For those of you who are unfamiliar with exactly what short track racing is, please allow me to educate you. It's racing around a short track. Literally.
Take everything that makes NASCAR-style auto racing and reduce the size of the track by about 75%, and you have short track racing.
On paper, it looks like a good idea. The races are quicker and possibly more exciting. While that may be true in real life, it's not so true on the Playstation 2.