Caleb Adrian has scored many victories in life, both professionally as a terminal manager at Volt Logistics and also in raising a family.
But Friday night at Grundy County Speedway, it seemed like old times - or rather, young times - as Adrian re-discovered some of the racing success he enjoyed while running at Iowa tracks.
The 29-year-old Morris resident put on a power show in his No. 29 super late model, taking the lead from racing legend Larry Schuler and then going on to win the 40-lap feature.
The win for Adrian was his first since...
"It's been every bit of 10 years," Adrian said, smiling. "I grew up in a racing family in Iowa. My parents had a NASCAR truck team for awhile. And then I grew up on the Legends cars and the late models and super lates.
"I was heavy into it until I was 18, 19 years old. Then I embraced life, got a job, and started a family. Now I'm in a position where I can race again, and it's awesome having my wife and my son and all of my friends here with me.
"It feels great. I'm looking forward to the next one, already."
He definitely earned it.
Schuler led the first three laps of the race, before Adrian used the low groove to make the pass. The duo raced in close proximity for several laps. At one point Schuler got underneath him in Turn 3, but a bump from third-place D.J. Weltmeyer caused Schuler to bobble and drop back.
Weltmeyer took second from Schuler with nine laps remaining, but ran out of time while chasing down Adrian. Schuler finished third, followed by Ricky Baker, Eddie Hoffman and Scott Koerner.
"He left the door open and I definitely took it," Adrian said of Schuler. "We raced hard for a couple of laps, and he stayed with me really the whole race.
"Then D.J. got into second at the end. I didn't get around a lapped car as good as I should have, and he closed in quite a bit. Luckily we were coming up to the white flag, and we held on to it."
A wild pure stocks feature saw Jakob Slusarczyk go from third to first in the final two turns to score the victory.
Slusarczyk was running behind the battling duo of Mike Glenn and Mason Meister. They wound up in a three-car bunch as they crossed the finish line. Glenn beat Meister to the stripe for second, while Jeffrey Turner, Dan Schmeissing and Colten Williams completed the top six.
"To be honest with you, as me and my buddies say on our race team, we put it all on the dash," Slusarczyk said. "I got on the top side, and I could see there was an issue going on on the bottom."
"I didn't know what was going to happen on the high side because of the oil. I thought I might lose momentum and fall back. But I decided to take a shot at it anyway."
Breanna Riggins secured her third win of the season in the Sixers feature, but the race really was won before she left the garage.
"Our hauler is still broken down," Riggins said. "We were scrambling, but our sponsor, Tim Sargent, let us borrow his truck. That's how we made it here. He's a main part of this victory."
Riggins took the lead from Roger Emery on lap 10 and pretty much set sail. Roger Emery beat out David Emery Jr., for second, while Seth Rowe, Cayden Hayes and Devin Eggert were fourth through sixth.
Camden Grommes had a tough start to the night, but finished it strong with a win in the 15-lap Super Cups feature. Grommes came from the back to take the lead from Evander Peterson on lap 9.
Peterson stayed within striking distance, but Grommes didn't bobble. Third place went to Mak Regnerus, followed by Chris Rossiter, Richard Bischof and Kevin Slavicek.
"Ohh, man, we've been battling this car all night long," Grommes said. "We had ignition problems, fuel problems. We've been throwing parts at it. We finally stripped it down to find an electrical problem.
"We buttoned that up, and we were putting the body back on as they were pushing off to the track. So we made it just in the nick of time. This is so much fun. I love it."
SUMMARY
Super Late Models
Fast time: Eddie Hoffman (14.549)
1st heat: 1. Scott Koerner, 2. Stan Zolodz, 3. James Gregait.
2nd heat: 1. Ricky Baker, 2. Kyle Shear, 3. D.J. Weltmeyer.
40-lap feature: 1. Caleb Adrian, 2. D.J. Weltmeyer, 3. Larry Schuler, 4. Ricky Baker, 5. Eddie Hoffman, 6. Scott Koerner, 7. Kyle Shear, 8. Stan Zolodz, 9. James Gregait, 10. Jake Weinreich, 11. Anthony Danta.
Sixers
Fast time: Breanna Riggins (19.670)
Heat: 1. Breanna Riggins, 2. Kaylee Emery, 3. Roger Emery.
25-lap feature: 1. Breanna Riggins, 2. Roger Emery, 3. David Emery Jr., 4. Seth Row, 5. Cayden Hayes, 6. Devin Eggert, 7. Kaylee Emery, 8. David Emery Sr.
Pure Stocks
Fast time: Colten Williams (19.200)
1st heat: 1. Edward Davies, 2. Kaylee Vines, 3. Marcus Glenn.
2nd heat: 1. Andrew Randall, 2. Matt Ciara, 3. Mike Glenn.
3rd heat: 1. Jakob Slusarczyk, 2. Mason Meister, 3. Dan Schmeissing.
25-lap feature: 1. Jakob Slusarczyk, 2. Mike Glenn, 3. Mason Meister, 4. Jeffrey Turner, 5. Dan Schmeissing, 6. Colten Williams, 7. Todd Snow, 8. Dustin Massole, 9. Matt Ciara, 10. Jason Turner, 11. Andrew Randall, 12. Jackson Martindale, 13. Matt Lawler, 14. Edward Davies, 15. Kaylee Vines, 16. Garrett Evans, 17. Marcus Glenn, 18. Phillip Arnold, 19. Matthew Arnold.
Super Cups
Fast time: Camden Grommes (18.786)
Heat: 1. Evander Peterson, 2. Richard Bishof, 3. Mak Regnerus.
15-lap feature: 1. Camden Grommes, 2. Evander Peterson, 3. Mak Regnerus, 4. Chris Rossiter, 5. Richard Bischof, 6. Ken Slavicek, 7. Joshua Fritz, 8. Makayla Hall, 9. Michael Skord, 10. Rob Baaske.