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ROB GRIMM
Waymart, PA - Team Owner
Rob is in
his fourth full year as owner of the #71 Grimm Racing
team. A decision to purchase a then Busch car was made
four and a half years ago after Rob had been involved
with working on dirt cars and sponsoring racecars for
many years. Rob had always enjoyed the old Busch North
Series and decided to purchase a car owned by Eddie
MacDonald and crew chief Rollie Lachance. After speaking
with a number of racing people, Rob decided to keep the
team intact and has enjoyed the growth and the success
the team has experienced, culminating with three wins at
New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Rob believes the second
win at NHMS showed everyone the first win was not a
fluke in 2008 and to come back strong to win the third
race at NHMS in 2009 says a lot about the depth and
dedication of the team. Rob looks at this volunteer team
as another family that strives to do better each race.
Rob’s goals for the team are to run consistently, keep
adding to the equipment, and making a long-term
commitment to the success of the team. Rob has been in
the construction business for over 25 years, currently
owning and operating Grimm Construction. He is married
to Karla and is the proud father of seven children:
Megan with husband Ryne and son Caleb, Victoria, Dylan,
Grace, Kelli, David, and Noel.
ROLLIE
LACHANCE
New Gloucester,
ME -
Crew Chief
Rollie’s racing roots began on the
small bullrings in Maine and drag strips at the age of
five. Rollie’s friend from his hometown of Auburn got
him involved in 1990 as a crewmember for Tracy Gordon,
who was running the old ACT Tour. One of Rollie’s
greatest memories is the win at Thunder Road
International Speedbowl in Vermont, as a crew chief for
Tracy that was televised nationally. Rollie participated
in many Pro Stock races at his home track, Oxford Plains
Speedway. One of his enjoyments when not racing on the
NASCAR K&N Pro Series East is “fooling around” with the
Late Model both he and Eddie own on the ACT Tour
circuit, especially at Oxford. Rollie and Eddie are two
time winners of the prestigious Oxford 250. All of his
wins are special beginning in the Busch Series in 1997
and considers the first win at Loudon very special
“because it’s Loudon.” The goal for the team is to win
the championship and Rollie feels this can be
accomplished, if they keep putting good cars on the
track and compete in the top five each race. He is
married to Laura and have two children named Rachael and
Ryan.
JOE ST. JACQUES
Rowley,
MA
- Body Metal Work
Joe has been with Eddie for eight years
since the day he was shopping at the local grocery store
and ran into John Tiernan, who asked him to stop by the
race shop to help out with some metal work. At the time
Joe was a tin knocker and duct-work specialist for
Amanti Plumbing and Heating located in Amesbury, Mass.
Joe has been with the team since and feels the greatest
pride when he can build something better than anyone
else. The realization of all the team’s hard work
naturally came with the wins at Loudon, but Joe’s
favorite win was the one at Beech Ridge “because it was
the first.” Joe feels the team is getting better, needs
some improvement, and likes their chance to win a
championship. Ask Joe and he will proudly show you a
picture of his grandson and recalls the best time he has
had with racing was going to the track with his two
girls Theresa and Stephanie.
JOHN “JT” TIERNAN
Rowley,
MA
- Body and Paint Man
JT has been involved with racing for 50
years, including Supermodifieds, Funny Cars, and Jet
Cars before settling in on a career with full-bodied
racecars. JT has been painting and repairing Eddie’s
cars since Eddie’s teenage years running at Lee USA
Speedway. JT owns and operates Hanover Place, a body
shop that specializes in restoration of classic cars. JT
is particularly proud of his three year in a row New
England Dragster Championships at New England Dragway
“back in the day.” JT has worked with Jet car driver Al
Hanna, Donny McTavish, ISMA’s Chris Perley, and Jamie
Aube, just to name a few. He cites the back-to-back wins
in the K&N Pro Series East at Loudon with Grimm Racing
as his most satisfying. When not involved with racing
and meticulously restoring cars, JT enjoys spending time
with his daughter.
SHAUN MORAN
Bradford,
MA
- Gasman
Shaun is a forklift mechanic at Crown
Lift Trucks in Woburn, Mass. and has been a member of
Eddie MacDonald race teams for 7 years. Previously,
Shaun was a mechanic for a GM dealership for twenty
years. Shaun started in the Busch North series working
on Mark Durgin's Race team in the 2002 season. In 2003
he was a crew member for Jamie Aube's race team. He
enjoys working with “a great bunch of guys”. Shaun has
been married to Lori for ten years, and they just
welcomed a baby daughter, Shannon Marie, in the
off-season of 2011.
DAVID “LOGGER” RICKER
Hinsdale,
NH
- Tire Specialist
Logger has been with the team as the
tire guy and spotter for Eddie on race day. During the
week he is a sawmill maintenance mechanic for a Vermont
company. Logger began working on Pro Stock racecars over
20 years ago before moving into the NASCAR K&N Pro
Series East. He has worked for Andy Santerre’s ASM
Motorsports doing the tires for Jeffrey Earnhart and
spotting for Sean Caisse. His greatest thrill working
with the Grimm team was the two NHMS wins, especially
the second because “it proved the first one wasn’t a
fluke and it dotted the ‘I’.” Logger has fun on the team
that is made up of volunteers saying they are a great
group of guys. Logger is married to Jennifer and is very
busy in kid’s sports with his two daughters Kaitlyn and
Emily.
KENNY GROOMS
Merrimack,
NH
- Crewmember
Kenny signed on with Eddie, after
working with Jamie Aube for three years. He is the guy
on the team that makes everyone’s life a lot easier.
Kenny makes sure the hauler, pit box, radios, water,
shocks and springs and whatever else is needed for race
day is at the ready. At the shop, he is often sweeping,
cleaning the car, chasing, cleaning, and putting away
tools. Kenny knows this allows the rest of the team time
to focus on working on the car. At an early age, he and
a few neighborhood buddies worked on a dragster and that
experience gave him the racing bug. Kenny got into the
then Busch series after volunteering to sweep the floors
and take cars apart after a race at Aube’s garage in
Manchester, N.H. Kenny is respected on the Grimm team as
the guy who will do anything asked of him and enjoy
every bit of it. His favorite racing memory is standing
on pit lane for the pre-race activities at NHMS
thinking, “Wow, this is fun. How many people in the
stands would like to be in my position?” Kenny is the
manager of Nashua Wallpaper, the company he started in
as a stock boy over 30 years ago. Debbie is his wife and
the two have three grown children and three grandkids.
ROB DRANDSON
Sandown,
NH
- Welder/Fabricator
Rob got the racing bug after attending
the Thompson Icebreaker in 1984 and had been a fan ever
since. Rob joined the Grimm Racing team in 2008 and
enjoys his membership as part of the crew. Rob continues
to work in the Media Center at Loudon on Cup weekend
(when the Grimm team is not racing) and will continue to
do so this year. He sees his transformation from fan to
track worker to crewmember as an opportunity to
experience racing from all sides. Traveling to new
tracks is part of the fun and he looks forward to
visiting the new tracks on the schedule. Rob is a welder
at Bartley Machine in Amesbury, Mass. and is married to
Jolene for twelve years. They share their home with
their dog Shelby.
TALON PACKER
Amesbury,
MA
- Tire Carrier
Talon joined the Grimm team, coming
over from three years with Mike Johnson’s team. Talon
gets to experience a little bit of everything beside his
job as tire carrier on race day. Talon began his
involvement in racing by attending NASCAR’S Technical
Institute while living in Mooresville, N.C. During that
time he worked for a Drift Team before heading home.
Talon says there is nothing like working in this series
and there is so much to like, especially seeing the
finished product run up front. He enjoys working on the
set-up of the car and watch it go out and go fast. Talon
likes the series because it gives him the opportunity to
work at his full-time job as a technician at Smith Motor
Sales in Haverhill, Mass. while working on a NASCAR
Touring series team. He feels it gives him the best of
both worlds.
DAVE BIGLIN
Honesdale,
PA
- Hauler Driver
Dave works as construction foreman for Grimm Construction and has done
so for the past thirteen years. Dave drove a truck early
in his career until giving up the road in 1992 for a
hammer. Besides driving the hauler, Dave also works in
the Waymart racing shop doing whatever is asked of him.
With no racing experience, except for being a Cup fan,
Dave enjoys everything and is excited about it all.
Starting at the ground level has given him an
appreciation for all that is involved in racing. Dave’s
attitude is to “go with the flow and try to stay out of
the way.” He enjoys going to the different tracks,
learning something different, and watching Eddie and the
team do well. Dave has three daughters, one son, a
grand-daughter and two grandsons.
BILLY JENKINS
Waymart,
PA
- Jackman
Billy is a mechanic for Grimm
Construction and is responsible to help prepare the cars
when they are at the shop in Waymart. Billy began his
involvement with the team in 2007. Billy brings with him
a wealth of racing experience that dates back to his
first Go Cart racing at age eight. He then moved up to
dirt modifieds at age sixteen, racing alongside his
father. Billy says his whole life has been involved in
racing and enjoys the atmosphere of working on a race
team. He is also proud to serve as a volunteer fireman
for the Waymart Fire Company.
HERBIE WING
Rowley,
MA
- Shop Steward
Herbie is at the shop nearly every day doing just about anything to
help prepare the car for race day. He has been with
Eddie since his teenage years racing at Lee USA
Speedway. Herbie’s ties to the MacDonald family extend
back to the days when Eddie’s father Red owned the #1
Supermodified. His greatest memory from the “early” days
was the CanAm Championship at Star Speedway with Dave
Thomas at the wheel with just Red and himself as the
mechanics. His greatest memory of racing with Eddie is,
“standing on the podium after the second Loudon win,
because I was not there for the first one.” Herbie loves
working at the race shop because of the good guys and
the relaxed atmosphere. He is retired from Jackson
Lumber where he worked in the Mill Works division. He
has been married over 50 years to his wife Joanne. They
have five children and five grandkids.
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