Gray Ready for Stafford Opener
Old Car Still A Championship Performer
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A third change of course in his racing career ultimately helped Adam Gray win a second NASCAR Whelen All-American Series track championship at a second track.
Gray, 26, of Granby, Mass., won the 2013 NASCAR late model title at Stafford (Conn.) Motor Speedway. He concedes his season was uncommonly successful, but he’s not conceding anything else. Gray hopes to be a championship contender again this year.
“The car’s been stripped, cleaned and freshened. We found some small stuff to fix but we didn’t change much. I don’t know if we can expect to have a season like last year. We’ll just do our homework and see where we end up,” Gray said.
Gray’s two-time championship-winning car is more than 15 years old. This season marks its third since being pulled out of mothballs. Boosted by a dedicated team effort, Gray enjoyed a career-high season last year.
A half-dozen wins were sprinkled among 16 consecutive top-three finishes over the course of the 2013 schedule at Stafford. He clinched the championship with a week to go in the season. He also placed second in the NASCAR Finalist Division II asphalt standings. His overall record was six wins and 16 top-fives and top-10s in 17 starts. His only finish outside the top-10 was an 18th-place on opening night.
Gray began his career at Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, N.H., in 2004 and started racing late models in 2007. He made his first course change – focusing on patience as a driver — in 2008 and it resulted in winning the Monadnock late model championship.
He admits he’d been overly aggressive during the first three seasons of his career. He was determined to grow as a driver.
“The biggest thing was settling myself down behind the wheel and learning patience,” Gray said. “Dad always told me that old saying that in order to finish first you must first finish. He finally got through to me.”
The 2008 season turned out to be what would be considered special by any racing family. A year after Barry Gray won the 2007 NASCAR state championship, father and son each won their divisional track championships at Monadnock, Barry in pro stocks and Adam in late models.
“Every win is special,” Gray said, “but to win a championship in the same season as my dad, to this day that’s still pretty big.”
His racing course changed again in 2009 when the late model division was jettisoned at Monadnock.
“I didn’t want to move up to pro stocks and I didn’t want to race against my dad,” Gray said. “I decided to go race at Stafford.”
With the exception of both having an asphalt surface, the two tracks are completely different. Monadnock is a banked quarter-mile oval and Stafford is a nearly flat half-mile. Stafford became an up-hill battle for Gray.
“When we changed tracks we built a brand new car and we had a tough year,” Gray said. “We struggled with the learning curve of both the track and the car. I had my share of incidents, but we won the rookie-of-the-year award. The next year we were a little better and were in the top-10 in points. We were still struggling in 2011.”
That’s when Gray made his third change of course, and it was a U-turn.
“We decided to put our old Monadnock car back together late in the season,” Gray said. “We finished in the top-10 in the last three races of 2011 so we stuck with it for 2012. We had four wins and finished fourth in points.”
Gray and team were encouraged by the old car’s performance and redoubled their effort last year. Oddly, its old Monadnock set-up seemed to adapt well to Stafford.
“It’s simple. It’s basic. It just works,” Gray said of the mid-1990s vintage chassis.
The team was confident entering 2013.
“We knew what the car was capable of,” Gray said. “What we did with it was a tribute to the crew,” Gray said. “They were dedicated to making it work. None of us expected to have that kind of season. Our equipment stayed together, we had a lot of good luck, and we always seemed to be in the right place at the right time.”
Stafford Motor Speedway is known for tough competition. Gray said the late model feature fields average between 18-22 cars, and his average starting position is mid-pack. Regular weekly features are 30 laps.
Barry Gray and Leon Chartier own the Statewide Auto Auctions Chevrolet and Barry Gray is also crew chief. Team members include James Melby, Will Lewis, Bob Hawley, Mike Cromier and Walter Paulchalski with additional support from the senior Gray’s 29 Motorsports team. Other sponsors include Meadows Motor Cars, Leon’s Auto Repair and Hawley’s Auto Body and Repair.
Gray advanced from go-karts to enduro division stock cars at Monadnock in 2004. He stepped up to strictly stocks in 2006 and late models in 2007.
Late models are classified as NASCAR Division II at Stafford, and part of the new NASCAR Whelen All-American Series II-V Championship program. The program recognizes drivers who compete in support divisions at NASCAR Whelen All-American Series tracks. With Division I being each track’s top division, the NWAAS II-V line-up highlights drivers competing in second, third, fourth and fifth tier divisions. Through Sept. 21 a NASCAR-licensed driver’s best 14 finishes counted toward their final point total for the year. The new program combines dirt and asphalt participants and recognizes an overall champion in Divisions II-V. NASCAR Whelen All-American Series official point standings will be published on a weekly basis starting in early May.
Stafford opens with the 43rd annual NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler April 25-27. The weekend is headlined by a 200-lap NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event but all the track’s weekly NASCAR Whelen All-American Series divisions will compete during the weekend.
Sources: Paul Schaefer/NASCAR PR