‘Hanging on to every minute’: Rockford Speedway racers relish the final weeks at the racetrack

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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LOVES PARK — Scott Lawver has two different ways to mark his first time at Rockford Speedway.

There’s the first time he arrived as an unborn baby inside his mother’s belly, and his first time as an infant outside of the womb.

“That’s the joke my mom always used to tell Jody (Deery),” Lawver said, referring to the longtime owner of the Speedway. “My whole life started here. … My grandparents come here, my mom and dad did, I did, my kids did, now my grandkids, they won’t get to experience it.”

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Lawver is part of a network of racers who have found a home at the Rockford Speedway for nearly all of their lives. They’re now coming to grips with the fact that soon memories are all they’ll have of the racetrack.

This is the final National Short Track weekend in the Speedway’s 76-year history. The final contest on the schedule is slated for Sunday, Oct. 28, but for many racers this weekend will be their final laps on Rockford’s banked oval short track. We stopped in the pits Thursday night to talk to some longtime drivers and crew members before the big weekend.

“This weekend, it just started, so by Sunday it’s going to be pretty rough because this is all I’ve known since I was like 3 years old,” said Dennis Smith Jr., who is 43 and has been coming to the Speedway since he was 3. “On Sunday, when we don’t get to race anymore, probably might have a tear or two.”

The Speedway was miles outside any developed area when it opened in 1947. But the landscape around the track, 9572 Forest Hills Road, has changed as Illinois 173 just north of the track exploded into a bustling commercial corridor.

“I remember coming here as a kid. The only thing that was here was a barn up on the hill. There was nothing within five miles of this place,” said Rich Bickle, a retired NASCAR pro who won his first feature at the Rockford Speedway in 1981.

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Bulldozers and other construction equipment are already moving dirt on the north end of the Speedway property for a road to future outlot businesses. The heavy machinery moved back and forth across the entrances Thursday as teams worked in the pits.

“This happens to a lot of tracks in America,” said Ricky Bilderback, who has raced here since 1981, winning multiple championships. “It’s inevitable, really, but it’s sad to see.”

Rockford Speedway’s legacy

For several competitors, the legacy of the Rockford Speedway will be that of a tough track that had a talented crop of racers compete here week in and week out.

“If you can make a car go fast here, you can go just about anywhere you want to go and you can be fast,” said Tom Gille of Winnebago, who has raced at the Speedway since 1985. “We’ve raced all over and we’re usually in the top 5, top 10 wherever we go, and a lot of it was because of everything we learned here.”

Michael Bilderback of South Beloit, who has raced at the Speedway since 1996 and across the country, also said the track here is a great proving ground.

“It should be remembered as one of the toughest tracks to race in,” said Bilderback, the nephew of Ricky Bilderback. “If you could race here and you could win here, you could pass here, you could go anywhere and be fast.”

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The difficulty of racing in Rockford came with its criticism, too. Some derided the track as Wreckford. Gille and Bilderback both said they didn’t think that reputation was fair.

Michael Bilderback also said there was great camaraderie among racers, most of whom could put heated moments on the track behind them after the race.

“People yell about it, but man we’re smiling and drinking beer afterwards,” he said. “We might be getting through one beer and then we’re smiling, but in the end it comes back to friendship.”

The 32-year-old driver from South Beloit followed in the footsteps of his grandfather and uncle in racing in Rockford.

“I don’t really think there’s a word that could describe the legacy, besides (saying) it’s the true short track,” Michael Bilderback said.

Legends like Dale Earnhardt have raced at the Speedway, and it was an early proving grounds for Chad Knaus, a Rockford native who won five consecutive NASCAR championships as a crew chief and is part of the 2024 Hall of Fame class.

“This is where it was. This is where Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace come learn how to race,” said Bickle, who had more than 200 career NASCAR starts. “They could’ve went anywhere in the country but they come here because we race six nights a week.”

Bickle raced for 45 years before retiring about a year and a half ago, but he came out of retirement to try to win the National Short Track title one more time.

“I’ve raced at 226 race tracks and this was my favorite place,” Bickle said. “This was and always will be my favorite.”

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The National Short Track Championship was the most elusive of many titles for Bickle before he broke through in 1989, and then won again in 2013 and 2021.

“My dad raced here for years. Coming here was like coming to Disneyland,” Bickle said. “I think I’ve won every possible thing you can win here — the bicycle race, the bowling ball throw, the grocery cart push, the money grab, the demolition derby — and I could never win the National Short Track Championship race.”

Then, he checked that title off his list, too.

“Finally in ’89 when I won, I got out of the racecar, I went over to the edge of the track and took a bite out of the asphalt and chewed it up and spit it out,” he said. “That was like, finally, I finally won everything here.”

Saying goodbye

Lawver was about 9 years old when he won his first event, a bicycle race, at the Speedway. Among his biggest accomplishments is a series of four straight NASCAR grand nationals titles between 2001 and 2004.

He said the track’s end won’t hit him until he drives past the corner of Forest Hills Road and Illinois 173 one day and it’s gone.

“The first time I go by and whatever’s going to be here (is here) that’s when you’re going to go ‘wow,'” he said. “It’s too bad. It really is.”

Smith Jr. said he’ll miss the family of racers who he’s grown up with at the Speedway. The multi-championship winning racer said it’s that close-knit community who helped him when he burned his first ever Late Model car to the ground in 2017.

“It caught on fire and it burned to nothing,” he said. “We rebuilt with the help of everybody in the race community.

“At the end of the day we’re all a family, and I think this place created that. Most of my friends, like 95%, are from the race track, from here.”

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So far developers have not named any of the tenants that will fill the space. The initial construction is focused on small lots for restaurants or commercial use. A use for the main Speedway space hasn’t been identified publicly.

Jody and Hugh Deery bought an interest in the Speedway in 1959 and became sole owners in 1967. Hugh died in 1984, and Jody took over running the track until her death in June 2022. All of their children  — Gunner, Ted, Jack, Susan, Tom, Brad, Chuck and David – have worked at the Speedway over the years. David and Susan now run the business.

Susan Deery said it started to hit everybody on the Fourth of July weekend that the end was near. It registered to them that night that every event going forth was the last of its kind.

“There was a lot of crying. A lot of hanging around after the last fireworks, but the events were great and the vibe was super-charged,” she said. “Drivers were here all night. 8 o’clock in the morning is when they went home, just hanging on to every minute. And they had a ball.”

Susan Deery said she’s tried to keep her focus off the construction and looming demolition of the track. Instead, she’s trying soak up the final season.

“I want to be here for every event,” she said. “I want to hang on for every minute.”

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas