MILLSBORO, Del. –Â The 2021 season was a historic one for the Bob Hilbert Sportswear Short Track Super Series fueled by Sunoco.
Twenty-nine modified events were contested in the calendar year, with two events falling victim to cancellation due to weather. Fourteen different drivers won STSS races, with first-time winners, drought-breakers, and all-time winners taking the Sunoco Race Fuels checkered flags first.
It all started in late January when the STSS went to Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla., for the first time in series history. Erick Rudolph, Stewart Friesen and Mike Gular kicked off the STSS season with triumphs in the Sunshine State.
Rudolph returned to STSS Victory Lane 10 months later during the Cajun Swing at Ark-La-Tex Speedway in Vivian, La., for his second series win of the season.
Friesen would go on to win seven STSS races, the most of any driver. Friesen not only won the most, but he also won the two most lucrative events of the season. The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series star won the Fonda 200 at Fonda (N.Y.) Speedway and the Speed Showcase 200 at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway. The two events alone earned Friesen more than $100,000 in purse money.Â
Not to be forgotten, Matt Sheppard was a six-time winner with the STSS. Of Sheppard’s six wins, three of which came in the heat of the summer on the Hurlock Auto & Speed North Region. The trio of wins carried Sheppard to the North Region championship title.
Three different drivers picked up their first career STSS wins in 2021. Steve Paine was the first of the first-timers. Paine led all 50 laps in the Outlaw Showdown at Outlaw Speedway in Dundee, N.Y., defending his home turf and upending the stars of the STSS.
The month of October saw two first-time winners, as Max McLaughlin was triumphant in the Short Track SuperNationals at Afton (N.Y.) Motorsports Park.
Mike Mahaney ended up as the most successful first-time winner. The King Ferry, N.Y., native won the Speed Showcase 50 at Port Royal Speedway. Mahaney used the triumph as momentum to pick up the Velocita-USA South Region presented by Design for Vision and Sunglass Central $10,000 championship.
Several drivers snapped winless droughts of over a year in the 2021 season.Â
Anthony Perrego won twice (New Jersey’s New Egypt Speedway and New York’s Accord Speedway), his first STSS wins since March of 2019.
Ryan Watt won the first STSS race on the newly configured Bridgeport (N.J.) Motorsports Park for his first win on the series since October of 2018 when he won the South Region championship.
Andy Bachetti returned to STSS Victory Lane in March at the first series race held at Selinsgrove (Pa.) Speedway. The win was the Sheffield, Mass., driver’s first series win since July of 2019.
Jeff Strunk won the rain-shortened Battle at Bloomsburg in July for his first win in over three years. The win was a historic one, as it was the first modified race contested at the all-new Bloomsburg (Pa.) Fair Raceway.
Ryan Godown snapped the longest streak of any driver. The Ringoes Rocket entered the Cajun Swing having not won with the STSS since October 2017. Godown responded with two wins in the Bayou State and the Cajun Swing championship, taking the checkered first at Boothill Speedway in Greenwood, La., and The Rev in Monroe, La.
Billy Pauch Jr. won twice, both coming at Georgetown (Del.) Speedway. The wins also propelled him to the Georgetown Speedway Sunoco Race Fuels championship.
Canadian superstar Mat Williamson won when the STSS visited Port Royal Speedway in March for his second career series victory. Both of Williamson’s wins with the Behrent’s Performance Warehouse team have taken place at Port Royal Speedway on the Juniata County Fairgrounds.
Twenty-nine of the scheduled 31 events were contested by the STSS spanning across six different states and 11 months of the year.