Rolling Thunder Modifieds joins Local Race Chat

[RTMPromo]

On Behalf of the Rolling Thunder Modifieds, I would like to thank Local Race Chat.com for allowing us to promote our series on their website.

For those of you who may not be familiar with our series, we are an IMCA-type modified tour which races on asphalt tracks across both Carolinas and Virginia. In 2008 we have 14 races scheduled at 10 different race tracks and are excited to have Red Man Moist Snuff on board as our presenting Sponsor.

We look forward to building a relationship with Local Race Chat.com and presenting some of the finest modified racing available on asphalt. I know there are several dirt-based series on this website but I hope you all will accept us as one of your own.

For a full schedule and details for the series, please visit our website at www.rollingthundermodifieds.com for all the information on the tour and the 2008 season.

Thanks for having us once again.

Todd Knaperek
Promotions, Rolling Thunder Modifieds

http://www.rollingthundermodifieds.com/rtimages/2008/banner1.jpg

[RaceJunkie]

Welcome to the site Todd the pleasure is all ours. I have added a banner to the top of these forums that you can click for quick access to the Rolling Thunder Modifieds website.

[Dirtfan_21]

Welcome to LRC, RTM. Gonna try and make it out to a couple of the races over at Orange County.

I just have one question, how come you dont race at South Boston? Do SoBo not want them?

[KevinF]

I think the Rolling Thunder Modified Series is a good one to put on here. Good, close, locally-based racing. And Kelvin, I don't know why they are not on the schedule for South Boston. I saw them there several years back and it was a heck of a race...its a great place to watch them. If I have any of the following history wrong, Todd, please feel free to correct me. I believe they got their (original) start as the ARA (American Racing Series), which basically was a break-away of drivers from Southside Speedway. I don't know what happened, but you know how much I like the owner-lady :witch2: and her big-mouthed daughter :animal34: ). If you look, about half the entry list is from within about 30 miles from South Speedway. In fact, several of the drivers race at Southside when there is a break in the TMS series. I see only 12 races on the schedule, so maybe, Kelvin, you'll get your South Boston race. It would also be nice to see a Southside race - I missed the one last year but I know they had a pile of cars there.

Southside is a very short track with tight, only slighty banked turns. Because of the skinny front tires they run, they do a lot of slipping and sliding. The first year or two (that they ran at Southside, before ARA or TMS), it was spin after spin, etc. The drivers have gotten used to it now and still slip and slide but don't spin out. They put on a good show at places like Southside, but I think they put on their best races on somewhat bigger or higher banked tracks (South Boston, Langley, Orange County, Southern National).




Just FYI: Below are a couple of cars at Southside who also run the Rolling Thunder Modified series (Click on thumbnail to enlarge)

#38 Michael Johnson..#21 Aubrey Thurston..#19 Kyle Wood......#42 Chris Hoylman
http://kevinf.smugmug.com/photos/153738164_hC8Sb-Th.jpg (http://kevinf.smugmug.com/photos/153738164_hC8Sb-L.jpg) http://kevinf.smugmug.com/photos/21440943_yiCfJ-Th.jpg (http://kevinf.smugmug.com/photos/21440943_yiCfJ-M.jpg) http://kevinf.smugmug.com/photos/21440950_hc9NE-Th.jpg (http://kevinf.smugmug.com/photos/21440950_hc9NE-M.jpg) http://kevinf.smugmug.com/photos/21440955_Rxer8-Th.jpg (http://kevinf.smugmug.com/photos/21440955_Rxer8-M.jpg)
#8 Mike Rudy...........#4 Thomas Stinson....#46 TJ Guthrie & #11 Irvin Bell
http://kevinf.smugmug.com/photos/21440961_b38AF-Th-1.jpg (http://kevinf.smugmug.com/photos/21440961_b38AF-M-1.jpg) http://kevinf.smugmug.com/photos/21440964_ybZRV-Th-1.jpg (http://kevinf.smugmug.com/photos/21440964_ybZRV-M-1.jpg) http://kevinf.smugmug.com/photos/153738155_SzzB5-Th.jpg (http://kevinf.smugmug.com/photos/153738155_SzzB5-M.jpg)

[Dirtfan_21]

yea, i remember the races at sobo a few years back. was some good racing.

[RTMPromo]

Jerry and I work very hard to try to put together a complete, diverse schedule for our teams for each season we race. As for getting race dates, we have talked to just about every single track promoter within NC, SC, VA, and GA trying to get RTM dates booked. Some want the tour and will schedule us and some decline for a wide range of reasons. But you have to do what you have to do. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. There's always next year. Hopefully when 2009 rolls around we will add a few more venues to our schedule. However for 2008 I think being able to race at 10 different race tracks is quite an accomplishment..especially for a series which dealt with a lot of issues last season.

As for South Boston, yes, the series has raced there in the past. The series has also raced at Richmond Intl. Raceway not too long ago either. Both of those races were before Jerry and I took over the series. Last year we did race a date at Southside, which was quite a wild event, especially when #91 car of Dean Slappey took a ride of a lifetime on the turn 3 wall during practice (we have photos of it in our gallery section, click on the Southside Event). I'm not sure about what the tour used to be called...I know for a while it was known as the "Modified Racing Series" and then went to Rolling Thunder Modifieds for the 2006 season.

We'd love to have the tour stop at SOBO again, hopefully in future seasons that will happen. It's in close proximity to both Orange County and Richmond so it would not be a huge pull for the majority of the drivers...which would be nice to have. (Although I live in Asheville, NC so every race date minus Hickory is a haul and a half for me, lol) But we'll see. Never say never.

As for the drivers, the core group does come out of the Richmond/Midlothian/Petersburg area, however we are gaining several teams from the Charlotte/Mooresville area and some from as far away as New England as the series continues to grow and new teams register. There is a large contingency that race at Southside on Friday night and then race with us that Saturday. There is also a large amount of drivers who race in the B&C Seafood Modified division up at Langley Speedway. According to both of our schedules, there are 8 RTM dates which will not conflict with the Langley dates so hopefully some will come and run with us at those events. May 31st we will be making a trip up to Langley to race an event there and have invited all of the Langley regulars to participate in the event. Hopefully many of them will do so and will make that one of the biggest races of the '08 season.

Hope that answers your questions. For a full rundown of the scheduled races, please check out our website...we even have in the downloads section a pdf version of the schedule that you can print out for your personal use. I hope to see many of you all come out to our races, the tour is an entirely different animal than what it was last season and we really want to usher into the regional racing stage a high quality open-wheeled series which can be regarded with as much respect and notoriety as several of the late model tours which are running out there. I think with Jerry and I working as hard as we are, and with Red Man Moist Snuff on board I believe this is something that we can accomplish.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7504812@N02/1172890833/in/set-72157601553846049/

http://rollingthundermodifieds.com/rtimages/2008/banner1.jpg

[tas]

Welcome to the board. We are glad to have you around.