THOMPSON – The Thompson Speedway oval will be active in 2024 and operated once again by the partnership of Cris Michaud and Tom Mayberry.
While all details concerning the 2024 schedule have yet to be solidified, Michaud confirmed to RaceDayCT that he and Mayberry will return to operate the track once again.
“We’re going to come back,” Michaud said Sunday morning at Thompson Speedway while readying for a marathon day of action at the Sunoco World Series. “And we’re looking to do more races.”
Michaud said their operating group is still in talks with track ownership in figuring out how many dates they can possibly add to their schedule. In 2023 the group had a six-event schedule that included the Icebreaker and Sunoco World Series weekend events plus four Wednesday night events.
The Icebreaker and World Series weekend events will both return to the schedule for 2024. Everything else is a work in progress.
“Something like 10 races is a number that works for guys like me,” said Larry Barnett, the all-time winningest Limited Sportsman division driver at Thompson. “With six races I don’t feel like I have a race car. And with 18 races, a lot of guys like me in local divisions can’t do that anymore. Something like 8–10 races is a number that’s more attainable to a lot of guys like me.”
Michaud said he hopes increasing the number of events on the schedule will help increase participation in the track’s regular divisions.
“The first couple years our weekly divisions kind of held their own and then this summer they seemed to fall off a little bit,” Michaud said. “I’m assuming it’s because we don’t race enough.”
Michaud is co-owner of the American-Canadian Tour, Thunder Road International Speedbowl in Barre, Vt and White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H. Mayberry owns the Pro All-Stars Series and Oxford Plains Speedway in Oxford, Me.
Michaud and Mayberry first teamed up to put on a September Whelen Modified Tour event and the Sunoco World Series in 2020 at Thompson. Those were the only two events run on the oval at Thompson during the 2020 season.
Track ownership had originally intended to operate the oval in 2020, but opted out of that plan after COVID shutdowns began in the spring. Michaud and Mayberry came to an agreement with ownership in mid-summer of 2020 to put on two events that year. The pair came back with six event schedules for the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is expected to return to the track in 2024 for at least two events.
Good news indeed.
Great news and thanks guys. Please stay with the 50 lap open modified format it’s a great show. See you in ‘24!
3 tour races, please and thank you. Heck, even 4 would be great.
Also, an ACT race, please. Preferably world series. Never could figure out why they stopped that given the promotional structure.
Please get set up with Flo Racing! I used to come to that track a lot but now I live in Virginia and have to get my modified fix on Flo. I watch Stafford every week. It would be awesome if Thompson and Waterford would join as well
Yea for sure Flo would be nice the PPV id kind of crap,
You should run on Saturday, mid week shows are rough on fans. Once a month have a BIG paying mod open show. Bring back the supermods. How about a Nascar truck race.
Mike,
1) There’s no way, no how that ACT/PASS — nor any promoter in their right mind — would run Thompson on Saturday nights during the summer. Both New London-Waterford and Seekonk are already racing on Saturday nights within an hour of Thompson, so running Thompson the same night would only dilute the existing pool of racers and fans. Not to mention the ACT and PASS tours often race on Saturdays, and they already have their own sanctioned tracks (White Mountain and Oxford, respectively) running on Saturdays. Maybe they could consider Sundays depending on how much it costs to lease the track on those days, but Saturdays are a non-starter unless there’s something I don’t know.
2) The Supermods were on the schedule this year in the form of the New England Supermodifed Series (NESS), which is PASS-sanctioned. No, it’s not ISMA (which I’m guessing you were referring to), but they’re basically the same cars, and NESS has shown some growth in its two years of existence. Either way, it’s hard to imagine PASS dropping their own Supermodified series in favor of a competing series.
3) Admittedly, I don’t know exactly what the sanctioning fee is for a NASCAR Truck Series race, but I’ve heard it’s well into the six figures. When you add in the Thompson track leasing fee, and the track’s seating capacity being in the 12,000-13,000 range, I imagine ACT/PASS would either have to find a huge sponsor or charge a pretty penny for tickets just to break even on such a venture — even with getting some of the TV money. (And who knows how much they would get considering the Truck Series doesn’t yet have a a TV deal beyond 2024.) Getting the trucks back at the Milwaukee Mile was widely considered a minor miracle, and that track has a seating capacity of 30,000. I suppose anything can happen, but I wouldn’t bet money on the Truck Series racing at Thompson anytime soon.
@Mike I’m fine with them running a few weekends but not at the expense of the Wednesday shows. I’m usually in New Hampshire with my son on the weekends so Wednesday races are often my best opportunities to get to a race without screwing with the rest of my schedule.
While the ideas are flying around, I’d also like to propose the choose cone for the weekly divisions and outlaws… That gimmick keeps the cautions interesting….
If the M&M boys can get weekend dates during the best weather months that will be a credit to their success and change from Thompson’s historic scheduling practices. In 2023 there were virtually no weekend dates available. We concentrate on the oval but one of the amazing stories about Thompson is the amount of time their racing facility is making money. They have their road racing events but there is always some kind of club or open track time event going on there. Add in the oval events and I’d guess they are the most successful facility in the Northeast as far a total revenue goes.
Marshall, please do let everyone know your schedule so the 🌎 may accommodate it.
Certainly, great news. I went Sunday thinking it might be the last oval event. I had joked about walking out of there at the end of the show carrying the plank of wood I have sat on over the years. Thankfully that plank of wood will be needed next season, and my criminal career is put on hold. Not sure how I would get a 15 foot board of wood home in a Hyundai Sonata. Really didn’t think it through, criminal mastermind I am not.
I was told there is a new road course in palmer MA that opened up recently that has been taking some of the Thompson road courses business. Now I dont know if the newness will wear off with Palmer but I found it interesting that PASS and ACT are talking about expanding their Thompson oval schedule next season. I remember people speculating that the oval was only given the limited dates they had and there really wasn’t any availability to expand oval racing dates. So maybe there is some truth to the Palmer road course having some effect on the Thompson road racing.
The Wednesday shows are tough on a lot of people especially volunteer crew members. I would prefer a few more weekend shows. Also, the schedule seems to be so inconsistent. The shows often sneak up on me. Oh, Thompson is running tomorrow. I didn’t know. Maybe if they went to the first or 3rd week of the month it might help. Try Sunday night shows. Go for a 3-race series of Sunday shows with a little point championship. Maybe you can convince some Seekonk, Waterford or Stafford cars to come out. If something happens, they have some time to put the car back together before their home track weekly event. I was told by a former car owner, no one is going to build a car to run Thompson for 6 races. It’s just too much investment for too little use. I will be honest the weekly division car counts were not great but if you look at Thompson in comparison to Waterford or Seekonk, they are competitive. I am in favor of a choose cone. Maybe not every race but how about a few shows to change things up. I am OK with 2 Whelen races. I am not sure Whelen guarantees a much better field of cars these days. It seems hit or miss with some of their shows. If they expand the schedule is Nascar sanctioning on the table. They would get the state chapionship being the only CT track. Maybe some Seekonk LM or Sportsman run shows to improve their effort in regionals. RIght now, Seekonk doesn’t get enough dates in to make a run at the regional or national championship.
Honestly, just great news that Thompson is running next year. Whatever they decide to do will be great because the alternative was bad.
Happy to know that Thompson will be around next year! Nothing like watching Modifieds there! I thought they did a great job running 2 days worth of racing on Word Series Sunday.