Rib vendor antsy while waiting for judging results

Larry "Duce" Raymond can't relax.

He's three days into the Naperville Exchange Club's Ribfest and as the event's reigning rib champion, he's looking to repeat.

His ribs already have been devoured by the 33 judges and there's nothing left he can do but wait for the results.

"I can't breathe until the announcements are over," says the Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue ribber as he dumps massive cans of baked beans into even more massive cooking trays. "I know I'll feel tense until the awards are over."

It's raining and clouds have yet to let the sun through to warm Naperville's Knoch Park, otherwise Raymond probably would be sweating from his nerves.

Just like last year's winning batch, the ribs Raymond sent to the Ribfest judges were his backup.

"I don't know what it was," the Wood Dale resident says. "Sometimes you can get a bad piece of wood that messes up the flavor. I don't know."

Meanwhile, he occupies his hands and mind fixing the baked beans. The rib stand sold out the homemade beans they brought with them and now Raymond is using canned beans and trimmings from anything available to replicate his original recipe.

"I'm trying to get it as close as I can," he says.

Raymond dabbles in just about every aspect of the rib stand, doing every job at some point during the four-day event. As the lunch crowd begins to grow at the park, Raymond stays in the back with the beans until it's time to head to the award ceremony at 3 p.m.

When his ribs are announced as the second-place winner, no one can tell he didn't get first.

"Now I'm not nervous," he says grinning. "To place two years in a row with this type of competition, I'll take it any day of the week."