Thompson Speedway officials announced a seven-event schedule Monday for the 2017 season at the track with the action once again anchored with four visits by the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour.
The track will also welcome the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East back to the track for the first time since 2009.
The season will open with the track’s traditional Icebreaker weekend April 1-2 and the Sunoco World Series of Speedway Racing will once again bring down the curtain at the track, Oct. 13-15.
As has been the case annually, the Whelen Modified Tour will be part of both the Icebreaker and World Series events. The Whelen Modified Tour will also run a 125-lap event at the track on Wednesday June 14 and will return on Wednesday Aug. 9 for the Budweiser Kings of Beers 150.
The K&N Pro Series East NASCAR Busch North Throwback 100 will take place on Saturday July 8. The track will also host a test and tune event for the K&N Pro Series East on Friday July 7.
On Sunday May 21 the track will host its Limited Sportsman Long Distance & Military Night. On Sunday Sept. 10 the track will have its Second Annual For the Fans Event, which will include a 20/20 Sprint event for the SK Modified division.
“This year’s schedule balances our commitment to tradition and innovation,” Thompson Speedway general manager Josh Vanada said in a release. “The 2017 schedule preserves fan favorites while introducing unique and creative events and promotions.”
The schedule has been reduced from 10 events at the track in 2016. The SK Modified division will compete in eight points events in 2017. The track’s Late Model, Limited Sportsman and Mini Stock divisions will compete in seven points events. The SK Light Modified division will run five events at the track but will not be a points paying Whelen All-American Series division.
The Whelen Modified Tour and K&N Pro Series East are two of the 13 touring divisions that will visit the track in 2017. That group also includes the American Canadian Tour, the Pro All Stars Series, the ISMA Super Modifieds, the Valenti Modified Racing Series, the Granite State Pro Stock Series, the North East Mini Stock Tour, the New England Pro Four Modifieds, the NEMA Midgets, the NEMA Lites, the North East Street Stock Tour, the Mr. Rooter New England Truck Series.
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2017 Thompson Schedule
Saturday, April 1– Sunday, April 2: 43rd Annual Icebreaker
(Inclement Weather Date: Friday, April 7 – Sunday, April 9)
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (150), Sunoco Modified (30), Late Model (25), Limited Sportsman (20), Mini Stock (15), Pro All Star Series (75), NEMA Lites (20), North East Street Stock Tour (20), Lite Modified (20), Mr. Rooter ProTruck Series (35), Vintage Outlaws (15)
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Sunday, May 21: 2nd Annual Limited Sportsman Long Distance & Military Night
Sunoco Modified (30), Late Model (25), Limited Sportsman (30), Mini Stock (15), Lite Modifieds (20)
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Wednesday, June 14: 3rd Annual NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour 125
(Inclement Weather Date: Thursday, June 15)
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (125), Sunoco Modified (30), Late Model (25), Limited Sportsman (20), Mini Stock (15), NEMA Lites (20)
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Saturday, July 8: Inaugural K&N Pro Series East NASCAR Busch North Throwback 100
(Test and tune event for K&N Pro Series East on July 7)
(Inclement Weather Date: Sunday, July 9)
NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (100), Sunoco Modified (30), Late Model (25), Limited Sportsman (20), Mini Stock (15), Lite Modifieds (20)
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Wednesday, August 9: 28th Annual Bud ‘King of Beers’ 150
(Inclement Weather Date: Thursday, August 10)
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (150), NEMA (25), Sunoco Modified (30), Late Model (25), Limited Sportsman (20), Mini Stock (15)
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Sunday, September 10: 2nd Annual For the Fans Event; 4th Annual Sunoco Modified 20/20 Sprint
(Inclement Weather Date: Sunday, September 17)
Sunoco Modified (2 – 20-lap races; 1 10-lap sprint), Late Model (25), Limited Sportsman (20), Mini Stock (15), Lite Modifieds (20)
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Friday, October 13 – Sunday, October 15: 55th Annual Sunoco World Series of Speedway Racing
(Inclement Weather Date: Friday, October 20 – Sunday, October 22)
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (150), International Super Modified Association (50), American Canadian Tour (75), Valenti Modified Racing Series (50), Northeastern Midget Association (25), Sunoco Modified (30), Late Model (25), Limited Sportsman (20), Mini Stock (15), Granite State Pro Stock Series (60), Northeast Mini Stock Tour (20), New England Pro 4 Modifieds (22), North East Street Stock Tour (20), Lite Modifieds (20), NEMA Lites (20), Mr. Rooter ProTruck Series (35), The Racing School (15), Senior Tour Auto Racer’s (15)
Oval racing going backwards again
Thompson only seems interested in the touring shows where they can charge at the gates the most.
Stafford & (hopefully) Waterford are the only tracks left that care about weekly competitors. Support them
There is nothing wrong with touring shows if you do not like the price DONT GO
Lites won’t be sanctioned? what the hell kind of thought process brought them to this wonderous blunder? Loosing grasp of grassroots racing much?
They had 8 events in 2015, improved to 10 events in 2016, and now are down to only 7 events in 2017. At least they didn’t lose a WMT race to the new “combined series”. I was hoping the schedule would increase this year, maybe with an MTS event or and additional VMRS event. Interesting to see the different days; 1 Saturday & 2 Sunday. Maybe they’re testing for the future?
Most venues are there to make money. I think Thompson’s big money maker now is the road course. I think all of us oval track fans thought we may never see oval racing again at Thompson. I think we owe Josh Vanada a huge thank you for keeping oval racing alive at Thompson. Although there may not be as many races as before, at least there are races.
Shawn, two more races for the Lites and they would be a divission. I believe several racers in this divission have expressed interest in running here full time for points, is there anything we could do to influence this? Is it Car count that concerns them or the need for some one to pay the contingency costs? Perhaps you could use your gift of artistic journalism and political influence to help us acouplish this.
it does not cost the track a dime to run the skl division – if each car brings the 2 people through the back gate the purse if covered. My guess is that NASCAR charges more money if the division runs for points.
They may be a little apprehensive about running the Lights as a regular division. They tried it before, but the car counts weren’t there. The Icebreaker and World Series had decent fields, but the Thursday night shows I saw had less then ten cars although the racing was pretty good. I would bet the car count is what will make the difference.
Shawn Any you planning any article on the Race in May in Bristol? Might be a good opportunity for some CT local drivers to shine on a national stage, races from SLM to mini stocks.
Grey Matter i’m confused about the lites division? A non points paying NWAAS division, but according to Thompson’s 2017 rules you still need a NASCAR license and minimum age of 15 to run. So is it a NASCAR division or no?
Poprocks, I think the reference is to it being a standard weekly division with points towards a track championship. Maybe if that means more money in the race purse, more teams might run.
CORRECTION: The SK Lights are NOT part of any track championship.
So no points. Assuming no $ either. Who’s gonna bother running it?
They pay purses (Rather they throw you a half chewed bone) for the Lites, just no.points. I’m sure they would get a dozen plus if they added the division to the schedule.
As you could see from the count this season, there’s a good car count with alot of tallent.I would think it would make economic sense to add the division.
The only show that was a low car count in the Lites was the late July one. The others had great car counts.
The sk lites could have 40 cars show the truth of the matter is 7 or 8 would finish. Most of the time when these guys run it’s wreck after wreck after wreck.
It would not be a wreck fest if the drivers had spotters that knew what they were doing and if you had drivers that would listen to the spotters. The majority of the drivers and spotyers are good. But you have a few guys that think they can run the Grove like you would at Stafford and it doesn’t work. They go low in the apex of the corners and sweep up near the wall in the center of the straight aways and slam into who ever is there. If everyone would run in the high twp grooves you would see an awesome show!!! Granted you would still have some wrecks but not as much if you elinated the Numb Idiots!
Take a look at the new engine rules for the lights. That might be part of the equation.
Who cares that the lites aren’t running the full schedule. It’s not like they have in recent years. How about the 7 event schedule. One race per month. Nothing prestigious about winning a championship there anymore. They say research tells them that’s what the fans and drivers want. It’s like it’s so bad there that we can only stand going 7 times a year.
The K&N series at Thompson will be just as bad as it was at Stafford. That means Thompson is only offering oval fans 6 dates of real racing in 2017.
The opportunities to get price gouged by Thompson are getting fewer and fewer.