Thunder Mountain Speedway in Corbin, Kentucky, will open its gates for the first time on Labor Day. It represents five years of work by owner and promoter Dennis Barton.
“It’s a brand-new racetrack, with brand-new concrete stands and brand-new buildings,” Barton said. “Nothing has been used before, even though some of the buildings are almost five years old.”
His five-year trek began with a piece of property, an idea, and a whole lot of resistance from government officials.
“I drove a little bit one time, and … we came upon this property, about three miles from Corbin,” said Barton. “We decided we were going to make it a racetrack.”
Barton built the 1/3-mile dirt oval into a “big hole.” As he constructed the track, the government intervened.
“We were building the track, adding on more and more things to the facility, and the next thing that happened was the State of Kentucky came by,” Barton said. “We ended up spending more time and money than we wanted to, but we did what they wanted us to do.”
The facility seats 1,500, with more room for fans along the hillsides surrounding the track. Thunder Mountain Speedway plans to race Friday nights. Their program will consist of crate late models, open wheels (aka modifieds), front-wheel-drives, and hobby stocks.
Several tracks are called “Thunder Mountain Speedway” in North America. There’s one in Center Lisle, New York. Another in Knox Dale, Pennsylvania. One more in Bottineau, North Dakota. And, yes, there’s even one in Canada, in Williams Lake, British Columbia. But don’t mistake the others for the one in Kentucky, cautioned Barton.
The first race for the Corbin, Kentucky, facility will be Monday, September 5.
“Corbin is a dirt racing town,” said Barton. “There used to be a dirt track here years ago, but they paved it over and interest fell off. The fans are looking for good racing on a smooth track. I am looking for clean racing and no tearing up of equipment.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
