The Short Track Nationals has long been a coveted crown of the southern Sprint Car scene.
The race launched in 1988 at Little Rock, AR’s I-30 Speedway. The first podium featured a legendary trio, with Steve Kinser taking the win over Sammy Swindell and Bobby Davis Jr.
The event grew over the many years that followed as dozens of teams flocked to “The Natural State” every fall to battle for the right to be known as a Short Track Nationals champion, and fans packed the stands to watch as car counts soared to nearly triple digits.
Hearts hurt in 2022 when I-30 shut its doors for good after 66 years in operation. The sendoff was fitting as the 35th Short Track Nationals punctuated the track’s more than six decades of action.
The event’s original home may have closed, but that didn’t mean the story of the Short Track Nationals was over. Winner of the 1998 running, Tim Crawley, brought the race to Texarkana 67 Speedway in 2023. Fast forward to 2026, and he’s elevating the southern staple to a new level. The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series will sanction it for the first time this weekend. The Jason Johnson Classic presented by FK Rod Ends is on Friday, Oct. 23 at the tracka, before the 39th running of the Short Track Nationals on Saturday, Oct. 24.
This new chapter allows a pair of former winners to return in a new role. The driving days may be complete for Jason Sides and Wayne Johnson, but their time in the sport is far from done. Both have shifted to operating as the crew chief for the cars they once wheeled. Sides turns the wrenches on his own Sides Motorsports No. 7S with Chris Windom in the seat while Johnson calls the shots on Todd Carlile’s TwoC Racing ride as Cole Macedo carves out his driving career.
Rewind three decades to 1997 to when Johnson had a dominant showing at I-30 in the Bobby Sparks No. 91 that nearly didn’t happen. Travel trouble almost prevented the Oklahoma City, OK native from even arriving at the track, but it also gave him a story he’ll never forget and a rental car agent one of his strangest days on the job.
“It was a crazy weekend,” Johnson recalled. “Me and Bobby had won a lot of races at Little Rock that year. I used to fly to Little Rock every time we’d race there. I’d fly to Dallas and then fly over. Well, I got bumped in Dallas. So, on Friday, when I landed it’s a funny story. I was waiting on my rental car at like five or six o’clock. It was crazy, already missed Hot Laps and everything. Anyway, I’m on the sidewalk waiting on the rental car guy to bring me the car, and I’m sitting there on a bench changing into my uniform and everything. So, when the guy pulls up here, I am in a race suit, and he’s looking at me like, ‘What are you doing?’
“Anyway, I hauled butt straight to the racetrack, pulled right into the pit area, never even got a pit pass or anything. I just pulled straight up to the trailer, got into the car, and thank God we were in the last Heat because it was a draw race, not a time trial race. Never hot lapped, never did anything, and I owe all the credit to Bob because he was such a good mechanic, but I get in the car and start dead last in the Heat Race and win. You could look back, but I’m pretty sure that we won every race that we were in that weekend.”
Sides’ Short Track Nationals score came in 2001. The Bartlett, TN native bested a field featuring more than 60 entries at the track roughly 150 miles from home. It was a major moment in the early portion of his career as “Double Down” went full-time with the World of Outlaws two years later and picked up Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year presented by Five Star Bodies honors.
“You see some of the names on that list of who’s won it, and it’s kind of a who’s who of racing,” Sides said. “Just to get on that list and to win it was pretty special.”
Both Sides and Johnson are eager to return to the event this weekend. The venue may have changed, but the spirit of Short Track Nationals is strong and tracking toward its former glory courtesy of Crawley’s dedication. The best drivers in the country are heading to the event like they once did when prestige continued to build. They’re ready to battle for $25,000 and the right to be called a Short Track Nationals champion.
“It’s moved down the road a couple hours, but it’s still the same type of dirt, same type of racetrack,” Sides said. “Tim’s done a great job with the place, building it up. We raced there several times back in the late 90s and early 2000s. From then to now, he’s taken the racetrack and kind of made it better. I think it’s pretty much the same size and all, but he’s just done so many improvements. Now, getting it to be an Outlaw show, I think that’ll be great for all of us.”
“The atmosphere that Tim brings to the Texarkana racetrack is the same as it was at Little Rock,” Johnson said. “I just feel like Tim’s doing a great job promoting this race, and I’m so excited to get to come back with it being a World of Outlaws race… Bringing in the Outlaws, I think will bring organization, and hopefully this will turn into a marquee event for years to come and bring back the Short Track Nationals that we grew up having a ball at.”
Sides and Johnson hope to return to Short Track Nationals Victory Lane as a crew chief this weekend (Oct. 23-24) at Texarkana 67 Speedway. For tickets, CLICK HERE.
Where can you watch every World of Outlaws race? Live on DIRTVision.
Where can you see the World of Outlaws in 2026? Click to see the full schedule.