BNS: Thunder Road: Pre-race notes, schedule

Busch North Series, NASCAR Touring Race #15 of 19
Thunder Road International Speedbowl, Barre, Vt.

SCHEDULE:
Saturday, August 31
1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. Practice
3:00 p.m.-3:45 p.m. Practice
4:15 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Practice
6:15 p.m. Bud Pole Qualifying
8:00 p.m. (approx.) True Value 150

NOTES OF INTEREST

* Dave Dion, a Thunder Road champion in the 1970’s, scored a hugely popular win at his home track in 2001 after another local favorite, Mike Olsen, tangled with a lapped car on the front straight and spun after leading the first 116 laps from the pole. Mike Johnson chased Dion to the checkered flag to record a rare 1-2 Ford sweep. Kelly Moore was third, inches ahead of the recovering Olsen, with Dale Shaw completing the top five. Former Busch North star Stub Fadden returned to action and finished 12th.

* Dion also holds the track record of 12.696 seconds, 70.888 mph, set at the first Busch North Series race on the track in 1997.

* Past winners in Busch North competition at Thunder Road are Kip Stockwell (1997), Tracy Gordon (1998), Dale Shaw (1999), and Brad Leighton (2000) in addition to Dion.

* Dion, Olsen, and Stockwell are just three of the Thunder Road graduates in the Busch North driving ranks. Others include Dennis Demers, Brian Hoar, Barney McRae, Jamie Aube, and Bobby Dragon.

* Thunder Road opened in 1959 and is currently the only paved track in Vermont. It is the only oval track in the northeast whose principal night of operation is Thursday.

STAT OF THE WEEK

Two of the last three Busch North Series races, at Stafford on July 26 and Adirondack on August 17, have seen only one car listed as out of the event. The race in between, at Watkins Glen, had the highest attrition rate in recent series history with only 67% running at the finish. For the season to date, the percentage of cars running at the finish is 83.2%

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