Making Memories In The Midwest
A pair of marquee NASCAR Whelen All-American Series tracks on either side of Lake Michigan have been entertaining race fans for more than 50 years.
To the west is Rockford (Ill.) Speedway, a quarter-mile paved oval, and to the east is Kalamazoo (Mich.) Speedway, a .275-mile paved oval. Both tracks have significant banking that accentuate speed and demand driver skill. Rockford opened in 1948 and is banked 22 degrees while Kalamazoo opened in 1950 and is banked 14 degrees. Both tracks operate on Saturday nights.
Insurance agent Hugh Deery and his wife Jody became partners in Rockford Speedway in 1959. They had no prior experience in motorsports. But the Deerys were budding entrepreneurs with a spirit of adventure. While blazing their own trail, Hugh put a stamp on short track racing that became an industry standard. While big tracks and big national series were promoting racing, Deery believed short track promoters were in the entertainment business.
“Hugh loved the circus because that was entertainment. ‘We’re not in the racing business, we’re in the entertainment business,’ he’d say. ‘In order to put on a show, we have to entertain,’” Mrs. Deery recalled of her husband’s view of short track racing. Hugh Deery passed away in 1984.
“The only thing missing at the track today is his showmanship,” Mrs. Deery continued. “We still do a lot of things, but maybe we’re not as flamboyant. Hugh was the ringmaster.”
Rockford Speedway has evolved with the times without losing Hugh’s vision. The world has changed a lot, especially in technology. At the time he passed away the contemporary times of computers and the Internet were just dawning, there were three broadcast television networks and cable TV’s standard fare of movie channels was shaken up with the launch of MTV in 1981.
“All that was new-fangled stuff and Hugh didn’t yet see need to get into those big old computers of that time. Our son Tom was into that new technology and could see there would be advantages to come. Today everyone is a computer user,” Mrs. Deery said.
The Deerys envisioned the future of weekly short track racing, which wasn’t looking promising in the early 1980s. Late Models were the headline division at most Midwestern tracks and as costs escalated and speed was measured in cubic dollars. Weekly car counts were plummeting. The Deerys pioneered the “Rockford Rules” Late Models which embraced Detroit’s downsized sedans of the time and were governed by specifications that blended competitive racing with cost control.
“Hugh wanted to get the race cars back to basics by getting the costs under control. He wanted the cars to be on equal footing without needing those big expensive engines and tires,” Mrs. Deery said.
The track then saw car counts begin to rebuild in the years that followed.
The brightest racing stars at Rockford since then have been John Knaus, father of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series crew chief Chad Knaus, and Bobby Wilberg who have won seven NASCAR Late Model championships each. Bobby Wilberg surpassed both with eight titles. Ryan Carlson won his first Late Model title at Rockford in 2011.
Gregg McKarns joined the track as General Manager in 2004. His parents, John and Sue McKarns, who both passed away in 2010, were longtime friends with Hugh and Jody Deery. The McKarns helped found ARTGO four years before Gregg was born.
“I remember being four or five years old and being at the playground at Rockford Speedway. Hugh Deery would come by and give me $5.00 to go buy something at the souvenir stand,” McKarns said. “When I got older, I became fascinated by race promotion. I was intrigued about how to get fans to turn out for an event. We’d do promotion tours for ARTGO and I’d design, print and hand out flyers.”
“Common sense and doing what’s in the best interest of short track racing hasn’t led me wrong yet.”
Rockford Speedway hosts the Budweiser Night of Thrills on Sept. 17 followed by the 46th National Short Track Championships Sept. 29-Oct. 2, and the Goblin 250 Enduro race on Oct. 23. The track website is www.rockfordspeedway.com.
