![]() |
|
| SNOWBALL DERBY: Augie Grill Wins 40th Annual Snowball Derby
12-02-2007 | TruckSeries.com Report
Despite Front End Damage, Grill Pulls Away Late to Score First Snowball Triumph Augie Grill has been around the Snowball Derby since the first time he was carried into Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, FL as a one-month-old son of Derby car owner Frankie Grill in 1976. He had been to victory lane in the Snowball Derby two times with family-owned cars, but both times as a crew member on Wayne Anderson and Butch Lindley's efforts. But in the 40th Annual Snowball Derby at Five Flags on Sunday, December 2nd, it was finally time for the now-31-year-old Dolomite, Alabama native to make it to victory lane as a driver of the 300-lap race. Grill took the lead for the final time on lap 267 from defending Snowball Derby Champion Clay Rogers and checked out from the field late in the race, even despite front bumper cover damage suffered early in the going, to take the laurels as the 30th different winner of the prestigious short track event. Grill started 14th and suffered damage to the front end of his #112 as he worked through the 39-car starting field. Even with the damage, Grill still had a stout racecar that he was able to maneuver into the top-five. Once up front, he was a fixture there. Grill pulled away from the pack in the final laps while Matt Hawkins and Jeff Fultz battled for second behind him. Hawkins, a former winner of the Allen Turner Snowflake 100 at Five Flags, edged Fultz in the last 10 laps for the runner-up spot. Eddie Mercer, 2005 Champion of the Snowball Derby, finished fourth, while Rogers rounded out the top-five. Josh Hamner finished sixth, while Michigan's Brian Campbell came home seventh with Ryan Foster, Scott Hantz and Jeff Choquette completing the top 10. 40th Annual Snowball Derby 1) #112 Augie Grill Race statistics: Average speed of race 56.015 mph.
| |