Bob Potter to Race in 2016
Carlos Gray Welcomes Additional Sponsorship
Carlos Gray of Coventry, CT will be bringing additional sponsors to his team. Gray plans to maintain a similar schedule to this year’s 47 race schedule. He will compete next season at New London-Waterford (CT) Speedbowl, Stafford (CT) Motor Speedway and Thompson (CT) Speedway Motorsports Park for the Icebreaker and World Series.
Gray wanted to build a second car as a backup or have one car for Stafford and New London-Waterford this year. His new teammate Bob Potter will pilot the second car.
Potter is one of the New England’s most successful drivers with over 100 victories at New London-Waterford, Stafford, and Thompson. He has 93 wins and six championships at New London-Waterford. He has five championships in SK Modifieds at Stafford with 24 wins. Potter owns eight wins at Thompson. The Norwich, CT driver was inducted into the New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2007.
A crash in last year’s SK Light feature at Stafford involved Gray and Potter driving the ride along car.
“I was the only one to ever take the car out, which kind of just led to Bob (Potter) coming over and talking to me,” Gray said. … We’ve been talking over the season and he was saying how he’d like to get back into competition and I wanted to have a second car together. … I mentioned that I was going to have another car for next year and we just talked some more and we just kind of put a deal together. I’d like to see him run. He wants to run Waterford right now, the best competition.”
“I’d like to see him concentrate on both Stafford and Waterford. … It would be pretty cool … to see a great racer like that comeback and do it would just be awesome.”
“He’s just a big name up here in the northeast and … he’s been racing for so, so long and he’s a household name when it comes to Modifieds up here. And I think the benefit of having him on the team is basically it helps bring in more sponsors, which ultimately helps fund the racing throughout the season and I think with the quality of equipment that we have already. I think there’s no doubt that we can’t bring them to the top of the championship ladder again.”
Of utmost importance to Gray is supporting his sponsors.
“It’s kind of amazing the amount of attention I’ve gotten because of the videos I do and everything for all my sponsors, not just the primary or anything like that. Everybody gets mentioned. Everybody gets taken care of weekly and they get rotated out.”
“… Ben Dodge and Matt Buckler have done wonders. Scott Running from Stafford Speedway has been awesome in helping me. .. Matt Buckler and Ben Dodge have done great jobs of helping promote my sponsors. Certain things that I ask and it may just be a little thing, where we do a certain ad. We did one for Elmo’s Dockside where when you order a meal, you get a free dessert type stuff and they stick that stuff out there under caution or whatever. … Those guys have done an awesome job for me over the season and I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
The grand opening of OnFire Grill (2095 Berlin Turnpike, Newington, CT 06111) is October 30-31 and November 1. Gray and Potter will be in attendance with his No. 69 Chevrolet Cavalier and signing autographs.
“We’d appreciate it if the race fans show their support … Show ’em what the NASCAR family is all about. I think that’s a big deal for everybody.”
Gray finished third in Saturday’s Lite Modified feature during World Series weekend.
“We were fighting Brett Gonyea for the second place and it was a good battle. But we didn’t want to go in and we didn’t want to wreck anybody and we didn’t want to be wrecked ’cause we got Bemer’s big show this coming weekend.
“… The car was fast, the car was really good. I have to thank Glenn Griswold for all the help and advice that he’s given me and Bob Potter gave me advice and Glenn was there. He took care of the car and did whatever needed to be done, so I didn’t have to worry about anything but my driving. So I was able to focus on what I had to do, which was a tremendous help and I really appreciated that and I think it helped out a ton. The car started getting a tinge loose coming off, but I was able to keep my foot in it. Maybe a little bit of my dirt driving skills are still left there where it didn’t really affect me or bother me that bad. But I could keep my foot in it and she still dug and she kept on going, so we ended up with a good finish. I was happy with that.”
Gray expects Saturday’s Bemers Super Bowl to be his final race of the season. If he wins Saturday’s 25 lapper, he will go to the Turkey Derby at Wall (NJ) Stadium Speedway.
“I’ve run a pretty grueling schedule, and it just goes back to you got a racecar and there’s a track running your class of car what are you doing sitting at home? Go out there and race the car. So I have to thank all my sponsors. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have been able to do it. My business has been pretty tight budgeted and there wasn’t a penny that came out of it to help support the race team. It’s all been kind of supported itself … I have to thank them the world because I was able to do what I needed to do and we did a lot. We did a lot with what we had and I really appreciate it.”
Gray plans to tape an interview with Matt Buckler for the Let’s Talk Racing show on News Now 94.9 Saturday. Bob Potter may join for an interview as well.
Returning sponsors include Coastline Fire Protection of Plainfield, Manchester Glass, Top Shelf Brewery in Manchester, Elmo’s Dockside Restaurant in Vernon. Gray has signed three new sponsors OnFire Grill in Newington, Premier Entertainment, and RMBPD Courier.
Gray was adopted at age five into a racing family. He spent his youth around the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars Series. Their regular schedule was Fridays at Stafford, Saturdays at Lebanon Valley or Riverside Park and Sundays at Thompson. He also attended Bristol, Daytona, Rockingham, and Talladega.
In 1996, Gray started helping Glenn Griswold’s Pro Stock team at Riverside Park. He was Zach Sylvester’s crew chief in 2000 and worked for Dale Shaw from 2002-03. He left the sport due to burnout.
He returned in 2006 as a driver and raced Midgets for seven years in POWRi Outlaws and USAC. Once Whip City Speedway in Westfield closed in 2010, racing became more difficult. Traveling 3.5 hours to the closest race became greater than the cost of racing.
Gray and Griswold of Vernon, CT, discussed the SK Light Modifieds at Stafford. Gray built a car and raced 21 races in 11 weeks “to get some seat time” last year.
“It been a big learning curve for me, especially at Stafford. Stafford’s been very tough to learn. Waterford I’ve done really good at. I’m fast there. I’m fast at Monadnock. The one and only time I ran at Thompson, I had 12 laps under my belt before they threw me out there on the outside pole for the feature and we did alright. I think we finished fifth for that race, so I love Thompson.”
Sources: Nicholas Teto/YankeeRacer.com
Racing-Reference.info
SpeedbowlHistory.com
StaffordMotorSpeedway.com
SpeedbowlCT.com
ThompsonSpeedway.com