Rockford Speedway

Rockford Speedway was a 1/4 mile short track high banked asphalt oval located in Loves Park, Illinois on Illinois Route 173. Up until its demolition in 2023, Rockford Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway were the only racetracks running under NASCAR sanctions in Illinois.
It hosted weekly local-level events during the summer racing season as well as occasional regional- and national-level events. Notable special events at the track included trailer races, endurance races, the Spring Classic, ALl-Star 100, Bahama Bracket Nationals, and the National Short Track Championship.

History

The track was built in 1947 by a Stanley Ralston and 6 other investors. Hugh Deery eventually bought into the speedway and was the sole owner by 1966. It was run by his widow, Jody Deery until her death in 2022, at which time David Deery took over management of the track. It opened in 1948 as a midget car racing venue. Despite a death in the pits at the speedway several weeks after opening, on June 16, 1948, the track continued operation. Rockford Speedway is known for being the first track to develop an economical late model program as well as being an early adopter of the short track Saturday night racing program. Another one of Hugh Deery's innovations was to host a season-ending special event. He was inducted in the Illinois Stock Car Hall of Fame in 2013. Jody Deery was one of a handful of track operators on the 22-person nominating committee for the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Over the years the track has also hosted concerts. On August 17, 1980, as a part of 'Rockford Speedway Jam 1980', Black Sabbath performed at the speedway as a part of their Heaven & Hell Tour.
The property was sold and redeveloped after the 2023 racing season.

Track

The track was an asphalt-paved nominal 1/4 mile. The measured length of the track was. It was highly banked at the turns and relatively flat on the front and back stretches. It was banked at 22 degrees in the -wide corners and eight degrees in the -wide straightaways. Inside the 1/4 mile oval track is a figure eight track.

Programs

Weekly programs

The track offered two weekly programs during much of the season. On Saturdays it hosted a NASCAR-sanctioned Whelen All-American Series late model race, along with All American Sportsmen, American Short Trackers and Road Runners. On Wednesday nights it hosted The Road Runner Super Summer Series, Bandits, Winged Women on wheels, Figure 8's, Legends, Minicups, Bandoleros, and spectacular drags.

Notable racers and participants

Track champions include seven-time champions Bobby Wilberg and John Knaus, with Joe Shear, Sr, winning six titles. Both Knaus' son Chad and Shear's son Joe Jr. are NASCAR national series championship winning crew chiefs. Travis Kvapil started racing at Rockford at age 16 and was the 1994 track champion in the American Short Tracker division. Rich Bickle was the track's sportsman rookie of the year in 1980.
Several notable people started their racing careers at Rockford. NASCAR crew chief Chad Knaus was his father's crew chief for his championship race car. NASCAR Sprint Cup Series official John Darby got his start at Rockford in 1971 as an owner of a street stock. In 1976 he became crew chief for a late model that he owned which won the 1977 championship. He stopped owning the racecar in 1982 and became a track official. He moved up the NASCAR ranks as a technical official, and by 1994 he was the director for the NASCAR Busch Series. After three years he was named the NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series director of competition.

Special events

Rockford Speedway hosted two ARCA Racing Series events between 1987 and 1988.
The track held events in the ARCA Midwest Tour Series, Must-See Xtemem Sprint Car Series, Mid American Stock Car Series events, Big 8 Limited Late Model Touring Series, Midwest Dash 4 cylinder touring series, monster trucks, and enduros. Series that held races at the track include: NASCAR Midwest Series, the Wisconsin Challenge Series, ASA Late Model Series Northern Division, and USAC National Midgets.
In 2016 the speedway hosted the World of Outlaws sprint cars and late models in an event called the Outlaw Clay Classic. The track was covered in clay for the first time in the track's history for two nights and racing was held on the track's temporary surface.

National Short Track Championship

The National Short Track Championship, first held in 1966, is usually was held in late September or early October, but has now become a mid-September date since the move to Wisconsin. The three day event usually has multiple divisions racing. Track promoters decided to host the first 200 lap event in late 1966 to pit the best drivers in Chicagoland against the best drivers in the Central Wisconsin Drivers Association. Drivers competing at the event are primarily from Illinois and Wisconsin, although drivers from other states often participate. Winners have come as west as Colorado and as east as Ontario, with NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Mark Martin among the list of winners. The event was sanctioned by ARTGO for several years, and it became part of the CRA Super Series tour in 2004. In 2005, it was part of the ASA Late Model Series. It was not part of any tour for several years until the ASA Midwest Tour took over in 2011. From 2013 until 2020 there was no sanctioning body for the Super Late Models running at the event. Starting in 2021, the feature division changed from Super Late Models to the region-based Big 8 Late Model Series as the featured division, although Super Late Models were also a division. 16 drivers were invited to compete in a pair of 45 lap features at the Rich Bickle Super Late Model Invitational in 2021. This was being dedicated to Rich Bickle, who was retiring from racing at the end of the 2021 season. In 2022 the Super Late Models ran 48 lap and 49 lap features as part of the Jody Deery Super Late Model Invitational. This was being dedicated to Jody Deery, the longtime owner who died in July at the age of 97. The Jody Deery Super Late Model Invitational was expanded in 2023 to a 147 lap feature event with a break after 97 laps. The Big 8 Late Model Series ran a 188 lap feature in 2021 and 2022 as the main event to crown the overall event champion. For the 58th running of the event in 2023, the main event was a 158 lap feature for the Big 8 Late Model Series.
On December 22, 2023, the Deery family announced the race will continue at a new home, Dells Raceway Park in Lyndon, Juneau County, Wisconsin. The 59th edition was held in September, and reverted to 150 laps. The feature Super Late Model race is named the Hugh Deery 150 in honor of the family. It remains a three-day race with multiple divisions.
The 60th edition in 2025 will revert to 100 laps for Super Late Models as a non-championship race on Dells Raceway Park's "Alive for 5" series as part of a track wide effort to save teams money by eliminating fuel stops and tire changes for the major features, where costs have risen in pit stops because of highly trained pit crews in national series. Some divisions will be NASCAR sanctioned.

Winners

Joe Shear was the first driver to win eight NSTC Super Late Model features and Steve Carlson tied his record in 2011. Other multiple winners include Jeremy Lepak, Dick Trickle, and Eddie Hoffman.
The first event was won by Wisconsin short track racer Trickle by a lap over Chicagoland stock-car champion Roy Martinelli. Trickle was billed as the winningest short track driver in history with estimates of his win total between 1,000 and 1,200 races. Years later, Trickle commented, "I really do treasure that one in 1966. There were a lot of behind-the-scenes things that went on there. Number one, I had never run outside my own backyard, you might say, which is the central Wisconsin area. I never ran somewhere except in my own little circuit, but I had won there. The first time I ever stepped out of the central Wisconsin area was to the Rockford Nationals in 1966."

Late Model Track Champions

1948: Tony Bettenhausen
1949: Jim Rathmann
1950: Pat Flaherty
1951: Al Shear
1952: Tom Pistone
1953: Tom Pistone
1954: Al Shear
1955: Don Harvey
1956: Red Aase
1957: Red Aase
1958: Bobby Udel
1959: Jim Birks
1960: Don Harvey
1961: Don Harvey
1962: Al Shear
1963: Red Aase
1964: Bob Chapman
1965: Gene Marmour
1966: Whitney Gerken
1967: Joe Shear
1968: Joe Shear
1969: Joe Shear
1970: Joe Shear
1971: Joe Shear
1972: Joe Shear
1973: Dave Watson
1974: Jerry Lewis
1975: Dennis Burgan
1976: Wayne Lensing
1977: Don Leach
1978: Don Leach
1979: Wayne Lensing
1980: Wayne Lensing
1981: John Luther
1982: John Luther
1983: Dave Fossum
1984: Bob Hacker
1985: Jim Pierson
1986: Bob Hacker
1987: John Knaus
1988: John Knaus
1989: John Knaus
1990: John Knaus
1991: Bobby Wilberg
1992: John Knaus
1993: John Knaus
1994: John Knaus
1995: Bobby Wilberg
1996: Bobby Wilberg
1997: Bobby Wilberg
1998: Bobby Wilberg
1999: Bobby Wilberg
2000: Bobby Wilberg
2001: Ricky Bilderback
2002: Ricky Bilderback
2003: Ricky Bilderback
2004: Ricky Bilderback
2005: Ricky Bilderback
2006: Ricky Bilderback
2007: Ricky Bilderback
2008: Jerry Gille
2009: Jerry Gille
2010: Tim Sargent
2011: Ryan Carlson
2012: Jerry Gille
2013: Alex Papini
2014: Jon Reynolds Jr
2015: Jake Gille
2016: Michael Bilderback
2017: Michael Bilderback
2018: Jon Reynolds Jr
2019: Michael Bilderback
2020: Jon Reynolds Jr
2021: Jon Reynolds Jr
2022: Jake Gille
2023: Jon Reynolds Jr