This is an interesting gamble that Tom Curley is willing to take.Like sprint cars in Maine or dirt racing in Canada, Modified racing just hasn't caught on in the northern reaches of New England. That's not stopping Curley from bringing in the True Value Modified Series for an event to run as part of a doubleheader with the American-Canadian Tour on Memorial Day weekend next season at Thunder Road Speedbowl.
It will be a 100-lap race, the 1st Modified race at Thunder Road since 1965.
The 2 sides announced the event after series owner and competitor Jack Bateman (umm, yeah, it's a, uh, mild conflict of interest, isn't it...?) tested on the 1/4-mile and reported running lap times in the mid-12-second range.
Still, Curley likely hasn't gone into this blindly. The TVMS has its roots in northern New Hampshire -- not exactly a Modified hotbed -- and this little grassroots series has found a way to prosper. While the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour has petered out in northern New England, the TVMS raced at Oxford Plains Speedway this season and races in New Hampshire still, too.
The NASCAR Modified Tour is dominated by a driver roster hailing from virtually every corner, city, town and village in Connecticut, but the TVMS has a more geographically-diverse roster. That should serve it well moving forward.
Still — Modifieds at Thunder Road? Boy, it just doesn't sound right.
14 comments:
Is this the first mod race since 1965?I thought there was a mid week show back in the late 70's or early 80's.
I think this will be a great show...Curley should be rewarded for bringing another tour to his "HOUSE OF PAIN". Can't wait for this one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Above post by Komet Motorsports, sorry forgot to put in name.
A little off topic here, but what happened to Ben Rowe running a modified this past year for Richard Moody ? Wasn't he going to run a limited schedule ?
The Moody team took out their Mod three times. They got wrecked at South Boston last fall, rained out at Monadnock and wrecked hard at Waterford. Someone else bougth the car after that and they've been concentrating on PASS and ACT races since then.
I think its great that the Modified Series is coming to the Road... thats going to be a "can't miss" show... and they will certainly have a huge crowd on hand for it....
I cant wait!
Big Motors,State of the art susppension, Good breaks, Areo Bodies, Wide Tires, What has happened to DO IT TOMS WAY!
As a Thunder Road regular since the early 70's, I feel this show will end up being a "must see event" for folks in VT, NH, ME, CT, MA and other places such as NY and Canada as well and it would not surprise me to see a crowd in the 10,000 - 11,000 range.
The home base for the TVMRS is just over an hour away from Thunder Road, and many of series fans are at least semi-regulars to Thunder Road (in fact, one of the stronger competitors in the modified series can be seen in the grandstands on many Thursday nights).
I’m particular excited about the prospect of seeing one of the true legends of VT racing, Dwight Jarvis, finally race at what is arguably Vermont’s most famous race track. That’s right, the Vermont driver who has won at least as many championships as Mike Rowe (and quite possibly more), has never raced at Thunder Road. Incredible.
This is going to be big!!!
BTW – don’t tell the fans & racers in Quebec & Ontario dirt racing isn’t big in Canada. In those two provinces it’s bigger than asphalt racing.
A little off topic again, The LMS car that Ben Rowe drove is for sale on his website, any info there?
It could be the backup car that was used for the 250 (Terry Labonte's ride)? It says only 1 race on it and that would make sense.
I know some people will look into it further than that though and proclaim it to be Ben's stance against late models, etc. But take it for what it is. If it only has one race on it, Ben has been in 3 races at T-Road, 1 at OPS, 1 practice at OPS with a rainout, and his car was practiced/raced in qualifying at the 250. So his primary car has obviously been raced more than 1 time.
The TVMS is a decent series on a flat track like BRMS so they should be even better on a quarter-mile bullring like Thunder Road.
A few years ago, I saw them at Canaan and they hit everything but the pace car. There were something like six cautions in the first 40 laps.
This year at Beech Ridge, they were much better. The car count was up considerably and the crowd was near-capacity.
I'm tempted to put this race on my must-see schedule for 2008.
The TVRMS are just as big to me as the WMS. Over the last few years, I've made it a point to see as many TVRMS races as I can. I went to Oxford, Lee and Beech Ridge last season and I've been impressed each time.
The names might not be the same, but as time progresses fans learn who the drivers are.
Going to Thunder Road is going to be a must next season.
The True Value Mods run a very crisp and profesional program IMO... they dont often wreck as much as their SK mod cousins...which makes for one heck of a race for fans to watch... I like em!
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