Management from the American-Canadian Tour and Pro All Stars Series on Wednesday released the schedule the groups will promote for the 2023 season at Thompson Speedway.
The 2023 season will mark the third consecutive year that ACT co-owner Cris Michaud and PASS owner Tom Mayberry will oversee the full season schedule for the Thompson Speedway oval.
The 2023 schedule will include Thompson’s traditional bookend events with the Icebreaker and World Series weekends. It will also include four Wednesday events in June, July, August and September.
The 84th year of racing at Thompson will kick off with the 49th annual Icebreaker weekend April 1-2. The weekend will include a PASS Super Late Model event on Saturday and the $10,000 to win Thompson Outlaw Modified Icebreaker 125. The Thompson Sunoco Modified, Late Model, Limited Sportsman, SK Light Modified and Mini Stock divisions will be part of Icebreaker weekend with the full slate of divisions to be announced at a later date.
The season will close at Thompson with the traditional Sunoco World Series weekend Oct. 6-8. The World Series weekend will once again include three consecutive days of Tour Type Modified events. The Modified Racing Series will compete on Oct. 6., the $10,000 to win Thompson Outlaw Modified Sunoco 100 will be on Oct. 7 and the Whelen Modified Tour will run on Oct. 8. The Sunoco Modified division will have features on all three days of the weekend. The full lineup of feature divisions for the weekend will be announced at a later date.
The Sunoco Modified division will be a part of the cards only for Icebreaker weekend and World Series weekend. Michaud said the decision was made in part because of ongoing tire shortages and an in an effort to not effect points battles at Stafford Speedway and the New London-Waterford Speedbowl.
“We didn’t want to get to June or July and begin making Sunoco Modified teams choose,” Michaud said. “To keep out of their tire inventories and save equipment for the Stafford and Waterford point battles, the Sunoco Mods will race both days of Icebreaker weekend and once again with the Triple Crown on World Series weekend.”
The Whelen Modified Tour will make its first of two visits to the track on Aug. 16. The Aug. 16 card will also include the Late Model, SK Light Modified, Limited Sportsman and Mini Stock divisions.
There will also be events on June 21, July 26 and Sept. 13. Michaud and Mayberry will introduce a new format for the Thompson Outlaw Modified division for the June, July and September dates. In an effort to cut down expenses on teams and the need for crew members, the track will introduce a Dash for Cash format for the Thompson Outlaw Modified events in June, July and September. The events will be 50-lap Sprint Races with no tire changes. All three events will feature $5,000 to win purses with at least $600 paid to start the event.
“After talking with teams, we feel the format change to 50 laps without change tires will bring more teams to our midweek shows,” Mayberry said. “Now it’ll be up to the driver to chase down the cash, not relying on a fast right-rear tire changer.”
The Dash for Cash format will debut on June 21 with the Thompson Late Models, SK Light Modifieds, Limited Sportsman and Mini Stocks divisions. The New England Supermodified Series (NESS) will also be part of the June 21 schedule.
The July 26 card will see features for the Thompson Outlaw Modifieds, Late Models, Limited Sportsman and Mini Stocks with double features on the card for the SK Light Modifieds.
The Sept. 13 card will include the Thompson Modified division, the Late Models, the SK Light Modifieds, the Limited Sportsman and Mini Stock divisions along with an Open Street Stock feature.
THE DASH FOR CASH IS A GREAT IDEA!
I HOPE THE CARS SHOW UP AND SUPPORT THESE GUYS TRYING TO KEEP OPEN MOD RACING ALIVE AND EXCITING !!
WMT, TTOMS, MRS, & Open’s…… My New England count is 26 so far.
Correction, 28… 9 WMT – 6 TTOMS – 2 MRS – 11 OPEN
I applaud this group, these sprints are Smart and beneficial to everyone involved. Looking forward to the season at Thompson.
The 2023 season will mark the third consecutive year that ACT co-owner Cris Michaud and PASS owner Tom Mayberry will oversee the full season schedule for the Thompson Speedway oval. THANK YOU CHRIS & TOM for saving the Thompson Speedway Oval for the last 3 years and many more to come …. The 50 laps is Excellent … That cuts down on crew members needed for the Mid-week Shows… Saves on tire purchases and inventory of tires used … More money in the Racers pockets… Less money on fuel costs also…less wear and tear on equipment… This should increase the number of Modifieds showing up at Thompson …. The PASS race should also be an exciting Show on the High Banks… Also looking forward to watching the SUPER-MODIFIEDS at speed at Thompson also…!!! Hopefully year 2 will bring more teams under the new Series and Rules Package crate big blocks
OMG, correction to the correction! Only 8 WMT events.
Suitcase, completely agree! Thompson mgmt. tried this around 2012 but the $$ wasn’t close and at the time “Open Modifieds” were’n’t really a category yet. Up here you ran WMT, MRS, or Sunco (SK) mods. Hopefully this works! Thanks Mr.’s Michaud & Mayberry!!
I’ll get flack for this but, I think the summer races (June, July, and September) should have been combined to create a 100 lap -$15k to win open modified race (triple purse for all positions) with the super modifieds and sk lights in June. It’ll bring everyone out because, it’s a big purse for all drivers and 100 laps is a great distance for fans and teams -and you get 1/3 more payout for teams. Just saying I think to bring people out to race and attend on a mid week show that would be the answer as it is special. Even if the ticket price was $50 it be like a small mid week summer World Series.
It was the 2021 Icebreaker the ACT/PASS team made the decision to run all the events on Saturday due to bad weather Sunday. An afternoon show, cleared the stands then and evening show. A grind for everyone involved but they executed it well with minimal complaints.
It’s nice to see good management and these guys individually and together fit the bill. They saw the issue with the mid week shows, listened and did the only thing they could to make them work. But it’s still a risk.
All that stuff about tires and not wanting to conflicts with SK points battles at Stafford and Waterford is good press but really? It saves a lot of money that can be transferred to Mayberry’s baby the NESS Supers. That’s no criticism it’s just noting a logical management decision and spinning it artfully.
Now there is a really strong case to get more tour mods to show up for the sprint so hopefully that part of the equation will be addressed. What will be the value perception for fans?
Tour mods are the marquee event. The sprint idea great but short. How will that be received from a value standpoint by fans? SK’s kind of popular, a big deal and now not there. NESS a premier replacement but last year they topped off in the low teens and 6 for the World Series. They go real fast, spread out in a blink of an eye and if McKennedy races he wins so how will that be viewed as a replacement for the SK’s? Otherwise it will be a full card but there’s a lot of risk seeing as how it’s a big change.
Good management takes big risks, Michaud and Mayberry are great promoters and managers. Fingers crossed they can pull this one off and save the mid week shows. Not sure it’s enough but all the respect for coming up with an alternative that has a real shot.
They weren’t getting a lot of SKs at their Wednesday shows and they carry a descent purse. Kind of tough to sell a CT short track race without the SK modified on the card. They are staple of CT short track racing. I think the reduced lap Tour type mods should work out better for car count. I would prefer a 3 or 4 Thompson race schedule with all the races on the weekends. I know it will never happen with the road track being the owner’s priority and ACT and PASS running their own series and tracks. Wednesday nights are difficult on everyone. Personally, I am just happy they are running. Its tough to complain about anything these guys do, without them there probably wouldn’t be any oval racing at Thompson. It’s great to have another season at the big T. Who knows how many we have left.
I think the only Tour type mod schedule we are waiting on is the MRS. Thompson and Star dates have been released, so they will be active in 2023. They had some good car counts at some of their events last year. Any additional news on the Claremont purchase? I’m really curious who is buying it.
I think the 6 event deal might be a NASCAR thing. I remember reading about some other tracks that went from weekly to “specials only” and they needed to have a 6 event minimum to still be a NASCAR track. That was “21st century BC” (Before Covid) and I know Thompson doesn’t have NASCAR sanction, but maybe that has something to do with it, particularly now that there are 2 WMT races.
Fast Eddie,
I can confirm to you without question that the decision to have a six-event schedule at Thompson has nothing to do with NASCAR or any NASCAR policies in any way.
NASCAR is no longer in the state of CT except when visiting on the way through. Before anyone says I’m a NASCAR hater, not true, just stating facts.
Gee Again Stuart you make the same statement you made weeks ago so i will repeat my reply that NASCAR is not at Waterford because of the owners LEGAL issues, PLAIN AND SIMPLE, Stafford thru their hard work has a VERY successful Program Without NASCAR with opens, good fields, big crowds and great racing, again Bravo to them, Mayberry Michaud has had the most trouble getting their Program to work for whatever reasons, i hope this way maybe works, we shall see, But they turned back To NASCAR to help and i think worked well in 2022 not just a VISIT. You say No NASCAR hate but most every post you make takes a SHOT AT NASCAR, WHY? for 30 plus yrs NASCAR was the weekly sanction for 3 tracks and had 10-15 WMT races at CT tracks, things change, NASCAR sure is ok with a 19 race Schedule after a very successful 2022 WMT year.
wmass01013,
Just for facts sake, the Speedbowl was certainly not sanctioned by NASCAR for 30 years. I think it was closer to 15 or so. The track was not sanctioned until after Riverside Park Speedway was closed.
And I’m not sure what the 10-15 WMT races at CT tracks comment means. Can’t go digging through the records at the moment, but, I think the most WMT races there ever was in CT in one season was 11, and it typically was no more than 8-9.
I know when Thompson reduced their schedule several years ago and wanted to keep Nascar they had to run 6 or 7 races at minimum to keep Nascar. They have run around the same number of races each year since the initial reduction even while not under Nascar sanctioning. I honestly dont think we need Nascar. Stafford is pretty good without Nascar. My guess they get more online broadcast money than a Nascar track shown on the same broadcast partner because Nascar gets a cut. The major benefits a track and its racers see are insurance and points monies. The points monies isn’t what it used to be, and our local drivers can’t compete for a National points championship with NC SC VA drivers who have multiple venues to race at to collect points. The southern tracks often time trial, start their features straight up and run double features for points regularly. The Southern tracks can also start up earlier than the North East due to weather. The deck is stacked against our local drivers. You should really applaud TC and Keith Rocco for winning those Nascar National championships. It was an impressive accomplishment.
All i am saying Shawn is NASCAR is not at Waterford because of Legal issues with Bruce Bemer, and Not At Thompson Because the new Generation Hoenig’s are 1000% more interested in the road course than the oval, and as i said Stafford has found quite good success without NASCAR, SO WHATS THE point of keep saying NASCAR is no longer in Ct? Lets just be all Happy we still do have 3 racetracks to enjoy what we love No matter the circumstances!
wmass01013,
And I was just pointing out that some of the information you used in trying to validate your point was very much exaggerated.
And all that said, obviously there are different reasons for why NASCAR no longer sanctions each of the three tracks in Connecticut, but let’s not act like the disappearance of NASCAR from the area is unique to the area when it comes to the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series program. There has been a mass exodus of tracks from this program across the country over the last two decades.
Thanks for clarifying Shawn!
Nascar is no longer in Connecticut. Nascar is no longer in Connecticut. Nascar is no longer in Connecticut.
Thank you Shawn for taking my post down. I guess you didn’t like what I had to say.
Ted,
I never took any comment/post down left by you. All comments on here are moderated by me. But, before they event get to my eyes they are filtered by the WordPress system. The WordPress system filters for various content like vulgar words or spam links. The comment you submitted on December 22 at 9:55 pm was filtered into the Spam/Trash folder automatically by the website operating system because of the vulgarity that was included in it. The first time I saw your comment was about five minutes ago when I saw this comment you left today and went looking to see if anything from you ended up in the Spam/Trash folder. Yes, I found your comment with the vulgarity accusing the Thompson Speedway management of cheating competitors in their Sunoco Modified division. If you had posted it without vulgarity it would have ended up in the normal comments bin and I would have approved it to be posted even though I don’t agree with the accusations you made about the Thompson Speedway management or tech staff.
for what it’s worth I was a NASCAR member for maybe 25 years or so? Used to be cool, they would send you a sticker for the car window, a pin for your hat, a rule book for starting a fire when it’s cold and other nick knacks on occasion. Running for the national championship was cool a few times as well.
What is not cool with me is the sellout and commercialization of the sport and organization to line the pockets of the France family with gold at the expense of local short trackers. It is a one way street with constant fees and little coming back. The final straw was finding that NBC sports owned the rights of all the local short track videos because NASCAR sold them the rights years before for BILLIONS of dollars that apparently only went to the France family and a few elite.
This came to light when covid forced limited ticket sales so tracks wanted to sell streaming service of their races that they produced the videos of.
Many other examples of NASCAR muscling out others and trying to boss hogg out smaller promoters and so forth. When they get what’s coming to them I sit back and laugh to be honest.
Well said Stu.
Trying to research anything having to do with NASCAR’s finances and revenue sharing is very frustrating. A closed corporation they even buy up tracks that were previously public corporations shutting down that means of checking where revenue comes from for events and how it’s split up. Curtis Polk, who holds an ownership stake in the two-car 23XI Racing team has said it’s 93% to NASCAR, 7% to the teams but who knows if that’s right. The Race Team Alliance is crying the blues saying CUP is unsustainable but even they aren’t giving any specifics of their revenue sharing plan that I can find that NASCAR is pretty much slow walking. Offering a little more money to the teams and stressing controlling costs, the team owners saying only layoffs are left to cut costs and a little money a non starter.
There’s a lot to dislike about NASCAR for sure. On the other hand their deep pockets kept racing going during the pandemic with no fan in the stands and we know for many NWMT races they pay big purses even with very few live patrons attending.
How about the tale of two tracks.
Stafford dipped their toes in the open water in 2018, the seeds grew, they ended the NASCAR sanction for the 2021 season then got rid of the remaining Tour races soon after. Maybe someone reading this knows what the issue was but until they say different I’ll assume it was streaming revenue. Stafford was doing all the work growing their streaming product and didn’t want to share with anyone and it’s worked out pretty well one would think.
On the other hand there’s Riverhead a track with the NACAR sanction, has the Advance Auto Parts tie in NASCAR negotiated and streams races like Stafford on FloRacing but via the NASCAR deal with FloRacing. Who knows what they get but it’s a cinch it isn’t nothing.
I suppose an awful lot of you think NASCAR is evil. Anecdotal evidence is literally all we get from fortress NASCAR and that suggests they do not have one policy regarding streaming. They make the deals they can based on individual circumstances.
I know one thing if Childress and Hendrick are the ones crying the loudest that’s going to be falling on these deaf ears NASCAR has made each of them a lot of money in the past. If the Race Team Alliance wants a new deal based on current circumstances then play hardball. Take a risk like Stafford did. Not this patty cake game they’re playing hoping to get something from the hard asses at NASCAR without taking a real risk in getting it. They are independent corporations after all and there is no CUP racing without them.
Curtis Polk says “NASCAR is a money printing machine” We know the live gate is chump change for NASCAR it’s the TV rights that are the cash cow and NASCAR owns the cow.
Stop whining about not getting enough milk and demand a fair deal or you’re not going to be delivering any more feed and grain to the farm to feed the cow.
Each NFL teams receives 321,000,000.00 Million a year for current TV deals. these deals only get BIGGER each time a new deal is signed…..Tickets i just got for the Daytona Race were the cheap ones at $250.00 apiece They will sell out the Race plus Campers, Nascar Experiences . infield access etc etc the moneys just keep rolling in …. Nascar needs to give the Teams a bigger piece of the pie from TV money not in their pockets….
What Polk said is absolutely politicking. The “93-7” split was based on charter values vs NASCAR’s property ownership. Which i dont really think tells anything meaningful, but it was a “shocker” that got twitter talking bad about big bad NASCAR.
TV money is split 10% to NASCAR, 65% to the tracks, and 25% to the teams. Tracks also paid purse to the teams as well. Tracks also paid a sanction fee to NASCAR. and i think its ~93-5-2 split for cup, xfinity and trucks.
From one of Dover’s last filings as a public company, ~15.7 million paid in total money, that’s both the track and team shares, but not NASCAR.
11.34M goes to Dover, 4.36M goes into the purse for the teams. The total purse+sanction fee is 8.2M. All of this from bob pockrass tweets.
Does the revenue split need to change? Absolutely. Teams need a bit more. And the lower series need a bigger cut from cup. But I doubt you’ll see the RTA fighting for that part.
I cant see teams taking any sort of chance. NASCAR and SMI own all the tracks, and SMI would side with NASCAR, not the side trying to take a chunk of their money. IMS and Pocono are the only fully independent events. I’m sure they would be instantly cut off from the next-gen supply chain too. Teams are struggling for help as it is, they’ll never be able to hire enough people to fabricate every part of the cars again.
All I know is these “CBA” negations are going to get pretty messy this year, and the fan base is going to eat up everything the RTA spoon-feeds them.
And I don’t think it was any secret streaming played a part in the dropping of the weekly sanction. NBC had the rights, then the pandemic happened and NASCAR made a deal with speed sport for the PPV. Stafford got a better offer from Flo, but NASCAR was under its deal with speed sport still.
CNBC 10/7/22
“NASCAR teams call revenue model ‘broken,’ warn of layoffs”
“Although TV money is split between NASCAR, teams and the tracks, Polk said in terms of actual revenue produced by the sport 93% goes to NASCAR and the teams receive just 7%. He noted that in Formula One, all revenue is split 50-50 between the teams and series ownership.”
Polk’s comments are indeed trying to make a case but I don’t see you they can be interpreted “The “93-7” split was based on charter values vs NASCAR’s property ownership”. He says revenue not charter asset value.
“TV money is split 10% to NASCAR, 65% to the tracks, and 25% to the teams. Tracks also paid purse to the teams as well.”
How do NASCAR tracks make money and how much?
Shane Walters
July 31, 2021
“The percentages of the split are mostly unpublished. But, it’s been hinted that 10% of tv revenue goes to NASCAR itself, 60% to the track and 30% to the teams via the race purse.”
5% as a percent is clos-ish I suppose even if the dollar value difference is a very large number. What seems pretty obvious is that no one can say with any conviction what the split is since neither NASCAR nor the team owners group is saying anything specific.
If anyone really feels strongly toward either side I surely would love to read their thoughts. All I can glean is they’re all in cahoots, linked themselves to each other with that charter deal and have no incentive to take off the gloves and bare knuckle it no matter how long it drags on. All a bit ironic considering the roots of NACAR.
Race Team Alliance member Jeff Gordon
“I have a lot of fears that sustainability is going to be a real challenge,”
In the spectrum of negotiation speak I’d have to say “fears of sustainability” and “real challenge” not exactly conjuring up an immediate crises and need for action now. More like we know we’ve got something good here, please give us some more money or we’ll be very disappointed. It’s not like we’re talking about health insurance for the average working stiff vs management. More like really wealthy guys vs an ultra rich family in control of a monopoly.
Looks to me like it’s been two months since NASCAR rejected the Race Team Alliance proposal and now the owners are begging for a counter proposal. That as far as I can see they already have. You’ll take the small increase we give you says NASCAR, lay off anyone you like and you’ll take it or get nothing. You’ll take it because we own or control all the best tracks and if you go off on your own those charters we created that are not unlike non fungible tokens will be worth zero.
Money does indeed ruin Everything.
“He noted that in Formula One, all revenue is split 50-50 between the teams and series ownership.”
And that’s why the need to go to so many oil rich countries these days, and tracks needs 10s of millions in gov funding to stay active. And have you seen F1 ticket prices lately? The nascar fan base starts to bitch and moan the second ticket prices start hitting $75. That exact model wouldn’t work in this series.
“He says revenue, not charter asset value.”
Charter teams got something like 270 million distributed through the charter system. And that’s before any sponsorship. You’re telling me NASCAR is getting 3+ billion in revenue to make that “93-7 revenue split” no shot
NASCAR responded to that “93-7 revenue split” comment, claiming it was based on charter vs property value. I don’t really want to take them at face value for that, but whatever numbers the RTA is using are clearly loaded to get them pity from the fan base, so much so I’d take the NASCAR response at face value before theirs.
The 65-25-10 split is used by every NASCAR writer and even used by the RTA president, I believe. I take their knowledge on it vs someone from CNBC minimally involved with the sport.
“I have a lot of fears that sustainability is going to be a real challenge,”
weren’t MLB teams trying to convince everyone that they don’t actually make money during their last labor dispute?
There’s more people interested in team ownership than in the last several decades, and charter values are still going up. What’s the saying? Follow the money? Cant be all that bad right now (and in near future) with all that interest. It could be just as much Mr Hendrick being unwilling to downsize his operation a bit to match the times.
As for the proposals, I’m not sure how much value there truly is negotiating a split of a TV deal that isn’t signed yet. Nor do I think it’s outrageous that it seems to be going a bit on the slower side when the existing charter agreement doesn’t expire for another two years.
Way I see it, the TV deal will be done, or at least far enough along to know enough about what the value will be internally, by mid-late summer. That gives them a good year to nail down the charter agreement.
I think the RTA will really run their mouths to the media over the next year though. Will be interesting if NASCAR starts to politic too. “Well, have to double prices”. “Well, have to shut down tracks like homestead and Darlington”.
in a perfect world, all NASCAR related revenue would get put into a pool and then split accordingly and evenly. Every TV dollar, sponsorship dollar, T-shirt sale, ticket sale. Everything. And then every expense added up and new limits placed on them. Cant see many of the big teams wanting that, though.
In the recent Unmuffled besides discussing his health issues and progress in recovering Ben Dodge discussed the jam packed tour mod schedule for 2023. In short expressing a bit of skepticism whether it is in the best interest of the sport. Does it spread the tour mod team population too thin? It’s a concern of both he and Mr. Courchesne share it would appear.
The 2022 schedule at the time it started to come together was just about as bold as what we see now for 2023. Inflation, tire and parts shortages the major concerns on everyone’s minds with weekend dates filled throughout the season. Soaring fuel prices yet the NWMT committing to a lot of travel and even the MMTTS out of it’s wheelhouse going up to Thunder Road. Looking back the car counts on the whole held up well with recrimination at the end of the season for scheduling too much non existent. So why the renewed pessimism now. Has it to do with going to the well once too often?
I guess we’ll see if that concern is valid but for now I’m looking at these tour mod sprints and thinking how timely is this move? If the schedule for 2023 is at risk of being too much is the concept of 50 lap sprints and their reduction in man power and expense something we’ll see more of in the future? Have Michaud and Mayberry hit on something that may end up greater then what is best for their series alone?
Looks like for now both Ben Dodge and Matt Buckler’s health prospects are on the upswing. Each individually a sage of local short track racing and together a huge percentage of wisdom relevant to the sport locally. Not exactly sure how it could be arranged but it certainly would be nice to have a round table discussion with both, ideally with Mr Courchesne as the moderator and contributor sometime this year. Integrated with the Sizzler festivities would be an idea but in any shape or form a must see. In that round table it would be nice to hear each expand on their feelings regarding the state of local racing and the tour modifieds specifically. In addition hearing them discuss the impact of streaming local races, how it has changed the sport and announcing races an interesting topic as well as remembrances and anecdotes from days past.
I remember an Unmuffled when Mr. Courchesne and Buckler went free form, the unplanned remembrances and bizarre anecdotes flowed freely with the result riveting.
Just a thought.
It will be interesting to see what happens when the track needs a repave if it doesn’t already. Who will pay for that? Huge cost for anyone leasing the place and its obvious the owners don’t want to deal with the oval…????
The renter is not going to pay for the repave.
If the Thompson oval was repaved, it would become the center of the modified universe. “If you build it, they will come.”
Mask up folks, the latest and worst variant started right here in the northeast. Half of CT is requiring masks indoors again, much of MA has kids wearing masks again back in school. Hospitals are packed again, oxygen running low.
😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷😷
Does anyone else but the owners looking to cancel the schedule think thompson needs a repave anytime soon?