Lap after lap after lap.
Richie Bickle and Ricky Baker cut a red-hot path at the front of the field in Saturday night’s Tony Bettenhausen Memorial at Grundy County Speedway.
Then, with 38 of 100 laps remaining …
“All of a sudden I heard a ‘boom,'” Baker said. “I didn’t know if his car shut off or he let off the gas or something broke. I couldn’t stop in time and I ran into the back of him.”
Bickle wound up in the wall, out of the race. Baker was allowed to restart in the front.
The Plainfield native had no takers from there, winning the season-ending event for the second year in a row by more than a second over Boris Jurkovic.
The reason Baker wasn’t sent to the back for the restart was because he didn’t cause the accident.
“I think my transmission locked up,” Bickle said. “He had nowhere to go. He tried to dive low and hooked me. I thought I was going to save it, but then it pitched sideways and pushed me over in the seat about four inches.
“I broke my ribs, I think, for about the fifth time. The race car gods aren’t happy right now with me.”
Jurkovic, who had to race his way into the starting field, got a clean shot at Baker after a yellow with 20 laps remaining. There would be no challenge.
“I think going in the last chance race hurt us a little bit,” Jurkovic said. “We had that extra 12 laps on the tires. We were competitive. It was a good race. Ricky did a great job.”
Anthony Danta made a late charge to finish third ahead of Nathan Bertino, Andy Jones and Scott Koerner.
Bad breaks: Track champion Billy Knippenberg left early in the race when a broken trailing arm led to a ripped oil line. Eddie Hoffman also left with a suspension problem. Larry Schuler went out via a crash on lap 31.
Mechanical issues put Paul Shafer Jr., in the pits for repairs. He got back on the track for the restart, but never got back in contention and eventually left for good. Early leader Jim Weber was eliminated in a late skirmish with John Nutley.
Tommy Knippenberg was running fourth with one lap remaining when a broken rear end brought his car to a halt.
Christy clear: When Christy Penrod started her late-model career in April, she said that she was just a little bit scared.
Saturday, she made another revelation.
“I’m still scared,” she said, laughing. “It doesn’t go away. But you get a little more comfortable in the car. It comes to you and you make those fine adjustments.
“We learned a lot. We were happy when we were in the top 10 in points. To end top five is crazy.”
The 20-year-old from Burr Ridge had a magnificent first season, finishing fifth in the late-model points and earning rookie of the year honors.
Penrod, who won the street stock championship in 2015, was a consistent top 10 finisher. Her highest was a fifth.
“Since I was little this was my dream,” Penrod said. “And here it is right in front of me. I’ve watched Eddie Hoffman since I can’t even remember how old. To be racing against him is really an honor.”
More winners: Tim Stewart got off to a quick start and dominated in the street stock feature over John Senerchia and Randy Weese. Michael Tobuch put an exclamation point on a championship season with a win over Trevor Starek in the 4-cylinder feature.
Twitter @tbaranek
