CLERMONT, Ind. — When national pavement midgets return to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park Thursday night (June 27), it will be a homecoming of sorts.
The event, being billed as Thursday Night Thunder, will feature only national pavement midgets where ESPN’s ‘Thursday Night Thunder’ debuted USAC National Midget Series events at IRP 36 years ago.
ESPN began showcasing USAC regional events at the fifth-mile Indianapolis Speedrome in 1986. The events were highly successful and featured healthy car counts and good television ratings.
Prior to the conclusion of the 1987 season, Speedrome owner John Stiles announced he would no longer host USAC regional events at the Speedrome on Thursday nights to focus on other projects.
USAC and IRP GM Lex Dudas announced in early 1988 that Thursday Night Thunder would move to the westside of Indianapolis and would feature a combination of USAC midget and sprint car events at the five-eighths-mile track, which is much bigger than the cozy Indianapolis Speedrome. Six midget events and three sprint car events made up the Thursday Night Thunder slate.
Jim Keeker won the first event on June 23, 1988, debuting one of the first Pontiac engines before a big crowd. Other midget winners at IRP in 1988 included Bob Cicconi, Mike Gregg, Jack Calabrase and Rich Vogler. Vogler was the only repeat winner. The IRP Thursday night Thunder era had begun.
In 1990, the events were shifted to Saturday nights. Eventually ESPN began televising live events at other tracks and fewer and fewer USAC National Midget Series events were contested at IRP. The ESPN events that were televised in the later years were taped delayed broadcasts. ESPN eventually pulled the plug on televising USAC events and the pavement midget class declined. The class was removed from USAC’s national schedule after the 2013 season.
Prior to the 2020 season, IRP GM Kasey Coler had a dream. His dream was to see pavement midgets return to prominence. Many were skeptical because no one was sure how many cars in were left. He scheduled the division in August of 2020 Covid-19 season with pavement sprint cars and revived the Night Before the 500.
To everyone’s delight a full field of midgets were on hand and with it, one of the biggest crowds for an oval event in the modern era of IRP. He has continued to showcase the midgets several times a year with the division accompanying the 500 Sprint Car Tour and USAC Silver Crown Series.
This Thursday night the midget will return as the headline, and only division under the National Pavement Midget Championship banner. A full program of racing featuring heat races and a feature event is scheduled.
Coler believes the midget class can draw fans or he wouldn’t have scheduled it as the only division. A second event is scheduled on Aug. 15.
If the return of Thursday Night Thunder is successful, expect a few more events scheduled next season.
More than 20 cars entered for Thursday’s event. Among those entries are Bobby Santos III, Todd Bertrand, Kyle O’Gara, Kody Swanson, Jake Trainor, Logan Seavey and Justin Grant.
The Entries
1-Chase Locke
1-Brenham Crouch
3-Justin Grant
7k-Nick Hamilton
9-Mario Clouser
29-Jake Trainor
40-Blake Brannon
44-Todd Bertrand
47-Kody Swanson
47-Nathan Byrd
48-Ryan Shilkuski
51-Chuck Gurney
57-Logan Seavey
57k-Kevin Studley
60-Cody Gerhardt
66-TBA
67-Kyle O’Gara
80-Anni Breidinger
93-Travis Mahoney
98-Bobby Santos III