So this cranky old race fan enjoyed a real treat recently, that being the afternoon-long race program at Thunder Road in Barre, VT. Can’t imagine what there wasn’t to like about it.
This is one of those tracks I had heard about for many years, but never made the trek until a few years ago. Too far (all of a couple hours, by the way), too busy, and the like. But once I started going, there was no turning back. Built by the well-known race announcer Ken Squier, and run by him and Tom Curley (who was fresh from a seeming-lifetime of squabbles with NASCAR), the 1/4-mile oval track sits in a natural bowl in the granite quarry region of north-central Vermont. From the grandstands, the turns are almost unremarkable, but up close the extreme banking is literally breathtaking. And, while the design of the place lends itself to some fantastic racing, there is much more going on that ensures that the day’s show is going to be great.
This is quite unlike a trip to a typical NASCAR-type event. For starters, the grandstands are absolutely packed with (rather) rabid fans. Listening to the folks around us, there are piles of folks there who come to root for their particular driver or team, or who are particularly fond of a particular division, or who come for the atmosphere itself. ‘He loves his Tigers’, ‘this family”s for Woodard!’ and similarly-passionate commentary runs rampant in the stands. You can ‘bring your own’ (no glass, kids). There are non-alcohol sections in the stands, multiple areas where fans can park their own lawn chairs, and even a drive-in section where fans can tailgate all day and watch the races from, well, their tailgates. And there isn’t a bad seat in the house.
The racing is decidedly non-NASCAR as well. For starters, there are cars. Lots of them. Thunder Road boasts some of the best car counts seen most anywhere in years. Part of the genius that created these car counts lies in the fact there there are only three regular divisions of car at Thunder Road on regular Thursday night (that’s right, Thursday) shows. There are, of course, plenty of visiting shows as well, mostly rooted in the Super Late Model category, but the show isn’t stressed by having a half-dozen weekly divisions with 6 or 7 cars each. And the local fans are *real* fans; they know their favorite drivers, who they believe the villains are, and so on. In moments when they are not racing, the local drivers come into the stands to visit and chat, posing firesuit-clad for pictures with fans of all ages.
The racing itself is decidedly clean and stunningly competitive. Newcomers are awed by the sight of all these cars racing side-by-side for lap after lap without some of the overly aggressive, crash-inducing thumping so prevalent on so many series. And the show moves along. There are crashes and cautions, of course, but the yellow flag is managed in a reserved manner; a simple spin won’t cause it to be thrown, so you’d best get yourself straightened out and moving again if you don’t want to lose a lap. (Regular readers will remember that I lose my mind when NASCAR throws a caution for even a semi-spin, but that’s what NASCAR does.) Stages? Nah. Lucky dogs? Nope. The ‘choose line’? Bite your tongue. Thunder Road does not just blindly adopt the gimmicks that NASCAR dreams up, but goes its own way (I will add a nod to Fleetwood Mac) , and the show is much better as a result.
Tom Curley died a while back, but not before creating the successful American/Canadian Tour (ACT) which continues to this day and draws significantly more competitors than NASCAR could ever dream of in its struggling regional series’. Ken Squire sold the track a while ago, but the current owners seem committed to continuing this successful model, even adding the tailgating section, and Ken himself can still be seen from time to time hanging out in the tower and talking to racers. And the place continues to draw the fans in numbers that most other short tracks can only dream of.
Thunder Road embodies Racin’ Like It Should Be. NASCAR, are you seeing this?
In no particular order 