After spending the last couple seasons with the JRS Auctions OSCAAR Hot Rods, Nick Clarke is set to change it up a bit for the 2024 campaign.

He will be one of the drivers taking part in the inaugural Ontario Late Model Association season at Full Throttle Motor Speedway. It does not mean you will not see him behind the wheel of a Hot Rod, as he also plans to run a part-time schedule with that closer to home.

“My goals for 2024 are to focus on my son’s racing more, give him the best chance to improve that I possibly can, while hopefully competing for a couple wins myself,” he commented.

The change comes last season not going as planned, with Clarke admitting both he and his father Bill Clarke struggled on the OSCAAR Hot Rod tour. In total, he scored a heat win and four feature top-10 finishes.

“We still had some good runs though, raced in the top-five fairly consistently,” he reflected. “The end results didn’t show that unfortunately though. (…) To improve from last year, I flat out need to find more time to spend in the shop on the cars. Cutting back some races should help that.”

The past year also saw the debut of his son Josh Clarke behind the wheel, which the opportunity to help his “son learn car control, and see him win some feature races” became the favourite moment of 2023 for Clarke.

Seeing Clarke race at FTMS regularly in 2024 should be no surprise, considering the quarter-mile bull-ring is one of few tracks he absolutely loves racing at, alongside Flamboro Speedway and Delaware Speedway.

While the change is in gear for the year ahead, there is also hope down the road to see Clarke back regularly with the OSCAAR tour, but maybe in a different capacity.

“I’m excited to give Late model racing a try in 2024, but one division I’d love to race in is the OSCAAR Modifieds,” he commented. “I always thought the Mods were one of the coolest divisions around when I was growing up watching them at Varney.”