Without his collar and with the Canon digital and a litany of lenses hanging around his neck, Father Dale Grubba walks around NASCAR garages like any other photo-journalist, part of the media circus that follows the nation’s second-most popular spectator sport week after week. The fact that Father Grubba is the only ordained priest with all-access credentials makes him an anomaly. The fact that he has been involved in racing since the mid 1960s makes him one of the longest-serving spiritual leaders in all of sports.  
    “In 1966 I was attending Catholic University in Madison, Wisconsin and I snuck out one weekend and drove to the race at Rockingham,” he said as he prepared to shoot the Kobolt Tooks 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. “That was my first exposure to big-time NASCAR racing.”
    Father Grubba caught the racing bug and was soon giving invocations at short tracks throughout Wisconsin. “I taught seminary in Madison, so I didn’t have any parish responsibilities and could get out three or four nights a week,” he said. “Doing that, I got to know a lot of the drivers really well.”  
    One of those drivers was legendary champion Bobby Allison. They met at a car dealership where Allison was at a sponsor meet-and-greet. Father Grubba had been asked to say a prayer. “About halfway through the thing, Bobby looks at me and in that high, gruff voice of his says, ‘Come over here.’ I figured he was going to give me a hard time about being a priest. Turns out he wanted me to stick around afterward to hear his confession.”  
    The Allisons were the only Catholics on the circuit at that time, so Father Grubba flew to races and became their personal priest. Later he would minister to Alan Kulwicki, the 1992 Sprint Cup champion who was killed in a plane crash. It fell to Father Grubba to break the news to Kulwicki’s father of the driver’s death. He also officiated at the funeral. A decade later, Grubba helped develop the screenplay for “Dare to Dream” a movie based on Kulwicki’s life. He also has penned a biography of the driver that will be published in the summer by Badger Press.  
    Today he ministers to Lowe’s Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler, and is available for Catholic driver like Kurt and Kyle Busch, Joe Nemechek, and Juan Pablo Montoya, as well as non-Catholics. “Every year I pick a driver who really needs my support, and I call him every week to let him know that he’s in my prayers,” Father Grubba said. “This year it’s Travis Kvapil. I speak to him before every race.”
    As he gathered his camera and got his shot list together for the Atlanta race, Father Grubba smiled and said, “I’ve been very fortunate to be involved in racing for all these years. It’s great to be out here photographing and writing, but it’s also great for anybody who needs me to know that they have a priest.”  

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