Nick Lyons has been the picture of consistency over the more than a decade he’s been racing at All American Speedway.
Lyons has driven the same limited modified at the third-mile NASCAR-sanctioned track in Roseville, California, all with the same sponsor for the last 14 years.
“A long time,” Lyons said. “It doesn’t seem that long. It goes by so quick.”
And the last three years he’s been a consistent winner, winning the track championship in the limited mods division in 2017 and 2019. The track didn’t have a points race in 2018, meaning Lyons will go into 2020 looking for a 3-peat.
The Roseville veteran locked up his second championship on the final night of the season in 2019, after his biggest competition got into a late wreck that allowed Lyons to finish ahead of him and ultimately take the title. Lyons went into championship night with just a four-point lead in the points.
“It was still a good season,” Lyons said. “We wanted to kind of battle it out versus having a big wreck at the end of the season and take out a bunch of cars but sometimes it happens, as we know.”
Lyons felt so good about where his car finished last fall that he said he hasn’t done anything to it this offseason.
“The car was pretty good the whole entire season. We didn’t have any damage on the car so we’re pretty much ready to rock and roll other than a simple couple of shop nights getting the car set up and putting some new tires on it,” he said. “I’m pretty confident with the setup that we have on it right now, we should be able to go out there and win. That’s the goal.”
Running an open-motor that put him at a disadvantage of being overweight by about 200 pounds, he said he’s always been confident in his car he called “old faithful.”
“It’s not the latest and greatest car that’s out there that I’m competing against, but the car’s been very loyal to us,” he said. “We made some adjustments from the prior year as far as the suspension and stuff just trying to squeeze some more out of it so we can keep up with some of the little bit faster cars.”
Another old faithful for Lyons over the course of his racing career has been his sponsor, Tim Berry of Berco Redwood, a lumber company in Northern California. Berry sponsors several other race cars in the area, and has been by Lyons’s side since he was about six or seven years old.
“He’s been with me from Day 1. He’s also a big racing supporter in the community,” Lyons said. “He’s very involved. Without him it would pretty much almost be impossible. He’s about as loyal as they come.”
Everything in combination helped lead Lyons to a 2019 season that he said was probably the most sentimental to him in his career.
And it all has him ready for the 2020 season, whenever that may begin. All American was scheduled to open the season on April 11, but racing has come to a halt due to coronavirus concerns.
Lyons said this year could possibly be the final season he runs for a points championship. He has a 6-year-old son who is starting to race quarter-midgets, which takes up a lot of his time.
“Got the kid hooked now. We’re in trouble,” he said with a laugh. “It’s pretty cool watching the little kids out there racing their hearts out.
“He’s really into it. He comes and helps out with us on the big nights. He likes to see all the other drivers and listen to the radio. He has a pretty good aspect of full-sized race cars at only six years old, which is pretty cool.”
Lyons also recently opened a second shop for his smog emissions testing business. Between all of that, it’s hard to find the time to focus on his own racing.
But whenever the 2020 season finally begins to roll around, Lyons and his old faithful car will be ready to chase another championship.
“We’re ready to go,” he said. “We’re going to make a couple little changes here and there but as far as the car goes we’re pretty happy with the way it’s handling and been handling.
“I’m pretty excited about that honestly. I know there’s a lot of other competitors coming out this year. Some guys I used to race with five, 10 years ago that have kind of just hanging out and laying low. I know that they’re coming out this year so it’s definitely going to be a challenge to win some races let alone a championship.”
