When Kyle Busch entered victory lane earlier this month, so did a little bit of Gifford and Smethport.
Busch, who pushed through after being assessed a speeding infraction on pit row, came back to win the Aug. 16 race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The win capped off a whirlwind four days for Busch, as he followed up his truck win with Friday and Saturday wins in the XFINITY Cup and Monster Energy Cup races for the weekend sweep of NASCAR events.
Helping to lead Busch to victory in the truck series, which was broadcast nationally on Fox Sports 1, was crew chief Cody Glick, a graduate of 2013 Smethport Area High School. Since 2014, he’s worked for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
Three times this season Glick has been a crew chief in the truck series, according to racing-reference.info, serving for Busch twice and for one start by driver Todd Gilliard (who finished 20th after starting in 15th position).
Glick’s parents are Chuck and Tina. Racing, unsurprisingly, runs in the Glick family as his father owns and operates Chuck Glick’s Auto Repair shop in Rew.
Farewell, Father
Like many athletic directors in the area, Elk Catholic’s Aaron Straub regularly emails out a weekly athletic calendar of events for the Crusaders. Straub’s most recent email noted at the bottom that Fr. Eric Vogt has taken a new assignment at St. Gregory the Great parish in Virginia Beach, Va. He had been working in St. Marys’ Sacred Heart parish.
“Father Eric,” as he is known, is recognizable by almost any athlete, parent or fan who’s every played for or against Elk Catholic in youth, junior varsity, varsity or Legion action. He is a long-time basketball official and also served as the Crusaders’ head baseball coach. Besides that, he coached the St. Marys Legion baseball team.
In 2014, he guided the Crusaders to 26 straight victories before losing 2-1 in the PIAA Class A championship game in extra innings. Vogt helped Elk Catholic to more than 100 victories and four District 9 titles.
In September 2015, Vogt was featured in a Catholic News Service article about his relationship and mentorship of St. Marys High School graduate Ryan Uhl, who two months prior had been drafted out of Indiana University of Pennsylvania to the Seattle Mariners. Vogt managed against Uhl when Elk Catholic would play the Dutchmen, while the two were able to team up when Legion ball came around at the start of summer.
“Baseball gives you a little bit of heaven,” Vogt said in the magazine piece. “When you’re playing baseball, you don’t care about anything else at the moment.”
Vogt served in the Virginia Beach parish previously for four years in the 1980s. He was stationed in St. Marys for the last 15 years.
