Thompson, CT

[Shiloh64]

We can trash northerners forever, when it comes to racing but their annual World Series of Auto Racing at the Thompson Speedway just turned out 337 cars in 16 divisions for the three day event. That includes supers, full midgets, modifieds, super lates, and 12 other divisions. If they were split evenly, that's over 21 cars per division and the 4 classes that I mentioned are the top of the short track food chain, not just endless divisions of full bodied stocks who all look rhe same to the casual fan.

They may not have all the answers but it sounds like they have a few more than we do down here.

Shiloh

[Mark Keeler]

My two favorite events growing up every year were the Icebreaker to start the season and the World Series to wrap things up...I remember in '92 that had to open a new pit area on the back stretch (with a new access road) for us in the Pro-4's because there was nowhere else to put cars... That event is unlike any other and should be a bucket-list item for any short-track fan!

And if you do go, be sure to hit the Steak dinner at the Clubhouse... ALWAYS a good time! (Hell if I remember correctly my first taste of beer was at one of those Steak dinners when I was 15 or so... it was either Kerry Malone or Steve "Bago" Lombardi that handed me the Pitcher... the memory is a little shady now)... Does anyone know if they even still do the Steak Dinners at the Clubhouse?

I will say one thing you will never see up North is track scheduling on top of big events... I dont ever recall another New England track even opening on weekends of the Icebreaker or World Series or the Spring Sizzler (I've been in FL since '94 so that may have changed)... there's a TON of tradition with those events and for the most part you would see the Pace Cars from all the other tracks is the Parking lot for those events... Don't get me wrong, the Owners/Promoters don't like each other or even get along half the time but they do have a lot of respect for one another and for the history of those events!

[scottgarrity07]

Last time I was at the World Series was five years ago and yes, the steak dinner on Sat. nite (along with the morning breakfast buffet) were still a part of the festivities. Nothing tops the World Series at Thompson in the world of short track racing in my book. No matter where you ran in the Northeast, if you brought your asphalt circle track car to Thompson in mid October there was a division that you were legal in to have fun racing on that bumpy high-banked faaaaast 5/8 mile. The racing, camping, bonfires and parties are legendary. God, how I miss it.