Mat Williamson goes from having to rush a car from St. Catharines, ON to winning his third straight Salute to the Troops 150
Mat Williamson sat at his hauler with no car in front of him as DIRTcar 358 Modifieds entered Oswego Speedway for Time Trials on Wednesday. Two days later, he stood atop his car in a shower of champagne and beer as the other cars exited the track.
The moment immortalized his third straight Super DIRT Week DIRTcar 358 Modified Salute to the Troops 150 title and wrote a storybook ending to his dramatic week.
“I’ve loved this race ever since it came to Oswego,” Williamson said. “I really didn’t have good cars and I wasn’t that good of a driver when we raced at The Mile… To come to Oswego and have success, I love coming here every year.”
During practice on Wednesday afternoon, the motor blew in Williamson’s Eibach No. 6 358 Modified. With no spare motor in the trailer, he was left without a ride, and no one was offering one. Then came the mission: pick up Williamson’s S&W No. 6W 358 Modified sitting in his shop in St. Catharines, ON – over three hours away from Oswego Speedway – and try to get it back in time to make the show through a Qualifying Heat.
Minutes before 7 p.m. (the start of on-track action for the night) the car arrived. He and his crew started thrashing on it to get it as race-ready as they can.
They got it through tech just as 358 Modifieds started staging for their Heat Races, and then Williamson, again, proved why he’s called “Money Mat.” He charged from 24th to fifth in his Qualifying Heat, placing him 22nd on the starting grid for Friday’s Salute to the Troops 150.
But there was still work to be done before the 150-lap race.
“We went through it today. We changed the oil, we changed the jets, we checked the rear end fluid levels, cleaned everything up, took all the grease out of it and put fresh stuff in,” Williamson said. “It really wasn’t race-ready Wednesday night, but we made it so we weren’t going to hurt ourselves doing what we did.”
When the green flag waved over the $20,000-to-win Feature, SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel and Aluminum Pole Award winner Matt Sheppard and Fratto Curbing Outside Pole Award winner Alex Payne led the field to the first turn, while Williamson plotted his course to the front.
Sheppard, piloting Dave Camara’s Small Block Modified, led for the first 21 laps until Payne outdueled him for the lead. At that point in the race, Williamson was up to 14th.
Eight laps later, he broke into the top 10. Another eight laps later, he was eighth. Two more laps, sixth. Four more laps fourth. By Lap 60, he had passed Sheppard for second and was just over a second behind Payne.
While the gap was already shrinking, a caution on Lap 65 put the lead within Williamson’s grasp. Staying within a few feet of Payne’s rear bumper, he darted under Payne going into Turn 3 and left the corner as the new leader on Lap 70.
In the wake of Williamson’s charge, Alex Yankowski was putting on his own show. After an unapproved adjustment forced him to start in the back of the field in 41st place, the Pennsylvania native made his way into the top five by Lap 84.
Brent Smith Photo
Teams were able to stop for fuel and adjustments during the Lap 90 competition caution. Most took advantage of the opportunity to put on new tires. However, only one driver decided against pitting – Jack Lehner, who suffered a broken shock earlier in the race.
When the race resumed, Lehner led the field to the green, but Williamson didn’t let him enjoy it long, reclaiming the lead by the time they exited the first corner. However, Lehner’s plan wasn’t initially as flawed as some might have expected. He held on to a podium spot for nearly 30 laps.
After Sheppard settled his battle with Payne for third place and began a trek forward, he passed Lehner for second with 39 laps to go. Lehner continued to fall, handing third to Payne and fourth to Yankowski.
While Lehner’s plan fell, Yankowski’s trajectory rose. He took the last podium spot from Payne and set his sights on Sheppard’s No. 9S. However, misfortune struck again. With 18 laps to go, Yankowski suffered an engine issue, taking him out of the race.
That gave everyone one last shot at Williamson with a 12-lap dash to the finish on the restart.
The two-time Super DIRTcar Series champion was untouchable on restarts and easily gapped the field by seconds. But in the final laps, “Super Matt” found another gear. While Williamson struggled with traffic and the track’s rubbered surface, Sheppard cut tenths off his lead every lap.
On the final lap, Sheppard was close enough to read the graphics on the back of Williamson’s car – the one that was in pieces in Canada a few days prior – eager to spoil his rival’s story. But there was no stopping Williamson’s reign over the Salute to the Troops 150.
“[The car] felt really good until we latched rubber and I thought we were in trouble,” Williamson said. “The tough part about having a car that good is when it does rubber up, you think you’re still Superman, and you can go to the middle. I just needed to calm myself down and stay on the bottom.
Sheppard had to settle for his second consecutive second-place finish in the ‘150’ as he said the timing, “just didn’t work out.”
“Maty has dominated this place for the last few years, and we’ve been the bridesmaid,” Sheppard said. “I’m real proud of this team, everyone has busted their butts. The Camara family let me drive this car and to come out of here with a second-place finish for him, and to be sandwiched in between [Williamson] and Alex (Payne) who have been the guys to beat all week long, it’s definitely not a bad night for us.”
After an elevator race of falling and rising for Payne, he ended the 150-lap race with his first Super DIRT Week podium. It was also the second time in five starts at the event that he completed every lap.
“Finally got some time to race with the car, get a lot of track time and really see where my strong points were,” Payne said. “I knew I was really good. I got by Matt there, we race great. I got by him a couple times, really. When Williamson came around… I don’t know, there’s just something I don’t have that he’s got. I definitely felt like I was a second-place car. The results don’t show it, but I’m definitely happy.”
Jimmy Phelps finished fourth and Felix Roy rounded out the top five by earning the Penske Racing Shocks Hard Charger Award with his run from 30th to fifth.
Williamson also collected a couple of special awards, earning the DIG Race Product Halfway Leader Award, and the Swagger Factory Move of the Race Award. He also added his name to a short list in the Super DIRT Week history book as only the second driver in event history to win three straight Small Block titles – the first to do so was Billy Decker, who won three straight from 2008 to 2010 and then won a fourth straight in 2011.
But more importantly, Williamson was able to sit at his hauler with a winning car in front of him and a championship crew all around.
“A lot of lows, a lot of highs, but between the guys at home and the guys here, total team effort,” he said. “I can’t thank everyone enough who got it done. For all the stuff we had to battle this week, it’s pretty cool to come out on top.”
Other special award winners include:
-Kirkey/Behrent’s Last Chance Showdown Winners: Amy Holland, Felix Roy, and Jack Lehner
-Winters Performance Last Chance Showdown Transfer Bonus: Peter Britten, Gary Lindberg, Donovan Lussier
-Bart Contracting Hard Luck Award: Alex Yankowski
-Velocita USA Last Car/Finisher Award: Chris Raabe
-Integra Racing Shocks Last Car on Lead Lap Award: Brian Calabreses
-Fastline Performance Lap 20 Leader: Matt Sheppard
-Swift Springs First Non-Qualifier Award: Tanner Van Doren
Click here for the complete DIRTcar 358 Modified Salute to the Troops 150 results.
UP NEXT: The DIRTcar 358 Modified Series concludes its 2025 season at Brockville Ontario Speedway during Fall Nationals on Saturday, Oct. 18.
