Racing will return to the five-eighths mile oval at Thompson Speedway in 2015. Thompson Speedway general manager Josh Vanada is willing to guarantee that.
What the schedule will look like is still something that needs to be finalized.
At a driver’s meeting at the track on Sept. 4, Vanada addressed rumors swirling heavily that there would a three-event schedule for the facility in 2015.
“The only thing that I had said to the drivers, which is quite frankly the only thing that I can say because I’m still trying to iron out all the details, I wanted to squash the rumor that it’s going to be a three-race schedule,” Vanada said. “That’s not going to be the case.”
With the addition of the road course to the property in 2014, Thompson Speedway drastically cut back on the number of oval track events. The track had a seven-race schedule this year, with one event remaining this year, the Sunoco World Series of Speedway Racing on Oct. 17-19.
“At this point, I’d love to tell you more and give you a lot more details [about the 2015 schedule], but I just don’t have it,” Vanada said. “I have a lot of ideas and I have things written down, but nothing that I’m willing to commit. … I wanted to squash that rumor because it was getting a little bit loud. I wanted everybody to know that we will have more than three races next year.”
Heyyyyy Thompson management……………Do me a favor and shove the 2015′ calendar up your a**********……..These people have been playing this game for 2 years now….They have absolutely no respect for the NASCAR racers or the fans………..
So if it’s not 3 than it must be close to it, like 4. As it is they only had 6 events so far and car counts were horrible. If they wanted to have a successful program than they need to move it to Sunday. I’m sure there researching right now what the minimum requirements are to stay nascar sanctioned. Glad I don’t invest money into that place more than once a year.
tracks are not obligated to release their schedule before the previous season is even over. calm down.
Thompson has done a fantastic job this year of keeping competitors in the loop and having no surprises throughout the year. they are accommodating and open to recommendations from the competitors.
some people just look for reasons to get mad at them, I think they’ve done a great job.
…three, five, seven…wait until the Speedbowl situation is known…I’d wait too….
Hey realistic person.
You should have that statement you made printed and droped from a plane as propaganda fliers.
Btw I know someone who races at Thompson and they have not been kept in the loop.
To be honest with you I would go for a combo tour race ,one on the oval one on the road course. Probably will not happen but I would like to see it . Some of the best racing was at Watkins IMO .
I was told to be nascar sanctioned track you need to have a minimum of 7 events scheduled and Thompson had a 7 race schedule this year. I don’t know if they could host Nascar tour events if they weren’t a nascar sanctioned track. I am sure there would be additional fee’s. Assuming they want to keep the tour I would assume at least 7 races again.
I don’t see them going to Sunday as Sunday is a popular race day with the road course which they seem to be more interested in running. My guess something similar to this years schedule maybe on Wednesday’s to allow them to transform the grounds for road course operations by Friday. They had a few Wednesday night events scheduled this past season. I think that was an experiment to see how it would go over.
The car counts were bad but no worse then they were prior years. In fact I think they picked up a little in the late models and the sk’s. Is there full fields? Not yet, but it is gaining on respectability. If Waterford has some issues next season, a very real possibility, they will probably be able to pick up a few more cars.
I think the issue they need to address is the admission prices. They are charging 18 for a regular show. This is the same amount they charged when they ran 3 additional divisions. They dropped the Super Late models, SK Lights and Thompson Modifieds and the admission didn’t change. The show just isn’t worth what they are charging especially with the car counts where they are. When the tour comes to town they are charging 44 to 55. You can get into a cup race for less. I went to most of there regular shows because I wanted to support the oval as I was concerned they would abandon it all together. However, I did feel as though it wasn’t worth the price to get in.
Fred, it might behoove you to do a little thinking before you type.
Car count at Thompson this year has been on par if not better than the weekly running Speedbowl. The Bowl’s 9-10 Late Model’s are far lower than the 15-17 at Thompson, the SK’s at the Bowl hover from 17-20 including the field filler Gada car (insert driver here #75) and the field filler Rooter #29 with random driver while Thompson has had 16-18. Also the Street Stocks at the Bowl or even DARE stocks at Stafford would love to have Thompsons Limited car count.
Also it was mentioned last year by management that 6 events are required for a NASCAR sanction so I’m sure no one is “researching” what the all NASCAR tracks all already know.
Oh and Thompson races every Sunday, and every weekend for that matter. The Hoening’s are fools to be running that place every week with racing series/clubs that pay top dollar for multiple day events
Didn’t they have 30 something mini stocks earlier this year? What happened? Also, I didn’t go to any Thompson events because for the same price you’ll get 5 divisions at Stafford and 6 at Waterford+a touring series or a Wednesday division.
I am a former racer of Thompson and I was not told about new tire rules until 2 months before seasoned opened. I have left racing all together cause of the schedule at Thompson. I dont see the point in spending that much money to race 7 times a year and have my car sit more.
I have raced once this year in the ministocks because of all the cost from the new rules. Gloves, shoes, transponder, New padding, New net, head and shoulder supports on the seat, New tires, additional bars in the rear of the cage, I might get in for the world series. I can’t dump a ton of money at once on a hobby, the prize money is ridiculous for what we have to spend on the rule changes each year and the admissions at some of the events. The purse money has not changed with the shorter season. If we run 7 races or 22 races in a season we get the same amount for each finishing spot at the end. Drivers should pay no admission to race we make the show that brings the money to the tracks. We shouldent pay to make you money.
To the best of my knowledge Thompson Speedway has to schedule at least six NASCAR events in order to be sanctioned by NASCAR. I don’t think that they could run only three events, but I’m not sure.