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Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park

Motorsport track in the United States

Field	Value
name	Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park
location	205 East Thompson Road
Thompson, Connecticut
coordinates
logo	Thompson_Speedway_Motorsports_Park_logo.jpg
image	[[File:ThompsonInternationalSpeedwayMap.svg	class=skin-invert	250px]]
image_caption	Oval (1940–present)
owner	Donald and D.R. Hoenig
operator	Donald and D.R. Hoenig
broke_ground
opened
former_names	Thompson International Speedway (1983–1997, 2000–2012)
Thompson Speedway (1940–1952, 1972–1979, 1998–1999)
Big Thompson Speedway (1980–1982)
Thompson Raceway (1953–1971)
events	Current:
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (1985–2020, 2022–present)
24 Hours of Lemons (2015–present)
Former:
NASCAR K&N Pro Series East
King Cadillac GMC Throwback 100 (1988–1991, 1993–2009, 2017–2018)
American Canadian Tour (1981–1982, 1984–1985, 2015–2019, 2021)
Global Rallycross (2017)
Formula Lites (2015)
Atlantic Championship Series (2014)
NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour (2011–2012)
X-1R Pro Cup (2001)
NASCAR Grand National Series (1951, 1969–1970)
SCCA Continental Championship (1968–1969)
miles_first	True
layout	Oval (1940–present)
surface	Asphalt
length_km	1.006
length_mi	0.625
turns	4
banking	Straights: 2°
Turns: 15°
layout2	Road Course (1968–1972, 2014–present)
surface2	Asphalt
length2_km	2.736
length2_mi	1.700
turns2	11
record_time2	0:59.400
record_driver2	GBR David Hobbs
record_car2	Surtees TS5
record_year2	1969
record_class2	F5000
layout3	Original Road Course (1957-1967)
surface3	Asphalt
length3_km	3.219
length3_mi	2.000
turns3	12
website

Thompson, Connecticut Thompson Speedway (1940–1952, 1972–1979, 1998–1999) Big Thompson Speedway (1980–1982) Thompson Raceway (1953–1971) NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (1985–2020, 2022–present) 24 Hours of Lemons (2015–present) Former: NASCAR K&N Pro Series East King Cadillac GMC Throwback 100 (1988–1991, 1993–2009, 2017–2018) American Canadian Tour (1981–1982, 1984–1985, 2015–2019, 2021) Global Rallycross (2017) Formula Lites (2015) Atlantic Championship Series (2014) NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour (2011–2012) X-1R Pro Cup (2001) NASCAR Grand National Series (1951, 1969–1970) SCCA Continental Championship (1968–1969) Turns: 15°

Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (TSMP), formerly Thompson Speedway and Thompson International Speedway, is a motorsports park in Thompson, Connecticut, featuring a 0.625 mi asphalt oval racetrack and a 1.700 mi road racing course. Once known as the "Indianapolis of the East", it was the first asphalt-paved racing oval track in the United States and is now under the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series banner. Each year Thompson hosts one of the great fall variety events "The World Series of Auto Racing" highlighted by the International Supermodified Association and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. This event frequently draws over 350 race cars in 16 separate divisions over three days. Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park is the track that had hosted the most ever races in the modern era of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour with 146 races from 1985 to 2019.

The speedway also had hosted 3 NASCAR Cup Series races, one in 1951 and two between 1969 and 1970. The facility also had hosted 5 NASCAR North Tour events from 1981 to 1985 and 29 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East races, between 1988 and 2018.

History

Following cleanup from the hurricane of 1938, John Hoenig built a combined 0.625 mi paved oval and 1.700 mi road racing course on his farmland in the northeast corner of Connecticut.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Thompson's Sunday night program was a who's who of modified greats such as Carl "Bugs" Stevens, Fred DeSarro, Fred Schulz, Ron Bouchard, Ed Flemke, Leo Cleary, Smoky Boutwell, and Geoff Bodine. During this period the track hosted memorable special events which drew legendary Southern drivers like Ray Hendrick in the famous "Fireball" #11 to battle the locals. Other surprise stars included Long Island's Fred Harbach and Rene Charland from Massachusetts.

In the late 1970s, the track drew 55 winged Super Modifieds to their World Series race. By owner's choice, all 55 started. During the energy crisis of the 1970s, Thompson hosted a unique division called the "Open Competitive" division which merged the Super Modifieds with the Modifieds. Later, Thompson tried a lower-cost stock-cylinder-head modified division, which chased away some of the tracks regulars. Until the 1980s the track had a unique barrier outside turns 1–2 and 3–4 made of dirt fill.

Today

Hoenig's grandson D.R. and great-grandson Jonathan continue to operate the family-owned facility. As of June 1, 2013, the Hoenig family began work to reconstruct the 1.7-mile road course with and accompanying paddock and staging areas, and the website reflected the renaming of the facility to Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park. The newly rebuilt road course celebrated its "soft opening" with the New England Region of SCCA on the weekend of June 6–8, 2014. Thompson created a private club for individual use of the road course, the website notes that "The Club" will be limited to 200 members.

Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park continues to run NASCAR-sanctioned races on the oval track, with 10 oval events scheduled for 2019. The two largest events, The Icebreaker and The Sunoco World Series of Speedway Racing, are traditionally New England’s season opener and season finale. Both multi-day events draw several hundred race cars from up to 18 divisions. The Road course hosts many more events such as SCCA major and regional races, vintage race festivals, high-performance driving events (HPDEs) and drifting.

The park has hosted four events for the 24 Hours of LeMons series. The first was in August 2015, and the most recent was in August 2018.

In June 2017, the park hosted two rounds of the 2017 Global RallyCross Championship using a combination of the road course and a dirt track

Use in simulations / games

The current layout appears in the online racing simulation iRacing where it is laser scanned for millimeter accuracy.

A recreation of the track as it appeared in 1970 is included in the retro-themed game NASCAR Legends.

Notable race results

[[Atlantic Championship|Atlantic Championship Series]]

Year	Race winner	Team	Car	Engine
2014	CAN Daniel Burkett	K-Hill Motorsports	Swift 016.a	Mazda-Cosworth MZR
USA Ethan Ringel	One Formula Racing	Swift 016.a	Mazda-Cosworth MZR

Race lap records

As of May 2015, the fastest official race lap records at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park are listed as:

Category	Time	Driver	Vehicle	Event
Formula 5000	0:59.400	David Hobbs	Surtees TS5	1969 Thompson Grand Prix
Formula Atlantic	1:01.955	Daniel Burkett	Swift 016.a	2014 Thompson Atlantic Championship round
Formula 2000	1:07.386	Skylar Robinson	Citation F1000	2014 Thompson F2000 Championship round
Formula Lites	1:08.336	Vinicius Papareli	Crawford FL15	2015 Thompson Formula Lites round
Formula 1600	1:10.527	Evan Mehan	Mygale SJ 2012	2014 Thompson F1600 Championship round

Deaths

Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park has also endured some tragic moments which have claimed the lives of the following competitors: David Peterson (1977), Tony Willman, Fred DeSarro, Harry Kourafus Jr., Dick Dixon, Corky Cookman, Tom Baldwin, Sr., John Blewett III, and most recently Shane Hammond (April 6, 2008). DeSarro's death prompted a memorial fund-raiser which drew the largest crowd to date and the Northeast's best drivers in an open competition Modified race with no purse. Both Evans and Bodine mounted their cars with wings. Baldwin and Blewett died while competing in the same race on the tour, three years apart.

References

[http://www.thompsonspeedway.com/news/scca-joins-thompson-speedway-motorsports-park-soft-opening-newly-re-opened-road-course-0 SCCA Joins Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park for the Soft Opening of the Newly Re-opened Road Course. Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park]
"Individual Results".
"Individual Results".
(7 March 2017). "Global Rally Cross Coming to TSMP | Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park".
"Thompson Speedway - Motor Sport Magazine".
(21 September 1969). "1969 Thompson F5000".
(30 August 2014). "Atlantic Championship - Thompson Speedway - Race 1 / 30 August 2014 - Result".
(30 August 2014). "F2000 Championship - Thompson Speedway - Race 1 / 30 August 2014 - Result".
(30 May 2015). "Formula Lites Rounds 1&2 - Official Results Round 2".
(30 August 2014). "F1600 Championship - Thompson Speedway - Race 1 / 30 August 2014 - Result".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

motorsport-venues-in-connecticut nascar-tracks thompson,-connecticut buildings-and-structures-in-windham-county,-connecticut 1940-establishments-in-connecticut road-courses-in-the-united-states

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