve let him go. I don’t know what happened with Andrew. Luck of the draw. You have to have a little luck when you have a good car and it just didn’t fall our way. Bobby Morris is the car owner on my car. The car, it looked worse than it really was. It tore the body up pretty well. I was afraid it was totaled. It was Bobby’s first race as an owner and I hate to break him in like that but they’ve got the car back together, finished the motor and the car is ready to load up.”
Tony wasn’t injured in the accident on November 2nd. In fact, he got out of the car on his own power and walked away. He said that his pride was injured and that he was only sore for a day after the accident.
“The last race is stuck in my side,” Andrew said about the Halloween Spooktacular. “I had that race won. It was in my hand and the tires didn’t get cleaned off or something and it slipped away from us.”
For Tony, it’s all about having fun. No matter how hard he tries, he just can’t stay away from the cockpit of the racecar.
“I’m just doing this for fun,” Tony remarked. “I’ve retired about three times already, so, I’m like a drug-addict. Racers never retire, they keep on coming back.”
Thanksgiving will have an even stronger meaning for the Grady family – Tony, Pam, Andrew and his sister, Crystal. They all, along with Andrew’s three-year-old son Allen, will all be together for a Thanksgiving dinner and then it will be back to racing during the weekend for Andrew and Tony – competing as family in a sport that has created an unbreakable bond between father and son.
