Casella Waste Management Night Opens Thursday Night Racing at Thunder Road

The race fans, teams and officials of Barre’s Thunder Road Speedbowl are impatiently awaiting the much-anticipated start to the iconic Thursday Night Racing that was started by founder Ken Squier all the way back in 1960! Casella Waste Management presents the opening of weekly Thursday racing on June 13 with plenty of nostalgic help from the New England Antique Racers (NEAR) alongside heart-pounding track championship action courtesy of the Maplefields/Irving Late Models, Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers and rk Miles Street Stocks!

Squier started the Thursday Night Thunder Road tradition with the opening of Thunder Road on Thursday, June 30, 1960 and decided on Thursday nights as that was the day of the week that Barre’s granite sheds paid out their workers! The tradition continues on Thursday, June 13 with the Maplefields/Irving Oil Late Models having replaced the flathead, open-wheeled coupes as Thunder Road’s headline division. After his second Memorial Day triumph, Cody Blake leads the full-fendered Maplefields Late Models into Casella’s Thursday night opener with plenty of action yet to be had for the ‘Thunder and Lightning’ division!

Not to be outshined, some of Thunder Road’s original Flathead V-8 coupes will return to the Barre highbanks as part of the annual visit by the New England Antique Racers (NEAR). The traveling showcase of yesteryear will honor two of Vermont’s cherished racing historians in longtime statistician Cho Lee and longtime car restorer, owner and worker who had a hand in building the Nation’s Site of Excitement, Lloyd Hutchins.

Barre’s-own Chris LaForest is having a career year to start the season in the Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers with consecutive career-best finishes and the point lead! Staring him down are two former track champions and two hard-charging veterans digging in for a chance to steal away the 2024 crown in Sam Caron, Kyle Streeter, Brandon Gray and Kevin Streeter!

Some of the rk Miles Street Stocks will be pulling double duty on Casella Waste Management Night with their 25-lap feature counting towards the track championship totals and the 10th annual Marvin Johnson Memorial First-Time Winners Race! The 19-lap event has been held annual to honor longtime four-cylinder supporter Marvin Johnson and open to Street Stock drivers who have yet to win an event on the Barre highbanks. Current point leader, Milton’s Trevor Jaques, won his first Thunder Road street stock event in last year’s Marvin Johnson race and has done nothing but continue to capitalize in the competitive division.

Iconic Thursday night weekly racing returns to Thunder Road this Thursday, June 13 with Casella Waste Management Night! As the first Thursday of the season on the Barre highbanks, the New England Antique Racers (NEAR) return to offer the nostalgia of yesteryear in celebration of Thunder Road’s 65th season of stock car racing alongside the Maplefields/Irving Late Models, Lenny’s Shoe & Apparel Flying Tigers and the rk Miles Street Stocks. The 10th annual Marvin Johnson Memorial Non-Winners Race for the Street Stocks will also take place on Casella Waste Management Night to add to the championship action! Grandstands open at 4:15pm with Post Time set for 7:00pm. Adult General Admission is set at $15, kids 12-6 for $5 with children 5 and under free! The Family Four Pack (Two Adults, Two Kids) is also available for $30.

For more information, contact the Thunder Road offices at (802) 244-6963, [email protected], or visit www.thunderroadvt.com. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @ThunderRoadVT.

-Thunder Road Press Release
-Photo credit: Alan Ward