Dormant since 2003, Big South Fork Raceway and Events Center will host its first practice on Friday, April 25. At the helm will be the original owner’s daughter, Jodi Jeffers.
Her father, Tommy Thompson built the track in 1995.
“I was in my 20s having kids when my mom, Sandy, and my dad opened the track,” Jeffers said. “My husband, Tony, was racing late models. Now, we have six grandsons and everything we do is all about the boys — racing, monster trucks, and everything else they are interested in.”
Thompson sold the track in 1998 and then reacquired it about a decade ago. Work began on bringing BSFR back two years ago.
“After the pandemic ended, we felt there was more of a need than ever to have a family entertainment destination in our county,” said Jeffers. “Our kids had grown up and our family loves racing. The timing was right, and Dad approached us and said let’s reopen the track.”
Reopening a track closed for two decades was not an easy task.
“It was all hands in — cousins, nephews, grandchildren — a big family affair to get the track back into condition,” Jeffers said. “It was so overgrown — it was a forest. For the past two years, we removed trees and vines. We brought in new clay; we cleaned the grandstands and buildings.”
The family also brought in bright LED lighting, among other improvements to the track. The weekly program focuses on family-oriented events on primarily Friday nights. It will host various specials, too, including a Topless Outlaws event on Saturday, August 9.
“We’ll have lots of events that kids can participate in,” said Jeffers. “Bicycle races, with age divisions that have a point fund and big prizes at the end of the season. Agricultural events, like mutton busting and chicken racing. Our county has been deprived of local events. We’ll have the capability to host concerts, tractor pulls, and other agricultural events.”
The Big South Fork Raceway 2025 season starts with a practice on Friday, April 25, and then its season opens on Friday, May 2.
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.
