Grant Adcox

Grant Adcox
Grant Adcox
Born	January 2, 1950; Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States
Died	November 19, 1989 (aged 39); Hampton, Georgia, United States
Cause of death	Racing accident
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Weight	170 lb (77 kg)
Awards	1987, 1988 ARCA Racing Series Bill France Four Crown
NASCAR Cup Series career
	60 races run over 11 years
Best finish	29th (1978)
First race	1974 Carolina 500 (Rockingham)
Last race	1989 Atlanta Journal 500 (Atlanta)
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
	1 race run over 1 year
Best finish	80th (1989)
First race	1989 AC-Delco 200 (Rockingham)
Last race	1989 AC-Delco 200 (Rockingham)
	Statistics current as of December 18, 2012.

Herbert Grant Adcox (January 2, 1950 – November 19, 1989) was an American stockcar driver who died in a single-car accident in the 1989 Atlanta Journal 500 in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series.

Career

Adcox's Winston Cup Series career started in 1974, running a handful of races for his father Herb Adcox with sponsorship backing from the family's Chevrolet dealership in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

In that year's Winston 500 – considered one of the top events in the sport – held at the fastest track on the circuit, the Talladega Superspeedway, Adcox and his father qualified for the event. With a hundred laps in the books, a caution period came out as Donnie Allison's clutch burned out and David Sisco's motor blew up. Gary Bettenhausen, who had pitted a lap after the leaders, was up on jacks as Adcox came down for service. Adcox's car hit an oil and water patch and slammed straight into Bettenhausen's Matador, crushing catch-can man Don Miller between the cars. A young crew member of the Nord Krauskopf team who was nearby, Buddy Parrott, came rushing down to help, while Penske crew members John Woodward and John Watson were also injured. Miller was taken to a hospital and eventually had his right leg amputated. Learning of the extent of Miller's injuries, Adcox went into shock, and his car was withdrawn from the event.

Adcox continued to run sporadic Winston Cup races over the years. He qualified for the 1975 Talladega 500, but his crew chief Gene Lovell suffered a heart attack and died in their garage. Adcox's car was withdrawn, but he was able to find a substitute ride. However, the race was delayed for a week due to rain, and Adcox was again forced to withdraw. His spot on the grid was given to Tiny Lund, who had not raced in Winston Cup for several years. Lund subsequently died during the race in an accident on lap seven.

The 1978 Winston 500 at Talladega was Adcox's best result, as Krystal Restaurants came on board for a partial season with sponsorship money and in his family-owned Chevrolet, Adcox finished fifth in his career best Winston Cup finish.

Adcox's racing career was consistently underfunded. A year later, he was again sponsorless; he timed in fourth for the 1979 Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway, but his car's raw speed did not pay off, and his motor expired early.^[1]^[2] He continued to run sporadic events over the years, but never again contended.

Adcox's primary claim to fame was for being a strong competitor in ARCA competition, a lesser stockcar series that uses older Winston Cup cars and more grassroots-based operations. He was especially dominant on the superspeedways; he won a record four of them in 1986 and had eight total superspeedway triumphs in his career, with five victories coming at Talladega. Dale Earnhardt, in an interview before a 1989 race at North Carolina Motor Speedway, remarked about how well Adcox had done in ARCA and said that if he had the monetary backing that other teams had, he might become a success in NASCAR.

For 1989, Adcox had signed up with Bumper to Bumper All Pro Autoparts and in a family-owned Chevrolet planned to run in a handful of Cup events.

Death

In the season finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Adcox crashed heavily on lap 202 of the event and died of major chest and head injuries, also suffering a heart attack as result of the crash. Upon investigation, the severe impact was determined to have torn his improperly mounted racing seat away from its mount entirely, and this led to Adcox's death. It also led to new safety regulations on the way seats were mounted for the 1990 season.

ARCA's sportsmanship award, the H.G. Adcox Award, is named in Adcox's honor, and was awarded annually by his father Herb until his death in 2015. The Grant Adcox Memorial is also held annually in his honor at North Georgia Speedway and a subsequent event has been held also in Cleveland, Tennessee.

Adcox is interred at the Chattanooga Memorial Park in Chattanooga, TN.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	NWCC	Pts	Ref
1974	Adcox Racing	41	Chevy	RSD	DAY DNQ	RCH	CAR 18	BRI	ATL 25	DAR	NWS	MAR	TAL 38	NSV	DOV	CLT	RSD	MCH	DAY	BRI	NSV	ATL	POC	TAL	MCH	DAR	RCH	DOV	NWS	MAR	CLT 18	CAR	ONT		54th	16.6	^[3]
1975	Adcox Racing	41	Chevy	RSD	DAY 37	RCH	CAR	BRI	ATL 21	NWS	DAR	MAR	TAL 7	NSV	DOV	CLT	RSD	MCH 29	DAY 36	NSV 27	POC		MCH 14	DAR 13	DOV	NWS	MAR	CLT 16	RCH	CAR	BRI 25	ATL	ONT		33rd	1020	^[4]
1975	Tom Williams	38	Chevy																			TAL 34													33rd	1020	^[4]
1976	Adcox Racing	41	Chevy	RSD	DAY DNQ	CAR 7	RCH	BRI	ATL 12	NWS	DAR 7	MAR	TAL 19	NSV	DOV	CLT 12	RSD	MCH	DAY 30	NSV	POC	TAL 18	MCH	BRI	DAR 13	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT 14	CAR 12	ATL 20	ONT		31st	1163	^[5]
1977				RSD	DAY 34	RCH	CAR	ATL	NWS	DAR	BRI	MAR	TAL 37	NSV	DOV	CLT	RSD	MCH	DAY 26	NSV 25	POC	TAL 15	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	ATL 22	ONT		50th	413	^[6]
1978				RSD	DAY 14	RCH	CAR 30	ATL 7	BRI	DAR 25	NWS	MAR	TAL 5	DOV	CLT 11	NSV 6	RSD	MCH 22	DAY 22	NSV 11	POC	TAL 22	MCH	BRI	DAR 31	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT 33	CAR	ATL 38	ONT		29th	1467	^[7]
1979				RSD	DAY 23	CAR	RCH	ATL 28	NWS	BRI	DAR	MAR	TAL	NSV	DOV																				36th	560	^[8]
			Olds													CLT 11	TWS	RSD	MCH	DAY 33	NSV	POC	TAL 19	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	CLT	NWS	CAR
			Buick																														ATL 27	ONT
1983	Adcox Racing	29	Chevy	DAY	RCH	CAR	ATL	DAR	NWS	MAR	TAL	NSV	DOV	BRI	CLT	RSD	POC	MCH	DAY	NSV	POC	TAL 36	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	ATL	RSD		95th	55	^[9]
1984				DAY QL^†	RCH	CAR	ATL	BRI	NWS	DAR	MAR	TAL	NSV	DOV	CLT	RSD	POC	MCH	DAY	NSV	POC	TAL 40	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	CLT	NWS	CAR	ATL	RSD		91st	43	^[10]
1985				DAY	RCH	CAR	ATL	BRI	DAR	NWS	MAR	TAL	DOV	CLT	RSD	POC	MCH	DAY 22	POC	TAL 40	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	ATL	RSD				71st	140	^[11]
1986				DAY DNQ	RCH	CAR	ATL	BRI	DAR	NWS	MAR	TAL	DOV	CLT	RSD	POC	MCH	DAY 26	POC	TAL DNQ	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	ATL DNQ	RSD			101st	85	^[12]
1987		24		DAY DNQ	CAR	RCH	ATL	DAR	NWS	BRI	MAR	TAL	CLT	DOV	POC	RSD	MCH	DAY	POC	TAL	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	NWS	CLT	CAR	RSD	ATL			NA	-	^[13]
1989	Adcox Racing	22	Chevy	DAY	CAR	ATL	RCH	DAR	BRI	NWS	MAR	TAL 24	CLT	DOV	SON	POC	MCH	DAY 13	POC	TAL	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	CLT	NWS	CAR	PHO				51st	282	^[14]
1989	Adcox Racing	22	Olds																													ATL 32			51st	282	^[14]
^† - Qualified but replaced by Connie Saylor

Daytona 500

Year	Team	Manufacturer	Start	Finish
1974	Adcox Racing	Chevrolet	DNQ
1975			25	37
1976			DNQ
1977			14	34
1978			13	14
1979			21	23
1984	Adcox Racing	Chevrolet	QL^†
1986	Adcox Racing	Chevrolet	DNQ
1987	Adcox Racing	Chevrolet	DNQ
^† - Qualified but replaced by Connie Saylor

Busch Series

NASCAR Busch Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	NBSC	Pts	Ref
1989	Adcox Racing	21	Olds	DAY	CAR	MAR	HCY	DAR	BRI	NZH	SBO	LAN	NSV	CLT	DOV	ROU	LVL	VOL	MYB	SBO	HCY	DUB	IRP	ROU	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	MAR	CLT	CAR 18	MAR	80th	109	^[15]

ARCA Permatex SuperCar Series