After a summer hiatus, Augie Grill returned to Pro Late Model racing on Saturday night in the Montgomery Motor Speedway Show Me the Money Series and proceeded to park the No. 112 in Victory Lane.
He did so after leading most of the race and then told the fans at his home track where he had been.
“I was diagnosed with cancer in June,” Grill, 47, said in Victory Lane. “I took a break and realized I need to come back, try to have fun and be happy. I can’t pick a better way to be happy.”
Grill led early, only briefly gave up the top spot to Christopher Tullus, and then drove away until a caution with seven laps to go, which did little to derail the night as well.
It was his 17th win in the Montgomery Pro Late Model weekly series championship of his career.
“I’ve been working really hard,” said Grill. “Me and David Ray been working really hard, Chris Mitchell’s been working really hard on these cars. Keep getting them better, keep getting them better. It seemed like that last stint, we couldn’t ever grasp. Maybe we’ve got a hold of that right now.
“That’s the best car I’ve ever had here in a long time. It stayed with me all night, it never gave me any kind of grief.”
Grill operates his family owner Grand American Race Cars chassis building operation.
Jim Wall got into Tullis on the final restart, but held on to finish four seconds back of Grill, with a damaged car.
“As far as the right-front fender goes, I got into the 12 car [of Tullis] a little more than I wanted to,” Wall said. “I hope he’s alright. Me and Gavin Graham had a good race, and I got into his left rear. He was trying to keep me pinned down there and it crushed the fender on the right front. I wasn’t sure if it was going to make it to the end, but it did and I’m happy to have it.”
In addition to the weekly series finale at Montgomery, this race was also the finale of the Rogers Dabbs Pro Late Model challenged, comprised of select races across Pensacola, Mobile, Montgomery and Nashville.
John Bolen claimed the championship with a third-place finish.
“I appreciate them for putting that on,” Bolen said. “It’s been a long season for us. We’ve ran 20-some races and been all over it seems like. Really coming on strong lately. I feel like we missed it a little bit tonight, that put us in a hole in qualifying. A couple of adjustments short, but I still think we had a shot there at the end.
“Got ran over by one of the kids on the restart, and that set us back, had to run too hard. There on that last restart, we were too free in and didn’t have anything for Jim.”
Jake Finch claimed the Show Me the Money championship by virtue of starting the race but cemented it with a top-five in the iconic Ronnie Sanders No. 18.
“It’s up to these Ronnie Sanders guys, they did a great job. We didn’t have a good night tonight, really. Just struggled with tires. I don’t know if this right-front came apart or what the deal was. We just struggled trying to get grip, we had no grip. We came in, made an adjustment, kind of made it better, and tried to keep our head in it the whole time.”
Alabama State Asphalt Championship 100
Montgomery Motor Speedway
October 19 2024
- Augie Grill
- Jim Wall
- John Bolen
- Gavin Graham
- Jake Finch
- Zack Dixon
- Christopher Tullis
- Aiden Potter
- Diogo Moscato
- Ryan Price
- Chase Spradlin
- Jeremy Williams
- Kenneth Canales
- Steven Chunn
- Trey Grimes
- Jason Furrow
- George Phillips
- Garrett Gumm
- Clint Folsom
- Jake Daniels
- Brian Reeves
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