Stock Car Racing: 2022 racing season ends with an axe

BARROWS — One hundred ninety drivers, 800 laps and 18 axes delivered to feature champions.

Monday, Sept. 5, cars and trailers exited North Central Speedway in the early hours following two days of racing Saturday, Sept. 3, and Sunday, Sept 4, at the 21st Annual Mighty Axe Nationals.

The weekend featured six and half hours of racing Saturday and seven and half hours on Sunday.

Veteran Street Stock driver Tim Johnson may need to build an addition to his home as he added two more axes to his collection with a sweep of the Stock Car features and Micro Sprint driver Caleb Moen dominated the class with two wins.

It was also family photo time after the final race Sunday as Sport Compact drivers Nathan and Greg Kohl pulled their cars back onto the track for a picture with the rest of their family. Greg, the 2021 points champion, took the season off but made a return for the weekend and won Saturday night's event. Brother Nathan, the 2022 points champion, made his final appearance in his Sport Compact car and captured the Sunday feature. Nathan Kohl will move to Hobby Stock in 2023.

2022 track champions Aaron Johnson, Dylan Nelson and Brandon Bombardo also claimed an axe in the Modified, Super Stock and Hobby Stock class.

Tension from the summer racing season boiled over into the Hobby Stock feature Sunday as rivals Brandon Bombardo and Tim Otterness clashed. Bombardo pushed Otterness down the back straight away resulting in both drivers being sent to the back of the field for the end of the race.

In his ninth season of driving a Mod 4, Gerrald Nohner claimed his first NCS track championship this season to go with three he won at Princeton Motor Speedway

A self-diagnosed adrenaline junkie, the atmosphere at the track is one he thrives in.

“I have been clean for 19 years,” Nohner said. “I have always been motorsports oriented with motorcycles, dirt bikes or snowmobiles. I have always had something. I always thought I would end up drag racing. Having an addiction, and needing to find something to do with my time, I have always been a social person, and most people go to the bar. If I go to the bar I know what will happen.”

A latecomer to the sport of dirt racing, Nohner started working with Mod 4 driver Andrew Kresel which provided the path to becoming a driver.

"Andrew owned a really horrible car, wanted to get out of his car, “ Nohner said. “I had been helping him for two seasons and he asked me if I wanted the car and I said, yep I will take it. I started racing in Granite City and drew the No. 2 spot so I started on the pole. I wasn’t bright enough as a rookie driver to give that number up and I got passed by the entire field by turn two. That was how I got my start helping Andrew, who came back this year.

“I also had a connection with Cliff (track owner Cliff Sasker) having gone to school with his son John. It seemed like a natural fit to come up with the atmosphere here. We come up here and have a good time. You wreck each other on the track and you help each other fix them up again and you stay friends.”

One key to Nohner’s success is consistency. It paid off as he celebrated his fourth point’s championship this season.

“I don’t make big changes with my car,” he said. “I tried that one night and wrecked close to the entire field. I started from the pole and went too far on my setup change, which was my fault. I try to stay consistent in the way I do things.”

At 1:30 a.m. Monday morning, after the night’s program concluded, Sasker went to the track where drivers were still doing practice laps.

“I have to go turn the lights off,” he said.

And the lights on the 2022 NCS season went out.