ROGERS GOES FULL-TIME WITH USAC SPRINTS IN 2022
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Indianapolis, Indiana (December 10, 2021)………Two seasons ago, Jadon Rogers was setting quick time for the first time in his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career. One year ago, he was beginning to contend regularly for podium finishes.
In 2022, the 19-year-old recent high school graduate from Worthington, Ind. will take the next progressive step in his career as he goes full-time with the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, planning to contest the entirety of the 51-race schedule for his father, Kyle Rogers, and Tim Engler.
Despite still being a teenager, Rogers already possesses seven years of sprint car racing under his belt, winning regularly on the local Indiana Sprint Car scene at places like Lincoln Park Speedway, Tri-State Speedway and Paragon Speedway in recent years as he’s grown into becoming one of the contenders night-in, night-out, and capturing USAC National Sprint Car Rookie of the Year honors in 2020.
Thinking of the journey that led him to this point of going on the full USAC tour for the first time has left Rogers flabbergasted, considering how far they’ve come each successive year, the success they’ve already attained and the aspirations they possess for the upcoming season.
“To come from one car, one motor and any spare parts we can pick up, and now winning seven races one year, nine races another year, it’s crazy,” Jadon exclaimed. “Now someone like Tim Engler is actually putting the backing into me to run the full deal, which is humbling to think that somebody has the confidence in me to do that.”
Engler has backed Rogers’ operation for the last couple of years, which has seen Rogers run Engler engines, Engler injection and so forth. Since graduating from high school earlier this year, Engler has even become Rogers’ employer at his Princeton, Ind. business. Rogers will be competing in Engler’s No. 14, which will be maintained by Jadon and Kyle at their home shop in Worthington.
“He’s all in this year,” Rogers said of Engler. “So, we’re going to crazy with it and see if we can win a championship. There’s so much that’s going to be different – the amount of spare parts and just a lot of preparation things – that we haven’t done before.”
Rogers feels that, at many of the local tracks, he has the opportunity to win right out of the box. Yet, the USAC schedule will present to him a vast number of first-time venues that he’s not faced at this point.
He finished a career best second with USAC in April of 2021 at Tri-State, then followed up in the following race with an impressive third at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway in the first leg of #LetsRaceTwo. Later that same night, he ran 21st in what was an eye-opening experience, that was a first-hand account which proved to him consistency is key and a necessity in chasing a championship at this level.
“Brady Bacon is the most consistent guy in USAC Sprint Car racing, and that’s why he’s winning championships,” Rogers pointed out. “That’s where we’ve got to be. We can’t have a third place run, then a 21st, and when we do, we’ve got to come back with another third-place run, or a win, or something to knock that off our shoulder. People have bad nights, but it just comes down to how your team handles it. Some teams can’t even stay together for half a season. We’ve just got to stay positive and stay on track.”
Rogers first full-time USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship begins February 17-18-19 with Winter Dirt Games XIII at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla.
