Teen is off-roading phenom
LOCKPORT--Thomas Grady won his first rock racing competition four years ago, picking up in the sport where his father, Alan Grady, left off. Since then, Thomas has gone on to win numerous competitions, garner many sponsors, and climb, both literally and figuratively, to the top of the hill in his sport.
The real challenge, however, may still await him in another three years: taking his driver's test to operate a motor vehicle.
Thomas is a 13-year-old "rock racing" or "rock crawling" sensation.
The leagues he participates in, such as the RROCK Extreme Rockcrawl Series, do not enforce an age or license requirement, a loophole that allowed Thomas to first begin driving snorting diesel trucks through rock course obstacles at the age of 9. And just to show that his driving wasn't a gimmick, he finished second in that first race.
RROCK, headquartered in Hannibal, Mo., calls Thomas the youngest competitor in its sport.
The idea of a 9-year-old piloting a modified jeep up a hill over boulders the size of small cars seems comical. One imagines a child sitting on a phone book with wooden blocks strapped to his feet to reach the peddles, but the Lockport native takes the sport quite seriously. And he's proved others should take him seriously as well.
"He's done many courses where he's the only one who has made it to the top of the hill," said Alan Grady, a former rock racer himself and the person who introduced Thomas to the sport. "He simply has a natural knack for it. He's been driving my jeep off-roading since he was 5."
Thomas admits he has had the chance to miss the occasional day of school to attend a race in Missouri, Indiana, or as far as Arkansas. He said he races for the thrill and competition.
"The best thing about rock racing is the fun and the adrenaline," Thomas said. "Each truck gets 10 minutes to complete the course. When you're watching other people race, it seems like forever, but when you're piloting a big truck and the adrenaline is flowing it seems more like five minutes."
Winners are decided by a point system, with the winner having the lowest total number of points, which are incurred for infractions such as not completing the course because of getting stuck, running out of time, hitting cone boundaries and having to put the truck in reverse.
Alan Grady explained that good, "negative" points can also be earned for successful activities such as forward progress, completing the course, and attempting and completing extra-hard sections of the path. As in golf, the lowest score is the winner.
As one might expect, rock racing can be a rough and tumble sport, both on the truck and the driver. Alan Grady said Thomas had flipped the truck several times in the course of his competitions, but he doesn't often worry about his safety behind the wheel, commenting that "it may be more dangerous than playing soccer or baseball, but he's quite well protected."
Thomas is thankful for the protective gear that shields him in the event of a roll or spill down a hill.
"There have been some injuries in the sport, but it's rare," he said. "I've got a helmet, firesuit, harness, roll cage, etc."
His safety material is provided by DJ Safety, one of several sponsors who see Thomas as an impressive young talent. He is also sponsored by the likes of BF Goodrich, Lucas Oil and Raceline Wheels. The shock of being approached by companies that wanted to sponsor his racing was quite surprising for a child not yet 10 years old.
"I felt amazed that they would want to put their company name on my car," Thomas said. "I'm only just getting used to it now."
Combined sponsor contributions and modest competition winnings allow the Gradys to continue their sport. Although he expects he will continue with the sport for some time, Thomas does not harbor a dream of becoming a professional racer. He says he wants to be a structural engineer.
Currently he is happy simply racing and working on his trucks in the garage with his dad, a process that can take many hours.
"We spend probably three or four nights prepping the trucks before each race," said Alan Grady. "We don't go over every single nut and bolt ... but definitely most of them."
