Local Racer Goes To The National Winner's Circle

July 1, 2009

We’ve lost a regular racer, and we couldn’t be happier about it! Rick Baehr has been racing at Summit Motorsports Park for about 13 years, and calls this track home. Last weekend, Rick did something remarkable. He entered his Mustang in Stock class at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, drove the white steed through six grueling rounds of competition, and at the end of the day, went home with the Wally! That’s the first NHRA national event win that Rick has achieved, and it lit a fire!

Rick has been close before, but always ended up the proverbial bridesmaid. He was close to a win at the divisional race in Columbus last year, and again in Milan for the Challenge race up there. Rick came closest at the B’laster Cavalcade of Stars presented by Amalie Motor Oil last May, but somehow fell just short. That changed last Sunday when Rick cut an .025 light against Paul Boster in the final round and drove it out the gate for a win.

The Baehr family makes their home in Wellington, Ohio, which is a hop and a skip down route 18 from Norwalk. Rick, wife Sarah, and Sasha, the four-legged boss of the crew spend race times together. Judging from the picture series taken of Sarah back on the starting line as Rick won the final, we’d say it was at least a toss-up as to who was more excited! Enjoying anything as much as this couple enjoys racing makes it very hard to go back to a regular work routine.

Rick is a Project Engineer with the MTD Corporation in Valley City, Ohio. Maybe it’s those same mechanical skills that give him the ability to stay at the top of his racing game. Whatever the reason, it’s consistent. Despite last weekend’s win with the Mustang, it’s not Rick’s favorite car. That would be the 1984 Camaro that took him to the 2005 IHRA World Championship. It was that car that brought the most racing success, and started the cross-country trekking that is about to become a renewed endeavor.

The win last weekend has provided the impetus to try to achieve more. For that reason, Rick will only be competing at occasional points races for the rest of the year. Among the races away from home that Rick will be competing in will be the NHRA divisional races at Stanton, Michigan, Columbus, and at Bowling Green, Kentucky. He also plans on running at the national events at Concord, North Carolina and at Richmond, Virginia. Rick is also planning on making a run at the Bracket World Finals.

One of the things that Rick said when we talked with him was; “I just really wanted a Wally. I came close a few times, and I just wanted one of those.” We think he may have set his sights a little short, but with his present plans, he’ll come home with more of those gold statues. We want to thank Rick Baehr for providing yet another feather in the Norwalk cap, and we congratulate him for his great win at last week’s Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals. Way to go, Rick!!