When we talked Friday evening at Grundy County Speedway, eight-time super late model champion Eddie Hoffman didn’t want to tell me his age.
It wasn’t an ego thing. Honest.
“You’d be making these kids feel bad,” Hoffman said. “Really, you would. You’d make them uncomfortable. They’re going to have to go to a safe space if you keep bringing up my age.”
Because he keeps winning?
“Well …” Hoffman said, smiling.
He may have a good point. At any rate, it’s true that despite his age (I’m not telling), Eddie Hoffman is still on top of his game. And it doesn’t seem like it’s coming to an end any time soon.
The Wheaton native won his eighth career late model title in 2023. He won his first in 1997. Nobody at Grundy has won as many late model championships or as many late model career features as Hoffman.
But he still has a couple of Chicago-area racing mountains he can conquer.
Frank Gawlinski won nine late model titles at Illiana Speedway. Tony Izzo won that many at Santa Fe Speedway. And the legendary Bud Koehler won a whopping 11 late model championships at Raceway Park.
I had to ask. Is there enough gas left in the tank? Especially to catch Koehler?
“Ah, I think it’s a big maybe,” Hoffman said. “I wouldn’t count on it. I wouldn’t bet on it. But you never know. I don’t know. I didn’t know I’d be going this long.”
So how does he still feel behind the wheel?
“Better when the car runs,” Hoffman said.
To be sure, it’s running pretty well in 2024. Hoffman has two feature victories, and he leads in the points standings over second-place Blake Brown.
Friday night, Hoffman finished second behind Andy Jones in the 40-lap finale. The victory was the first of Jones’ career, and it came in dominating fashion. But Hoffman had everybody else covered.
Brown, who came into the night just 10 points behind Hoffman, took quite a hit when he had to drop out of the feature race with a mechanical issue. But these things happen in racing. It could happen to Hoffman next week.
Brown needs some better luck.
“Yeah, you know Eddie’s going to be good,” Brown said. “As far as points chasing and trying to beat anybody in points, you try to minimize how many points you lose on a bad night. That’s what it comes down to.”
Back in 2011, a very young Blake Brown edged out Eddie Hoffman for the late model title at Illiana. Before that, he saw plenty of Hoffman as a fan in the stands, although truth be told …
“Growing up, my grandpa owned some cars and Brett Sontag was his driver,” Brown said, beaming. “I kind of grew up a Sontag fan, which put me on the opposite side of the grandstands.”
Rest assured, however, the respect is there.
Hoffman has been earning that since the 1980s, when he began his career as a successful Enduro driver, then moved up to the Mid-American class and finally to the late models.
He did quite a bit of traveling during the early late model seasons, which precluded going for track championships. But the wins piled up. So did the years.
Regrets? Nah. But Hoffman did take pause to make an interesting observation.
“There is a sad side to it,” Hoffman said. “When you run Grundy and Illiana every Friday and Saturday and with Lisa Thomas go to Pikes Peak and Florida and Nashville, you’re just focused, just doing it.
“You enjoy yourself, but you don’t take the time to stand over on the hill and look and say, ‘This is pretty good.’”
Hoffman pretty much confines his racing these days to Grundy. And now, he does take some time to stand on the hill.
“Yeah, it’s nice because I’m not running twice a week and going crazy all over the place,” Hoffman said. “When we run well, it’s a little bit more enjoyable.”
It should be. After all, there’s no place like home.
Tony Baranek is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
