Midwest mod driver Tyler Vernon entered the 2025 season intending to compete for the national WISSOTA title. He knew this might be his last chance to do so. With that in mind, he gave it is all, winning the championship.
Vernon’s wife, Molly, is expecting in February. Their other kids, George, 3, and Dallas, 2, want to go racing soon. Vernon said 2025 was his only chance to go for a national championship.
“At the start of the season, Molly said, ‘Go for it. It’s our only chance, a once-in-a-lifetime deal,’” Vernon, of Mason, Wisconsin, said.
Entering the season, Vernon made up a game plan. To win the championship, he had to run a lot of races, often competing from Wednesday through Sunday. In 2025, he made 72 Midwest mod features. Vernon also racked up the miles, with 22,000 added to the odometer by season’s end. One man can’t do this alone. He sought help for his crew.
“We asked friends if they were willing to commit,” Vernon said. “Would they commit to burning all of their vacation time to go racing? Would they be okay with not being paid? After all, this isn’t a late model team, it’s a Midwest mod team.”
Vernon found seven people willing to help. Not everyone would be at every race.
“All seven were together in the shop on Mondays and Tuesdays,” Vernon said. “The week’s schedule was divided between them. Still, there were nights where we couldn’t get any of the crew to come to the track — it was down to me and Molly as crew. It was hard for her, but she was on it for the goal, knowing it was our one-time deal.”
Vernon raced with just one car. His season almost came to an end midseason, but thanks to the support of his chassis builder, SSR Racing, he didn’t miss a beat.
“We rolled over at Hibbing Speedway,” Vernon said. “I was passing for the lead, lost the brakes, and spun. Then, another car T-boned mine — the car was bent in half.
“[SSR] had a team of five work 11 hours, putting on a new tail, new rear end, all-new suspension. We had 50 nights into the season at that point, and we had to keep going. We rebuilt the entire car from a bare frame and had it back with the body on it, scaled and ready to go racing, the next day.”
Vernon couldn’t afford to miss any races. He paid attention to weather forecasts, picking the tracks that best offered the opportunity to get a feature in. The strategy worked. While racing at just about every given chance doesn’t guarantee a championship, it gives a driver more chances to win and rack up points. Vernon scored 26 victories among 11 tracks spanning four states and two Canadian provinces.
While he achieved his goal, winning the WISSOTA national championship, he also checked off a dream race victory — the Red Clay Classic at his home track, ABC Raceway. The 50th anniversary offered a $275,000 purse, the richest in WISSOTA history.
“I always said If I can win at that event, I would retire,” Vernon said.
For 2026, Tyler Vernon won’t hang it up. However, do expect him to race less, spending more time with his growing family.
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
