Winning on Dirt & Asphalt From Maine to Florida in 50s-80s, Al Grinnan Courted Patsy Cline, Gave Away Watermelons, Won NASCAR Most Popular Driver Wheeling Old Earl Moss Car Wearing Red Socks

I came across a little 1974 clip about one of my early racing heroes, Al Grinnan, winning 3 of his first four 1974 races in a new car, including a 200-lapper at Myrtle Beach:

I never knew Al had ever raced at Myrtle Beach and asked Jack Walker and Bobby Williamson if they might have any information on that 1974 event.

If you never knew Al Grinnan, originally from Fredericksburg, Va. and later a resident of Richmond and Mechanicsville, you missed knowing one of the all time characters in NASCAR weekly racing, noted for his ever constant grin and habit of taking pickup truck loads of watermelons to share with the drivers he often beat.

Starting in the early 50s, Al raced into the 1980s. He won on dirt, he won on asphalt.

First time I ever saw Al up close and personal was in 1965 in the huge diesel truck overhaul shop of Brooks Transfer (later Hemmingway) on the Boulevard in Richmond. A family friend from my local Baptist church, Beverly Brooks, took me and buddy Frank over to see the NASCAR modified he worked on.

The car was the yellow and white '37 Chevy Coupe 327 cu. in. fuel injected NASCAR modified #27 owned by Richmond restaurant operator, Sonny Hutchins (who was driving the #90 Ford Coupe for Junie Donlavey) and driven by Al Grinnan. The car was being raced on asphalt on Wednesday night at Beltsville, Md. and Friday night at Richmond's Southside Speedway. On Saturday Grinnan drove the car on dirt at Langley Field Speedway in Hampton, Virginia.

Walt Wimer photo

A nicer fellow you never met.

Parked in a bay next to the #27 was a maroonish/red modified coupe with the number 300 on the doors and the name Earl Moss and Creedmoor, NC painted on the car. If you want to see a similar car, just look anywhere on this site at the car our member, Bobby Williamson drives in Bell & Bell vintage competition. It's a tribute to the car Sonny had bought for Al to drive on dirt at Langley Field in what became a two car stable.

Al aways drove in trademark red wool socks. Two years later, with the old Earl Moss car now numbered #99, Al Grinnan would be voted by his fellow drivers, mechanics and crew members as the Most Popular NASCAR Modified Driver of 1967. Red Farmer would follow Al in 1968 as Most Popular.

I watched Al win some awesome battles in Richmond on asphalt against NASCAR stars and on dirt in Wilson, NC in "outlaw" races. Al's biggest career payday of $15,000 would come in Wilson in the 1970s when he won one of the November season ending Southern Late Model 200s. He finished his career running dirt at Saluda, Va. and Dixieland near Elizabeth City, NC.

Before he passed in 2006, a couple of stories in the Fredericksburg paper captured some of the essence of what racing was like for AL back in those days. The first story was published in 1997 and the second in 2001, just 5 years before his death.

On this site we have members like Charles Ray Stocks who watched Al at Wilson and Woody Delbridge and Ray Lamm who saw him race in Richmond and at Old Dominion, where Jack Redd also watched, as well as at Beltsville.

After leaving the modified rides owned by Sonny Hutchins, Al and Sonny became fierce Late Model Sportsman competitors on the Virginia tracks while Sonny drove for Emanuel Zervakis in the powder blue #01. The beating and banging got so bad that the likeness of a gorilla was painted on the front fenders of Al's orange Coleman Mann owned #00, with the name "SONNY" below the gorilla!

If you knew or watched Al Grinnan, I hope you enjoy a few remembrances about the two-time NASCAR Virginia Late Model Sportsman champion. If you never saw Al race, I hope you still enjoy a few tales about the driver who led the very first lap of the famed Oxford 250 Series at Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine.

dave this is great reading these are the kind of post that i like reading over and over it is great stuff i was at wilson nc when al hit the wall drivers side first and knocked his chompers out al left us all a bunch of fond memories

Dave - Good info !! Thanks for posting.

Dave I remember seeing Al race at Brunswick Speedway in Lawrenceville, VA 1958 on the 1/4 mile dirt track. He was driving a Ford Modified coupe number 9 from South Boston, VA with 8 Fish carburetors and later told me that he almost ran out of fuel in 25 laps before he won the race. Eddie Crouse driving Jack Tant's Chevrolet coupe number 11 would win there every Friday night but finished second to Al that night. Those were the good old days, Butch Torrie drove my father's DeSOTO powered Plymouth coupe car number 37 and raced with Al many times at different tracks, he also had many wins at Lawrenceville, Petersburg and South Boston sometimes winning three weekends in a row.

Thanks for those great memories, Jack.

Great reading on Al, Dave, thanks!

I'd love to see a photo of that motor with 8 Fish carburetors mounted on it. Must of been quite a sight.

"Coastal Jack" Walker has found the answer to the 1974 Al Grinnan Myrtle Beach win with a news clipping from SMJ - Southern MotorSports Journal that he has posted at his Carolina Race Place site and which he forwarded.

Thank you so much Jack for filling in this bit of history. Have a little tear in my eye seeing the October 18th response from our recently departed RR member, Jack Carter.

News clipping furnished by Jack Walker as posted at Carolina Race Place site.

thanks for these magnificent post it looks like al won over a star studded feild

dave when i read these post its almost like being back in time at the track watching these races unfold truly amazing its hard not to get lost in the 60s and 70s when i read these post

Charles... if you enjoyed that... here's a great story I found from the previous year that appeared on Labor Day weekend 1973 in the Danville (VA) Bee involving Bill Dennis and Al Grinnan from the Myrtle Beach race and the "problems" they were having with Sonny Hutchins at Langley Field and Southside Speedways. Now if only Sonny had been at Myrtle Beach, we might have seen a real donnybrook!!!

RICHMOND ATTORNEY TO SUE DRIVER SONNY HUTCHINS

The Bee

Danville. Va., Friday, August 31,1973

Richmond attorney and car owner John Dodson is suing Richmond race driver Sonny Hutchins for damages sustained to his race car at Langley Field Speedway at Hampton last Saturday night.

Richmond newspapers reported this week that Hutchins rammed the Dodson racer while sitting in the pit area after the. 75-lap feature event had ended. Hutchins was angered by rival Richmond driver Bill Dennis, who- was driving the' Dodson Chevelle, for his driving tactics near the end of the race.

Hutchins claimed that Dennis rammed him twice on the final lap which brought; about the-post-race incident. A brief skirmish ensued after Hutchins rammed the Dennis car, and the identity of all that were involved is a mystery. Hutchins claimed that a beer bottle was thrown by a member of the Dennis crew, cutting him on the arm and hand while he sat behind the wheel.

When a member of the Hutchins crew rushed to the rescue, he was hit in the throat, according to reports. Hutchins quickly jumped from the Zervakis Chevelle and offered to take on all comers, but there were no takers, Hutchins said. Dennis won the race and admitted he spun Hutchinsdeliberatelyas a way of getting even with Hutchins for spinning him earlier. Hutchins' explanation of the early spinout of Dennis was that Dennis was already in a spin when he touched him, and if Dennis was man enough to admit it he would say so.

Dennis informed Dodson that he was going to spin Hutchins if he could catch him and Dodson told Dennis he was driving the car and he was not going to tell him what he could or could not do. The crowd reaction was in Dennis' favor, Dodson was reported as saying. Witnesses said the Hutchins racer was traveling as high as perhaps 60 miles per hour when he rammed into the Dennis car, buckling the car while the Hutchins car received only a busted radiator.

The Dodson Chevelle was built by Zervakis and in its only previous outing with Dennis as. the driver, it ran out of fuel with a lap-plus lead with five laps remaining last Friday night at Richmond's Southside Speedway. Nascar officials at the track have reported the incident to headquarters at Daytona Beach, Fla., and a hearing will most likely will be held to determine the outcome.

The Dodson car will be taken care of, Hutchins is reported as saying, and there will be no reason to go to court: He said that Zervakis would take care of the car. Hutchins, a big winner at Southside who has pocketed $9,435 in prize money this year and also is the current point leader, likened himself to Ray Hendrick who dominated Southside Speedway for years and drew the wrath of spectators, drivers and mechanics alike for his hard-qharging methods. . "It seems no matter what happens, I'm always to blame," Hutchins said. "Now I know how Ray felt when he raced around here."

Hutchins had a Friday night bout with Al Grinnan of Fredericksburg at Southside Speedway which included two tangles before moving into Langley Saturday night and the Bill Dennis affair. Saturday night, Hutchins will be in action at South Boston Speedway in a 150-lap late model sportsman race and Dennis is scheduled for the same event in the Blue Burton Chevelle. The 240-lap racing card will close out the season at South Boston this year.

A 50-lap limited sportsman race, along with four 10-lap heat events, two in each division, will highlight the action beginning at, 8 p.m. On the same card with Dennis and Hutchins are Ray Hendrick, Satch Worley, Eddie Royster, Ted Hairfield, Mel Bradley, Bubba Talum, Red Foote and all of the Trico regulars are expected as Trico Motor Speedway offers only limited sportsman and hobby races for Saturday night.

Trico Motor Speedway has twin 25-lap limited sportsman races and twin l5-lap hobby races on tap Saturday night featuring the inverted start. Heat races will determine starling positions in the first race. On Monday, Labor Day, Trico schedules a 125-lap late model sportsman chase, a 25-lap limited show and two 10-lap heat races. On hand for the Labor Day shutout are such noted drivers as Ray Hendrick, Ted Hairfield, Monk Tate, Eddie Royster, Al Grinnan, Tom Ellis and Bill Dennis. Practice runs begin at 12 noon Monday.

Al Grinnan at Southside Speedway in Richmond, Va. in the famed Coleman Mann from Powhatan #00 that later had a gorilla painted on front fender with Sonny Hutchins' name below!!! photo posted at outsidegroove.com

wow! sounds like a shoot out at the O K corral. lol...too bad this was all before the WWE or the caged M.A. events. The track could have made a fortune with the intermission bouts.

Hey, Bill.... here's another photo from the same time period 1973-1974 taken at a Cumberland County Speedway NASCAR Late Model Sportsman race in Fayetteville, NC. Bill Dennis (R) seems to be telling Bobby Allison (L) how Sonny Hutchins (background) has done him wrong again! Bill would have been driving the Blue Burton #33 Chevelle at Fayetteville with Sonny in the #01 Zervakis Chevelle and Allison in his own #12 Chevelle.

Fayetteville Observer - Thomas Pope Article on Fayetteville Racing History

Dave, To me, Sonny doesn't look to worried. Sounds like half the field

had a reason to do a little bit of "pay back". I have raced with a couple of guys like that and you can get plenty riled up when you get the chrome horn and don't get enough time to move over or choose not to. lol.

dave thanks for anotherexciting post kepp this good stuff rolling

Al Grinnan during the same time span in his #00va Chevelle racing Dave Dion in the #27nh Ford for the win in NASCAR Late Model Sportsman action at Thunder Road Speedway in Barre, Vermont. Al was doing some serious traveling up and down the eastern seaboard, racing from Florida to Maine, including his Myrtle Beach win.