MORRIS, Ill. — Ricky Baker came home the winner of the Lee Schuler Memorial late model stock car special which highlighted the annual Night of Features at Grundy County Speedway Sunday night.
Baker, a former two-time Grundy track champion, wheeled his Rod Baker Ford/Illinois Truck and Equipment-sponsored Ford Fusion to the win in the 61-lap headliner – his third consecutive Schuler Memorial victory and the fourth of his career. The race is named in the honor of Lee Schuler, who competed at Grundy when the track was first built in 1971 and was the speedway’s 1972 late model champ. Schuler passed away in 1985.
Baker, from Plainfield, Ill., who started seventh in the 19-car feature field, battled with Dean Patterson for the lead, finally getting to the top spot with 29 laps to go. Coming from his front row pole starting position, Patterson had led since the start of the race which saw three yellow flags slow the action on the third-of-a-mile paved oval.
Scoring his first feature win of the year at his home track, Baker took the checkered flag with 1.021-second margin over second place finisher and fast qualifier Nathan Kelly, who was trailed by D.J. Weltmeyer, Eddie Hoffman, David Einhaus and Patterson. Hoffman was crowned the track’s 2019 late model champion for the sixth time, equaling his dad’s (Ed Hoffman) all-time Grundy record total.
“It was probably one of the scariest passes (on Dean Patterson) that I had to make,” said Baker. “I know Dean has been running pretty good. He was sliding all over the place though. I don’t like racing on these tires (the smaller Hoosier D800s). These tires take only so many laps. I took as much time as I could (to take the lead).
“I had a 102 (degree) fever yesterday and almost 101 this morning. It’s been a rough year for all of us. It’s good to have Larry (Schuler) back at the track and to win this one for the Schuler family.”
A mentor to Baker, Larry Schuler, the oldest son of Lee Schuler, has been a longtime late model frontrunner at Grundy and had been undergoing treatments for cancer this past year. Schuler was on hand in Baker’s pit during the day and presented the winner’s trophy to Baker.
Ron Vandermeir Jr. won the 40-lap Mid American Sportsman feature race. Vandermeir, who was the track’s 2016 division champion, defeated a challenging Kevin Murphy to score the win. Cody Clubb, Timmy Stewart and Cory Clougherty rounded out the top five. Murphy won the overall Mid American division championship – his first at the speedway.
Eddie Ligue topped off his track championship-winning effort by capturing the 35-lap Street Stock main event. Ligue finished ahead of John Senerchia, Randy Weese, Craig Matteson and Timmy Stewart. Ligue previously had won the Street Stock title in 2014.
Jeremiah Senko was the winner of the 25-lap four-cylinder division feature race, finishing ahead of Zach Ortz and Dan Schmeissing. Mick Ellis led from flag to flag to score the win in the 25-lap main event for American Super Cup Series competitors.
The Finish:
Ricky Baker, Nathan Kelly, D.J. Weltmeyer, Eddie Hoffman, David Einhaus, Dean Patterson, Tony Brutti, Joe Vinachi, Brandon Clubb, Rich Dearborn, Clay Curts, Dan Odell, Jake Weinreich, Jeff Wakeman, Billy Hulbert, Scott Koerner, Mike White, Anthony Danta, Pete Odell.