By Tony Baranek
After Shaun Quinn Jr., won his first career street stock feature Friday night at Grundy County Speedway, he had company during his cool down lap.
Some of his competitors took turns pulling up alongside and offering their congratulations. It was a gesture he appreciated.
"It's super cool," Quinn said. "In our division, I feel there is a lot of mutual respect among each other. We share the track, and when you give respect on the track, it's given back in some sort of way.
"It was awesome just to have everybody come around to give me congratulations on the first win. It was nice."
Dad, meanwhile, was waiting in victory lane.
"Oh, he was pumped, man," Quinn said with a laugh. "He was so excited. A lot of things have gone against us this season. I am so grateful for all the hours that he's put into the shop when I'm not there. We're also very thankful to Ted Slusarczyk and their family for helping us out a lot."
Quinn was running third behind Kristi Preisler and Brandon Reed with three laps remanining when the two leaders had contact. Quinn came very close to being collected in the melee, but was able to swerve around it.
"I was waiting for the right time," Quinn said. "I was getting to them, but I was lacking some horsepower in the straightaways. But I could gain some car-lengths by getting throug the corner well.
"We were just hoping for something to happen in front of us. Obviously, I didn't want to see anybody spin out. I want to see a clean race. But when that ended up happening, it gave us an opportunity."
Quinn made good on it, holding off division leader Chad Bayuk. Sal Lozano was third, followed by Reed, Aaron Vines and Preisler.
In the other street stock feature, Race Olson took a sure and steady path to victory.
Lozano led the event from laps one through 16. Olson, meanwhile, started eighth in the field, and gradually moved up. He made the winning pass on Lozano on lap 17.
"Starting in the fourth row we had our work cut out for us," Olson said. "It was definitely a waiting game. You have to make your way up slowly, but quickly at the same time as clean as you can.
"We picked up some positions slowly. Going against Sal Lozano for the lead, I took him on the outside and made the pass. Pretty much from there on, we were gone."
Zak Chanda finished second behind Olson. Third went to Reed, followed by Quinn, Lozano and Preisler.
In the super late model feature, last turn misfortune for the two leaders resulted in Eddie Hoffman's first victory of the season.
For several laps, Ricky Baker and D.J. Weltmeyer put on a tremendous side-by-side battle. Baker had the edge on the high side as they entered the final turn. The two then made contact, with Baker spinning around.
Weltmeyer went on to cross the line in first, but both he and Baker were placed at the back of the lead lap in the official finish. Hoffman, meanwhile, was in the right place at the right time.
"The three of us were close, and when that happened I was right behind them," Hoffman said. "Those two I think had just a little bit on me.
"One on one, I don't think I was going to do anything with either one of them. But when they were running side by side, I didn't have a problem keeping up with them. It was an odd finish, but it worked out for me."
Second place in the feature went to Keith Tolf. James Gregait was scored third, followed by Dennis Lyp, Jake Weinreich, Baker and Weltmeyer.
Eddie Ligue continues to dominate in the Crown Vic division. The defending champion set fast qualifying time and was second in the fast heat. He started eighth in the feature, and despite some steering problems flew through the pack to take the lead from Eric Ferrara on lap 8.
From there, Ligue held off a late challenge from Ben Goebl to claim his sixth win. Ferrara finished third, ahead of Russell McGrath, Zoey Czubak and Greg Taylor.
"We had a good night," Ligue said. "But we really had to wrestle with the car during the last laps of the feature with the 11 car (Goebl) catching me."
Ligue won the Crown Vic title in 2025, but only had one feature victory. This season has been much different.
"Overall, we've had a great season," Ligue said. "It feels awesome being on top again. Last year we had seven or eight second-place finishes before we finally won one on the final night. This season has also been a busy one with helping Chad Bayuk go for a (street stock) championship, too."
The Super Cups ran twin-features, with Lucas Hulbert and Evander Peterson coming away with victories.
In the first race, Peterson took the lead from Hulbert on lap 6, and ran steady laps from there. He beat Hulbert to the line by a short margin. Third went to Joshua Fritz, ahead of Richard Bischof IV, Makayla Hall and Oliver Griffin.
Hulbert's win came in the second race. He took the lead from Hall on lap 2, and held off the challenges of Peterson. Hall stayed tough to finish third, ahead of Griffin, Bischof and Fritz.
Hulbert's win was the first of his career, after several other stellar efforts had come up just short.
"It feels pretty good to finally get one under my belt," Hulbert said. "When we had a yellow before that final lap because of a cone in the middle of the track, all I thought about for the restart was, 'No mistakes.'
"During the first race, I made a mistake, went high and gave him (Peterson) the inside. For the second race, I just listened to papa and did what he said to do."
And afterward?
"He said, 'Way to go buddy. That's what I'm talkin' about.'"
SUMMARY
Super Late Model
Fast time: Eddie Hoffman (14.496)
1st heat: 1. Jake Weinreich, 2. Dennis Lyp, 3. James Gregait.
2nd heat: 1. D.J. Weltmeyer, 2. Eddie Hoffman, 3. Kyle Shear.
40-lap feature: 1. Eddie Hoffman, 2. Keith Tolf, 3. James Gregait, 4. Dennis Lyp, 5. Jake Weinreich, 6. Ricky Baker, 7. D.J. Weltmeyer, 8. Kamden York, 9. Kyle Shear, 10. Clay Curts, 11. Anthony Danta, 12. Bobby Gash.
Street Stocks
Fast time: Race Olson (16.793)
1st 25-lap feature: 1. Race Olson, 2. Zak Chanda, 3. Brandon Reed, 4. Shaun Quinn Jr., 5. Sal Lozano, 6. Kristi Preisler, 7. Christy Penrod, 8. Chad Bayuk, 9. Aaron Vines, 10. Darrell Gay, 11. Renee Farren, 12. Mike Glenn, 13. Scott Bulthuis.
2nd 25-lap feature: 1. Shaun Quinn Jr., 2. Chad Bayuk, 3. Sal Lozano, 4. Brandon Reed, 5. Aaron Vines, 6. Kristi Preisler, 7. Darrell Gay, 8,. Renee Farren, 9. Race Olson, 10. Zak Chanda, 11. Scott Bulthuis.