Father and son, Jerry Clements (pictured) and Grady Clements, both made a move for the lead during their heat race. To say it didn’t go as planned, is perhaps an understatement. The action occurred Wednesday in the stock car class during the IMCATV Winter Nationals at Central Arizona Raceway.
“It was a little bit of ego — from both father and son — that was part of us getting into each other,” Jerry, of Chino Valley, Arizona, said. “Nothing this bad ever happened to us.”
“I’ve been racing for 12 years, I’m 28 now,” said Grady. “My dad and I have always had fun — rubbing, not wrecking when we raced each other. This is the first time we actually wrecked.”
The Clements duo was chasing the leader, Larry Brigner. They made their move into first in turn two on the fourth lap.
“I burped the throttle because I didn’t want the leader to come down on me and take us out,” said Jerry. “I lifted, Grady didn’t. He was in it hard, and his car tagged mine.”
“I was trying to get around him underneath,” Grady said. “When we collided, I was irritated at the moment because both of us were taken out of the race. It really sucks when you have one car taken out of competition, but two cars are a big loss.”
Both Clements finished at the back of their heat race. After that, they repaired the damage, which consisted of mostly sheet metal and a broken left-front shock for Jerry.
“There were no harsh words afterwards,” Jerry said. “We love each other.”
The two made it back out to the 18-car B-features. The top 6 qualified. Grady Clements finished 11th in his, Jerry Clements placed 10th in the other B-feature. Both has their nights end early. However, they’d continue to race the IMCATV Winter Nationals.
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.
