Offseason Spotlight: Fisher Storms Through the Pack on the Way to Street Stock Rookie of the Year Award

Alan Ward photo

Barre, VT — Second-generation and third-generation racers are a welcome part of auto racing. In many ways, they’re what has helped the sport thrive for so long. Still, it can sometimes be hard not to measure them against the accomplishments of others in their family — especially when the previous generation has stood at the top of the sport.

The best way to avoid that comparison is simple: make some history of your own. That’s exactly what Shelburne, VT’s Kaiden “Tropical Storm” Fisher did at Thunder Road in 2020, blazing a new trail on his way to the Rookie of the Year Award in the rk Miles Street Stocks.

It’s no secret Fisher comes from a racing family. His dad Jamie was the 2003 “King of the Road” and also won the 2014 Late Model championship at Devil’s Bowl Speedway. Uncle Chris was a multi-time American-Canadian Tour (ACT) winner. Another uncle, Steve, can still be found regularly in the ACT pits — and occasionally on the track, too.

Despite this pedigree, the Fisher says he wasn’t directly encouraged to race. Still, it’s no surprise he eventually found himself drawn to the sport like so many others in the Fisher family.

“I always kind of liked it,” Fisher recalls. “Once I tried out a go-kart, I knew that it was what I wanted to do.”

He began on a little go-kart track his grandparents made for him, then graduated to organized go-kart racing at Riverside Speedway in 2017. Fisher won back-to-back championships in the lower classes, then finished second in the adult class in 2019 — while he was also winning the title in the 4-cylinder Dare Devil youth class.

Following that success, Kaiden decided he wanted to try Thunder Road. In past years, the minimum age to race full-size cars at the Barre high banks had ranged from 14 to 16. However, an offseason change opened the door for younger drivers with prior experience to race. Following a conversation with track co-owner Cris Michaud, Fisher became the first 12-year-old approved to race in the Street Stocks.

I wasn’t really sure how I was going to do,” Fisher admitted. “The first time we went there, we were like, ‘alright, we’ll try it and see how it goes,’ and it went pretty well. So then we decided to do the rest of the year there.”

Fisher finished 9th his first time out at Thunder Road, far surpassing all other Street Stock rookies. He then ran off three more top-10s over the next month while learning how to navigate a notoriously tough quarter-mile oval.

“(Thunder Road) is a hard track, and there aren’t many ways to get around it and pass people,” Fisher noted. “That’s what I tried to really work on: getting around, figuring out ways to pass people, and things like that.”

That work began to pay off at the end of July. At a special Sunday, July 26 show featuring the ACT Late Model Tour, Fisher nearly stole the show. The Tropical Storm dogged Juan “Paco” Marshall for much of the event before coming home in the runner-up spot.

Alan Ward photo

“That week, we really figured out the car,” Fisher said. “We had a good setup, and I had figured out how to drive the track a lot better than what I was doing before, so I was a lot faster. I ended up passing a couple of people, but I couldn’t get by Paco because I just wasn’t quite fast enough. I was pretty excited, but I didn’t really show it until after everything happened.”

As it turned out, Fisher needed just four more days to join the first-time winner’s club. He dusted the Street Stock field on the July 30 WDEV/Calkins Night en route to a history-making win. At age 12 years, 308 days, Fisher became Thunder Road’s youngest winner ever.

“I think I started seventh, and I passed a couple of people on the inside,” Fisher recapped. “After that, it was the top-3 in front of me, and I was trying to figure out how go around them. I quickly moved up to the top, and it felt pretty good out there. Once I got around the third-place person, I thought, ‘alright, let’s set sail to the leaders.’ I caught the front two and rode around behind them for a few laps before I decided, ‘let’s go to the top again.’ I tried the top, figured it out, and got around both of them. Then I just tried to be smooth from there until the end.”

Watching Fisher that night, it was hard not to picture his dad. The look of Kaiden’s car was identical to the scheme Jamie made famous — right down to the S.D. Ireland Concrete sponsorship. Kaiden’s “Tropical Storm” nickname is also a take on Jamie’s “Hurricane” moniker. It’s no surprise that the duo work closely together while at the track. Kaiden also takes an active role in getting ready for a race, whether that means learning a new skill or preparing the car.

“When we get to the track, we get ready, and then we talk about how to get around the track,” Fisher said. “If I need to work on a little something, he’ll help me with that and teach me about it — he’s pretty good at teaching — and he guides me through a lot of stuff.”

“Anytime I can, I work on my car,” Fisher added. “When we get to the track, I get it all ready, and I get the trailer ready. I try to do a lot.”

Fisher’s efforts showed in his continuing great results. He opened the month of August with three more top-10s, then grabbed his second win in the 50-lap Bolduc Metal Recycling Street Stock Special on August 23 — although he took a roundabout way to the winner’s trophy.

“Me and Brandon Gray came from quite a ways back,” Fisher recalled. “We passed a lot of cars. He got to the front before me, and he tried to work around the leader for awhile before he finally got by him. I knew would have to get around (Brandon), but there were a lot of wrecks. I’m not sure how many laps there were to go, but there was a yellow, and we had a restart where I was on the top, and I knew had to go around him on the top. I wasn’t on the bottom for quite a few laps. I finally got to the bottom, and when I went in turns three and four coming to the white flag, I felt oil. I went around again, and I thought, ‘alright, I’ve got to go slow through the corner and get through it.’ I went in the corner, and all of a sudden it just went around on me. I tried to save it, but I couldn’t, and then I came back up across the track — and it hurt.”

The resulting pile-up after the checkered flag collected several other cars, putting Justin Blakely on his roof and badly damaging Fisher’s Ford Mustang. Still, Fisher would end up inheriting the win following post-race technical inspection. In the moment, though, he didn’t even know if he’d managed to stay on the podium.

“When I got out of the car, I wasn’t sure what position I got,” Fisher said. “The care people asked, ‘are you going to go with us, or back to Victory Lane?’ I was like, ‘did I get second or third?’ They said I did. So I went to Victory Lane, and then I had to walk back in. Once I got back in, we went through tech — and when I got home, we started working on the car for the next week. But we all tried to stay positive with it and just keep going on. Finding out later that we actually had won the race made it way better for me.”

Alan Ward photo

That win kept Fisher on top of a close battle for Rookie of the Year with Groton’s Luke Peters, and Berlin’s Kyler Davis. Between them, the trio put up a combined 4 wins, 18 top-5s, and 32 top-10s at Thunder Road — with Davis being the oldest of the group at 22 years old. Suffice to say there would be no coasting to the top Rookie honors.

“It was really fun racing with them,” Fisher said. “They’re all clean drivers. I didn’t really know how it was going to go until about halfway through the year, and then I was up towards the top (of the standings) with all of them. I just tried to keep getting good, consistent finishes up towards the front.”

Fisher seemed to be in good shape after capturing a third victory at the Optical Expressions Berlin Labor Day Classic. At Barre Granite Association Championship Night, though, an early spin put him back in the pack. Knowing he had to at least be close to Peters at race’s end, Fisher got to his bumper, but couldn’t find a way around him in the jammed-up traffic. When the numbers were added up, Fisher had edged Peters by just one point.

“When we went back in the pits, we weren’t sure if we’d gotten Rookie of the Year,” Fisher said. “Once we figured out that we’d won, we were pretty excited. It was a lot of fun throughout the year, and it was a really good experience. It’s pretty hard to be the best rookie, especially since you only get one shot at it.”

Including the season-ending Mini Milk Bowl and a special event at White Mountain Motorsports Park, Fisher collected 3 wins, 6 top-5s, and 13 top-10s in his freshman Street Stock campaign. He also finished third in the overall driver’s standings. The season was quite a feat for someone who didn’t even know what his plans were at the start of the year.

Part of Fisher’s success undoubtedly owes itself to the huge support network he’s built in a short time. When asked who he wanted to thank, Fisher replied with a list longer than many racers three times his age. Sponsors such as S.D. Ireland Concrete, R&J Trucking, Shearer Volkswagen, Charlotte Collision, Pratt Contracting, and Champlain Valley Dinner Train graced the #18 throughout the 2020 season. Fisher also thanked his parents, his crew chief Brad Bushey, all of his uncles, and his Grandpa Roger. He even thanked FastOne Motorsports for always having parts available and the Thunder Road staff for providing a place to race.

Still, someone has to drive the car. Fisher was more than up to the task in a year where he originally wasn’t even sure if he would run the full season. Asked what his advice would be to other young racers, Fisher’s response was one that late former track owner Tom Curley would have been proud of.

“Stay focused on what you’re doing and be consistent, smooth, and patient,” Fisher said. “Don’t go out there and just run into everybody and wreck every race.”

For 2021, Fisher will have one foot in the present and one in the future. He plans to return for another year in the rk Miles Street Stocks and chase the track championship. The team also acquired a Flying Tiger car late in 2020. Fisher plans to practice that car on some weekends and possibly run a couple of events in preparation for a 2022 Rookie of the Year effort.

“I wanted to practice a little bit for a year and then race it,” Fisher said. “So we figured we’ll do the Street Stock weekly, and then do the Tiger every once in a while just to get used to it for the following year.”