THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 13, 1994 TAG: 9410130490
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANCIE LATOUR, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Elmon T. Gray tried to begin his Wednesday as he would any other, waking up around 5:30 and heading toward The Tavern restaurant in Waverly for a breakfast of sliced tomatoes, whole wheat bread and grits.
It was only when his friend and longtime business partner William P. Camp ordered the French toast that Gray started getting nervous.
``Billy never eats French toast,'' Gray said, his voice suddenly rising. ``He thought he had ordered English muffins, which is what he usually has.''
Gray and Camp, the two main investors behind Virginia Racing Associates, had poured $500,000 and 25 years into bringing horse racing to Virginia. They had thrown their weight behind Portsmouth as the site for the state's race track. They promised another $15 million to build and operate the track.
Gray felt strange as he set off for Richmond, where the long fight would come to an end.
He'd made this drive hundreds of times before during two decades as a power broker in the state Senate.
His father, Garland ``Peck'' Gray, had spent 30 years of his own in the General Assembly.
But this morning was different. The issue was personal and the decision was out of Gray's hands.
``It's kind of a helpless feeling, really,'' he said, ``like you have no control.''
Gray turned his silver Lincoln into downtown Richmond and rubbed his lucky gold tie pin as he made his way through the Tyler Building. He shook the hands of competing investors, municipal officials and others tightly packed inside the commission chambers.
Gray jumped up when the five members of the Racing Commission entered the room. He needed to escape the row of tapping feet and wringing hands.
``Mr. Camp is making me nervous,'' Gray said, smiling. ``I barely want to sit beside him.''
Finally, the motion: to approve an application for a race track and award the license - to the New Kent County site of Joseph De Francis and Arnold Stansley.
Gray bit his lip. He twisted the ring on his left hand. As the five commissioners cast their votes, Gray's face settled into a grim expression. Behind him, a crowd of New Kent supporters cheered, slapping one another's backs.
Gray left the room quickly.
``Are you as shocked as I am?'' he asked as he passed several applicants. ``I was shocked. . . but I think the process was fair.''
Gray met Portsmouth City Manager V. Wayne Orton in the hall, taking him by the hand.
``I hope Portsmouth didn't lose because of something we did,'' Gray said.
Later, as other members of Gray's group debated whether politics had influenced the decision, the Democratic stalwart shook his head. ``No, I don't think so,'' he said.
Camp helped lighten his friend's mood a little later.
``I guess now it's time to talk Senator Gray into buying a little better horse,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Elmon T. Gray, Virginia Racing Associates investor
KEYWORDS: HORSE RACING RACE TRACK by CNB