Thursday Night Thunder returns to ESPN
Photo by courtesy of Sling TV
If you were a racing fan back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, you no doubt remember Thursday Night Thunder on ESPN, featuring the United States Auto Club midget series, live from Indianapolis Raceway Park. Chances are that’s where you first heard about future racing legends Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart as they launched their careers.
Over thirty years later, Thursday Night Thunder is back on ESPN, this time featuring the Camping World Superstar Racing Experience Series.
Stewart, now a NASCAR Hall of Famer and legendary driver, was instrumental in creating the SRX Series along with investor and former NASCAR COO George Pyne, Sandy Montag of the Montag Group and NASCAR Hall of Fame Crew Chief and Owner Ray Evernham. Over the first two seasons, the six-race series has featured drivers from a variety of racing backgrounds with an emphasis on champion-level drivers. Stewart claimed the inaugural SRX championship in 2021 and Marco Andretti won last year’s title.
For Stewart, being back on Thursday nights on ESPN is exciting.
Photo by Jason Miller SRX Getty Images
“That’s how I got recognized by car owners back in the day and got my opportunity to join with Harry Rainier in NASCAR and John Menard on the INDYCAR side was because of what they saw on Thursday Night Thunder.
“Having this opportunity to bring SRX back and doing it on Thursday nights, which I think multiply the amount of drivers that had interest in running but had a lot of schedule conflicts, being on Thursday nights, it’s really opened that up.
“The amount of interest from drivers wanting to join the series was astronomical this year. It was also fun to lay the schedule out, work with Don Hawk and all the tracks, tracks that submitted requests for races and figure out logistics, I really enjoyed that part of it, trying to figure out how we get through six straight Thursday nights with a crew that have to sit there and not only run the cars on Thursday but then pack up Thursday night, leave on Friday, travel to the next racetrack, get set up, get cars maintained and fixed, repaired, and have us ready to go again the next Thursday. It’s a six-week stretch that I think we all really enjoy. We love — the fans have been excited about it coming back up again, which really makes us feel good, and we’ve got great partners. Camping World came back this year. Personally on my car, I’ve got a good friend of mine back with us, with Johnny Morris and Bass Pro Shops. Just a lot of great people that are supporting this series this year.
“Between George and Sandy and Don, everybody has really worked hard to make this happen and make sure that we’ve got great race cars, great race teams, tracks, drivers, you name it. We’ve got great people on board that really want this to succeed, and we’ve got a great friend in Pam Miller that’s going to produce the shows again this year. She’s done an amazing job the first two years, and worked with her a lot at the other network with the NASCAR broadcasts.
“But Pam does a great job, so I feel like we’ve got all the right tools, the right people in place to put on a great product for the fans for six weeks.”
“That’s how I got recognized by car owners back in the day and got my opportunity to join with Harry Rainier in NASCAR and John Menard on the INDYCAR side was because of what they saw on Thursday Night Thunder.”
Just as he’s excited to be a part of the return of Thursday Night Thunder on ESPN, SRX co-founder George Pyne is also pleased with the growth of the series.
“Look, it’s been an incredible journey for us. I think when you take a step back, if you said three years ago you’d be going to sold-out racetracks, would you take that, you’d be very happy with that.
“I think Stafford has been sold out for over a month. We have an incredible, as Tony mentioned, field of drivers. The demand and the quality of the competition this year is going to be off the charts.
“But the racing has been fantastic. The lead changes, the finishes have been terrific. So we’re very thrilled with the field of drivers we have, which this year is the best ever, and the quality of the product has been outstanding.
“Really excited about being on ESPN, worldwide leader in sports. Kind of special bringing back Thursday Night Thunder. Again, thrilled to pieces to be part of that.
“As Tony mentioned, we have a number of new sponsors that have come into the sport this year, which is fantastic coming to SRX, which shows great progress, and again, we’re proud to have Camping World back for the third year in a row as our title sponsor.
“We’ve seen this international outreach in terms of media distribution and events.
“I think when you put all that together and you say, we’ve been at this three years, are you pleased with the progress, I think absolutely we’re pleased with the progress.
“Like any new business, we have challenges. When you start something from scratch and you have to pivot, we’re not perfect, and so we’ve had to have our challenges. But on balance, I’d say we’re very pleased with the results in all of the key categories: Media, competition, drivers, sponsors, tracks. The whole thing just feels really good.”
Series co-founder Sandy Montag believes the Thursday Night Thunder brand still resonates with not only Stewart, but a lot of race fans as well.
“I think the key for us moving to Thursday night really was the power of ESPN’s brand and everything that goes with that. They’re not the worldwide leader for nothing.
“I think with Wimbledon on now on both ABC and ESPN and the ESPYs coming up and baseball, it made sense for us shifting away from Saturday night to Thursday night.
“Thursday Night Thunder may have been 30 years ago when it started, but I think that brand kind of resonated with Tony, and as we talked about the possibilities on what we would do for season 3 and ESPN’s interest in bringing this back for a multiyear deal, we just thought it made a ton of sense. We’re just excited to get going at a sold-out track on Thursday night.”
Photo by Doug Hornickel
Don Hawk has worked both inside and outside of NASCAR. In the ’90’s, he worked at Alan Kulwicki Racing and was president of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. More recently, Hawk was with Speedway Motorsports before joining the SRX Series as its CEO. Hawk admits he feels like a kid in a candy story as he considers the drivers and tracks lined up this season.
“This is — we have some of the greatest racetracks in the country, and Tony and I beat that to death. We had 43 tracks asked to hold a venue, hold a race with SRX. While we were on the telephone narrowing it down to six, a 44th call came in on my phone during that call. We feel like we did, as Tony said, the right thing there.
“The great driver roster we have that’s headed to Stafford, these are just Stafford’s stats. In that field is five Daytona 500 wins and an Indy 500 winner. Six of NASCAR’s 75 greatest drivers, seven NASCAR championships combined, and a series of great sponsors. Camping World has returned, Bass Pro is in the game, SportClips, Purdue University, which is a huge deal, Sam’s Club. You saw earlier this morning South Point Casino with our good friend Michael Gaughan. We’ve got Federated Auto Sports with Kenny Schrader. It’s a whole deal about relationships.
“One of the biggest things to emphasize about this move to Thursday Night Thunder is this: Thursday Night Thunder is where I met Jeff Gordon and I met Tony Stewart, and I met them through a TV screen. (Dale) Earnhardt and I would go out for dinner and we’d get home to the hotel — we didn’t have driver/owner lots. We didn’t have motor coaches. We actually stayed in a hotel. We would eat early, and we’d go watch Tony and Jeff drive cars, and we’d say, wow.
“I’m telling you, if you don’t know this stat, the last winner of Thursday Night Thunder in the year 2002 when they signed off the air was Tony Stewart. He’ll be in the first one when Thursday Night Thunder returns at Stafford Motor Speedway July the 13th.
“For me, I’m like a kid in the candy store. I’m so excited, it’s not funny.
“From the team that we’ve developed to the ownership and the people that work on these cars in the shop, it’s been a phenomenal winter and spring to get ready. Tony and I have talked numerous times a week every week since we came home from the last race, and so we feel like we’re more than adequately prepared for this year, and we think we have the right tracks with the right combination of drivers. 21 different superstars under contract to fight it out at six racetracks, and at the end, one champion.”
One thing the move to Thursday nights from Saturday has done is now more NASCAR Cup Series drivers are available to race in SRX. According to Pyne, having more active Cup drivers taking part will only make the series more exciting.
“Look, I think adding the Cup guys is fantastic. It adds another element going into our third year.”
“Look, I think adding the Cup guys is fantastic. It adds another element going into our third year. As Don points out, we’re adding champion drivers Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski and others. I think we’ve added some great drivers, and I think it’ll only make it more exciting.
“We think that promoting champion drivers and promoting motorsports is good for everyone, and I think over time, I think that’s evolved, and I think we have an excellent working relationship with NASCAR and have tried our very best to be complementary.
“I think having these active Cup drivers and having that participation I think solidifies what I just said. That wouldn’t happen without an excellent working relationship, and I think it’s an excellent working relationship because I think we’re growing the sport and we’re growing viewership and growing interest, and I think anytime that you grow interest and grow viewership, it benefits everybody, and I think that’s what the case is here.
“I expect a very exciting race this week, this Thursday, and expecting many more to come.”
Hawk maintains the SRX relationship with NASCAR is good.
“I’ve been in direct communication with Jim France, that’s NASCAR, and we’re good. I’ve been in direct communication with Roger Penske, that’s INDYCAR, and we’re good. I’ve been in direct communication with Cromwell, NHRA, and we’re good.
“I tried to make it my business so they could see we’re going to be accretive to the whole racing inventory, the plethora of motorsports in America. All we’re going to do is, like Roger Penske said to me, a high tide lifts all ships, Hawk, sail away. That’s what we’re going to do.
“I promise you, when I started getting drivers texting me saying, I want to race, and they were full-time in Cup, I called Jim France, and we are good.”
Montag adds that SRX is not in completion with anyone.
“In our title we’re superstars and we’re about the experience. We don’t really compete with anyone. As George said, we want to help elevate the sport in general, and we’re friends with everyone here. We just want to have great racing and provide great entertainment for our fans and viewers.”
Image courtesy of SRX
With the move to ESPN and Thursday nights, Montag already considers the series a success.
“We’re sold out in Stafford. We’re sold out in a number of other tracks, so I think that’s successful.
“Don has given you the stats on our drivers. I think that’s successful. So we’re going to have great attendance. We have great drivers. We need a little bit of luck, as you always do in the summer with weather, so we can continue that stretch. That would be great.
“I just think overall if you look at it from 30,000 feet, if we continue to grow the brand, if we continue to get great feedback from our fans and viewers, I think that would constitute a success in my book.”
Pyne, who studied under NASCAR’s Bill France, concurs they’ve done pretty well so far with what he considers a great product.
“We had a lot of lead changes. We had exciting finishes.
“The way I measure the product is I go on social media after the races, and if you go on social media after our races, it’s very positive. I’ve been on both sides of social media, the not positive and the positive, and it’s probably one of the most positive social media experiences I’ve had.
“I think the fans will tell you if they like SRX or not, and I think what I’ve been able to see is an overwhelming enjoyment of the SRX product.
“I think continuing to put out a good product on the track, close competitive racing, having a little bit of fun with interesting people, I think we just want to continue that. Then other things will come from that success.
“But as Sandy says, whatever the metric is, three years in, I think we’ve done pretty well so far.”
While the list of drivers who have signed on and are eager to be a part of SRX is impressive, Stewart says there are still two drivers he would like to get.
“I still want to get Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. and Jeff Gordon in cars. That’s pretty easy to go that direction, obviously.
“That’s two guys that are superstars, and that’s what this series is about is about superstar drivers. Those are two guys that for sure belong in this series and have earned their right to drive in this series.
“I know the fans would love to see both of those guys back behind the wheel of race cars again.”
While Gordon’s and Earnhardt, Jr.’s busy business careers may be a challenge for SRX, it doesn’t compare to the challenge of reviving what the former IROC Series was and making it better, according to Pyne, a series featuring two heat races and a main event that fits into a 2-hour TV window at six different tracks for six weeks in a row.
“We started this as a couple of guys with a dream, right. We weren’t part of a big organization. We’re kind of entrepreneurs that had an idea that hey, these championship drivers could really race in a fun format, a shorter format, and we had we had to make the dream a reality. So we weren’t born out of a big organization.
“I think that’s a challenge.
“I think the other challenge is telling people what SRX is. I think going into the third year, I think people have a good idea of what SRX is. It’s champion drivers, some of the greatest drivers in the history of racing, competing in a very competitive format that’s kind of made for today’s fan and also in a very fair format. Like all the cars are equal. It’s the best man or woman wins.
“I think explaining what it is, launching something as a couple of guys with an idea and letting people understand what that’s all about takes time, and so when you think about that and where we are, we’re pretty pleased with the journey. We’ve got more progress to make.
“But I think looking at where we are three years into it, I think you’d have to be very satisfied.”
Kicking off six consecutive Thursday nights of prime time racing action, the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) Series makes its debut on ESPN on Thursday, July 13, at 9 p.m. ET, bringing “Thursday Night Thunder” back to ESPN.