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AUSTIN GRABOWSKI TO TAKE ON CALIFORNIA
SPEED WEEK BY HIMSELF
By Scott
Daloisio
(Perris, CA, August 9, 2020)
A quartet of Perris Auto Speedway regulars
will hit the road this week for the
first-ever IMCA Modified California Speed
Week. The grueling series will consist of
six straight nights of action on six
different tracks. The races will start on
Monday, August 10th at the Placerville
Speedway before heading west to the
Petaluma Speedway on the 11th. The series
will then commence its journey southward
for a race on the 12th at the Antioch
Speedway. From that point on it will dip
into Central California where it will wrap
up on the 13th, 14th, and 15th at the
Merced Speedway, Keller Auto Speedway in
Hanford, and the Bakersfield Speedway.
One of the
four PAS regulars contesting the series
will be Riverside, California racer Austin
Grabowski. In a career starting when he
was six years old in quarter midgets on
the track located on First Street in
Pomona, the 31-year-old has since raced
legend cars, late models, super late
models, and speed trucks on pavement.
However, he is a relative newcomer to
racing dirt track modifieds, but that is
not stopping him from competing in this
week’s demanding series.
Austin
Grabowski photo courtesy of Bobby
Kimbrough.
“I am bored,”
he said with a laugh from his hot rod shop
(Grabowski Speed Shop) in Riverside on
Friday when asked why he is taking on the
challenging series of races. “Ever since
the Corona Virus deal started, I have been
working seven days a week, 14 hours a day
in the hot rod shop because racing was not
going on. So, I need an escape. I need to
get out of the shop and go out and race. I
was committed to a few cars (jobs in his
shop) which is why I was not able to make
it up to a few of the Bakersfield races. I
ran the first race of the year at Ventura
in March. I started eighth, and finished
second.”
Grabowski
raced in California up until he was 19.
That is when he left So Cal to attend
McPherson College in Kansas. He headed to
the Midwest school because it was the only
school in the nation that offered a
bachelor’s degree in automotive
restoration. However, he graduated with a
business degree with a minor in automotive
restoration. He returned to California
upon graduation in 2013
Before heading
to the “Corn Belt” for school, all the
affable driver’s racing efforts had been
on pavement. But, while in Kansas he
picked up a job working at an automotive
shop. His Monday through Friday work
schedule revolved around his classes. The
weekends were quite different. The owner
of the shop raced dirt modifieds and he
offered Grabowski the opportunity to go
along with him to the races. Needless to
say, he jumped on the chance and it was
there that he initially learned about
setting up the suspension and how dirt
cars worked. He also occasionally was
given the opportunity to wheel pack and
hot lap the car. It was literally his
indoctrination to dirt track racing.
One of the
differences in Grabowski, who has only
been racing modifieds for a year and a
half, and the other entries in the series,
is the fact that he is doing the deal all
by himself. While the other teams will
have pit crews on hand to deal with the
car at the track and the daily maintenance
between races, Grabowski will be a
“one-man band.” He is going to do all of
the driving to get to the races, all of
the work on the car at the track and all
of the off-track maintenance, and, of
course, the fun part, driving the car, by
himself. It will be like at his hot rod
shop where he restores and modifies 1930s,
40s, and 50s hot rods and customs (his
main bread and butter are 1932 through the
40s Fords), basically resurrecting cars
from the dead.
“It is like my
hot rod shop,” Grabowski explained. “I
work by myself in my hot rod shop
restoring cars. I know that car (his
modified) forwards and backward and upside
down. I am able to go from track to track
to track by myself and it will not be the
first time it has happened. I have taken
off by myself to the tracks before, so I
might as well do it again now.”
While his time
in a modified is still somewhat limited,
Grabowski has already had success. Last
year he won seven heat races. He also
captured main event victories at the
Ventura Raceway and Perris Auto Speedway.
When he hits the trail for California
Modified week, he will be racing at
neither of those tracks as they are
currently closed due to the COVID crisis.
Of the six tracks on the Modified Week
schedule, he has only raced at Bakersfield
and Merced. However, he has friends at all
the tracks that he can lean on to help him
with setups if needed.
Grabowski will
be one of Dave Stall’s guests today on the
“Racer Radio Show” and he will be talking
about California Speed Week. The show airs
from 3:00 – 4:00 P.M. PDT and fans can
listen in online at www.kcbq.com or 1170
AM on the radio dial if they live in the
San Diego area.
Grabowski’s
racing efforts are supported by Grabowski
Speed Shop, Mustang Hotels, and Snooty Fox
Inn.
In addition to
Grabowski, other PAS regulars contesting
California Speed Week will be the Norco
father and daughter racing team of Tom and
Alyssa Smith and Highlands Tim LaBrake.
Fans who
cannot attend the California Speed Week
races in person can watch all the action
live on pay per view on the Flo Racing
site. Full details are available at the
following link https://www.floracing.com/.
To keep up
with all the latest Perris Auto Speedway
news, photos, gossip and receive special
offers, please use the following links:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Perris-Auto-Speedway/113876798686480?ref=hl
Twitter:
Perris Auto Speedway on Twitter.
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/perrisautospeedway/
Website:
http://perrisautospeedway.com/
Perris Auto
Speedway is conveniently located on the
SoCal Fair and Event Center (home of
October’s Southern California Fair),
approximately one-hour east of Los Angeles
and one-hour North of San Diego. To get to
the track, take the 215 freeway, on the
Ramona Expressway and go three miles east
to the fairgrounds. For directions on
MapQuest, the address to enter is: 18700
Lake Perris Drive and the zip code is
92571.
Perris Auto
Speedway wants to thank its corporate
partners for the 2019 season. Ahern
Equipment Rentals, All Coast Construction,
Battery Systems, Budweiser, Bud’s Tire
Pro, Chris’ Hauling, City of Perris,
Communication Innovations, Daytona Boat &
RV Storage, Ed Moore Bullet Proof
Driveshaft, Flowdynamics, HD Industries,
Hoosier Tires, Inland Rigging, Living
Water’s Hospice, LKQ Pick Your Part,
Luke’s Transmission, Moose Racing,
Pepsi-Cola, Pole Position, PrintItNow.com,
Rainbow Bolt & Supply, Rugged Radios,
Shaver Specialties, Square H, Sunoco Race
Fuels, Trench Shoring, Upland Rock, Varner
Construction and Vista Paint.
Video and DVD
productions of all racing sprint cars
events at Perris Auto Speedway are
available from Loudpedal Productions. For
more information on these productions you
can contact them by calling (805)
844-3854, E-mailing
mailto:trtruex@gmail.com or you can visit
the website LoudPedal Productions.
DVD’s of all
the PASSCAR/IMCA racing and Nights of
Destruction at The PAS are available from
Fourvideos. For more information call
(714) 225-9500.
racesatthepas@aol.com is the only
authorized Internet address to issue
official media news released from The
Perris Auto Speedway or Oval
Entertainment. |
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