Thursday Night Thunder

Thursday Night Thunder/Saturday Night Thunder is a motorsports anthology series that was originally broadcast by ESPN and ESPN2 from 1989 to 2002. The program featured coverage of short track events from dirt and paved oval tracks around the United States (primarily around the Indianapolis area), including USAC Silver Crown, midget, and sprint car races.^[1][2]

Thursday Night Thunder
Also known as	Saturday Night Thunder (1990-2002)
Genre	Auto racing telecasts
Starring	Allen Bestwick Joey Logano Conor Daly Darrell Waltrip Matt Yocum
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Production location	Various SRX venues
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	1 to 2 hours (depends on Live or Tape Delay event)
Original release
Network	ESPN
Release	May 11, 1989 (1989-05-11) – November 30, 2002 (2002-11-30)
Release	July 13 (2023-07-13) – August 17, 2023 (2023-08-17)

Jeff Gordon was introduced to midget racing via Thursday Night Thunder. He made appearances in races televised by the program before pursuing a NASCAR career.^[2][3] On July 21, 1990, Rich Vogler was killed in a fatal crash during the final lap of a USAC event on Saturday Night Thunder from Salem Speedway. As Vogler led the last completed lap before the red flag was called, Vogler was also posthumously declared the winner of the race.^[4] In 1993, ESPN broadcast the Fast Masters —a series of races involving retired drivers—via the program.^[5]

In December 2022, ESPN acquired the rights to Tony Stewart's Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) series, replacing CBS Sports. It was concurrently announced that the events would air on Thursday nights, and that ESPN would revive the Thursday Night Thunder branding for the broadcasts.^[6][7]

See also

• ESPN SpeedWorld

References

1. The 25 Most Powerful Players in Indianapolis Auto Racing"17 Terry Lingner. Indianapolis Monthly. May 2001.
2. McGee, Ryan (17 November 2008). "Everyone but Jimmie Johnson". ESPN. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
3. "Humble Beginnings". Stock Car Racing. Archived from the original on 30 April 2010. Retrieved 19 November 2009.
4. "Vogler Killed in Sprint Car Crash". Los Angeles Times. 1990-07-22. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
5. "Fast Masters: When Jaguar ran a bizarro XJ220 racing series for retirees". Hagerty Media. 2018-02-27. Retrieved 2020-09-18.
6. Kerschbaumer, Ken (2023-07-13). "Thursday Night Thunder Returns to ESPN via SRX; SMT, Plucky Revamp Graphics, Data". Sports Video Group. Retrieved 2023-07-19.
7. Rutherford, Kevin (December 12, 2022). "SRX Returning In 2023, Moving To ESPN". Frontstretch. Retrieved December 12, 2022.