December 8, 2024
A year of ups and downs for one of the most prolific pavement short track racers of the era has culminated in one more victory.
Augie Grill picked up the victory in the Snowball Derby Outlaw feature on Saturday, following a day which was microcosm of 2024 itself.
Following a Snowball Derby LCQ which saw Grill to transfer and a 26th place effort in the Snowflake 100, the Alabama racer had one last shot at a victory—the Outlaw 50-lap feature.
Beginning the feature event from a 6th place starting position, Grill battled through tight contests and several restarts to eventually take the lead away from Carter Taylor. Grill had to hold off a fast Logan Boyett who gave all he had on a late-race restart.
With Grill’s victory, he accumulates nine wins during Snowball Derby weekend. The two-time Super Late Model Snowball Derby winner’s victory was his first Derby win in the Outlaw division.
“To begin with, I didn’t think I was gonna be good at all,” said Grill. “We ran a few laps before that first caution and I’m like, ‘man this thing’s a pile of junk.’ After that first caution, it was a little bit better and I could kinda hang with cars around me. Ran longer and longer and it got better and better.”
“I feel like if I’m not as good as cars around me, if I can get a restart then I can at least get in front of a couple of them. I don’t know if it’s something in the air or what, all the wrecks in these races. Pro race was ridiculous. We parked it because I knew we were gonna end up tearing it completely up.”
Grill also spoke on the health setbacks he faced this year and how his cancer diagnosis didn’t affect his racer mentality and forward focus.
“It’s pretty cool, but I’m not done yet. I got some more years left, and luckily what I have isn’t very aggressive, so I have time to heal myself. It’ll be a few years but I’ll be back to normal here before long.”
Snowball Derby Outlaw Feature Results
- Augie Grill
- Logan Boyett
- Bubba Winslow
- Gary Goodwin
- Carter Taylor
- Bill Tutchtone
- Scooter Grice
- Roger Reuse -1 lap
- Jerry Bohlman -3 laps
- Hunter Lambert -5 laps
- Joe Bethea Jr. -6 laps
- Todd Jones -8 laps
- Cameron Henderson -10 laps
- Dennis Prunty -14 laps
- Stuart Dutton -15 laps
- Gary Sanford -15 laps
- Spencer Bragg -21 laps
- Dylan Courtney -29 laps
- Memphis Villarreal -47 laps
- Boston Oliver
- Toro Rodriguez
- Richie King
- Josh Hicks – DQ
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Cover photo: Daniel Vining / DanielVining.com
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