One of the most memorable numbers in Chicagoland racing history belongs to Larry Schuler.
In 1976, Schuler won three track titles and topped the nation with 43 feature victories in his No. 30 Junkyard Dog Camaro.
At age 69, he’s still running at the front of the late model pack at Grundy County Speedway.
Most importantly, he feels great doing it.
“I have doctors looking at my eyes, checking my heart, and everything is real good,” Schuler said. “My wife does all the right food stuff and makes sure I exercise and all of those things. It all pays off.”
Schuler inherited the number when he started racing in the early 1970s.
“The No. 30, that was Bud Ferguson’s number,” Schuler said. “He raced at Mazon and drove for Al’s Garage, who were the people I started with.
“It was the number they had. It wasn’t a number I came up with.”
Schuler made it famous, especially when it adorned the side of the Junkyard Dog during the historic 1976 season.
It also became a Schuler family tradition.
“My daughter and my son, when they were in high school, wore the number for softball and baseball,” Schuler said. “Now my two grandsons are doing baseball, and they’re carrying it.
“That’s cute. I get a kick out of it.”
The 2022 season has been a mixed bag for the Lockport native.
Going fast hasn’t been a problem. Schuler has been the top qualifier four times.
On some nights, though, good fortune hasn’t been a friend during the feature races.
“We had a bad June,” Schuler said. “We had some wrecks, some motor issues.”
Of late, Schuler has been aces. He won a heat race Friday and contended in the feature before finishing third.
The two weeks previous, he finished in second place in both features.
“We’ve been working on it,” Schuler said. “We’re always thinking there is something better we could do.
“When you don’t win, it’s not going to feel good. But I’m really enjoying what’s going on here.”
One for Frank: Scotty Gardner spent several laps in Friday’s street stock feature chasing James Dean. Gardner, the division leader, needed points.
But he wanted a victory — badly.
The race was 27 laps in honor of popular Chicagoland street stock driver Frank Flory, who died earlier in the summer.
For Gardner, it was personal.
“This race for me had nothing to do with points,” Gardner said. “It was all about Frank Flory. He was a really good friend of ours.
“He was part of our racing club. We’d be at his house, once or twice a week. He was the man.”
Gardner led just one lap, but it was the last one. He was running right behind Dean when a lapped car created near chaos.
Dean almost spun coming out of Turn 4 for the white flag. Gardner was able to make the pass and take the win. Chad Bayuk was third, followed by Randy Weese and Kellen Arnold.
Fast finish: Anthony Danta struggled during late model qualifying, but made up for it in the feature race, leading 29 of 30 laps.
He didn’t cruise, however.
Schuler spent several laps right behind Danta, with Eddie Hoffman doing the same the last half of the race.
“I usually qualify very well, but we had a problem with a tire,” Danta said. “We were still within a tenth of fast time. I’d rather start farther back, but the way our luck’s been going this year, a win’s a win.
“I couldn’t mess up. I had Larry behind me for a while and then Eddie got by him on a restart. One bobble and he probably would have got me. It’s fun racing those guys, and it’s always fun to win a race.”
Cameron Preisler took the lead with three laps remaining to win the 4-cylinder feature over Vince VanVossen and Trevor Starek. Jacob Senerchia was a runaway winner in the Super Cup feature over Carter Appleton. Marqus Hoover held off a challenge on the last lap from Jeff Wakeman in the sportsman feature. David Einhaus finished third.