The Daily Southtown, Tinley Park, Ill., Tony Baranek column

June 26--Scared. Worried. Upset. Blessed.

That pretty much sums up the emotions that the Clubb racing family felt during and following the tornado that wreaked havoc Monday night in the Grundy County Speedway community.

Brothers Cody, Brandon, Jeremy and Nick Clubb were all in the epicenter of the storm in Coal City.

Their homes were spared. They also keep their race cars in town, in the same shop. The tornado missed it by a quarter-mile.

It was an even closer call for good friends Gary, Sara and Kim Onsen. Their home was damaged by the storm, but repairable.

"They were very lucky," Cody Clubb said. "The block behind them, you can't even tell they were houses."

Clubb's grandparents, Don and Dorothy Fitzgerald, were the unluckiest in their circle of family and friends. They lost the roof on their home.

But it could have been much, much worse. They and three others in the building were only able to huddle in a hallway before the impact.

"My grandmother had just gotten out of the hospital so they couldn't move fast enough," Cody Clubb said.

Thankfully, they all survived without injury. But serious damage was done.

"As soon as they jump through the insurance hoops, the house is going to be torn down," Brandon Clubb said. "It's leaning about three inches."

With all that going on, Cody Clubb didn't have a chance to get to the race-car shop until the following morning.

"I didn't sleep very well," he said. "I didn't get to bed until everything settled down around 2 a.m., and I was back up at 5 a.m. to go look and help out (with the cleanup). We didn't have any power so we couldn't work on the cars, but otherwise everything was OK."

Grundy County Speedway promoter Ron Snow, meanwhile, said that the track took a lot of water but had no storm damage.

Tighten up

It can't get much closer in the late model class at Grundy, where Eddie Hoffman is precariously enjoying a 468-464 points lead over Larry Schuler. John Nutley is hovering in their mirrors, just 38 points back of the leader.

Schuler put back-to-back wins together, but Hoffman has had the hottest hand overall with four feature victories.

And if four points seems like a close fit, how about the Mid-Am class at Grundy, where Kevin Gentile leads Matt Clemens by a 365-364 margin?

You've also got to love the competitiveness in the street stock class at Grundy, where from first-place Christy Penrod to fifth-place Tim Stewart, the difference is just 45 points. Jake Bradley is second, while Rita Fields and Cheryl Hryn are also in the female-dominated top of the field.

Meanwhile, 2013 champion Dan Schmeissing is ruling the roost in the 4-cylinder class by a 381-374 margin over Spencer Leake, with Alex Gay (348) in third. The division is doing really well this season under the watch of division tech Cyle Lindemuth.

"Cyle has worked on the rules the last few years and has given us some room to make adjustments," Schmeissing said. "He has done this to help underpowered cars catch up to cars that may have more horsepower. And he keeps us on our toes. You never know what he will check week after week, and he keeps a log of our cars and double-checks throughout the year.

"The class has definitely moved in the right direction over the past three years. Usually we have the highest car count (18 on average) and also put on exciting racing."

Coming up

The Friday night show at Grundy will feature the Rustic Elements Furniture 40-lap street stock special. Saturday, Illiana Speedway is hosting the first of two Crashfests.

abaranek@tribpub.com

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