Saturday, May 7 - The last time we went to Thunder Mountain Speedway in Center Lisle, New York it was over 10 years ago. I know that because Amy Lou the family Beagel was with us and she crossed over the Rainbow Bridge more than 10 years ago. We decided to come because Bruce wanted to go to an off road autocross just down Route 79 from Center Lisle and we were going to make a weekend of it. On the way up we passed cars, that normally run at Five Mile Point, coming back down Interstate 81 and that prompted up to call the Point. They were rained out. Next we called Thunder Mountain and they were still running and there was no rain, just scattered showers. We arrived at 6:20 for the 6:30 start and the drivers meeting was underway. I thought that warm-ups had not taken place yet but I was wrong. At 6:45 the first heat pulled onto the track and they ran them off one after the other with little interruption. There were two heats for the 16 sportsman, three heats for the 20 street stocks, two heats for the 12 pure stocks, two heats for the 12 modifieds and two heats for the 14 road bandits (mini stocks). By 7:35 all was complete and we were heading into a 40 minute intermission. The streets, pure stocks and road bandits did not stir up much dust but the sportsman and modifieds had the dust rolling and mostly onto us. They came out and watered the track during intermission but you could see it was not going to mean all that much.

At 8:15 the 25 lap sportsman feature took to the track and 7 cautions and 25 minutes later it was over. Billy Spoonhower was the winner followed by Justin Andrews and Eddie White. The street stock feature had an equal amount of cautions with 5 less laps. Butch Green took this event with Louie Gordinier and Jason Beebe in tow. I thought this was the most competitive race of the night as positions 2 and 3 battled, with the second place spinning and both cars sent to the rear, with three laps to go. Pure stocks were next and ran a clean race with only 2 cautions with Matt Sisenstein taking the checkered with Chuck Culberston in second.

The headline division is the modifieds and they ran 30 laps. The race was spun off in 10 minutes with only 1 caution. Unfortunately the dust during this event was so bad you had a hard time watching the event. Justin Holland was the winner with sportsman winner Billy Spoonhower in second. Nick Rochinski, Brent Wilcox and Mike Nagel Jr. rounded out the top five.

It was only 9:35 but we, as well as many other fans, decided to throw in the towel and go back to the hotel to catch the the end of Darlington. We were totally covered in dust similar to cement dust. It was awful. Although the fans did not seem to mind. Maybe I am getting old but this dirt was more then I want to sit through. This is where my story ends. My mom always said if you cannot say anything nice do not say anything at all.