By: Tom Ace

There have been fifty-seven National Short Track Championships contested prior to 2023.

The first race was won by a 25-year-old from Wisconsin. That kid used that win to eventually push him to legendary heights. When it was all said and done, Dick Trickle was a three-time NSTC winner (1966, 1978, 1979) and one of America’s all-time short track heroes.

But you can’t mention the phrase ‘short track heroes” and not talk about either Joe Shear or Steve Carlson. Both won their share of big races from coast-to-coast. Both also are a large part of the history of the National Short Track Championships.

Shear, the local legend, won his first NSTC in 1972 and ‘wore the wreath’ seven more times over the course of the next 25 years. Shear’s final NSTC win was one of the most memorable, winning at the age of 54 years and 4 months (the oldest winner of the race) while also battling cancer, a battle he would ultimately lose just a few months later. Ironically Shear passed Carlson to win his last NSTC in 1997.

Carlson was king of the National Short Track Championships during the 1990’s, winning back-to-back years in 1992 & 1993 and then doubling up again in 1995 & 1996. After Shear’s 1997 triumph, Carlson won THREE straight between 1998 and 2000 and is the only driver ever to win three in a row. 14 years after Shear won his last NSTC, Carlson tied Shear with his eighth victory in 2011, outlasting Minnesota’s Jacob Goede for the win. In another case of irony, Carlson was also 54 years old when he won his eighth NSTC.

Thirty-two drivers have won the National Short Track Championship, with ten drivers winning the race more than once. This means that ten drivers have won 61% of the NSTC’s through the years. Shear and Carlson alone won 28% of the NSTC’s that have been contested.

Drivers from 24 states have competed in the National Short Track Championships. Those states include: Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, California, Washington, Nevada, Texas, Colorado, Rhode Island. The Canadian province of Ontario has also been represented multiple times.

Eight of those states have been represented in Victory Lane. Wisconsin has been represented the most (31 wins), while Illinois has been represented 17 times in victory lane on Sunday afternoon. Notably, Joe Shear won races for both states, winning as an Illinois citizen in 1972, 1974 & 1975…and as a Wisconsin resident in 1982, 1983, 1985, 1987 & 1997. Two Minnesota drivers (Mike Miller and Josh Vadnais) and Two Michigan drivers (Tim Fedewa and Butch Miller) have won the NSTC. Tennessee (Mike Alexander), Arkansas (Mark Martin), Colorado (Wayne Stallsworth) and Iowa (Ramo Stott) have all made it to victory lane while Junior Hanley won one NSTC for Canada back in 1981.

Racing has always been about the numbers. The National Short Track Championships have plenty of history and plenty of numbers to go along with it.