Grosz goes to his old bag of tricks to find sprints success

Lee Grosz kept trying to find something different that would give him an edge.

The sprint car driver found it, and it was in his old bag of tricks.

Since going back to a more familiar setup, Grosz has picked up his first three wins of the season - all at Jackson (Minn.) Speedway.

"At the beginning of the year, we were trying a bunch of different setups," Grosz said. "About a month ago, we went to my old, standard setup, and things have been clicking pretty good."

Three weeks ago, he won a couple of features in one night at Jackson. Last Thursday, Grosz took the checkered flag again.

The driver gives some of the credit to Lady Luck, however.

"They redraw before the features, and all three times I've been lucky enough to start on the front row," Grosz said. "I've been able to get up front, and from there, I haven't made a lot of mistakes."

Grosz has been racing sprint cars for five years now, but the salty old veteran is all of 21-years-old.

The youngster said that he's a lot more relaxed in the driver's seat.

"I'm a lot better in traffic, and I really don't second guess myself any more," Grosz said. "Like any sport, you have to get that mental aspect down.

"I think I have that mental confidence now, and now we're rolling along."

Grosz is still young, but the Harwood, N.D., driver is a proven force on the American Sprint Car Series circuit.

Grosz has won the Northern Plains Regional in the American Sprint Car Series each of the last two years.

The three-peat likely won't happen, since Grosz missed one of the ASCS events. This year, Grosz has traveled all over pursuing the big purses at special events.

"We haven't raced anywhere this season on a week-to-week basis," Grosz said. "We've kind of gone all over the place, going to where the specials are."

Grosz said he loves racing sprint cars, and will likely continue to do so, unless another opportunity pops up.

"The ultimate goal of mine is to race in something like NASCAR or the World of Outlaws," Grosz said. "I like what I'm doing right now, and we've got a good thing going, too."

Seeing the success that Fargo's Donny Schatz has been able to achieve in the Outlaws proves to Grosz that it's something attainable.

"You have to look up to a guy like that," Grosz said of Schatz. "It's cool to have a guy like that from around here do well. It shows you what is possible."

Readers can reach Forum reporter Kerry Collins at (701) 241-5548.

Collins' blogs can be found at www.areavoices.com