The Vault
THE GRACYALNY FAMILY – BORN TO RACE
Posted on: Thursday August 3, 2023
The following is an excerpt from the 2016 release “Wisconsin International Raceway – Where The Big Ones Run.” You can purchase this book on this website by clicking on the “books” tab.
THE GRACYALNY FAMILY – BORN TO RACE
Stan “The Man” Gracyalny simply loved racing.
Originally from Kimberly the auto body man raced for more than 60 years, most of that time at KK Sports Arena later known as WIR. In fact Gracyalny’s last time ever behind the wheel – of any type of motorized vehicle – was in 2004 when he was 80 years old in the street stock division. Gracyalny hit the wall, but his kids, who also launched their own racing careers, knew something was wrong. “When we took Dad to the Dr. the next day they found out he had a blood clot during the race,” said Dave Gracyalny. “They figured it actually blinded him and he couldn’t see for a bit during the race. That was the last time he ever drove anything.”
It didn’t bother “Stan The Man” if he won many races or not. “He simply loved to race,” said Gracyalny’s widow Sharon, who first met Stan when he was racing at Apple Creek in 1961. “I never would have taken that away from him.”
Of the four kids Stan and Sharon had together, Dave is the oldest at 54. Dave competed in super stock, Figure 8 and even dabbled on the dirt for a time locally. Daughter Leeann (Laroque) is 53 and although she never raced, married a street stock racer Chris Laroque.
Danny Gracyalny is 52 and has raced basically anything with four tires and a motor. Daughter Jessie (Van Roy) made history at WIR by becoming the first woman to ever win a race there in the street stock division in 1997.
The Gracyalny kids were born into the sport. The family grew up near Kaukauna where Stan ran his own shop Stan’s Auto Body. It didn’t take long for Danny Gracyalny to learn how to paint. “Stan would come in from the shop and say “I can’t get anything done I’m always tripping over Danny,” said Sharon Gracyalny. “On race nights I was never able to take part in the Powder Puff races for the wives. I was busy with those little kids in the stands!”
“I remember standing on a five gallon paint thinner can painting cars when I was nine years old,” said Danny Gracyalny.
“Years later I bought a 1970 Firebird for $35. I restored it for a shop class in high school and the teachers didn’t think I even did it. They thought somebody older did it.”
As Dave and Danny grew into their teenage years they’d accompany Dad on many a racing trip. “I remember we were racing somewhere one night and Dad had a Ford truck with the ramps on the back,” recalled Danny Gracyalny. “In the heat race he lost the battery. It flew out of the car somewhere on the track and they never found it. He took the battery out of the hauler and used that to race the next race. He lost that battery too. So here we are at the races one night with no battery. He somehow conned some other driver into borrowing us a battery to use. We made it home that night on a hope and a prayer, turning the motor off when we’d coast down the hills. It was crazy.”
When Danny Gracyalny was old enough to get his drivers license, he began racing Figure 8’s. Dave was the late bloomer of the three kids “I didn’t race until I was 25,” said Dave Gracyalny. “I was doing burnouts and that on the streets and I wrecked a transmission and Dad told me “you should really go racing” and so I ran Figure 8 in Al Bangart’s car. He had it setup where you sat in the middle of the car. He went to Arizona for two weeks so I raced his car. It was in the middle of the car. You had to let go to the steering wheel when you went to turn right.”
“I remember one of the first times I went out I got my car totaled out in the X,” said Dave Gracyalny. “But I still won the race.” Dave Gracyalny would eventually hang up his helmet and worked as a corner worker and a flagman for several area tracks, including working at WIR.
When it came to Danny Gracyalny starting his racing career, he pulled a little white lie. “Danny actually lied about his age, he had to be 16 to race,” admitted Dave Gracyalny. “He was only 15.”
It didn’t take long for Danny Gracyalny to race anything and everything he could get his hands on. It did not matter if it was dirt or asphalt. If it had a motor and four tires, it was fair game.
In 1993 He drove a super late model car at WIR with a paint scheme identical to Jeff Gordon’s number 24. “We even had sponsorship from DuPont,” said Danny Gracyalny, who beat Matt Kenseth at the line one night to win the feature. Danny Gracylany has the distinction of being the only driver in Fox River Racing Club history to compete in five divisions all in the same racing program on the same night. Late model, sportsman, super stock, sport truck and Figure 8.
Danny Gracyalny filled in for Mike Butz’ super late model in the late 1990’s when Terry Baldry was injured. Butz was quoted then as stating “Danny Gracyalny has as much raw talent as Matt Kenseth.”
A few years later Jessie came along and she and her Dad became the first ever father-daughter team to run at WIR in the super stock class. “Dad never pushed me into it,” explained Jessie.
During her first year racing Jessie tangled with Randy Van Roy. “I sent Randy rocking into the pickers,” said Jessie Gracyalny. “Randy thought I was blocking for Chris Laroque and he gave me the one finger salute while we were under caution and I thought to myself “that sonofabitch!”
There was a mini “feud” of sorts between the Gracyalny’s and the Van Roys. The grudge centered around Danny Gracyalny and Terry Van Roy in the Figure 8 class. One night Ron Van Roy, Terry’s Dad, went after Danny while Danny was still belted into his car. “He tried pulling me out of the car,” said Danny Gracyalny. “They wanted to suspend Ron but I talked to (FRRC club officers) and told them not to. I was in a points battle with Terry (Van Roy) and I didn’t want to win a championship that way. I wanted to earn it on the track.”
Little did Jessie Gracyalny know she would later end up dating Randy Van Roy and eventually marrying him and becoming Jessie Van Roy.
“Ron Kohl (fellow racer) had a little bit to do with us getting together,” said Jessie Gracyalny. “He saw me out one night away from the track with my hair down, with makeup on out of my racing suit. He said “is that Jessie Gracyalny?” And things just sort of progressed from there.”
“Jessie came to Stan and I and asked “what would you think I married Randy Van Roy?” said Sharon Gracyalny. “After they got married Ron (Van Roy) and everybody else backed off from the feud. So that’s pretty much done with.”
“It’s actually a good thing she married Randy because that way she could continue racing since he’s from a racing family,” said Danny Gracyalny. “Heck a couple of years ago I raced one night at Luxemburg and who was on my pit crew? Terry Van Roy. So yeah, the rivalry has sort of fizzled out really.”
Stan “The Man” Gracyalny was able to attend races for several years as a spectator. He passed away December 22, 2013 at the age of 90. Each summer a “Stan The Man” race is held on the quarter mile in his honor. Even when the rain isn’t there on “Stan The Man” night, rainbows have been known to pop up in the sky over WIR.
“We know he’s there in spirit,” said Jessie Van Roy