'Texas Tornado' Blows 'em Away in Mobile: Prostar 200 Report and Results
16 November 1997
Mobile, AL - The "Texas Tornado", Tommy Grimes of San Antonio, TX blew into Mobile, AL for the Prostar 200 and then whirled his way to the win at Mobile International Speedway. Grimes picked up $7,000 for the win as well as $1,000 for leading the race at the halfway point. "It's been a long time, we had some seconds and thirds and fifths, we've just been hanging in there." a very happy Grimes stated after the race. "The car was fast right off the trailer. We changed some springs, but it never really made the car any faster, just easier to drive around the racetrack." Grimes started the 200 lap affair from third position behind fast qualifier Robert Burroughs of Laurel, MS who blistered the half mile oval in 18.110 seconds for an average speed of 99.393 mph. Gerald Wilkerson of Mobile took the outside pole spot with Tim Bryant of Navarre, FL starting the race on the outside of the second row. On the drop of the green Burroughs grabbed the lead as the field headed into turn one, with Wilkerson dropping into second and Grimes third. Burroughs would lead the first lap, but on lap two as the cars barreled into turn three, both Burroughs and Wilkerson spun in tandem in the middle of the turn. Neither lost a lap, but were now mired back in the field. Grimes assumed the lead with Bryant running second, Jimbo Wilson of Mobile in third and Tim Baker of Gulfport, MS and C.W. Sullivan of Gulf Shores, AL rounding out the top five. When the green came back out, both Wilkerson and Burroughs began making their way towards the front. By lap 17 Wilkerson was back into the top five as he slid by Sullivan and then a lap later made a move to the inside of Baker to take fourth. Burroughs was also picking off at least one car a lap and by the time lap 20 rolled around Wilkerson was past Bryant and into second with Burroughs right behind him in third. Nose to tail the two tried to run down the fleet Grimes who had opened up almost a half lap lead on the field by this point. On lap 29 Burroughs made a move to the inside of Wilkerson in turn one and emerged from turn two in second place. Wilkerson stayed right on his bumper for the next couple of laps, but slowly Burroughs opened the gap to a car length on lap 35. Then on lap 41, Jeff Dawkins, who had just been put a lap down by Grimes, spun in the middle of turns one and two and slid up the track into the path of Burroughs who was trying to go high. There was contact and Burroughs suffered some damage to the left front of his car. Grimes pace had been so fast that by this point only four cars were left on the lead lap, and when Burroughs went to the pits for repairs, he too was put a lap down. Grimes now led Wilkerson with Bryant in third. Baker was in fourth, but running a lap down. On the lap 41 restart, Bryant appeared to be very loose, and then lost four positions to lapped cars as his pace slowed. Grimes slowly pulled away from Wilkerson and then on lap 57 he blew past Bryant to put him a lap down. Grimes was passing cars both high and low and on lap 58 he sliced between Burroughs and Burt Belter in a three-wide maneuver as he put both cars another lap in arrears. Bryant finally headed for the pits under green on lap 67 with a flat left rear, leaving just Grimes and Wilkerson on the lead lap. When Dawkins' engine let go on the front straight on lap 73 the fourth yellow flag of the race came out, and grimes decided to head to the pits for some fresh McCreary tires. Grimes' crew changed the right side rubber and sent him back out in second place behind Wilkerson. This put the local favorite in the lead for the first time with grimes riding in second and Baker third, a lap down. Belter had worked his way into fourth in a backup car after his Ford suffered front end damage during qualifying while George Rangel of Casco Township, MI was now running in fifth. Wilson, Nathan Ingersoll, Bryant, James Hollingsworth and David Hole rounded out the top ten. On the lap 80 restart, Grimes powered to the outside of Wilkerson and a lapped car and made the move stick as he was able to work his way around both cars and take the lead coming out of turn two. On lap 103 Ted Ramsey and Baker spun in turn two forcing Grimes to make a quick move to the top of the track to avoid being caught up in the incident. When caution came out again on lap 108 for another spin by Ramsey, Wilkerson headed for the pits and decided to take on four fresh McCreary tires. Wilkerson's choice of taking four tires paid of quickly as he was able to move inside Grimes on the restart and retake the lead going into turn one on the restart. Wilkerson soon opened a lead of two car lengths, but then Grimes seemed to get the rhythm and began to close back in. On lap 126 Grimes was back on Wilkerson's rear bumper and looking for a way to make the pass. On lap 129 as the two headed into turn one, Wilkerson's engine, which had been showing some faint smoke for the last few laps, went away in a puff of smoke. Grimes, right on his rear bumper, tapped him in the rear and Wilkerson went sailing off the top of turn three. With caution on the speedway, rain began to fall, and with the cars circling the track at reduced speed the racing surface soon became very slippery. The race was red flagged and the cars all stopped on the front straight. It soon became obvious that drying the track would take an extremely long time, and as the rain continued race officials decided to call the race and declare it official as it was past the halfway point. Grimes took the win with Baker finishing second. Ramsey finished the race in third with Wilkerson in fourth and Rangel taking fifth. Belter, Dawkins, Burroughs, Hollingsworth and Hole rounded out the top ten. "We just lucked out," Baker stated. "We had a clutch slipping the whole race and we just feathered it around." Baler finished a lap down to the leader at the checkers. "I think we had him covered," Wilkerson commented afterwards. "We changed four tires and he changed two. I think he messed up the stagger when he changed two and I decided to take four. Then the engine went and it was all over." In other action Jeremy Pate took the win in the Open Wheel Modified race with Bubba Hart second and Tim Martin third. Robert Smith beat Roy Harrison for the Pure Stock win while Jody Hadley took the Pony Stock victory. PROSTAR 200 RESULT pos Driver Hometown Laps 1. Tommy Grimes San Antonio, TX 135 2. Tim Baker Gulfport, MS 134 3. Ted Ramsey Birmingham, AL 130 4. Gerald Wilkerson Mobile, AL 128 5. George Rangel Casco Township, MI 128 6. Burt Belter Birmingham, AL 128 7. Jeff Dawkins Montgomery, AL 127 8. Robert Burroughs Laurel, MS 118 9. James Hollingsworth Mobile, AL 118 10. David Hole Atlanta, GA 116 11. C.W. Sullivan Gulf Shores, AL 101 12. Tim Bryant Navarre, FL 100 13. Nathan Ingersoll Foley, AL 93 14. Len Griffin Pensacola, FL 78 15. Catfish Gardner Grand bay, AL 66 16. Jimbo Wilson Mobile, AL 21 17. Pat Cruise Deatsville, AL 0 18. William Wambles Mobile, AL 0 19. Bob Green Mobile, AL 0 John Kaiser -- The Auto Channel