PHOTO: The feature races at Thunder Road produced some unpredictability in the late stages of the race, and VMM Editor T.J. Ingerson doesn’t understand the complaints about it. (Alan Ward photo)

-by T.J. Ingerson
VMM Editor

From my seat last week, here is what Thunder Road offered: three features where the winner wasn’t determined until the very late stages of the race — sometimes not until the cars crossed under the checkered flag.

Can a paying fan ask for much more than that?

Is it nice for fans to see high-handicapped drivers work their way from starting positions deep in the field? No doubt, but sometimes, it just doesn’t work out that way.

Did anyone know who was going to win as the cars came out of turn four on the last lap of the Tiger Sportsman race? If you did, I’m paying you to buy my lottery tickets.

After Dave Whitcomb gave the lead away to Trampas Demers, did anyone think Jamie Fisher would nearly steal the win from Demers?

Dean Switser, Jr., took the lead with less than a handful of laps remaining in the Street Stock race. I bet that didn’t excite anyone.

From where I sit and what I saw, the racing at Thunder Road has become more unpredictable. If I knew who was going to win every race, every week, fans wouldn’t show up and wouldn’t give them a reason to come to this website. It’s the facts — if the same guys win every week, no matter where they start, fans become disinterested.

Throw in some unpredictability, and you got yourself one heck of a show. It keeps fans on the edges of their seats.

Thunder Road officials didn’t sit on their hands when they laid down the traction “goop”, and from the people I’ve heard from, still aren’t as they continue to look for improvement.

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Good for one of the good guys in this business, Eric Chase, who is virtually liked by everyone in the pit area.

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If Legion Speedway can control the dust, which became nearly unbearable Sunday evening, they’ll have as good of a product as that track has seen in many years.

It’s a step in the right direction for the ultra-tight quarter-mile. There is actually clay on the surface instead of what has been seen in recent years: some sort of silty dirt and rocks.

And as has become custom, the Sprint Cars of New England put on another good show. SCoNE Guest Driver Karl Fredrickson qualified into the show, and if given another week or two, maybe right in the thick of racing battles.

Dan Douville’s run to the front, driving with one hand no less, was impressive on the track.

I showed ACT champion Brian Hoar Douville’s one handed wheeling’s Saturday night during the rain delay at White Mountain. Let’s just say Hoar will probably be driving with two hands when he takes to the SCoNE Guest car on Saturday, August 18 at Bear Ridge.

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Isn’t there kind of a big race next month? Hmm, I haven’t heard much about it. Or who may be racing in it.

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The on-track disagreement between Brian Hoar and Austin Theriault is just what the American-Canadian Tour needs — animosity between two of its top drivers.

But Hoar and Theriault aren’t dumb. Neither of them will put themselves in a position to take themselves out of the championship, or a chance to win the Oxford 250. But I bet they’ll race each other harder than any other driver.

Hoar feels wronged. Theriault feels he didn’t do anything wrong, or something any other driver wouldn’t do.

This is what racing is all about.