By: Kevin Ramsell
Wednesday, September 19, 2007 (Loves Park, IL) – Ryan Carlson really enjoys racing in his backyard. He also can't wait for the 42nd Annual Chicago International Trucks National Short Track Championships to start on September 28-30th at the Rockford Speedway.

The Loves Park, IL native has enjoyed his past experiences at the famed weekend racing event. In 2005, he captured the Northern Late Model 150-lap feature win along with a second place finish in the ASA Late Model Series 100-lap event and in 2006, won one of the two Big 8 series 75-lap feature events.

"Oh, it's awesome," Carlson recently stated about NSTC. "NSTC has been good to us the last couple of years. It's the biggest race of the year, it's my home track, and it's where I get the most fans and the most joy out of racing."

But those were about the biggest highlights of his 2006 season. "Last year was my roughest season and it's kind of moved into this season and we have struggled for the good part of the year and the last quarter of the year, we have been turning it around," Carlson stated. "We have been faster at all of the tracks and we are having really good weekends now. So we are excited about all of the races coming up."

Carlson backed up his statement by his second and fourth place finishes last Saturday night at the Big 8 Series event at Jefferson Speedway. Carlson actually tied for the overall win, but lost it to Jason Erickson on a tie-breaker that went back to their qualification runs where Erickson out-qualified Carlson by .013 seconds.

Carlson plans on competing in the Weekly Warrior Late Models on Friday night, the Big 8 Series Twin 58-lap features on Saturday night and the 200-lap National Short Track Super Late Model feature on Sunday afternoon.

He realizes that he may not have the fastest car, but is optimistic on the outcome of the 200-lap event. "Our car is probably at a slight disadvantage without the horsepower the other guys are going to have," Carlson explained. "The first 50 laps when they got the good rubber on their cars, we are going to be running from them but since we are lighter, throughout the race we should be coming to challenge at the end because we won't be burning up our tires like they would."

Even though NSTC may be a week later than in the past, that doesn't faze Carlson who is also looking forward to this event, "You really look forward to the end of the year races and Short Track is always no. 1 on my list."

A total of 12 divisions will be competing over the three days of September 28-30th. For more information and a schedule for the weekend, please visit the track's website at www.rockfordspeedway.com or call the track office at (815) 633-1500. Overnight parking is allowed and fans are encouraged to stay after on Friday and Saturday night for post-race parties in the Budweiser Pavilion.

Make your plans now to be a part of the 42nd Annual Chicago International Trucks National Short Track Championships. It's "One Great Racing Weekend!!!"