Perhaps the rarest father-son achievement at Grundy County Speedway occurred in 2012, when Pat Kelly was the late model champion and Nathan Kelly won the street stock title.
An equally unique father-son feat is playing out in 2022.
Scotty Gardner, at age 22, is leading the street stock points standings. With four points nights remaining, the closest competitor with a chance to catch him is his father.
Scott Gardner, 48, was the street stock champion in 2021.
Back to back, father and son?
“It would be awesome,” Scotty Gardner said. “It was my goal last year to win it all, but I had a couple of rough nights, and it was kind of a tumbledown effect.
“After my dad won it, I was like, ‘All right. You’re done, old man.’ I put in all the work during the offseason. It’s time to get him.”
Scotty expects to get no breaks from dad while finishing the task. He doesn’t want any.
“It’s crazy,” Gardner said. “It’s still really early, although I know it’s really not. But you’d better believe he’s giving it his all every week.
“I told him to, and he promised me, that he’s going to be giving me everything he’s got. So if I pull it off this season, I beat the best.”
The Blue Island native went into Friday night’s program with a 991-932 lead over his father. Randy Weese was third with 891 points.
Scotty was the fastest qualifier Friday night but had mechanical issues while leading with seven laps remaining in the feature. Soon after, Scott Gardner passed Randy Weese for the win.
Scott Gardner was a top street stock competitor at Raceway Park in the late 1990s. He won the street stock title in 2000.
He cut back his racing activities in the years that followed, when Scotty became interested in baseball.
“When I started in travel ball, my mom and dad were more concerned with helping me out so I could play,” Scotty said. “They actually sold their tow vehicle and sized down so we could go traveling more often.
“His scaling back on his racing had everything to do with him being there with me, being a great dad.”
Scotty Gardner’s rise to the top of the street stock chart has been a fast one since his rookie season in 2020.
It has brought out a renewed competitive fire — and noticeable pride — from his father.
“I’m mostly proud of how much Scotty has achieved and improved in the last couple of years on his own, without dad holding his hand,” Scott said. “The first year it was me, all of his uncles, his mom (Kathy) and our friends helping him out and doing everything.
“Then he got into his second season, and he really got serious. Now he’s really excited about the points, and to see him going for a championship is unbelievable.”
If it comes down to a few points on the final night?
“Oh, that would be really interesting,” Scott Gardner said, laughing. “I can’t even imagine. You might want to ask Kathy about that one.”
Dominant D.J.: Piling up points hasn’t been a problem for late model division leader D.J. Weltmeyer.
Piling up wins has been a more difficult proposition.
“Absolutely,” Weltmeyer said. “Being consistent is usually the hard part. But these guys out there are so close.
“We’ve gotten a lot of top fives. We’re doing things every night to get some stuff to finally click together for one long run.”
Weltmeyer was masterful in Friday’s 30-lap feature, passing Larry Schuler on lap 17 and cruising from there to his second victory.
“Larry has been fast,” Weltmeyer said. “I always joke with him that he beats me by about a hundredth of a second every night in qualifying. He raced me hard and clean, and luckily we got a line on him.”
Schuler held on for second ahead of Jim Weber, Eddie Hoffman and Anthony Danta.
Better luck: Kevin Murphy ended a string of bad luck with a smooth run in the 25-lap Midwest MASS Sportsman Challenge. Murphy passed Sean Matthuis on the sixth lap and had no takers. Marqus Hoover finished second, ahead of David Einhaus, Clay Curts and Matthuis.
“Yeah, gosh, we couldn’t pay for some good luck here,” Murphy said. “We were leading a couple of weeks back and broke a rear end. We’ve just been struggling a bit with some fluke items.
“It feels good to finally break through and get one.”
Zach Chanda beat Dan Schmeissing and Cameron Preisler in the 4-cylinder feature.