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Literary Chicks Visit Thunderhill Raceway To Experience"Racing In The Rain"-The Book!

shell — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:25:21 -0700

Members of the “Literary Chicks” book group of Willows and surrounding towns including: Sibyl Morrison, Carlene Mann, Kathy Nacis Zabell, Adele Foley, Deana Fleming, Theresa Zoller, Jody Allen, Susie Sorenson, Cassy LaVigne, Frances Cole-Boyd, and Joan Webster, visited Thunderhill Park recently to see the inspiration for Garth Stein‘s book Racing in the Rain. Stein captured the flavor of road racing through the eyes and thoughts of his dog, Enzo, and wound it around a credible plot. One of the best segments in the book had Denny Swift giving his dog a ride around the 3-mile Thunderhill Raceway in the early morning. Stein described the rural agricultural environment that people who live in Glenn County take for granted. He captured on the page, the scent, sounds and colors of the crops in the fields as well as the “feel” of the farming that surrounds the seventeen year old Thunderhill Park. Led by life-time local resident Terry Walker/Taylor/Vodden, the ladies traversed the road course experiencing, first hand, the pictures that the book had created in their minds when read weeks before. “It was a unique and inspiring adventure to see the actual impetus of that which was captured in the book,” noted long time member Frances Cole-Boyd.

It is expected that movie rights owner, actor Patrick Dempsey, will make a movie from the book and film segments of it at Thunderhill Park as well as here in Willows. Thunderhill Park is a three mile, fifteen turn road course located just seven miles west of Willows. It opened in 1993 and remains very busy with all types of recreational motorsports activities. Information about Thunderhill Park can be obtained by accessing the track web page at www.thunderhill.com

The track has copies of the book "Racing In The Rain" available at the track Pro Shop! ...

The Legacy of Thunderhill Park, a story worth reading!

shell — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:10:29 -0700

Contact Thunderhill Raceway today at 530-934-5588.

Thunderhill Park will turn 18 years old this year having opened "officially' in October of 1993. It has been a long journey for those of us who started with the project in the year of 1987. Long in years but even longer in time when you consider that all enterprises that start from scratch take 12 hour days at the rate of seven days a week. That is what we did back then and it is still not uncommon to have a 12 hour day or a seven day week. It's just not every week anymore.

One of the neat things about Thunderhill is the recognition that it has received in a world where a great many new tracks have come on line funded by wealthy people who were able to use huge resources to create exceptional amenities right at the start. As you know Thunderhill was funded by a large body of racers, mostly SCCA drivers. In addition other Clubs, groups and individuals were there when the need was made public. Today we ask people to support the mission of Thunderhill by buying food, fuel, merchandise and renting garages. Most importantly we ask that everyone who wants and needs to use a closed-course road track give Thunderhill the business. So far all of this has worked very well. The progress you have seen at Thunderhill has all come from those who use the park and those who see the value in supporting the future growth and development of Thunderhill by buying what they need from us. Thank you for your insight and your sense of the long-term value you create by doing something as simple as purchasing gasoline from "your track".

People chose to use a track facility for a lot of reasons with location being at the top of the list. Available dates fall in close behind. But after that choice is made the number one reason why people come back to a track is the value they perceive in the course itself. Not so long ago, well known track designer and former general manager of Miller Motorsports Park, Alan Wilson said, in print, that Thunderhill Park was the best run road course of its kind in North America. Wow! He suggested that those who wanted to see how a facility should be run should check us out. Thanks Alan! In the last issue of Sports Car well known road racer and columnist Randy Pobst described what he felt were the "best "road race tracks in the world. Among these were the Nurburgring, Mosport, VIR, Road Atlanta, Watkins Glenn, Laguna Seca and Road America. Toward the end of his article Randy said the following," My favorite track built in the last 20 years is Thunderhill Park." [Thunderhill offers] "A combination of safe runoff and the traditional road-course feel with lots of corners in many flavors, all spicy hot!" Another Wow! Thanks Randy! See you at the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. In the end, the appeal of a venue be it a personal assessment or a published one, does have an impact on the user's choices. It has been said that it is the "ride" that counts and this is true. The better the on-track experience, the more challenging, the more intimidating [up to a point] and the longer it takes to master the intricacies of the course, the more likely people will return to that venue. This also influences the likelihood that journalists will write interesting stories about the track. All of you who call Thunderhill Park home can be proud that some pretty savvy people think you are playing on one of the best tracks in the country!

And as Buzz Light Year is known to say, "To Thunderhill and beyond!" Recent web page data shows that we had 100 visits last month from Canada, 24 visits from the United Kingdom, 19 visits from Australia, 10 visits from Germany and 7 each from Belgium, France, Sweden and Italy with the Netherlands bringing up the rear with 5 visits from their home land road-race enthusiasts. This immediately makes me think that HOD is expanding to these countries but, in fact, these numbers tell a story about the magnitude of the track the SCCA built 17 years ago as well as the quality of the offering that has spread around the world. For statistical types there were 5,521 visits from the United States in this Google Dashboard analysis of our web page. And keep in mind this is for a fixed period in time from July 17th to August 16th. When the 25 Hours of Thunderhill starts to ramp up for its 9th running here in December, the numbers from Japan will jump off the chart. In Japan the 25 Hours of Thunderhill, our signature event presented by National Auto Sport Association [NASA], is a really big deal. In addition to a whole host of US race driver and movie celebrities, we get a significant number of Japanese racers including the famous Honda based, Spoon in-house race team.

Between now and the 25 I would encourage you all to attend and participate in our events. The September SCCA Vintage event has been heavily promoted and promises to be big on September 11th and 12th! The final SCCA regional championship point event at Thunderhill is scheduled for three days starting on Friday September 24 and wrapping up on Sunday the 26th. The SCCA has moved their season final and RDC endurance race to Laguna Seca in October.

October will see the wildest of all on-track racing when the AFM concludes their two-wheel action on October 2nd and 3rd and then there is the always-fabulous CSRG vintage final event October 29th through the 31st. CSRG is famous for raising funds for charity at there events. They included the local Willows hospital as one of their benefactors in 2009.

In 2010/2011 we are trying to save the local FREE 4th of July community fireworks show for everyone in Willows. As with other great community things that rely on private support, this annual celebration of our nation's greatness has run out of funding! Can the racing community help?

David Vodden

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Tires And More Tires Offer Extra Value!

David Vodden — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 15:01:10 -0700

You can now purchase tires on line from Thunderhill Park! That's right, all you have to do is click and go and then have them shipped to Thunderhill and we will mount them and balance them and have them ready.

You can do this 24/7 and the Toyo and other tires that you order will be waiting ready for you provided that we have your rims. And everything that you purchase at Thunderhill actually helps the track make improvements, improvements that you actually can benefit from! After all, this is how we built the place in the first place so making purchases here is much the same as your forefathers did when they paid surcharges and made donations so that we could have Thunderhill Park. This applies to fuel purchases too as well as food concessions and garage rentals and even just entering events here in an indirect way.

So buy your tires from Thunderhill by clicking on the link to the TIRE SHOP above. It is easy and it is good for your racing today and in the future! tires@thunderhill.com ...

25 Hours of Thunderhill Set for December 4-5

David Vodden — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:41:02 -0700

The 8th annual 25 hours of Thunderhill automobile endurance race is set for December 4th and 5th at Thunderhill Park. This most famous of all Thunderhill racing events has become a happening in the world of motorsports attracting many national and internationally known drivers and race teams. "The best part of this event is truly the night time ambience of red and white lights streaming through the cool December night air," noted NASA President and founder Jerry Kunzman. "For any real race fan who considers the Daytona 500, the Indianapolis 500 and the 24 Hours of LeMans as the big three, this event is a must! It gives you all the sensations that would come from going all the way to France to see that legendary event," Jerry said.

Entries for the longest endurance race in North America are already pouring in with about 75 expected to take the green on Saturday, December 4th at 11am.

Spectators are admitted for $15.00 per day or $20 for a two day ticket on Saturday only.

Go to NASAPRORACING.COM for information about the race event or contact the Thunderhill office at 530-934-5588 for more information. Tickets are not sold in advance but can be obtained at the gate on Friday December 3rd through Sunday December 5th. ...

Why Create A User Account?

shell — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 09:01:36 -0700

Creating a user account is quick and easy. It allows you to take advantage of some of the more powerful featues of this website.

You can post ads in the classifieds section, create your own personal events calender, and sign-up for the Thunderhill Enlightening e-newsletter.

If you are a track day provider you can also post (.pdf) files about your upcoming event!

Tell your friends to visit the new Thunderhill Raceway website today and become part of all the excitement!

-The Thunderhill Team ...

Summer Time At Thunderhill!

shell — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 09:58:46 -0700

If you grew up in road racing in Northern California during the period from the 60's through the 80s the time to play was the summer! Warm weather, no threat of rain, vacations and the longer days all meant more road racing for the SCCA and the few other groups that did such things. It also meant Sears Point Raceway and Laguna Seca in June, July and August.

But that changed in the summer of 1994. Armed with a long history of summer fun, the SCCA planned a BIG road racing event on the 4th of July at their all-new Thunderhill Park. What an event this was going to be! The Club even had NASPORT signed up to join the throngs of racers. And there was a big crowd, really big.

But there was one small problem. The weather for the inaugural 4th of July SCCA event at the club-owned 1.8 mile, nine-turn course was hot. It was over 100 degrees in the shade and there was no shade back then.

Despite the "surprise" heat, the event came off and everyone survived! The next fourth of July SCCA event was scheduled again at Thunderhill in 1995. It was hot again. But there was some shade.

It began to appear that hot days in Willows California in the July were not a random possibility. Darn!

Armed with an accelerated learning curve, the leadership of the SCCA decided that there was not going to be a 3rd annual July 4th SCCA extravaganza at Thunderhill in 1996. The body of bay area people who thought 80 degrees was warm were not ready to acclimate to 100+. The summer of racing changed forever.

And now it is common knowledge that Thunderhill Park has four distinct seasons.

We have the winter months of January and February where the weather is truly winter like.

We have the incredible spring that can be from early March to mid June where everyone wants to play at Thunderhill Park, [And Park fits the description of the venue.]

We have the real summer that is hot and dry featuring the legendary California golden landscape. This is usually July and August.

We have the fall months of September through November that are as beautiful and perfect for amateur road track events as is the spring.

And we have December that does not know where it fits in. In recent years December has been fabulous. Very little rain combined with cool days and seasonal landscape have made December the month for more and more events at Thunderhill. The absence of other track activities, the seasonal shut down of sanctioning bodies and the early onset of cabin fever have resulted in more than one event organizer ending up with a fabulous day-long event. [And the track gives rental discounts in December.]

December also has the tracks biggest and most famous event, the 25 Hours of Thunderhill. Held on the first weekend in December, this marathon race is a must see event! I is an even bigger must-do event. It is truly big and getting bigger every year!

So there you have it. From a time when most recreational road racing was done exclusively by the Sports Car Club of America in the summer months in the Bay Area to a broad-based schedule that spans most of the year. Times have changed.

Looking back it is easy to recall that summer of 1995 when it became hot news that an annual SCCA 4th of July event at Thunderhill was probably not a good idea.

Stay tuned.

David Vodden

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Teens In Control!

shell — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 15:58:13 -0700

The Teen Car Control Clinic on June 24 was a big success!

Young drivers from all over the North State attended a driving clinic at Thunderhill Raceway today that was sponsored by the California Hiway Patrol and local area Rotary clubs. I can tell you that an exciting time was shared by all!

"This was a great learning experience today" said one smiling student as she headed off for her next car control exercise. She yelled she was "having a lot of fun" while she put on her helmet and climbed into her car! Another student added that after attending today's event, he would feel much more confident while driving out in the real world". Yes, download complete!

Honestly, it doesn't get any better than that, and there isn't anything more important we can do for our teen drivers than to teach them what to do and what not to do while they are out on the roadways! There is no safer place than Thunderhill Raceway for young drivers to learn the skills they need to become better drivers, and the instruction they received today just might save their life tomorrow!

The next teen car control clinic is scheduled at Thunderhill on July 28. The price will be $99.00 per student. The forms to sign up for this exciting event are available right here: thunderhill.com/images/library/File/Teen_DrivingfLYER.pdf

Click below to view a Fox 40 video of all the exciting action today at Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows California!

www.fox40.com/videobeta/27e0a548-4cec-4635-9204-21c857e527da/News/Teen-Driving-Drills

For more information on this exciting event, please call 530-934-5588 ext 100. ...