Super Late Model Standout Augie Grill Adds Governor's Cup 200 to Win List
Two-Time Snowball Derby Winner Makes History and Takes Top East Coast Trophy
By Elgin Traylor, Speed51.com Operations Manager - Twitter: @ElginTraylor
He's Back.
The absence of Augie Grill from the Super Late Model win column had stretched all the way back into June of 2011. Grill had won several times in his crate car, but had nothing from his Super Late Model events. In that time Grill won the 2011 Glass City 200 at Toledo Speedway in Ohio, one of the top Outlaw bodied Super Late Model events, and the Allen Turner Snowflake 100 at Florida’s Five Flags Speedway. With those wins, the template-bodied Super Late Model winless drought flew under the radar until this season.
But it’s hard to keep a two-time Snowball Derby winner down.
It was a near last-minute decision for Grill to tow his No. 112 machine south to New Smyrna Speedway for the first time in his career. Grill was not on the entry list. He did not make the practice day. He did show up and delivered a butt-kicking in the 47th Annual Governor's Cup 200 at the Florida half-mile.
"It’s refreshing," said Grill. "I kind of did the same thing going to Toledo and running the Glass City last year. It just got me out of my norm by going up there, working hard, getting the car good and winning the race."
Grill had few challengers on the way as the 112 was dominant all night long. Pole sitter Johnny VanDoorn, who was in an Anthony Campi Racing Super Late Model, ended up second after losing a lap after a restart incident with Grill.
"I might have pinched Johnny a little bit and flattened his left-front tire on a restart," said Grill. "It definitely wasn’t on purpose. I put it in gear and it kinda got squirrelly on me."
Both Grill and VanDoorn were making their first starts in the Governor's Cup 200 and they proudly sat on the front row that featured talent from Maine to Michigan invading the Florida Super Late Model regulars.
VanDoorn, who charged from a lap down to second, wanted a caution to have that restart opportunity all over again.
"He just turned right going into one," said VanDoorn of the contact with Grill. "I knew what he was doing. What comes around goes around. That’s just Augie Grill. He’s just a good old short track racer. I can’t expect anything less. I’m not mad about it. If I would’ve gotten to him, I would’ve done the same thing to him."
That exchange wasn’t the only one that made fans rise to their feet at New Smyrna. One that resulted in a post-race shouts between crew members came when VanDoorn and former Governor’s Cup winner Tim Russell collided in turn three. Russell’s car got the worst of the wear as the multiple-time Florida Super Late Model champion was out of the race and steaming mad afterwards.
"He turned right at the end of the straight away and stuffed me in the fence," said Russell. "That’s all there was to it. I went there and asked him what his problem was after the race. He said I tried to right-rear him. I don’t know why the hell I’d try to right-rear him at that point of the race. All I know is that I was three-quarters of the way down the straight away and he turned right and stuffed me in the fence and held me there pretty much.”
While VanDoorn had never raced Russell at New Smyrna before, the Campi team that he was driving for relayed their thoughts on racing with Russell.
“They warned me about him, about when you pass him, he’ll try to right-rear you in the wall," said VanDoorn. "Sure enough, going into (turn) three, he tried right-rearing me. I just held my ground and he bounced off me and took it somewhat firewall-deep into the New Smyrna Speedway sign down there. Typical prima donna racing, I guess. What do you expect?"
With the Governor’s Cup win, Grill will now look to do what only one man before him has done – win the Governor’s Cup and the Snowball Derby in the same season. It was done only by Ed Howe in 1972. Grill will be driving a Stanley Smith entry for the Derby.
"We’ve got a lot invested in Stanley’s car," added Grill. "Between me, Stanley and his guys, we’ve put a lot of thought into that car. I believe we’re going to have a good piece there. It’s taken a lot of pressure and stress off me leading up to the Derby, knowing I don’t have a car to prepare for myself. That’s a huge load off my mind."
While Grill builds Grand American Race Cars for a living, his car is always the last project to get worked on. Grill will not hang the 112 ride up knowing it's going to bed with a big victory under its belt.
"It’s nice. I hate that it’s going to be stuck in a corner all winter," said Grill. "I’ve had a couple people call about leasing it for the Derby. I don’t know if I’ll do that or not. I’d like to put it to rest for the winter with a win on it."
