Event: Granite City 100
Where: Thunder Road International Speedbowl
When: Sunday May 26
Schedule: Detailed Schedule for Sunday at Thunder Road
Who: Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series Speedbowl Entry List
Notes
— The Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series opens its 11th season on Sunday at Thunder Road. The season was originally supposed to begin on April 6 at Thompson Speedway as part of Icebreaker weekend, but weather issues forced the postponement of the Constantine Paving & Sealing 75 at Thompson. That event will now be run on Oct. 11 as part of the Sunoco World Series weekend at Thompson.
— Sunday’s event is the third Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series event at Thunder Road. Chase Dowling won in the division’s first event at Thunder Road in 2022. Ronnie Williams was victorious at Thunder Road last year.
— Matt Hirschman is the reigning champion of the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series. Hirschman won his eighth series title in 2023. Click here for the final 2023 Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series standings.
— The Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series began in 2014. Jon McKennedy won the first series title. Ronnie Williams was the series champion in 2019. Matt Hirschman has won every other series title.
— Matt Hirschman is also the division’s all-time winningest driver with 19 victories in 48 series starts. Click here for the division’s all-time win list.
— The Granite City 100 marks the first of eight events this year on the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series schedule. The eight race schedule for the division in 2024 marks the most events in one season in series history. The division will visit seven different tracks in four states in 2024. In addition to the division’s first ever event at Thompson on Oct. 11 and the opener at Thunder Road, the series will also host events at Seekonk (Mass.) Speedway (June 26, Nov. 2), White Mountain Motorsports Park in North Woodstock, N.H. (July 27), the New London-Waterford Speedbowl in Waterford, CT (Aug. 10), Star Speedway in Epping, N.H. (Sept. 15) and Stafford (CT) Speedway (Sept. 28).
2023 Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series Review
— Ronnie Williams won the Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series season opening event at Thunder Road International Speedbowl on May 28, 2023.
— Matt Swanson won the second Monaco Modified Tri-Track Series event of the season on June 28, 2023 at Seekonk Speedway.
— Jake Johnson was victorious when the series visited Star Speedway on July 22, 2023.
— Matt Hirschman won in the division’s first visit of the season to the New London-Waterford Speedbowl on Aug. 12, 2023.
— Matt Hirschman won in the Haunted Hundred on Oct. 21, 2023 at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl.
— Matt Hirschman won the 50th NAPA Fall Final at Stafford Speedway on Oct. 28, 2023.
Only 20 entries? Oh, the humanity. Oh, the horror. NASCAR is killing the tour…er I mean tri track is killing the series!!!!
When will Jimmy Wilson…I mean, when will Wayne Darling and Ed Bennett see that all this travel is killing the tour…I mean series.
NASCAR…. I mean, Tri track needs to get with Stafford, Thompson and Waterford to schedule all 8 of their races at tracks in the state of CT. it’s the only way they will ever survive.
How am I doing with my car count outrage?
Would this be the lowest car count in series history if it holds the same?
@zig13 I’ve only found results back through 2019 so far, and the lowest car count has been 23 in that time. Definitely sucks, but it’s not anemic, and possibly explained by some teams preferring to go to Thompson on Monday instead. Nothing tri track can do if Thompson decides to hold an open event, but they still have 20 cars and big names.
By comparison, and no malice towards Mr’s. Mayberry and Michaud, 20 Open Mods at Thompson would be a good field for them, better than most of the mid-week shows. However, I have been to most of the Open shows at Thompson and seen good racing going on, with most (off the top of my head) being in the 12-16 car range. Usually the smaller fields will end up in two groups, with passing and side-by-side action in both. Good stuff!
Bloom off the rose maybe? Many ( myself included) were pretty jacked when the news two years ago came out about Mods finally running at T Road ( yes I know MRS ran there a few times) but as it turns out the racing there for Modifieds isn’t that great. Too hard to pass and although the drive for me from CNY isn’t a burden,maybe it is for some NE teams. Pretty sad though if it’s only the Nutmeg state that can have Mod events. I will not however be attending this year but I’ll have Flo on while I’m barbecuing. 20 cars might turn out to be a blessing.
Crazy, I’m not sure what you’re watching, there is plenty of passing happening at Thompson. The only hinderance I see is when the “pass-ee” is doing their best to keep the spot and prevent the “passer” from passing.
20 cars for tri track is shockingly bad, no sugar coating that. If I was a driver and really wanted to race this weekend I’d be watching the weather pretty closely and change my plans accordingly. Maybe Thompson will surprise me but I have no confidence in a large field showing up Monday no matter what the weather does.
Judging by the Riverhead entry list from this weekend, guessing the Seekonk WMT count on June 1 will probably be 16-19 cars. Think it’s going to be a rough year for car counts all around.
Fast Eddie…this thread is about T Road as were my comments. Nothing to do with Thompson.
I’m just refrencing the car counts; what is not so great for the WMT or TriTrack would be pretty decent for Thompson. It’s all a matter of perspective. My old memories had the initial Open Wheel Wednesday and SBM 125 at 19 and 20 cars respectively I think, but both were pretty good races. Quantity is almost always good, but quality makes a big difference as well. It might be a seemingly small field, but that doesn’t mean the race won’t be good.