|| *Comments on the 2002 Pontiac Widetrack Grand Prix 200:* View the most recent comment <#7> | Post a comment <#post> 1. RaceFanX posted: 05.27.2009 - 1:03 am Rate this comment: (0) (0) Hershel McGriff's last race before finally retiring...or least intending too. At the time of this post, McGriff was considering attempting to qualify for a few West races in 2009 at the age of 81. 2. The Real Thomas posted: 05.31.2009 - 12:41 am Rate this comment: (4) (0) I'll admit I cried during this race. They showed it on SPEED Channel and Dick Berggren interviewed Hershel McGriff to ask why he pulled into the pits on lap 16. Hershel tearfully responded by saying something like "I can't keep up, I'm done" or something like that. Dick Berggren, surprised, said something along the lines of "Oh my gosh" and couldn't contain himself. So, Hershel McGriff essentially retired during this race, at the age of 74. 3. RaceFanX posted: 11.08.2009 - 3:21 pm Rate this comment: (2) (0) Ford the record, McGriff did come back and run those races in 2009, amazing 4. RaceFanX posted: 11.15.2009 - 11:40 pm Rate this comment: (0) (0) Eric Norris second win, the first of two in his championship 2002 season 5. Anonymous posted: 07.28.2010 - 4:39 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) This was also the last race for West Series veteran, Butch Gilliland. If someone has McGriff's interview on video on the internet, would you kindly post it. 6. The Real Thomas posted: 01.17.2012 - 6:14 am Rate this comment: (2) (0) Now I remember what Hershel said. He said "I promised I'd retire when it's not fun anymore. It's not fun anymore" followed by tears. 7. rm posted: 10.27.2020 - 12:08 pm Rate this comment: (1) (0) Finally figured out why this race was shortened: time constraints. Third caution - 15 fluid on track Not audio or video, but a few notes nonetheless regarding poor Hershel McGriff's circumstances here: "SWAN SONG?: Hershel McGriff, the 74-year-old stock car driver whose racing career began in 1945, retired after finishing last in Saturday's Winston West race. "Well, I just retired," McGriff said after his departure from the race. "If I cannot keep up, be near the front, have fun and be comfortable, which is how it has been, than I think the time has come. I know I'll miss it. I've always enjoyed the people and everything that surrounds it. And I always liked the competitiveness of it. "I kept losing the guys and saw the pack coming. That is when I decided (to retire). We only had about nine races this year. That leaves me 42 or 43 weekends that I was doing something else anyway. I wrecked in Las Vegas two weeks ago, so I don't want to do that again. I will keep busy with other work and things will not change that much for me."" And: "[Crew chief] Hershel McGriff Jr. believed his father still had more wins left in him, especially after recently taking delivery of a new Chevrolet Monte Carlo. But the reason for the new car was, in large part, the reason the elder McGriff finally decided to pull the plug. Two weeks before the Fontana, Calif., race, McGriff crashed hard at a three-eighths-mile bullring in Las Vegas when a cut tire sent the car skidding violently into the wall. Although McGriff was unhurt, the accident shook him, so much so that when the series resumed at the larger, 2-mile California oval, he became uncomfortable driving at speeds approaching 200 mph. "He was running really well the first two or three laps and went by a bunch of cars," McGriff Jr. said. "Then, about Lap 10, he (said over the radio) the car was loose. I told him not to pit until at least Lap 35, and he said OK. Then, he just started slowing down about five or six miles an hour a lap. "I asked him what was the matter, and he wouldn't talk to me. The next thing I know he's coming down pit road. There was nothing wrong with the car. He just didn't feel real comfortable running that fast. "I can't blame him. Even though I put my own driving career on hold so I could help my dad with the last couple of years of his career, I'm not mad or upset. He's 74, and he doesn't heal like he's 20 years old. When you hit the fence, things happen to you. And when he hit the fence in Las Vegas, he hit hard. He didn't have a bruise on him, but the car was on fire, and you just don't know what it's like to be in accidents like that." The elder McGriff does, and he doesn't want to go through it again. "I'll admit it, I wasn't comfortable going into the corners (in California) at 180 miles an hour or so," said McGriff, who finished seventh in the February season opener at Phoenix International Raceway. "You can't be thinking about things like that while you're racing. I was losing ground to the leaders, but there was nothing wrong with the car. I just wasn't comfortable." And now he is. "I feel like I can still drive and be very competitive," McGriff said. "But racing for me never was a full-time job. It's always been a weekend thing. And lately, it's become too much of a grind. It was so much work, it took the fun out of it. "I'll miss it, but now I can reflect on other things. There always comes a time to stop. I think it threw my boy for a loop, but it was time to get out."" In the 2002 preseason, it was mentioned that McGriff had been planning on retiring, but not until the end of the year. His crew chief throughout 2002 was his son, Hershel McGriff Jr. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Post a comment:* Your comment may not appear immediately - all comments must be approved by the moderator. Name: Comment: