Racers and fans alike had plenty of questions as to what the family was going to do next when Hugh Deery died unexpectedly on July 14, 1984. Meanwhile, Jody Deery had no reservations as to how they were going to move forward professionally and personally.
“I had no question about running the speedway after Hugh died, but a lot of people questioned me,” she said. “A lot of people said we couldn’t have a woman in there. They thought without Hugh there, that was going to be the end of the speedway. I sat down with the kids and we decided that we were a family and we were going to run the speedway together. That’s the way everything has always been for us. We do things together.
“When people heard that it was going to be me and my kids running the place, they automatically thought that was going to be it for the speedway. By then, however, all my kids had experience working for their dad and while they were still young, they knew what to do. For the most part, things ran pretty smoothly after Hugh died.”
Under Jody Deery’s direction, Rockford Speedway has more than survived in the 35 years since Hugh’s passing. The track became the model for NASCAR-sanctioned short tracks, first with the NASCAR All American Challenge Series in the 1980s and later as a NASCAR Winston Racing Series facility in the 1990s.
Meanwhile, the Deerys continued their successful run of creating unique promotions and entertainment events like Trailer, Chain, Outhouse and School Bus races. Those events, and others like them, have become entertainment staples at local short tracks across America.
By 1994, Jody Deery was firmly entrenched in the national auto racing scene as evidenced by her selection as the Auto Racing Promoter of the Year at the annual RPM Workshops in Daytona Beach, Fla. Ironically, the honor is commonly referred to as the Hugh Deery Award as he was the first to be selected as promoter of the year by the group in 1976 (and again in 1984).
Jody Deery has also served as one of the 20 members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame selection committee since the facility opened in 2010 and, thanks to her continued charity efforts benefiting low-income families, at-risk foster children and her alma mater, St. Anthony’s, the Illinois State General Assembly recognized her in 2016 for her long service to the community.
To hear her tell it, it was all just part of a regular day’s work.
“People always ask me how we’ve done it, how we’ve stayed successful when so many other tracks haven’t been able to,” she stated. “I tell them it was easy. We’ve just always tried to keep the drivers happy and provide good entertainment for the fans. We have always tried to make the speedway a good place to learn and work. Over the years, our kids, and the kids that worked for us, learned how to be nice to everybody, how to say thank you. They also learned a lot about responsibility, authority and money. We always thought the things we tried to teach all the young people were things that would be important to them as their lives moved on and they became adults.
“In the end, it worked. I walked into a man’s world and, ultimately, I got accepted,” she said. “I’m not exactly sure when it happened, but it did. Somewhere along the line, people finally decided that a woman could be successful in racing and a man’s world. I accepted that with grace. I never made a big deal out of it, but yes, I was very happy that I have been accepted. People let me perform and because of our success over time, they realized I could do it.”