CHICO, Calif. — Silver Dollar Speedway is a healthy six-hour drive from Harrisburg, Oregon, but Tyler Thompson hauled his No. 7 sprint car down from Oregon this past weekend and impressed the California crowd while opening his season.
After timing fourth quick in his group on the opening night of the John Padjen Classic Silver Cup, Thompson snuck into the top-eight feature redraw by climbing to second in his heat race. In the main event, he led the opening two circuits and ran in the top-three for half of the race until a few late mistakes relegated him to eighth.
The top-10 finish is the latest sign of growth for the Oregonian and he’s expecting to take more strides throughout this season. Thompson’s planned route to improvement includes more racing in the Golden State.
Over the last couple years when he hasn’t been running up front in his home Pacific Northwest region, he’s headed south to California’s bullrings.
“Two years ago, we came down a little bit in our own stuff,” Thompson said. “Last year we drove for Blake Cook a little bit and came down here and ran. We ran Trophy Cup at the end of the year for Brett Smith. We did quite of bit of racing down here.
“We seem to struggle a little bit down here, but where the competition is, is where you need to go, and it’s definitely down here,” Thompson added. “We wanted to come down here more and I feel like we got our motor program better for our team this year, so we’re definitely going to be doing a lot more racing down here.”
Included in Thompson’s California itinerary are additional trips to Silver Dollar Speedway along with potential visits to Placerville Speedway and Marysville Raceway. During his previous outings at these facilities, Thompson has had to adjust to the surface developing differently than what he’s accustomed to.
“The thing I’ve noticed most is the dirt is just a lot darker and it usually stays a lot longer up there,” Thompson explained of his home tracks. “In the heat race it’ll be dead slick. Down here it stays a little hooked up a little bit longer, so you have to change for that, but right when it comes main event time then it slicks off, and it usually produces a really good main event.”
The biggest difference Thompson has noticed, though, is the cars around him on track.
“The competition is just so much more tough down here is what makes the tracks harder,” Thompson said.
Along with gaining experience in California, Thompson hopes to hone his skills against the top talent from both the West Coast and the country. As long as their equipment and budget allows, Thompson plans to compete with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars and the NARC Fujitsu General Sprint Cars when they invade Oregon and Washington.
“If we can keep a 410 together or get another one, we’re going to try and run the Outlaw shows and as much NARC stuff as we can up there,” Thompson said.
Thompson’s season will ramp up soon with the Pacific Northwest tracks opening their gates in the near future and California’s season already in full swing.With how strong his year began at Silver Dollar Speedway and his intentions to battle tougher competition, fans might expect to see Thompson at a California crown jewel later this year.
“If we can roll like we did this weekend a few more times, then we’ll definitely come down for Gold Cup,” Thompson said with a smile. “It’s just a matter of money and time.”