MORRIS, Ill. — Ricky Baker turned in a flag-to-flag performance, winning the 61st annual Bettenhausen Memorial 100 presented by Elite Trade Show Services and McMahon Transport Group late model stock car special at the Grundy County Speedway Saturday night.
The 37-year-old racer from Plainfield, Ill., a former two-time late model champion at the speedway, raced to his third career Bettenhausen 100 win after battling with Michael Bilderback during the last 30 laps or so at the third-mile paved oval. Baker took home $10,000 in first place prize money in addition to lap prize awards.  Â
Wheeling his Rod Baker Ford/Illinois Truck and Equipment-sponsored Ford No. 52, Baker took starter Greg Kuntz’s checkered flag with a 0.442-second advantage over Bilderback. 2022 Grundy late model champion DJ Weltmeyer finished third, followed by Casey Johnson, Anthony Danta and former three-time Bettenhausen race winner Larry Schuler. A field of 24 started the 100 lapper.Â
When the green flag flew, Baker and his teammate Schuler ran side-by-side for a lap or two with Baker, after starting on the outside of the front row, holding the lead. Baker, Schuler, Stan Zolodz IV, Jake Gille and Levon Van Der Geest were the “top five” during the early laps.
Lap 10 saw a multi-car accident occur on the backstretch off of turn two with Jim Weber getting tagged by Johnson, which sent Weber spinning and setting off the melee that eliminated four-time race winner Eddie Hoffman, Austin Nason, Dave Gentile Jr. and Max Kahler, all who were among the event’s faster qualifiers. Johnson “taped out” with Weber getting his running position back and sending Johnson to the tail of the field for the restart. Johnson, the Wisconsin speedster, recovered with a fourth-place finish, running some of the race’s fastest laps.Â
Bilderback, who paced 29 cars during time trials, began to move up from his 12th starting spot. Bilderback moved to third around lap 23 and took second at about the halfway mark. Bilderback pressured Baker for the top spot, making several runs for the lead.
Three late-race yellow flags gave Bilderback, a three-time champion at the Rockford Speedway and the 2020 Bettenhausen race winner, several more chances at Baker with the eventual winner holding on to the lead.
“We had some tire issues before the race,” said Baker after his win. “We ended up with too much stagger. The car was all over the place. We changed a lot of stuff Thursday night. The car was really good (during practice) last night. It wasn’t the same all day today.Â
“Mikey (Bilderback) is a good racer. He raced me hard.  Him and his crew work really hard. I didn’t need those (late race) cautions.”
David Einhaus, who was the speedway’s sportsman division champion this year, capped off the season by winning the final 25-lap Midwest MASS Stock Car Series Sportsman Challenge feature and ended up in a tie for the overall championship with Kevin Murphy for the four-race series. Einhaus drove his Cory Clougherty-owned Chevy No. 30 to the victory, finishing ahead of Vince Cooper, Murphy, Marqus Hoover and Scotty Gardner.
Gardner, this year’s street stock division titlist, raced in in three classes during the evening and won two feature races. He won the 25-lap street stock headliner over Scott Bayuk and also captured the 20-lap four-cylinder pure stocks feature ahead of a challenging Danielle Dobczyk.
The Finish: Ricky Baker, Michael Bilderback, DJ Weltmeyer, Casey Johnson, Anthony Danta, Larry Schuler, Blake Brown, Scott Tomasik, Scott Koerner, Jake Gille, Stan Zolodz IV, Josh Wallace, Dean Patterson, Steve Seligman, Matt Chester, Jim Weber, Josh Nelms, Don Lindemulder, Tristan Batson, Levon Van Der Geest, Eddie Hoffman, Dave Gentile Jr., Austin Nason, Max Kahler.