For over four decades Father Dale Grubba has served the racing community as a writer, a photographer, and as a Catholic priest. Despite the challenges of ministering in a world suffering from a pandemic, Fr. Grubba continues to fulfill the duties of his vocation and enjoy the sport he loves.
When the pandemic broke out, Fr. Grubba lost his connection with his flock. Masses were banned. Racing was stopped. The world changed overnight.
“I was about to go on a guilt trip when things got shut down this year,” Fr. Grubba said. “A priest visits parishioners before and after mass. He makes announcements at mass to keep the community aware of happenings. Without mass, I had no way of communicating with people. I was suddenly shut off.”
Fr. Grubba, who was ordained in 1966, typically stays busy. He’s a pastor at two Wisconsin churches — St. John’s Catholic Church in Princeton and St. James Catholic Church in Neshkoro. Fr. Grubba also works as a principal at the school connected with St. John’s.
Away from church, he attends stock car races two to three nights a week, often doing the invocation at Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Slinger Speedway, and State Park Speedway in Wausau.
Fr. Grubba found a niche as a racing journalist when his two professions intersected in 1976. His work was first published in Checkered Flag Racing News. Four years later, Stock Car Racing magazine editor Dr. Dick Berggren met him and Fr. Grubba began a long run as a contributor to the title.
In addition to his work in publications, Fr. Grubba has seven books to his credit, including “Alan Kulwicki: NASCAR Champion: Against All Odds.” Fr. Grubba feels there is importance in documenting the lives, accomplishments, and records of racers and racetracks. His photography of Dale Earnhardt won him awards. His historic Daytona 500 photos resulted from daring shooting positions.
“Those photos of the start of the Daytona 500 from the roof of the old building are the ones I am most proud of,” said Fr. Grubba. “It was just the danger — crawling out on that little pathway, and hanging over the ledge.”
Father Dale Grubba performed his priestly duties at the invite of some of auto racing’s most famous personalities — Bobby Allison, Kurt Busch, and Humpy Wheeler.
He has celebrated victories and has been turned to in times of terrible tragedies. Fr. Grubba was with Bobby Allison when he won the Daytona 500. He was with Allison again when he lost his son Clifford, and again when he lost his other son, Davey.
“One of the saddest and difficult moments was when Bobby [Allison] wrecked at Pocono Raceway,” said Fr. Grubba. “He was in a coma at the hospital. Coordinated movement that is intentional is a sign that a mind is still working when a person is in a coma. I went in the hospital room alone with Bobby. I asked him to remember how that every time we flew in an airplane, we would make the sign of the cross before we took off. Then, he made the sign of the cross, and he did it again. I went and got the doctors. He did it for them. It proved his mind was working. He recovered.”
Fr. Grubba fielded countless calls in his 54 years of priesthood, but none are harder to handle when being called on for a funeral.
“There was a real sad time with Alan Kulwicki’s death, Allisons’, Neil Bonnett’s, and others,” Fr. Grubba said. “I hated to pick up the phone, fearing another sad moment. It was a tough period for anyone deeply involved in racing.”
Racing has also provied Fr. Grubba with some of his happiest memories.
“Being part of the era of [pavement late model stars] Dick Trickle, Marv Marzofka, and Tom Reffner was incredible,” said Fr. Grubba. “Seeing Trickle win 67 features and Marv beating him 14 times, and then Reffner winning 67 was great to experience. If you were going to be involved in racing in the Midwest, you couldn’t live in a better time.”
One of Fr. Grubba’s proudest moments came when Kurt Busch called on him to do “The Double” — the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the Sunday before Memorial Day in 2014 — with him.
“I believe I am the only priest to have blessed a driver at Indianapolis and then again at Charlotte in the same day,” Fr. Grubba said. “I flew to Concord, [North Carolina]. Helicoptered to Charlotte. Took Tony Stewart’s private jet to Indianapolis, said mass there, and stayed with Kurt. Flew back to Concord. Helicoptered to Charlotte and was there for Kurt. That experience was unforgettable — for both as a priest and a racing enthusiast.”
With no public masses permitted and no racing at the time, fellow racing photographer Bob Schneider Jr. helped Father Dale Grubba reach his parishioners in a new way — by taking his masses online.
“I never dreamed about doing a mass online,” said Fr. Grubba. “I have no knowledge on how to do video, but I realized racers and racetracks were using video online to help them through the pandemic. Bob came forward. The crisis happened around March 2. By the end of the month we were up and running on Facebook and YouTube.”
Not only did Fr. Grubba’s local parishioners tune in, but so did racers from around the country — some he hadn’t heard from in years.
“I couldn’t have imagined the outreach we are accomplishing,” Fr. Grubba said. “We have a following in the Carolinas, Las Vegas, California, and more places where we have friends in racing.”
When State Park Speedway resumed racing, before Fr. Grubba began the invocation, a woman yelled from the grandstand.
“Don’t ever stop doing the masses online,” she said. “We’re all watching.”
Fr. Grubba does not plan to stop his Internet presence. In fact, he plans to expand it with producing “Fr. Grubba’s Memoirs.”
“Many of my memoirs come from racing,” said Fr. Grubba. “The goal of my sermons is to help people. I’m conscious to be uplifting — I point my sermons in that direction.”
As Father Dale Grubba nears 80 years old, he’s had his own battles to fight. Last year, he battled pain after suffering a heart attack and undergoing back surgery. Fr. Grubba continued to say mass, although he did so while sitting in a chair. Out of the sight of his parishioners, but in his focus, was a Bobby Allison hero card.
“I looked at that card and said, ‘If Bobby could overcome the pain [of his wreck at Pocono] and fully recover, I could do it,” Fr. Grubba said. “And, I did.”
Age, health, and a pandemic have not slowed down Fr. Grubba’s ambition.
“I am thankful to be living in a great era,” Fr. Grubba said. “I know how fortunate I am to be as active as I am. I was ordained with 13 priests in the Madison Diocese. Only four are still alive. Two are in nursing homes. One is retired.”
Mindful of where he is in life, Fr. Grubba starts every day with a prayer.
It begins with, “Thank you God for waking me up this morning …”
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.
