Dead last. That’s how Trey Marcham started out an exciting night of racing at I-44 Riverside Speedway on Saturday evening.
Midget drivers from across the region joined together to raise money for Grady Chandler and his family at POWRi West’s #DoItForGrady benefit race, hosted in Chandler’s home state of Oklahoma.
Starting in the last position of his heat race, Marcham demonstrated his quick reflexes and witty moves on the track as he drove from 7th to 2nd to secure his spot as the high point driver and lock into the main event.
The roll of the dice before the big show resulted in no invert of the drivers, securing Marcham’s spot as the pole-sitter in the POWRi West Lucas Oil A-Feature Event.
Marcham led the race from start to finish, but had to earn his way to victory every lap with drivers Andrew Felker, Jonathan Beason and Blake Hahn hot on his tail challenging him for the top spot. Felker and Marcham diced back and forth for most of the 25 laps, battling their way through lapped traffic and surviving multiple cautions out on the track. Felker gave his best effort to take over the lead on more than one occasion, but Marcham prevailed through every encounter, coming out on top when the checkered flag waved.
Josh Marcham, brother to Trey Marcham, served as crew chief during Saturday night’s show.
“It’s truly an honor to win this event,” said Marcham. “Grady has been a friend of mine for many years and we’ve raced together for a long time. We are all a family out here and we are all pulling for him. I know he’s a fighter and I know he can overcome this.”
Marcham is also a part-owner of Top’s Up Here, Bud Quality Threads and he wants everyone who bought a shirt in support of the Chandler 3 to know how grateful he and the rest of the TUHB crew are for their support.
“We are very thankful for all of the fans who bought a tee shirt from us to show their support for Grady and his family. It looks like we are going to be able to send a good-sized donation to the Chandlers to help them during this difficult time. We couldn’t have done it without all of y’all.”
Trey Marcham’s next race will be this weekend at Southern Illinois Raceway. He will be wheeling the Paul Albers Performance Plus 23C for the High Banks Hustle. His next midget shows will be part of the POWRi series, taking place at Lake Ozark Speedway and Monarch Motor Speedway.
Photo credits: Thanks to Drew Salisbury for capturing the moment and to Danny "the Shoe" Clum Motorsports
- Cheri Marcham on Aug 18, 2019
- Article Date: 8/18/2019 by Courtney Lynn Boggs