STAFFORD – Due to the state of emergency in Vermont, management at Thunder Road International Speedbowl, in conjunction with the Camping World SRX Series made the decision Thursday to cancel the July 20 SRX event at the Barre, VT track.
A statement from the track read: “In what was supposed to be one of the biggest events in the history of Thunder Road, Mother Nature stepped in to completely turn all plans upside down with a once-in-a-lifetime natural disaster and the subsequent federal declaration of emergency that currently exists in the State of Vermont. With approximately 10,000 people planning to come into the Central Vermont area, most of which are out of state, for the July 20th SRX Event, officials from the nationally recognized series and their broadcast partner felt it wouldn’t be appropriate for this influx of people into our devastated community.”
The SRX Series kicked off its third season Thursday at Stafford Speedway. The decision was made Thursday to move the Thunder Road event to Stafford on July 20. NASCAR Cup Series driver and former Stafford Speedway regular Ryan Preece will be added to the SRX field for the Stafford event next week.
A statement from the SRX Series read: “Throughout the last week, the state of Vermont and city of Barre, VT have been devastated by intense rain and catastrophic flooding, leading to a declaration of a state of emergency by President Joe Biden. Our thoughts at SRX are with the people of Vermont. After two days of conversations between SRX Chief Executive Officer Don Hawk, Governor Phil Scott and Thunder Road [co-owner] Cris Michaud, we have collectively made the difficult yet necessary decision to move the location of next week’s race from Thunder Road Speedbowl to Stafford Motor Speedway in Stafford Springs, CT. While we’re disappointed to not visit Thunder Road this summer, SRX is announced that we have awarded Thunder Road a 2024 race date.”
Said Thunder Road co-owner Cris Michaud: “Our whole team … we’ve all put our hearts and souls into this since the announcement in January. I think it was going to be something really big not just for Thunder Road, but for central Vermont and Vermont as a state to have them come up here. … We’re glad they’re going to come back next year. I guess you have to make the best of what the cards have dealt you. I think our team is second to none and I know we’ll put our best foot forward and hopefully make it even better next year than it was going to be this year.”
Full refunds will be made available to current ticket holders for the Thunder Road SRX Series event.. Ticket holders are asked to mail in their current tickets to receive their refund (P.O. Box 1002, Barre, VT 05641).
Tickets for the Stafford SRX event on July 3
“We’re thinking about our friends in Vermont right now,” Stafford Speedway chief operating officer Paul Arute said. “We hate it for Cris [Michaud] and the entire team at Thunder Road, we know the challenge it is to pull off an event like this. While we wish it was under better circumstances, SRX will be returning to Stafford next Thursday night, July 20th, and we’ll be ready for it.”
In addition to Preece, the field for the July 20 event at Stafford will include SRX full-time drivers Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski, Ken Schrader, Marco Andretti, Hallie Deegan, Bobby Labonte and Paul Tracy and part-time drivers Daniel Suarez, Greg Biffle, Kenny Wallace and Tony Kanaan. The event will feature 13 cars instead of the usual 12 entries.
Had my doubts they could get this in at Thunder Road after seeing the widespread devastation. We’re getting it in Connecticut now as hundreds of thousands of dollars of crops planted on the flood plain along the Connecticut river are now under water and lost. And it will get worse. Not the high speed rush of water like in hill country but a slow inexorable rise in the Connecticut river backing up into tributaries and consuming residential property.
I know, all these drivers have commitments that prevent them from extending the series one week on the tail end to include Thunder Road but man this is just so unfair. A magnificent track, great fans for them to miss a showcase and payday like that and have it go to another track that already cashed in is right up there in the bummer category.
Doug,
Yes, the thought of just adding a week to the schedule sounds good, but unfortunately the SRX Series has far too many moving targets in play to make that happen. From national network broadcast schedules, to the schedules of all the competitors involved and even down to the availability of staff resources needed to put on the show. Unfortunately this deal operates in a very constricted window with not a lot of wiggle room involved.