There are a few names in racing from every level and aspect that always remains famous. Petty and Wood Bros. in Cup, Clarences Steakhouse and Hayes Jewelers as sponsors at the local level, the Long Bros. and Jerry Moody as car owners. And then you have the legends at the short tracks themselves, and Bowman Gray has names from families that have become etched in time. Myers, Kimel, Clifton, Stimpson… and Gregg. For as long as anyone from my era can remember there has been a Gregg racing at Bowman Gray. It almost came to an end this off season, lucky for us on the outside looking in, that will not be the case for many years to come.
Billy Gregg has been the villain so to say for some time now. His brash driving style and “don’t give a damn” attitude has made people love him….and hate him. For years as a mainstay in the Street Stock division, he has had more than one enemy. But aside from the controversies, the man with the moniker of “Batman” has held quite a few trophies in his time. Sadly, all that almost came to an end a few months ago.
The Gregg name has been around racing for years, and the patriarch was his father Jimmy. A multi time winner himself, Jimmy was the reason Billy kept doing what he loved. They had accomplished so much in the Street division, so Jimmy said “Let’s get us a Sportsman car”, and off it went.
It actually started on a bad note, as the house Billy previous owned and was renting burnt down.
“When the house burnt down, I said, ‘let’s just sit this year out, we just have too much going on’,” said Gregg. “Then my dad said ‘No, no, if you sit out you’ll never race again, just take my car and let’s go race’. The car in question was one that Billy and his dad had bought last year and had the intentions of running the Southeast Limited Late Model tour. We got the car from Don Watson, it’s a 2010 Hedgecock car, it’s a good car.”
Billy did say he had chances to drive for other people but never entertained the thought because he wanted to drive his own car, and for reasons that most racers would never admit.
“I could never drive for someone else,” Gregg said with laugh. “For instance, If I drove for Todd Hunt or someone, I’d hate to move one of his other cars for a win, but I know I would do it, it just wouldn’t work out well. My dad is the one who wanted to me to race the car, I wanted to take it to the stadium but he wasn’t too thrilled with that. I finally talked him into it and the season was set I guess.”
On March 11th of this year, it all changed. Jimmy passed away and the family of course was crushed. Billy decided to keep doing what his dad wanted him to and when they took it out for the first race at Caraway this season, it was a very emotional deal.
“We went and raced only about a week after he passed, and I don’t know if you saw the video but I hit the curb about 100 times in the corners, it was just hard to concentrate. This has been a very hard deal on all of us, he has always been there. We are dedication this entire season to him, we want to make him proud.”
Looking into the season, Gregg is stepping into a pool of talent that hasn’t been seen at the stadium in recent memory for the Sportsman division. Taylor Branch, Derek Stoltz, Clifton, Adams, so many more to contend with… And this guy here, who has been racing cars forever it seems, will be a rookie. But that doesn’t faze him one bit, in typical Gregg fashion he says the car will be good each week.
Are you confident?
“Absolutely, no doubt about it,” Gregg said sternly. “I dare say that each and every week we will have one of, if not “the” fastest car there. We have practiced and the car is extremely quick.”
Billy also talked about possibly not running all the races, but for good reason, and I like his attitude.
“We have told our sponsors, we are not there to point race, we are there to win, at all costs. There might be nights we don’t even run the second race, if we get tore up we are not doing like others and throwing crap together to limp around, if we can’t win, we will load up. We will win races.”
Of course I had to stir the pot a little, asking Billy about being in the same division once more as his nemesis, John Holleman IV. I know this battle all too well, two years ago their shenanigans almost took me out in the process as Holleman was put “through” the infield guardrail.
“I’m not worried about him at all. I’m as worried about him as I am of you getting a good picture of me on Saturday”, Gregg says with a laugh. “There are others that i have been into it with as well, me and Tommy Neal for instance; this Gregg name has made a lot of enemies over the years. But we have also made a lot of friends. I’m sure this year we will have some run-ins with some people, it just happens, there are guys like Derek that want to win as much as I do.”
“We are going to venture out more,” says Gregg. “We are planning on going back to Kingsport this year when the stadium is over. Maybe ever sooner after they suspend us for whatever they are going to suspend us for. We are just going to have fun, that’s what it is all about. I’ll be in a different division this season, but I’m still Billy Gregg, everywhere we go they will have to contend with us somehow or another.”
In an already loaded division, business has just picked up. It’s hard to believe this class can have any more talent or drama, but trust me, it will, and everyone will be on the edge of their seat for every lap.
