By: Jon Wyler

Over the course of three days at Rockford Speedway, thirteen championship trophies were handed out and hundreds of feature laps were contested. When the sun set on the 57th Annual National Short Track Championship (NSTC), no one’s light shined brighter than Austin Nason.

The Roscoe native had an NSTC weekend to remember. Saturday night, Nason won the overall Jody Deery Invitational for Super Late Models and followed that up on Sunday with his second straight win in the 188 lap Big 8 Late Model Series main event, becoming just the seventh driver in fifty-seven years to win the event in back-to-back years.

Nason’s final numbers are staggering as far as results and the bottom line. In Super Late Model competition, Nason won the overall title by finishing second in the first feature (49 laps) and first in the second feature (48 laps), dueling with Wisconsin’s Jacob Nottestad in a pair of thrilling finishes. On the Big 8 side, Nason earned Fast Time and a Heat Race win on Saturday and backed that up with the big race in Sunday’s grand finale. All told, thanks to his dominance in both Late Model divisions, Nason left Rockford Speedway over $11,000 richer!

There were several other drivers who had great weekends at NSTC, including 14-year-old Karter Stark. Stark, who has raced across the United States in four-cylinder cars this summer, came to Rockford Speedway on a mission and left with two ‘Speeding Bullet’ awards after claiming Fast Time both Friday night (American Short Trackers) and Saturday night (Midwest Dash Series). While Karter had to settle for a second-place finish behind his dad Kyle on Friday, Karter took the Saturday winnings for himself and claimed victory in the 40 lap feature for the Midwest Dash Series.

South Beloit’s Howie Ware ended his regular season on a sour note at Rockford Speedway. In early July, Ware was the only repeat winner in the very competitive Sportsman class. But over the course of the final third of the race season, Ware saw his good fortune run out, losing his point lead, and never returning to victory lane. However, the 57th NSTC would be very good to the former Rockford Speedway champion. On Friday night, Ware came across the line in second place in the Sportsman main behind Patrick Featherston. Then on Saturday, a late-race charge pushed Ware from sixth place to second at the finish. However, when apparent winner Brandon Eashs’ car was disqualified in post-race tech inspection, Ware inherited the win, making for a celebratory ending to the veteran’s 2022 season.

Drivers in the Roadrunner division kept busy during NSTC Weekend too. Friday night, the division contested a 25-lap feature with Beloit’s Ryan Smith taking the win. Smith, who went four months between his first win and his most recent on Championship Night, ended the year on a winning streak and backed it up Sunday with a third-place finish in the inaugural’ Roadrunner Rumble.’ Kevin Memoli, who finished second in the season long standings, outran the guy that beat him for that track championship, Austin Fowler, to win the five-foot tall trophy and the sizeable bonus money that went with winning the 33 lap Sunday ‘Rumble.’

Other winners on NSTC Weekend included…

Bandits- Cameron Priesler

Sixers- Jarrod Sutherland (Adam Dlubak was crowned the Sixer track champion)

Hobby Stocks- Shane Strothman

Mid Am Racing Series- James Swan (declared the winner after Timmy Stewart was DQed post-race)

The Deery Family and the staff of Rockford Speedway would like to thank the hundreds of competitors and the thousands of fans who made the 57th Annual National Short Track Championship a weekend to remember! We can’t wait to see you in 2023 for the 58th installment of “One Great Racing Weekend!”

For more information on Rockford Speedway, please visit rockfordspeedway.com or call 815-633-1500.