LOVES PARK, Ill. (WTVO) — The City of Loves Park is honoring late Rockford Speedway owner Jody Deery by renaming a portion of Forest Hills Road.
The stretch of road between Harlem Road and Illinois Route 173 will be renamed Jody Deery Way.
New signage will be unveiled Tuesday, September 27th.
Deery passed away in June at the age of 97.
Deery and her husband Hugh became the sole owners of the track in 1964. Deery became one of the only women in the country to fully operate a racetrack when Hugh died back in 1984.
Deery was awarded the “Auto Racing Promoter of the Year” back in 1994, the first woman to win the award. She ended her day-to-day operations at the racetrack back in 2020.
She was so highly regarded by NASCAR that she was a voting member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. She also worked as a nurse in her early years in Rockford, and she was active in the community serving on several boards.
All eight of Deery’s children grew up working at the track.