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Community Corner

Grundy Speedway Salutes Plainfield 'Hometown Heroes'

Present your Plainfield ID to get two tickets for the price of one to Friday night stock car races and a chance to see Plainfield drivers Ricky Baker, Billy Knippenberg.

Plainfield gear heads, pull your noses out from under your hoods and head out on the highway for the thunder road in Grundy.

This Friday night is Plainfield’s night for Hometown Heroes at the Grundy County Speedway. Any adult who shows proof of Plainfield residence will get two-for-one admission to Friday night’s Chi-Town Street Stock Spectacular, featuring Plainfield’s own hot rod heroes, the “Late Model King Pins” Ricky Baker and Billy Knippenberg.

Regardles of whether you’re into car racing, it’s a real entertainment bang for your buck -- tickets are just $10, and kids 11 and under get in free. That’s cheaper than the movies.

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The Street Stock Special pits the Illiana against Grundy drivers in a 30-lap main event to crown the king of Chicagoland racing. It’s a full program of stock car racing in four divisions -  the “high-powered action-packed” Late Models, Midam Sportsman, Street Stocks and 4-cylinder mayhem.

“It’s like on TV,” Baker said. “It’s the next best thing to NASCAR, but a lot more affordable.”

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Baker is the son of Rod Baker of Plainfield’s , where he's the sales manager. He started stock car racing just six years ago and “moved up fast” on area tracks, he said. Last year he placed second in season points in the late model class, the fastest competition on the speedway.

This year his bright blue 2011 Ford Fusion has hit a few bumps in the road. He won one race but blew an engine in another. Then he had to miss a couple of other races for personal commitments.

He’s still hoping for a midseason comeback.

If four-cylinder mayhem and rooting for hometown race champs is not enough to thrill your kids, here’s an opportunity that is sure to make the family memory books. Dad can take to the track himself.

It’s true. As long as he can present a driver's license and a bike helmet, Dad (or, hey, why not Mom?) can line up the family car for one-lap elimination runs that will winnow the field to a final three-lap contest to establish the spectator champion.

Sign up at the Grundy pit shack before 9 p.m.

And, by all means, send the photos to Plainfield Patch.

The track is at 8890 N. Route 47, a mile north of Interstate 80, at the Grundy County Fairgrounds near Morris. Races start at 8 p.m.

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