The blue collar division of the local small car tracks in the central Pa area is the Thunder Car/Charger
division, that races at Path Valley, Linda's and Shippensburg Speedway. The class is an affordable form
of racing for those guys (and gals every once in awhile) that work all day long to support their love of
the sport that we all love so much. The drivers are some of the fiercest competitors when on the track,
but when you get them off the track they will bend over backwards to help another person.
The class is set up with 4 cylinder rear wheel drive stock cars, (mostly Ford Mustangs) with very
little modifications to the car, except for the cage and other safety features. Drivers are able to go out
and find a cheap run down car, that they can go tear the seats and other parts out of the car and weld
a roll cage into the car. The motors can be built up but only to a certain extent, and the rest is pretty
much up to the drivers to set the car up how they like it to be. The class is also set up so drivers who
have moved up into higher divisions, can come out with a car and race for fun. The drivers have 3
tracks to choose from between Path Valley Speedway, which races the class Friday and Saturday nights,
Shippensburg Speedway who race on Saturdays, and Linda's Speedway who have the division race
about every other week on a Friday nights.
These are the drivers who tend to stand out to the regular race fan like myself. You can walk the
back pit area and see almost all of the cars lined up close by each other. If anything would happen
during the night to a competitor, you will see people that were trading paint
the week before hustling around trying to help each other
get back out onto the track, so they can try to beat that
person on the track and not in the pits. Now yes there are
times when tempers flare and the drivers and crew are in
disagreement with each other over something that
happened on the track, then usually when the next race
weekend rolls around those drivers that were at each
other's throats are laughing about it and it is only an
afterthought.
In closing the Thunder Car/Charger division is a staple
for the blue collar person who just wants to go out and
have fun racing, even if you don't necessarily like the
division, you should respect the drivers, crew, friends, and
family because these guys and girls bust their butts to get
to the races. In many cases without all of their friends and
family who show up to support them, there would not be
a full crowd at any of the 3 race tracks who have these
cars; so to the Blue collar racer we the FANS thank you for
all you do!
28 ~ The Inside Track