John Gaydosh's struggles with his race car have been well documented, as he has experienced one bad break after another - literally. . 

Tuesday, the Baltimore, Md.-based Gaydosh encountered another run with misfortune, but this time it was not racing related.

Brad “Pops” Wallace, a Gaydosh mentor and noted member of his crew, passed away on Tuesday. 

“Pops took me under his wing when I was only 16 years old. He’s been with me from the beginning to the end," Gaydosh explained. "To give you an idea of how long I knew him, my dad did work with his dad. He was the type of guy who would do anything for you. Last week I dropped heads off at his house at 5 a.m. and he worked on them all day to finish them so we could race in Bristol.”

Gaydosh plans to dedicate this weekend's Summit Racing Equipment Nationals to Wallace and will run a special decal paying tribute. 
 
“You don’t meet people like Pops anymore. I could call him in the middle of the night and he would be there for me,” said Gaydosh. “Our hearts are just so heavy and we are going to miss him so much.”

Gaydosh will run an experimental engine from Gray Motorsports; an engine which necessitated some chassis modifications to work in his Chevrolet Camaro. 
 
“Jerry Haas modified my chassis so that the new motor could fit into it correctly,” explained Gaydosh. “We’ll be putting the motor in the car and tuning it for the next couple days so it will be ready to go for Q1 on Friday night.”