{"id":101711,"date":"2025-07-16T04:19:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T04:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/no-time-standout-michael-hawes-talks-runner-up-finish-at-boddies-grudge-bowl\/"},"modified":"2025-07-16T04:19:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T04:19:00","slug":"no-time-standout-michael-hawes-talks-runner-up-finish-at-boddies-grudge-bowl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/no-time-standout-michael-hawes-talks-runner-up-finish-at-boddies-grudge-bowl\/","title":{"rendered":"No-Time Standout Michael Hawes Talks Runner-Up Finish at Boddie\u2019s Grudge Bowl"},"content":{"rendered":"

With just five passes on a brand-new combination, Michael Hawes rolled into the $100,000-to-win N\/T 275 shootout at\u00a0Boddie\u2019s Grudge Bowl<\/strong>\u00a0and very nearly stole the show. The Kentucky-based driver and no-time standout pushed his freshly-built hot rod, affectionately nicknamed\u00a0\u201cLouis Vuitton\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0for its color scheme, all the way to the final round \u2013 falling just short against\u00a0Drag Illustrated Winter Series<\/strong>\u00a0contender\u00a0Jimmy Taylor<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The Grudge Bowl, held July 11-12 at\u00a0U.S. 60 Dragway<\/strong>\u00a0in Hardinsburg, Kentucky, marked\u00a0Jay Boddie\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0return to race promotion. With grudge matchups headlining Friday night and $100K on the line in N\/T 275 on Saturday, the weekend delivered on every level \u2013 packed stands, killer air, and some of the baddest small-tire racing of the year.<\/p>\n

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Michael Hawes with his wife Nicole<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

For Hawes, it was a trial by fire. With only a handful of test hits under his belt, this was his first time behind the wheel of the car in competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still physically drained from the weekend, but man, what a run we had,\u201d said Hawes. \u201cTo go out there with a new car \u2013 basically straight off the trailer \u2013 and make the final in this field? That\u2019s a win in itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The early rounds weren\u2019t easy. Hawes admitted he was struggling with the tree \u2013 either red-lighting or leaving way late. But once he found his rhythm, the tide turned. Round after round, he advanced, knocking off some of the toughest names in the class on his way to the final.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis level of racing is brutal. We had some parts failures, quick turnarounds, but everyone stayed locked in and kept pushing. That\u2019s what it takes to go rounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

The car \u2013 a screw-blown \u201969 Camaro \u2013 turned heads all weekend. As Hawes lined up against Taylor in the money round, the energy in the house was off the charts. While he came up just short, the momentum is real \u2013 and Hawes made it clear that the next big payday is already on his mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting Louis Vuitton freshened up and ready for Big Jake\u2019s race in September,\u201d said Hawes. \u201cWe\u2019re coming for that $200K.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hawes made a point to thank the many hands who made the weekend possible \u2013 Ryan McCain and Stevie Jackson for the tune-up, Nicole Hawes for the support, his mom and daughters for making it a family affair, and the crew who turned the car around round after round.<\/p>\n

\u201cHailey Hawes, Alan Bradshaw, DJ \u2013 y\u2019all killed it,\u201d Hawes added. \u201cIt takes a small army to run at this level and I\u2019ve got a great one.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also gave props to\u00a0Chris Mattingly and the team at U.S. 60 Dragway<\/strong>\u00a0for the killer surface. And on the Jr. Dragster side, the celebration continued as\u00a0Little Michael Jr.<\/strong>\u00a0reached the semifinals in\u00a0Lil\u2019 Gangstas<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re getting that win soon \u2013 I can feel it.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the dust settles from the Grudge Bowl, one thing is clear: Michael Hawes and \u201cLouis Vuitton\u201d are officially on the radar \u2013 and the hunt for $200,000 is on.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published on July 15, 2025. \"Drag<\/p>\n

The post No-Time Standout Michael Hawes Talks Runner-Up Finish at Boddie\u2019s Grudge Bowl<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With just five passes on a brand-new combination, Michael Hawes rolled into the $100,000-to-win N\/T 275 shootout at\u00a0Boddie\u2019s Grudge Bowl\u00a0and very nearly stole the show. The Kentucky-based driver and no-time standout pushed his freshly-built hot rod, affectionately nicknamed\u00a0\u201cLouis Vuitton\u201d\u00a0for its color scheme, all the way to the final round \u2013 falling just short against\u00a0Drag Illustrated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101711\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}