Thoughts on Thunderhill (Page 1 of 2)

IMO the organizers crushed it.  If they want feedback, posting pit on/off ahead of time or a giant Pit On sign would have saved a lot of confusion.  Tough on Eric trying to convey this to a bunch of guys who just want to jump in their rigs and go racing.  Practice was one way, start of Saturday was another, Saturday mid day was another, Sunday start was same as sat, Sunday morning same as Sat Morning, and then change again Sunday afternoon. (Informational for those not there).

As far as racing, I prefer going the correct direction, having runoff to aim at, etc.  I'm glad we did it but would prefer to use the regular direction going forward.  No particular layout would prevent me us from signing up from another race.

I'm glad I did it, because I love Thunderhill and wanted to try this--but I hope they meant what they said during the award ceremony, that we probably won't be doing it again.

I don't think we ever intend to do two races at Thunderhill in a year, but if we end up having to have two in a year, I could see running the 3-mile in both directions, one per day.

For what it's worth, Jay's original idea was even crazier—I'll spare you the details—but my pitch was to have a bonus Monday race on the West track, which in retrospect would also have probably not been super popular. We landed where we did after a couple weeks of wrangling and debating. Honestly, I think it worked out ok, but I'm going to lobby against the five-mile circuit in reverse until I'm out of breath.

If its 2 events at THill or 2 events at Sonoma, I vote THill everytime even though its a 3-hour tow vs a 1-hour to Sonoma).  The facility is just superb.  I had never raced the 3 mile forwards, I really enjoyed that. And the lady in the gift shop is the absolute best.  She hates that our team name has a curse word in it....I wonder how the anal probe practice sign up went lol.

Good job Rood, seemed to run really smoothly from an outsiders perspective.

If they never did all 3 versions in one weekend again, I don’t think anyone would be upset. BUT…. The 5 mile reverse direction was awesome. If you ran an entire weekend that format, I would sign up in a heartbeat. The west side flows sooooo much better that direction. Ask the other racers, I would bet they say the same. Everyone I spoke to, felt that way.

The 3 mile reverse, not so much. No matter how you slice it, you guys nailed it. Huge kudos to Lemons staff, Thunderhill staff and safety teams for a great weekend.

Also, Eric, you said, "I'm going to lobby against the five-mile circuit in reverse until I'm out of breath." What is it about that configuration that made you feel that way?

Has there ever been consideration on running the 3-mile classic for a weekend? I personally enjoyed the 3-mile most out of the weekend.

We ran two races a year at Thunderhill in 2016 and 2017, the May race on the 5-mile and a late-summer race on the 3-mile. The latter didn't really draw very well (probably still too hot and also close to Buttonwillow, which was in October) so we cut it for 2018.

Man that is such a bummer to hear. At this past event, the 5 mile to me felt like a race; the 3 mile felt like a crowded race; and Sonoma feels like a race during rush-hour commute haha.

And from what I can remember, the 3 mile at Thunderhill feels just as crowded as sonoma when we have more than the (wonderful) 90 or so cars that we had this time around.

It also needs to be considered how few people came out.  Lucky dog was in Sonoma, so it's no surprise it drew low.  I thought both the 5 mile and the 3 mile were great.  If there was a normally showing, the 3 mile would feel crowded, imo.  A crowded track and an empty track each has its benefits.  I'd take an overly light field over an overly heavy field every time.  If you've been at Sonoma with 150 cars, you'd understand.  The amount of racing you lose out on due to yellow flags is substantial. 

I really enjoyed how the classic 3 mile flowed.  5 mi sat, 3 mi sun would be fun!

Yeah, late summer or mid-summer or early summer Thunderhill is misery on a hot ass stick. I was at both of those and they were just rotten. I mean, I would have kept coming back to do them and gotten close to honking out each time, but, still, yuck. I remember Eyesore making it very clear they would have nothing to do with those races.