{"id":2932,"date":"2025-04-16T13:43:25","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T13:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/?p=2932"},"modified":"2025-04-17T13:39:48","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T13:39:48","slug":"like-father-like-son-the-graysons-go-back-to-back-at-brainerd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/?p=2932","title":{"rendered":"Like Father, Like Son: The Graysons Go Back-to-Back at Brainerd"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s something magical about a father and son sharing the same passion\u2014especially when that passion involves 4-second passes and chasing win lights down the 1\/8 mile. This past weekend at Brainerd Motorsports Park in Georgia, the Grayson family gave fans a memory they won\u2019t soon forget.\"\"<\/p>\n

Matt Grayson lit it up on Saturday with a win in the $20K event, and just 24 hours later, his 16-year-old son, Cole Grayson, followed suit with a $10K win of his own, driving Joe Kittle’s Undercover dragster. It was only Cole\u2019s third event of the year, but you wouldn\u2019t have guessed it watching his performance. Cool, confident, and smooth\u2014the kid raced like he\u2019s been doing it for decades.<\/p>\n

I had the opportunity to catch up with Matt by phone after the weekend, and his pride was evident. \u201cCole had a really strong junior dragster career, and now it\u2019s exciting\u2014watching him transition into the big car. I\u2019m looking forward to seeing what he can do with more seat time.\u201d<\/p>\n

That transition from juniors to the next level isn\u2019t just about talent. It\u2019s about trust. It\u2019s about a father handing over the wheel\u2014literally\u2014and watching his son take the next step. And for Matt, that trust was clearly rewarded.<\/p>\n

I also spoke with Cole, who was still soaking it all in. \u201cIt was one of the coolest experiences of my life. Things just seemed to fall my way, and I\u2019m really grateful\u2014for the opportunity and the win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what this sport is all about.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve talked in previous DragCoverage features about the legacy of racing, the way families bond through burnouts, bracket strategy, and pit talk. This weekend was another reminder of why we all show up. It\u2019s not always just about the money or the trophy\u2014though the Graysons got plenty of both\u2014it\u2019s about the memories<\/em>. It\u2019s about the look on a kid\u2019s face after their first big win. It’s about that moment in the lanes where a father watches his child stage up, heart pounding harder than when he\u2019s in the car himself.<\/p>\n

And we\u2019ve heard this sentiment echoed over and over again from dads around the country: \u201cI get more joy watching my kids race than I ever did racing myself.\u201d<\/em> That statement gets proven every weekend at local tracks across America. But every now and then, a story like this comes along that captures the heart of it.<\/p>\n

The Graysons didn\u2019t just win two races\u2014they created a weekend neither of them will ever forget. These are the stories we live for. These are the weekends that turn into legacy. And for Cole, the journey is just beginning.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s something magical about a father and son sharing the same passion\u2014especially when that passion involves 4-second passes and chasing win lights down the 1\/8 mile. This past weekend at Brainerd Motorsports Park in Georgia, the Grayson family gave fans a memory they won\u2019t soon forget. Matt Grayson lit it up on Saturday with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[59,58,50,52],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[55],"class_list":{"0":"post-2932","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-bracket-racing","9":"category-driver-features","10":"category-race-coverage"},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Grayson4-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Grayson4-600x600.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Kline Whitley","author_link":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/author\/klinewhitley"},"authors":[{"term_id":55,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"klinewhitley","display_name":"Kline Whitley","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Me.png","url2x":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Me.png"},"first_name":"Kline","last_name":"Whitley","user_url":"http:\/\/www.DragCoverage.com","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2932"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/DragCoverage.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fppma_author&post=2932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}