Offseason Spotlight: Corliss Finally Stands as “King of the Road”

Barre, VT – Jason Corliss has done a lot of winning since moving up to the Late Model ranks. In 2019, he got the biggest win of them all – the 2019 “King of the Road” title. After 14 point-counting events for the Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Models, Corliss barely edged out defending champion Scott Dragon to win the track championship.

The title was the culmination of a three-year run that established Corliss as one of the drivers of the decade at Thunder Road. During the 2017 and 2018 seasons, he and his Burnett Motorsports team established themselves as Thunder Road’s “big game hunters”. Corliss’s accolades in that time included two Vermont Milk Bowls, a Community Bank N.A. 150, a Labor Day Classic, and several weekly feature wins. Whenever he rolled through the gates, he was on the short list of contenders. However, he had been unable to put it together for an entire season – in 2018, Corliss came up a heart-breaking 11 points short of Dragon.

Corliss and his team entered the 2019 determined to show they could win a season-long championship, too. He began the year by winning another Community Bank 150, then opened the point-counting season by adding a second Memorial Day Classic to his mantle. After he followed up the Memorial Day win with a third-place finish, there were probably a few people in the stands ready to hand him the trophy.

But few seasons go smoothly from start to finish, and bumps were in the road ahead. Corliss’s performance dropped off a notch as July rolled around, and he found himself neck and neck with Dragon, Trampas Demers, Kyle Pembroke, and others. After a season-worst performance in the Governor’s Cup on July 18, he sat 27 points behind Demers and clearly needed a spark.

Then, at the Mid-Season Championships, Corliss lost a spot in points. However, Demers had his own struggles, which gave Dragon the points lead with Corliss seven points back. The week after that, with July finally in the rear-view mirror, he finally regained the winning combination. His win on August 1 gave him the points lead again, and he spent the rest of the month maintaining it with steady results as his competition jostled and yo-yo’ed behind him.

Entering the 60-lap feature at Championship Day on September 22, Corliss led a four-pack of drivers separated by 29 points. In the early laps, he and Demers got trapped in traffic and went all the way to the back. While Corliss finally got a lane to move, Pembroke and Dragon, were already marching to the front. When Dragon took the lead from Pembroke just past halfway, Corliss had made it to ninth. But with Dragon in the lead, Corliss needed to finish at least seventh.

So Corliss did what he’s done his entire career: he persisted, kept his nose to the grindstone, he continued fighting. He went to work on the high side, and with 20 laps to go, he’d gained the two positions he needed. Then he added an insurance spot later a few laps later, taking the checkered flag four points ahead of Dragon – one of the closest margins ever in the Late Models.

His final numbers of 2 wins, 6 top-5s, and 12 top-10s may not have been the most impressive in history – but they all added up the number that matters most: 1. In doing so, Corliss became the 38th different driver to be crowned “King/Queen of the Road” in the track’s 60-year history.

At the Thunder Road Banquet of Champions, Corliss took time to thank his entire family, including his parents, fiancé Courtney, and son Braxton. He gave a special thanks to team owner Chris Burnett, who has become like family to him after nearly a decade of working together.

“I hate calling Chris just my car owner, because although he is that, he is much more,” Corliss said. “Chris is one of my best friends. I’m fortunate enough that I’ve had the opportunity to drive his race cars and to also be close to him and his beautiful family. Chris is one of the most competitive people you will ever meet – just ask Tina or any spotter he ever has to be with in the spotter’s stand. But that competitiveness and drive has allowed this race team to continue to grow, and I cannot thank (him) enough for your effort in providing us with the tools necessary to have the success we’ve had.”

Corliss went on to thank his crew chief Andrew Hill and all the individual members of his crew that have helped the team become so successful.

“You guys make this fun, and there’s no sense doing it if it’s not fun,” Corliss exclaimed. “That’s what short track racing is all about. We’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of success over the years, and I can’t wait to keep working hard with this group and seeing what else we can accomplish here in the future.”

Corliss also took time to talk about the Labor Day event and the aftermath of the accident that occurred. He ended his speech with a challenge to everyone in the Thunder Road community to build up both the track and the sport of auto racing as a whole. Corliss noted that, while there will always be people who don’t share the racing community’s passion for the sport, those who are passionate about racing have a responsibility to represent it well.

“There will be times where you’re on the receiving end of a perceived bad call, or get a bad tire, or fill-in-the-blank scenario,” Corliss concluded. “But these, unfortunately, are all part of the deal. If you’re around racing for long enough, these things will happen. Jumping on social media or in front of a microphone to complain or tear down the very thing you love does nothing but devalue our sport and makes us all look bad. Let’s all keep racing our tails off on the track, but let’s also continue to take care of each other and Thunder Road off the race track, and work together to build it up and become ambassadors for the amazing sport that we love.”