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Home , Hickory Motor Speedway, JGL Racing, Kaz Grala

NASCAR STAR RISING , 18-YEARS-OLD, IS SETTING RECORDS WHILE HIS STARDOM RISES

STORY AND INTERVIEW BY RON ADAMS

38 Via Corsa Via Corsa 39 motor. A friend of mine that I knew from racing owned a passion come in? go-kart track in . KG: I mean the passion comes in because this is what RA: Tell me about the go-karts. Kaz, what was your I’ve done since I was little, and I’ve tried everything there first memory? is to try and this is just what I love doing. The compe- KG: My first memory was every weekend, every tition of it, the challenge of it, the actual driving of it; it Saturday or most Saturdays at least, driving about 45 doesn’t matter if it’s a stock car, a sports car, a simulated minutes in the car with my dad to the go-kart race, bring- car in a video game, it doesn’t matter to me, it’s all about ing our own go-kart for the first three years. And once driving it and trying to get the most out of it. I turned seven, I used the go-kart that they had, which RA: So at seven-years-old, the go-karting they randomly assigned. continued competitively; what happened next? RA: So, you were go-karting at what age again? KG: I continued go-karting from age seven to nine, KG: Four-years-old. and I won two local championships in the process. It RA: Did you even know what you were doing at was at this one place called F1 Boston. So, I won two that age? championships in that. That was on road courses. There Some people were just born in Poland and my family didn’t have a car, no one in my KG: Well, I did because of my shoes. I wore converse were two different courses at that venue and we would to race. Call it good genes or extended family owned an automobile, and I had never shoes and one of them was duct-taped green and the alternate back and forth between them. natural talent or simply being been to race. All I had done was ride in a taxi cab a few other one was duct-taped red. And I could see my feet of born into the opportunity. What- times and for some reason, all I wanted to do was drive course in a go-kart, so that’s how I initially learned which ever the case may be, there is a race cars. So, no good explanation. was which. But I had that on my shoes and I was sent rising star out there that stands out But in 1973, when I was eight-years-old we came right out to race. among all the rest by the name of here to America specifically because my dad wanted a RA: That’s epic, and the coolest thing I’ve ever heard. Kaz Grala. Grala is still a teenager, car. He was in Poland, his mother moved to America KG: My first race didn’t go too well. At first it was -go fresh out of high school, yet is a sea- during the war and they were sending letters back and ing fine, I was leading the race and coming in to take the soned veteran of several racing series forth. He asked her to send him some money so he could white flag. It was almost over and I pulled into pit lane S that have helped propel him full time buy a motorcycle. She said, “No, why don’t you come to and asked my dad for a juice box. I had no idea what was into the competitive world of NASCAR. America, forget a motorcycle and get yourself a car here, going on out on the track or the fact that I lost the race In fact, as we write this, Grala has finished his one this is the place to be.” So, that’s kind of the whole story, over that. I was just having fun. year run in the NASCAR 2017 Camping World Series in that we came here because of a car, and for my whole life RA: Go-karting started off with a juice box; talk me his GMS Racing Number 33, Silverado Truck, that’s what I wanted to be. through the years as they progressed. and has graduated to drive full time with Ford and the How I got started racing wasn’t until after I went to KG: From age four to six it was more just a fun JGL Racing Organization in the 2018 NASCAR XFINITY college and after I got a job and saved some money. I did thing to do on the weekends. I don’t think I took it that Series. So, it is Via Corsa’s honor to introduce you to Kaz autocross and raced Formula Fords, and I attended the seriously. I think in that age range, I continued to play Grala and his father Darius Grala. Skip Barber Racing School, then raced F-2000’s. soccer and baseball and all that stuff as well, but when I Ron Adams: Let’s start with you, Darius. How did RA: Kaz, when were you born? was seven is when I really got more competitive about it. you begin racing? Kaz Grala: I was born in December 1998. I wanted to actually finish well and try to win champion- Darius Grala: This is all I’ve ever wanted to do as RA: How did Kaz get introduced to racing? ships and that’s when I kind of slowed down on the other far back as I can remember. Since I was only six-years- DG: What started it was we bought him a go-kart sports. old, I wanted to race cars. I mean, I was still a little kid for Christmas. It was a proper CRG racing hallmark 50cc RA: Everyone talks about passion, where does the

40 Via Corsa Via Corsa 41 RA: Then you progressed from go-karts to what? and that was the first laps I ever turned on an asphalt KG: From there was VIR (Virginia International oval. Raceway), they had a motorsports summer camp for kids RA: What happened after that? and it was a one week overnight camp. I wanted to do KG: I started racing and I was teammates with Austin that when I was nine-years-old. My parents told me about in the Bandolero class for two years down in North it, but I had never been to an overnight camp and they Carolina, so that was when the travel started for me and were a little uneasy about sending me down from Massa- missing school. This put me at about 5th grade. I guess I chusetts to Virginia by myself. So, they decided to bring didn’t technically start racing then, but I call it 10-years- me down so they could stay close by while I attended old when I started racing. camp. The camp consisted of different skid pad routines, RA: How old are you now by the way? off-road dune buggy riding, pit stop practice, all sorts of KG: 18. fun. What you could call workshop-like settings, learning RA: Let’s fill the gap between 10 and 18. different aspects of racing. KG: Basically, from there I took more of a standard RA: And after the motorsports camp? path through the stock car world; what you would call KG: Well, during the motorsports camp my parents legend cars, late models. So, legend cars and late models are sitting in the middle of nowhere in Virginia for a week all on short track asphalt ovals. Legend cars are also very and heard that there’s this cool thing called a Summer popular here as well as Scotland, they’re popular all over Shootout happening down in Charlotte. Which is Bandol- the place because they’re cheap, easier to work on. They ero and legend car racing. So, they went and watched this have ridiculous power to weight ratio. My dad drove and Summer Shootout while I was at the camp. raced one a couple of times, actually, and said it was the RA: Summer Shootout in ? most difficult car he’s ever driven. KG: Yes, and it was on a quarter-mile oval, which RA: So, legends led to what? was where my dad started talking with Tim Cindric, the KG: Late models president of Penske Racing. Tim’s son Austin was racing RA: Go-karts to Bandoleros to late models, then in the Summer Shootout, he was also nine or ten-years- what? old at the time. They began talking and it resulted in me KG: What they call the NASCAR K&N Series, spon- actually testing his (Austin’s) car; a little Bandolero on sored by K&N Air Filters. And then we are into trucks. an oval. Soon after the camp, I was still at the age of nine RA: Your father is talking about some records

you’ve set? What are some of those records? having as long a career as I can with that success. KG: I won the two go-kart championships, then I RA: Why NASCAR and not, say, Indy or a Formula won the Bandolero Championship. series? RA: How’d you do on legends; what did you win? KG: For me, NASCAR is the most competitive series KG: I won the Legends Car Championship. It’s a track in the world for the driver themselves, rather than being championship, but that track is the most competitive in for the manufacturer. Whether it’s competition driven the country: . It’s basically the or engineering competition driven, a lot more is in the home track of Legends, the birthplace of legend cars. I driver’s hands. So in my very biased opinion, the most also was the youngest driver to ever win a late model competitive drivers are in the Cup Series. race at . And the youngest driver RA: Do you think there is any loss when you just to ever compete in an IMSA (International Motor Sports race ovals versus road tracks, or what’s your thoughts Association) sanctioned event. That was in the continen- on ovals versus road tracks? tal tire series; Daytona 24 hours, it was that weekend, but KG: I think they are very different to drive. I do it was the continental race. I was 15. Two years later I really well on the road course, particularly well on the was the youngest driver in the Rolex 24, in the real event. road courses in NASCAR, but to me oval racing is more RA: At Daytona? difficult than road courses. MUCH, much, much more KG: Yes. I was driving the #16 Lamborghini Huracan difficult. Having nothing to do with the track, it’s because GTD Car. I’d say the next record, skipping to this year, you’re not fighting for 10ths, you are fighting for 100ths would be pole winner and the youngest winner, both or 1000ths. records in NASCAR history at Daytona. That was huge. And on track there’s never a time where you are RA: What’s on your bucket list, what do you what not bumper to bumper, there’s much more race craft to do? involved. Whereas in sports cars and on road courses in KG: Well, I’d like to make a successful career in general, they tend to spread out much more because of NASCAR, so to me that’s making it to the Cup Series and course, you think you’re racing within 2 percent of a lap

42 Via Corsa Via Corsa 43 vised live. So, suddenly that draws the fan base in much KG: And a lot of the drivers nowadays, because of the RA: And you qualified automatically by winning more heavily, because they’re in the moment watching it cost of the sport and the sponsorships that it’s driven by; Daytona, I heard. and they don’t know what’s going to happen. Then my a lot more people have become more corporate, some call KG: Correct, in the Truck Series. I was the youngest friends were impressed with the truck series quite a bit. it robotic, because they have to be for the companies that driver actually in the NASCAR playoffs in any of the series. RA: What about other race car drivers? You’re 18 they represent. RA: When you are off the track and not racing, and you’re mixing it up with professionals who have I think whenever you have a driver that just gives raw what kind of car do you drive? been doing this for years, decades even, how do they emotion in front of a camera, people tend to gravitate KG: Right now, I drive a 2017 Camaro 50 and I love approach you? What do they think and what do they toward them. And that’s why , Jr. is such a it. It’s the first standard car that I’ve had, street car I say? big name in the sport. People love hearing what he has to should say, that I’ve had. Of course, I’d been driving KG: Right now there’s a huge youth movement in say because he’s always going to tell you the truth, even standard cars since I was 13-years-old on the track, but NASCAR and I think a lot of the veterans have gotten if it’s he’s having a bad day, he’s going to say that. And this is the first one I’ve had on the street I’m loving every used to seeing much younger faces, because when you if he’s extremely excited then he’s not holding that back, second of it. look at the current greats, the good guys right now, and he’s showing that too. So, I think that’s a big part of my RA: What would be the one drive you’d love to take? the veterans are looking 40 years older. So, there’s start- fan base now; they have come to enjoy watching me Anywhere in the world, you could ship your car ing to be a kind of driver turnover, if you will, of young because they just know I’m going to tell it like it is. anywhere. Where would you go and what would you do? guys coming in because there are seats available from RA: This is maybe a bucket list item, and you’ve KG: I think it would be cool to take it on the Auto- retiring drivers. already kind of touched on it. What’s one race you bahn, that’s pretty simple. I don’t know too many exotic So, I’d say the current veterans who are still in it now would like to win? ones, but just to be able to go as fast as I can in it, be- are maybe begrudgingly getting used to mixing it up with KG: That’s a tough one. Any race that you can win in cause I’ve taken it out on a track once and it was on the younger and hungrier drivers. That always adds to feuds, NASCAR, in any of the three divisions is huge, but I’d say Charlotte Motor Speedway. So, I got it on the high bank because you get an 18 or 19-year-old out there and he’s with my home race being New Hampshire, it’s only about and got up to 160 in it. You can definitely do more than obviously got way less experience, but is even hungrier an hour and a half from my house in Massachusetts, I that, I just didn’t have the room to do it. than the guy who is 39 years old. would say being able to win a race in New Hampshire So, maybe going to a place like the Autobahn where RA: What about your fans in particular? Tell me would be absolutely huge. I don’t know if you are famil- you have room to open it up and get it to close to 200 about them. You must have a huge fan base now; iar with the playoff format of NASCAR now, but one of would be pretty cool! time, or when your lap time is 2 ½ minutes versus when what’s that like? the races in New Hampshire is in the playoffs. RA: Thank you both. your lap time is 20 seconds, the margins are just much KG: It’s been pretty cool this year being able to grow bigger, and you’re going to end up being more spaced that fan base, because Daytona was the first time a lot of out. It’s not as competitive of a race. people had heard my name. Now, if you’re going to say what’s harder to drive RA: You were thrown right into the spotlight as well. a lap on, this road course or this oval, of course it will KG: Right into the spotlight. I guess a lot of people be the road course. But when you put 40 cars out there, liked my post-race interview at Daytona just because it you’re going to see the fiercest battles and the highest was real, raw and emotional. competition on an oval. RA: Yes, I watched it. It was an honest interview, RA: How is racing dictating your life off the track? there was no ego there, I liked it. What’s different for you as an 18-year-old in your life than the rest of the 18-year-olds out there? KG: I’ve missed a lot of high school for racing. Most recently, my senior year, I missed over 50 percent of my RECORDS SET SO FAR BY classes. So, I was there less than half the time, which of course was a huge impact as a regular teenager. That’s KAZ GRALA a much different lifestyle; a much different social life; a • Youngest driver to win in a Late Model much different everything. Racing, from 50 percent of race at Hickory Motor Speedway the week and 100 percent of the weekend; well, that’s • Youngest driver to lead laps making up the majority of my life. in the Myrtle Beach 400 RA: What about college? KG: College is definitely in the future at some point. • Youngest driver at the Rolex 24 hours race RA: What degree? • Youngest driver to hold an IMSA license KG: Mechanical engineering. • Youngest driver to take a RA: Let’s talk about the reactions that some at Daytona in a NASCAR race people have. What do your fellow high school students think of all of this? • Youngest driver to race at Daytona in a NASCAR race KG: I think for quite a few years they never really understood it. I believe they always had an image of go- • Youngest driver to win at a karting-type activities for a very long time, until I started NASCAR race at Daytona doing truck series races last year. That was a huge turn- • Youngest driver to qualify for ing point, because the truck series is the first series I’ve the Camping Truck Playoffs raced in where the races are not only televised, but tele-

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