Modified driver Lance Grady experienced two significant events within a 24-hour period. He became an uncle for the first time on Friday night. Then, on Saturday, he won his first feature at Virginia Motor Speedway (VMS) in Jamaica.
“My uncle James was at the track and said it was the first time a Grady won at VMS since 1978,” Grady, 36, of Goochland, Virginia, said.
Racing is a family affair for Grady. His mother, Nancy, plays a vital role on his team. His father, Reuben Grady, raced, too. Unfortunately, the elder Grady passed away in 2007 in a head-on crash on the highway.
“Mom hands us tools, gets things in order, and keeps the team organized,” said Grady. “To say she was in tears after the win is an understatement. Her and my dad met at the races. He and my uncles all raced. She keeps his memory alive by helping me and my brother Russell [who competes in trucks] to keep on racing.”
Grady earned the victory after eight seasons of trying. The win came when Austin Holcombe, who crossed the line first, was disqualified for too large of a carburetor.
“Austin came over and said he didn’t agree with the rule that cost him the win, but he congratulated me,” Grady said. “He told me I had a helluva car in that race.”
Grady won with a 2009 chassis from Shaw Race Cars — and seven functioning cylinders in his small-block Chevrolet.
“We lost a cylinder on the last lap — I think a rocker [arm] broke,” said Grady. “We hung on as best as we could and took second. That paid off. It’s not the way you want to win, but it’s a win.”
With his first victory out of the way, Lance Grady looks to finish the year by competing in several big fall shows. That includes the FASTRAK World Championship at Virginia Motor Speedway (September 17–18) and Race For The Kids at County Line Raceway in Elm City, North Carolina (October 14–16).
“We’ll rebuild the engine and inspect the chassis,” Grady said. “We’ll weld [the chassis] where it needs welding, add bars and braces where need be, and keep it together until we can afford a new chassis. Maybe this win will bring us the sponsors we need to buy one.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
