In 2009, Tom Burkey of Superior Tank & Trailers began helping him and Stockon immediately turned some heads. He led the first part of the Hulman Classic at Terre Haute and appeared on his way to winning until he ran out of fuel with less than 10 laps remaining.
In 2010, he ran the Eastern Storm races in the family car.
“We had a couple of good runs at tracks we’d never raced at before,” he said. “That year and the next year we ran Eastern Storm, Indiana Sprint Week and other selected shows. We didn’t have much money to repair things, so I had to try very hard not to tear up our equipment. We just built on that.”
The first big sprint car race he won was the Johnson Memorial at Paragon (Ind.) Speedway in 2011. That same year he and his wife, Breanne, were married.
Stockon eventually stopped driving the family car and ran as an owner-driver of the No. 32 entry, with Burkey’s continued help.
In 2012, six years after his first USAC start, he went out on the road full time. He captured his first USAC sprint car victory at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway’s Fall Nationals on Sept. 29, 2012, just after his mother, Laura, passed away, making for an emotional evening.
“The track was rough that night, and it suited my style,” he remembered. “It was pretty special to get the first one. It was $10,000 to win, and that helped our little team big-time.”
Two weeks later, he joined the list of drivers who won their next race after cracking their maiden when he led the Hurtubise Classic wire to wire at Terre Haute.
“It was rough and choppy, just the way I like it,” Stockon said. “When you win again right away, it kind of cements you in place. And then we went out to the West Coast and had a few good runs there too that year.”
West Coast victories included the Western World Championship at Arizona Speedway and a preliminary night victory during the Budweiser Oval Nationals at California’s Perris Auto Speedway in 2017.
In addition to the Hurtubise Classic, Stockon has won the Don Smith Classic and the Tony Hulman Classic at Terre Haute.
“I grew up in the infield at Terre Haute watching sprint cars, so those wins were very meaningful,” he said. “I even have a scar on my hand I got playing in the dirt at Terre Haute as a kid.”
He had driven a family-owned car or his own car for most of his career until he joined Brian and Tom Davis’ KO Motorsports in July 2019. The team is based in Owensville, Ind. At first Stockon ran the KO Motorsports car in MSCS events while still running his own car in USAC races.
At the end of the 2019 season, he received the Jason Leffler Award from USAC in recognition of his dedication to the series.
He started third and finished sixth in the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series race at Tri-State on June 19, 2020, in one of KO Motorsports’ winged sprint cars and then accepted the Davises’ offer to run the USAC series with the team beginning in July 2020.
The KO Motorsports No. 5s car’s primary sponsor is Bruce Hahn’s Hutson John Deere, and the team’s goal is the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car championship.
Stockon is a graphic artist for Davis Brothers Designs too, and he even designs his own T-shirts.
The team manager is Kent Schmidt, and D.J. Ott is Stockon’s crew chief. Other key crew members include Kent Dix and Kevin Spindler.
Although Stockon has primarily driven DRCs during his career, the KO team uses Velocity chassis and Chevy engines prepared by Fisher Racing Engines.
Winning the Indiana Sprint Week title in 2020 was an immediate boost.
“We’ve been close in the past, but nothing like 2020,” Stockon said. “Being born and raised in Indiana, it’s a pretty coveted prize, and I’d say it’s my biggest win to date.”
He won the Indiana Speed Week title without winning a feature, but he gave KO Motorsports its first career USAC victory on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020 at Lincoln Park.
The team dynamics have changed even more for 2021 with the addition of two more drivers — rookies Paul Nienhiser and Carson Garrett — putting Stockon into the role of mentor. By running his own team for so many years, he brings a wealth of experience to the table.
As for the next generation of Stockon racers, at the moment his two sons — Parker, age 8, and Spencer, age 5 — are more interested in dirt bikes than car racing.
But one never knows what the future holds, which makes it so exciting.