Thunder Road: 50 Years of Excitement … and counting
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Justin St. Louis displays a collection of Thunder Road pictures. |
Toolbox
By SUSAN ALLEN TIMES ARGUS EDITOR - Published: June 29, 2009
BARRE — Justin St. Louis pulls out random photographs from a stack of Thunder Road International Speedbowl pictures and immediately launches into stories about each shot.
That's Chester T. Wood of Orange, he noted of one black-and-white photo. Wood used a tractor seat in that car, St. Louis added.
Another picture: Ronnie Barcomb in the Vermont 09 car. He was a football star at Winooski High School in the '60s, and a hero at Thunder Road, St. Louis said.
Another picture: Henry Montandon, known as The Frozen Logger, who passed away last year.
It was clear St. Louis knew the background story on each shot. Thunder Road — its past and present — is a passion.
"Thunder Road has raised me. I grew up in the grandstands," said St. Louis, who has co-authored a new 88-page booklet on Thunder Road in celebration of the quarter-mile stock car short track's 50th year. "I've spent as much time around race car drivers as my own family. It's a passion … plus."
St. Louis' father raced at Thunder Road, he said, adding, "It's literally in my blood."
The son envisioned himelf becoming the next Jeff Gordon, and took up racing in high school, while a junior at Mount Manfield Union High School. He jokes that he was an awful driver.
"We won a couple of races, but we wrecked a lot of cars," St. Louis said, noting that he went through five cars before giving up racing. He said he did whatever he needed to do to pay for the cars and parts, adding, "By hook or by crook, we did it."
St. Louis, 26, who worked at Thunder Road for a brief stint and for years has spent his free time researching racing statistics, had been thinking about compiling a book (the new book is entitled "Fifty Years of Excitement") about Thunder Road for several years.
But it took the backing of John Casey, who owns a car at Thunder Road, the writing help of announcer and racing commentator Dave Moody, and the photo archives of Cho Lee, who sits on the New England Auto Racer Hall of Fame board, to turn the concept into reality.
They started the project in April, and six weeks later, the book was off to the printers. It will be available for purchase this week.
St. Louis, who waits tables at night, would work on the project during his waking hours. It was, he said, a labor of love.
"People who go to Thunder Road don't realize how good they have it," he said. On a bad night, he said, there are 100 to 120 cars in the pit — a "huge" number of race cars. "There's no local short track — maybe a dozen in the country — that have the sheer number of cars in the pit."
He said Thunder Road co-owners Ken Squier and Tom Curley have run a tight ship and introduced great ideas for the track. For example, he said, Squier recognized that the Barre-area quarry workers got paid on Thursday afternoons and introduced Thursday night racing at the track.
Thunder Road is an anomaly, St. Louis said, noting that it's doing well despite a bad economy, racing on a weeknight, which is typically not a big money-maker, and being located in a state where residents don't always have a lot of extra cash floating around.
"It's cheap entertainment," he said. "And it is entertainment. That's one thing they've never lost sight of."
Although he's been tempted to move away from time to time, Thunder Road is a big reason St. Louis stays in Vermont.
"As long as there's Thunder Road, I'll be around," he said. "I've fallen in love with the people … my very best friends are from Thunder Road."
Of the book, St. Louis said, "It's a project we're all proud of, whether it's a success of not."
Box: To order the book by mail, send a $12.95 check or money order (includes $2.95 S&H — U.S. funds) to "Fifty Years of Excitement" c/o John O. Casey, 6134 The Terraces, Shelburne, VT 05482, or call (802) 985-1541 or email johnocasey@comcast.net.
For information on Thunder Road Int'l Speedbowl, visit www.thunderroadspeedbowl.com or call (802) 244-6963.
St. Louis' racing blog, Vermont Motorsports Magazine, can be viewed at vtmotormag.blogspot.com.
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