Eddie Hoffman isn’t sure how long it will take.
He now has the most career track titles, to go along with the most feature victories. And he is the all-time king of Grundy County Speedway.
Let that sink in, Eddie.
“Well … I think it’ll be a bigger thing to me a few years down the road,” Hoffman said. “I mean, it’s cool that we can get one more than dad. At least there’s something there between us.
“But for me, it has always been sort of the same old story. We go to win every time we go there and bring the car home in one piece. If you do well at that, it ends up with a good points year. We do look at that, but we don’t get obsessed with it.”
Hoffman went into Friday night’s program with a giant 196-point lead over second-ranking Clay Curts. His fourth-place finish behind D.J. Weltmeyer, Ricky Baker and Paul Shafer Jr. in the 30-lap feature mathematically clinched his seventh track title.
The final points night at Grundy is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 11.
The seven career championships move Hoffman one ahead of his father, Ed Hoffman Sr. The elder Hoffman won six titles between 1971 and 1985. Eddie Hoffman won his first late model championship in 1997.
For much of his career, Hoffman has been a traveler, juggling his schedule among Grundy and Illiana Speedway and various traveling circuits.
Often, a track title fell out of Hoffman’s reach due to scheduling conflicts that forced him to miss nights.
“When we were racing 60 times a year, we were just into it,” Hoffman said. “You’re focused and you’re just racing and trying to do all you can as you do it. You really don’t think a lot about results and where the points are going to end up.
“You’re just out there fireballing and doing what you can, and let the fans and media pick up on it down the road. To win track titles, you have to be pretty dedicated. You have to have good sponsors and you have to have some good luck along the way to ride out the full season here or anywhere. It’s not easy.”
Hoffman, 61, is the second-oldest regular driver at Grundy behind Larry Schuler.
Retirement is not yet on his radar screen.
“I get asked about it once in a while by my sponsors,” Hoffman said, laughing. “I think maybe they’re looking to get off the hook a little bit and say, ‘Gee, when are you going to retire?’
“I tell them that they have to keep paying because I’m going to keep going, at least for now.”
Closing in: Scotty Gardner won Friday night’s street stock feature, beating Pat Ligue. But Scotty’s dad, Scott, used a third-place finish to all but lock up his first street stock title since winning in 2000 at Raceway Park.
“I was going for it, but we had a lot of fast cars here,” Scott Gardner said. “I was just hoping for the best. I’m ecstatic.
“And to see my kid out there and winning is just great. I can walk away and say that I have accomplished what I wanted. Now it’s time to watch my son succeed.”
Trevor Starek won the 4-cylinder feature.
Bonus time: James Gregait thought his late model season ended a few weeks ago after he flipped and crashed into the Turn 1 wall.
Longtime friends Joe Brutti and son Tony put him back in the saddle.
Gregait will be driving for Brutti’s racing team in a Sept. 18 event at Anderson Speedway. Tony Brutti then offered to let Gregait drive his super late model Friday and Sunday at Grundy.
“He wanted someone to come through and shake the super late model down,” Gregait said. “He wanted to see what the car could do on this track with somebody who has been around it a lot lately.
“It takes a lot of trust. That’s really cool of Tony. My car is a mess, but it’ll go down to North Carolina at the end of the month to get it re-stubbed. We’ll be ready for next season.”
