USRA stock car driver Ed Griggs struggled the past two weeks. However, a prayer brought the good fortune he needed to snap that spell to win the feature on his birthday at Electric City Speedway in Butler, Missouri.
The bad luck began for Griggs at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. While going for the win on the outside at the checkered flag, the inside car drifted high.
“The other car did not see that I had a run going,” Griggs, of Pleasantville, Missouri, said. “He knocked me into the wall. I crashed my way to fourth. There was a lot of damage to the car.”
The next week, the water pump sheared off of Griggs’ car. It took out his radiator and alternator.
“It was residual damage from the week before,” said Griggs. “Those bolts are soft, and we didn’t know they were going to fail.”
This weekend Ed Griggs journeyed to the ½-mile I-70 Motorsports Park in Odessa, Missouri. There, his car overheated.
“Our fan was too small for the big track,” Griggs said. “The water temperature was 280 degrees and I didn’t want to kill my engine.”
Then came last Sunday at Electric City Speedway in Butler, Missouri.
“I pray to God before each race for the safety of me and my fellow racers … and for a good race,” said Griggs. “I thank Him for watching over me, my car owner Josh Crump, and all the other racers. Without Him, we don’t have anything.”
The Sunday-night event dragged on to the next day — Griggs’ birthday. He celebrated his special day with a win.
“When I got out of my car, I took a moment to look up to heaven and thank Him for my birthday win,” Griggs said. “It was a birthday present I will never forget.”
The Outside Groove Director of Photography 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.
