8/02/08 - Pevely, MO - I-55 Raceway hosted 40 late models for the $6,000 to win show on Saturday night.  The night proved to be a major disappointment for the RGR team as Rusty failed to make the field for the feature event.  Rusty finished 8th in his heat and 5th in his consi.  Dennis Erb, Jr. took another win and picked up at nice $10,000 bonus for winning two of three Tri-track Challenge events.

8/01/08 - Granite City, IL - There were 27 late models at Tri-City Speedway Friday night.  Rusty put the RGR #16 in victory lane in his heat race.  He then finished third in the dash behind Dennis Erb and Billy Faust and ahead of Tim Manville, Dewayne Kiefer, and Ken Schrader.  Things didn't go as well as planned in the feature, but Rusty still managed a ninth place finish.  The feature was won by reigning UMP national champion Dennis Erb, Jr over Billy Faust.

7/19/08 - Pevely, MO - From STL Racing.com:

"Twenty-nine UMP DIRTcar Late Models were on hand to compete for the $5,000 top prize [at I-55 Raceway]. Randy Korte of Highland, IL took home the winner's share as he led all thirty laps of the main event. Billy Faust kept constant pressure on Korte as the two battled nose to tail lap after lap but would have to settle for a second place finish. Kevin Weaver, who ran third most of the event, stayed right with the two leaders as they battled through lapped traffic. Rusty Griffaw provided the excitement as he stormed from the eleventh starting position all the way up to third in just a few short laps as went to the top side of the track while everyone else battled on the low side. At times, Griffaw passed as many as three or four cars per lap as he went toward the front. However, Griffaw's run would come up short as the top side slowly went away along with his tires. Weaver would get back past Griffaw in the closing laps to finish third. Bryan Collins would complete the top five."

 
6/27/08 - Granite City, IL - Handling problems continued for the RGR team at Tri-City Speedway.  Rusty recorded an 11th place finish in the feature and a 6th place finish in his heat.

6/26/08 - Paducah, KY - The RGR team had been suffering with an ill handling machine for the last several weeks.  The car had been erratic and wanting to spinout.  The team headed to Paducah International Raceway for the Summer Nationals event hoping that the problem had been solved.  Unfortunately the heat race proved otherwise.  And with little time between the heats and the C main, the team was unable to find an answer.  Rusty was running fourth in the final transfer spot to the B main on the last lap when the car got out of shape in turn three and lost the transfer spot to Jason McBride.  Earlier in his heat Rusty started and finished seventh.

6/06/08 - Paducah, KY - Rusty towed the #16 down to Paducah on Friday.  There he started his heat in 9th and moved up to a 5th place finish.  Rusty started the feature in 8th and made it up to 4th before the checkers fell.

5/31/08 - Pevely, MO - The $10,000 to win show was rained out at I-55 on Saturday.

5/30/08 - Granite City, IL - The RGR #16 was loose all night at Tri-City Speedway.  Rusty finished 9th in his heat race and a disappointing 12th in the feature.

5/24/08 - Pevely, MO - Circumstances were not conducive for a high finish for the RGR team at I-55 Raceway on Saturday night.  The track was hooked up and very fast, but not favorable for a lot of passing.  Rusty started 8th in his heat and made it up to 5th.  In the feature Rusty started 13th and was only able to make it up to 8th.

5/23/08 - Granite City, IL - Rusty had a great run in the RGR #16 at Tri-City on Friday.  He started 2nd in his heat and took the win.  In the dash Rusty finished 2nd to Billy Faust.  In the feature Rusty lead 22 laps and had a 10 car length lead over Bryan Collins (in Randy Korte's car), Billy Faust, and Mark Burgtorf  when a caution came out.  The car had been getting tighter in the latter stages of the race.  On the restart Collins makes an incredible move on Rusty in turns three and four and takes the lead.  In turns one and two Rusty attempts to make the same move on Collins, but was unable to do so.  In the process Rusty got out of line and lost second and third place and eventually finished 4th.

5/17/08 - Pevely, MO - Rusty and the RGR team had another tough night on Saturday.  Rusty won his heat race and carried the checkered flag for a victory lap.  He then drove off the track about a car length and stopped, remembering that he needed to cross the scales in the infield.  However, it was too late.  Rusty was disqualified for leaving the track without weighing.  For the second night in a row, Rusty had to start the feature in the rear.  Rusty was able to make it up to 11th.

5/16/08 - Granite City, IL - Rusty started on the outside of the front row of his heat at Tri-City Speedway.  He lead nine of the ten laps until Rodney Melvin drilled Rusty's #16 in the left rear going down the front stretch for the white flag.  Rusty's left rear wheel was broken and the tire cut.  The DNF in the heat relegated Rusty to a 23rd place starting position in the feature.  Rusty was able to advance to a sixth place finish.

5/9/08 - Paducah, KY - The RGR team headed to Paducah International Raceway on Friday.  Rusty started 4th and won his heat over Kevin Cole.  Rusty was racing with Terry English for the lead early in the feature when the car bottomed out and spun around drawing contact from Randy Sellars.  Resulting damage to the front end ended his night.  English and Cole finished first and second.

5/3/08 - Pevely, MO - Rusty and the RGR #16 team had another good finish at I-55 Raceway on Saturday night.  Rusty finished second to Bryan Collins in the first heat.  Third and fourth went to Brian Diveley and Ed Dixon.  In the dash Rusty finished fourth behind Tim Mannville, Collins, and Billy Faust.  Starting fourth in the feature Rusty began his move to the front.  With Collins leading the field on the high side, Rusty put the #16 on the bottom and moved past Collins for the lead only to have a caution appear.  This put Rusty back in second.  On the restart Collins stuck his #11z on the bottom denying Rusty the preferred line.  At the finish it was Collins, Rusty, Danny Haynes, Mannville, Faust, and Dixon.

5/2/08 - Granite City, IL - Rusty returned to Tri-City Speedway on Friday night along with 22 other Late Models.  He began the night by finishing second in his heat to Dewayne Keifer.  Rounding out the top five were Bryan Collins, Chad Zobrist, and Rick Salter.  Rusty then started in the rear of the six car dash and made it up to third behind Billy Faust and Keifer.  In the feature Rusty moved up from his third place starting spot to claim second from Keifer.  Keifer then initiated contact going down the back stretch and spun in turn three bringing out the caution.  Keifer then rammed Rusty's #16 a couple of times under caution causing damage to the front end.  Keifer was disqualified.  Rusty's car however was not up to speed and fell back to a fourth place finish.  The top five were Faust, Rodney Melvin, Collins, Rusty, and Zobrist.

5/1/08 - Granite City, IL - After being rained out every Friday this year, Tri-City Speedway finally got a show in on Thursday night.  A strong field of 27 Late Models were on hand for the event.  Rusty started the night by finishing second to Brent Kreke in his heat.  In the dash to determine starting positions for the feature, Rusty finished sixth.  Rusty was able to advance in the feature to a second place finishing position.  The top ten were Billy Faust, Rusty, Michael Kloos, Mark Voigt, Rick Salter, Bryan Collins, Billy Laycock, Chad Zobrist, Brian Diveley, and Tim Ratajczyk.

4/26/08 - Pevely, MO - Rusty made the short drive from home to I-55 Raceway on Saturday.  There he picked up a sixth place finish amon the 27 Late Models in attendance.  In preliminary events Rusty finished second to Mark Voigt and ahead of Billy Faust in his heat.  In the dash Rusty finished seventh.  The dash was won by Faust.  In the feature the track was rubbered up and Rusty finished sixth.  The top five were Faust, Voigt, Tim Manville, Dewayne Keifer, and Rodney Melvin.

Rick Standridge (#12 - outside) edges Michael Kloos (#6k - center) & Rusty Griffaw (#16 - inside) in a 3 way battle to the checkered flag! Todd Nieman photo!

4/20/08 - Belleville, IL - (From STLRacing.com) Michael Kloos led the UMP Late Model feature for the entire distance except for the final few feet in Sunday night's twenty-five lap main event. Rick Standridge had pressure Kloos for the lead every lap, but Kloos held a perfect line throughout the event as he held Standridge off, but with three laps remaining, the motor in Kloos' car began to go sour. Standridge took to the high side to attempt the pass on Kloos the last couple of laps, but Kloos was able to keep just enough momentum as his machine began to lose some of it's horsepower. Going into turn three and four on the final lap, Kloos was unable to keep his car on the bottom and he slid up to the middle of the track, losing more momentum and allowing Standridge to get a good run on the top side to edge past for the win. Griffaw used the low line and got under Kloos coming off turn four and nearly stole the win from the third position. Mike Hammerle finished a close fourth with Frankie Martin completing the top five.

4/12/08 - Clarksville, TN - Rusty and crew towed the RGR #16 to Clarksville Speedway Saturday night.  Clarksville was one of the few tracks able to run with all the bad weather during the week.  Rusty qualified 4th behind Jason McBride, Chuck Proctor, and Charles Zimmerman.  Those four started the dash in that order followed by Tony Albright and Jarryd Holshouser.  Rusty was a little too loose in the dash and dropped back to a fifth place finish in front of Albright.  The top four were Proctor, McBride, Zimmerman, and Holshouser.

Rusty started the feature in fifth and soon made his way up to second behind Proctor.  While Proctor and Rusty were working the low groove, Albright moved to the top and made it around both.  Rusty kept working on Proctor and made the pass to move in behind Albright.  Albright and Rusty were able to put a little distance between themselves and the field, but Rusty was not able to get around Albright and took the checkers in second.  Trailing Rusty in the top seven were Proctor, Chris Shelton, Holshouser, Zimmerman, and Gil Smith.

4/5/08 - Highland, IL - Rusty won his heat in the RGR #16 at Highland Speedway on Saturday.  Finishing behind Rusty were Jason McBride, Rick Standrige, and Brent Helmkamp.  In the dash Rusty finished third behind Frankie Martin and Billy Faust and ahead of Micheal Kloos.  In the feature Rusty took sixth in the 18 car field.  The winner was Faust.

3/29/08 - Pevely, MO - Rusty won his heat and finished 4th in the dash at I-55 Raceway of Saturday night.  Rusty was running third in the feature when he was spun out by Darren Forrest.  Forrest was disqualified, but Rusty did not continue.  Bryan Collins took the win over Billy Faust.

3/22/08 - Clarksville, TN - The #16 team was among the 32 Late Models on hand for the $10,000 to win event at Clarksville Speedway over the weekend.  In qualifying on Friday Rusty was 6th in his group of eight.  In his heat he finished 7th.  The final rundown was Erb, Ratliff, Bland, Walston, Proctor, Collins, Rusty, and Johnson.  In the consi on Saturday, Rusty again was unable to advance to a qualifying spot.  However, Rusty's second place in Clarksville points from 2007 gave him a provisional that would have him start 20th on the field for the feature.  In the feature, Rusty finished 14th.  The top six were Don O'Neal, Wes Stiedinger, Dennis Erb, Terry English, Justin Ratliff, and Wayne Chinn.

3/15/08 - Clarksville, TN - Rusty pulled the RGR #16 down to Clarksville on Saturday.  There Rusty finished sixth in the dash and sixth in the feature.

3/14/08 - Calvert City, KY - Rusty took the RGR #16 to Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway on Thursday and Friday nights for the $5,000 to win Late Model events.  There were around 48 Late Models each night.  Rusty missed the feature on Thursday by two positions.  On Friday his chances looked good until he cut down a tire and again did not make the feature.