“Thursday Night Thunder” is back.
The iconic racing series made Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Ryan Newman and several others household names as they steered open-wheel cars around midwestern short tracks.
Now, the made-for-TV series is set to return for six midsummer weeks, bringing the cars and stars of the Superstar Racing Experience — or SRX — into living rooms on ESPN.
“It’s a way of looking back to help move it forward,” veteran motorsports broadcaster Allen Bestwick said of SRX’s move to ESPN and revival of the “Thursday Night Thunder” name.
Bestwick has served as the play-by-play announcer for SRX since the series’ inception. He called each Saturday night race on CBS over the series’ first two years and remains with the tour as it transitions to the Worldwide Leader in Sports.
However, the move to Thursdays is just the latest positive for SRX. The series is entering its third year after having sold out some of the nation’s most historic short tracks, garnered more than a million weekly TV viewers and attracted a who’s who of driving talent.
The series was birthed for the 2021 season by Stewart, Ray Evernham, business executive George Pyne and broadcast agent Sandy Montag. Motorsports veteran Don Hawk joined the company as CEO in 2022 and has also become part of the ownership group.
The concept builds upon the old IROC model, putting 12 racing superstars in equally prepared cars. Each one is powered by a 700-horsepower, 396-cubic-inch V-8 Ilmor engine. But SRX has created its own identity, due in large part to the series visiting both asphalt and dirt short tracks for six consecutive weeks and fully embracing the “show” aspect of its brand.
“It’s a television show that happens to have a race going on,” Bestwick said.
The relaxed nature of the event allows the broadcast to do things that would be unheard of in any other motorsports competition. That includes out-of-the-box ideas like interviewing drivers under green-flag conditions.
“We can do things to make sure that people don’t miss any of the action,” Bestwick said. “It’s a television show, so we take advantage of that. The purpose of being here is to entertain the people. Now, when you wave a green flag and you have a dozen very accomplished race drivers behind the wheel of a race car, do they want to win? Of course, they do. But they want to win laughing and smiling.”
Initially, those accomplished drivers consisted primarily of former NASCAR and Indy car racers who had retired or whose careers were winding down. The full-time SRX drivers were occasionally joined by a recurring cast of current or former racers who participated as schedules permitted. The move to Thursdays allows more current stars to participate before their weekend commitments begin.
Eight full-time drivers will contest each of the six events this year. Among them are defending champion Marco Andretti, 2021 titlist Tony Stewart, Bobby Labonte and Paul Tracy. That quartet has competed in each of the series’ 12 events thus far and is returning this year.
Brad Keselowski, Hailie Deegan, Ryan Newman and Ryan Hunter-Reay will also be among the full-time competitors for the season, which runs from July 13 through Aug. 17. Numerous other headlining current and former NASCAR and Indy car drivers, and even NHRA drag racer Ron Capps, will be part of the action at some point.
The idea of moving to Thursdays came from Stewart, and the “Thursday Night Thunder” concept on ESPN came about when CBS had no space for a weeknight show.
“It opened all new doors and arguably this is the best driving field this thing has ever had,” said Hawk.
But outside of television, the series has broad appeal for both the tracks hosting events and those attending as fans. Each race features an autograph session and the chance for fans to get up close to series champions, Daytona 500 winners and Indy 500 victors. Forty-three tracks reached out to SRX about hosting events this year, which Hawk and Stewart narrowed to six based on geography.
Hawk also is cognizant of the fact the series’ ultimate goal is to put on a show, both in person and on television.