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By Dino Oberto …. “Keeping Track”
Northeast Pennsylvania and the American Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) have always had strong ties. Zach Martini of Hazleton. Bloomsburg drivers as Ray Bull, Randy Mausteller and Johnny and Eric Heydenreich. There's Shane Penny of Nescopeck to name a few.
This year another northeast PA racer will be added to the roster of the time honored midget racing club as 15-year old Justin Grosz of Hawley is coming onboard.
Grosz, like many others in recent years who have moved into ARDC, is doing so after racing the past few seasons with micro sprints.
His decision to join ARDC is partly due after a visit to Chip Ganassi’s racing shop in Mooresville, NC. He was attending a racing seminar and looking for direction to the next path for his career.
“I had gone to a developmental seminar about two—three years ago were there were a lot of top guys in NASCAR attending and they advised me I needed to get out of winged racing. So that led us into looking at ARDC. We liked what we saw and are now headed in that direction,” said Grosz, who is an honor student at Wallenpaupack Area High School and will be inducted into the National Honor Society this coming week.
“We went there looking to see were our next step was. We were ready to move out of the micros and we wanted to see which angle would be best for us. They encouraged me to run on dirt more because if I was going to run a midget then I would get more control with the car.”
Even though he’s only 15, Grosz is no rookie racer. He was a top notch go-karter prior to running a micro. He hit all the local karting tracks as well venturing out to the national scene on both dirt and asphalt surfaces with dirt being more of his preference.
“The thing that made me love dirt (racing) the most is when we went down to Daytona to run the Dirt World Karting Championships and came very close to winning. We finished second. There were over 75 cars in my class and only 26 made the main event,” said Grosz.
“Running the micros was a great experience too. I didn’t understand a lot of the concept with the go-karts but once I was in the micros I had to learn all of the different aspects and I learned from a lot of great guys too which helped me progress.”
It wasn’t until last season that Grosz and his dad, John, saw their first ARDC race. After checking out how good the racing was they were convinced that would be the best route to head in.
“We didn’t know much about ARDC at first but once they told us about the wingless stuff then we took a more serious look at them. It wasn’t USAC but after watching one of their races last year at Susquehanna (Raceway) it seemed to be a very good organization to be a part of,” said Grosz.
“I went back and checked out some of the old records with the club and saw that guys like (Mario) Andretti and a whole bunch of big names that use to run with them. I could see there was a lot of tradition there.”
Going from a micro sprint and into a midget should go well also. Every ARDC champion over the past ten years has come from micro sprints. Many more our competing within the club.
“I’ve seen a lot of guys make a nice transition from the micros and into the ARDC midgets and I feel that we’re going to have a pretty good car under us and should make that same type of transition,” noted Grosz. “I’m going to try and do the best of my ability and I’m not going to come in there and make a bad impression on myself. We just want to get use to the car. We plan to test in a couple weeks. Our game plan is to learn as much as possible and look ahead to USAC.”
His first meet with ARDC will be on July 11 at Accord Speedway in New York. The wait is due to his age. He’ll have turned 16 by then which is the requirement to race with the club. In the meantime he’ll be attending as many ARDC shows as he can. He did report to the pre-season rules meeting held at Lobitz Catering in Hazleton earlier this month. He is looking to pick up a micro or even go-kart ride to stay sharp until his debut.
With a few weeks between his first and second race with ARDC, Grosz will look to fill the time by heading out to Indiana for the USAC Midget Speed Week. He also plans to go to Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway for the Four Crown Nationals. If the funds allow there may be a possibility of racing in the prestigious Hut Hundred at Terra Haute Speedway as well.
“We know we have to travel in order to get noticed,” said Grosz.
ARDC is a wise choice. The young talent has shown he has the skill and potential to continue on a career path in motor racing and ARDC will indeed be a great schooling for him to learn with. |
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