Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) and Thunder Road International Speedbowl jointly announced Thursday afternoon that the race event at the venue has been moved to Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut. This move will result in Stafford hosting the first two events of the 2023 Camping World SRX Racing season.
The move was a collective decision between the racing series, Thunder Road track owner Chris Michaud, and Vermont governor Phil Scott.
Barre, the town Thunder Road is located in, as well as many other areas around Vermont have experienced historic flooding this week, which triggered a state of emergency declaration from President Joe Biden.
Some parts of Vermont received over nine inches of rain and the level of flooding in many areas has not been seen since Hurricane Irene affected the state in August 2011.
In a statement posted to the series’ social media, the SRX Racing Series explained that the decision was “difficult but necessary” and that their “thoughts are with the people of Vermont”.
Official Statement from SRX: pic.twitter.com/hsra2m3Q14
— Superstar Racing Experience (@SRXracing) July 13, 2023
As a compromise for the cancellation of the event, SRX also announced that they would be guaranteeing Thunder Road a race date in the 2024 season. The track also released a separate statement announcing that they would be refunding all tickets purchased for the July 20 event, and explained, “While we feel the immense pain of losing this major event for our business, it pales in comparison to those around our beloved state that have lost everything.”
In what was supposed to be one of the biggest weeks in the history of our iconic race track, has been turned upside down by a once-in-a-lifetime natural disaster and subsequent State of Emergency.
While we feel the immense pain of losing this major event for our business, it… pic.twitter.com/nOvMrUAZzY
— Thunder Road Speedbowl (@ThunderRoadVT) July 13, 2023
It is not known at this time if the race rescheduling will affect any of the NASCAR competitors’ plans to race at Thunder Road.
Hailie Deegan, Brad Keselowski, and Daniel Suarez were all scheduled to compete; while Deegan and Keselowski intend to compete in the entire six-race slate, Suarez’s only scheduled appearance was Thunder Road. Suarez was also scheduled to compete in the 44th Vermont Governor’s Cup at the circuit on July 13, but that event was postponed to July 27 due to the flooding.
