Schedule

Barre, VT, is famously celebrated as the “Granite Capital of the World” and is home to one of the nation’s most prestigious short tracks: Thunder Road International Speedbowl. Founded in 1960 by NASCAR Hall of Fame broadcaster Ken Squier, the tiny quarter-mile oval has 18° high-banked turns and a quirky “Widowmaker” frontstretch wall that combine to create racing action unlike any other track. The track sits on a mountainside overlooking Central Vermont and it is widely recognized as one of the most scenic facilities in the sport. Surely, it has earned its nickname as “the nation’s site of excitement.”

Races are held primarily on Thursday nights in the summer – a tradition dating back to 1960, when Squier realized that local granite workers were paid on Thursday afternoons. Four divisions compete at the track weekly: The entry-level Road Warriors and Street Stocks, the intermediate Flying Tigers, and the headline Late Model class. Special events for visiting touring series like the American-Canadian Tour and the Pro All Stars Series are held on weekends in the spring and fall. The track’s marquee race is the Vermont Milk Bowl, with the winner earning more than $15,000 and a kiss on a real Vermont beauty queen—a dairy cow!

Spectators jam the parking lots and hillside seats every week, and Thunder Road is one of the top performers on the sport’s top streaming platform, FloRacing. Track owners Pat Malone and Cris Michaud have made major facelifts to the physical plant in recent years including repaving the track surface, pit areas, and spectator walkways, the construction of a new retaining wall and catch fence, new seating, new concessions, new lighting, a new sound system, and a state-of-the-art control tower with VIP luxury suites.