We're Kenny and Lisa. We've had the same two seats on the Turn 3 end of the grandstand since 1994, which is when Lisa came to her first race to see what all the fuss was about and hasn't missed more than a handful since. Kenny's been coming since he was a kid on his dad's shoulders. We don't own the track, we don't work for the track, we don't drive (yet, says Kenny), we just love it, and we figured somebody ought to write it down.

Thunder Valley Speedway is a quarter-mile, high-banked clay oval out in the county with a covered wooden grandstand, a pit area behind Turns 1 and 2, and a concession stand that's been there since before we were. Racing every Saturday night from April through September, hot laps at 6, heats at 7. General admission gets you a seat anywhere in the stands; the pits cost more and you have to sign the waiver.

If you've never been to a dirt track: it is loud, it is dirty, you will go home with clay in your hair and your ears ringing, and you will want to come back next week. Bring earplugs for the kids, bring a cushion for the bleachers, bring a jacket even in July because it gets cool once the sun goes down. Don't wear anything white. Sit high in Turn 3 if you want to see them come off the corner sideways, and sit low on the front stretch if you want to see the start. We're in Turn 3.

Three classes run every week. Each one runs heat races to set the field, then a feature. A typical night is three or four heats per class, maybe a B-main if there's a lot of cars, and then the three features, with the late models last because they're the headliner.

Late Models. The top class. Purpose-built race cars with a tube chassis, aluminum body, big V8s, wide tires, and a wedge shape that leans into the corner. Fast, expensive, and the guys who run them race all over the region. 25-lap feature. When twenty of these get rolling into Turn 1 three-wide it's the best thing you'll see all week.

Modifieds. Open-wheel up front, with a stubby body and the engine sitting back where you can see it. Cheaper than a late model, still plenty fast, and they run on a narrower tire so they slide around more, which makes for great racing. 20-lap feature. This class had the tightest points battle we've ever seen this year, see below.

Street Stocks. Where everybody starts. Full-bodied older American cars, mostly Monte Carlos and Cutlasses and the like, gutted, caged, with a stock-type engine and street tires. Rules keep the money down so working guys can race. 15-lap feature. Lots of contact, lots of cars, lots of kids in the stands yelling for their dad. Our favorite class to watch, honestly, because anything can happen and it usually does.

Top five in each class after the season finale on September 18. We keep these off the sheet the track posts at the pit gate every week; if we've got one wrong, e-mail us and we'll fix it. Points are 50 for a feature win and go down from there, plus heat points.

September 18: Season Finale

Biggest crowd of the year. They opened the overflow lot in the hay field and it still filled up. The track was tacky and fast after a rain on Thursday, and the late model feature went green-to-checkered with no cautions, which never happens.

Late Models: Randy B. in the #17 had the title just about locked up coming in and didn't take it easy anyway. He started fourth, took the lead from Tommy K. on lap 9 with a slide job into Turn 1 that had the whole grandstand on its feet, and never looked back. 25 laps in a little over seven minutes. Tommy hung on for second and Darrell W. was third. Seven feature wins and the championship for the #17. He climbed up on the roof at the flag stand and threw his gloves into the crowd. (Lisa did not get one. Lisa is still upset.)

Modifieds: THE race of the year. Gary L. (#33) came in six points ahead of Jeff D. (#7j), and because of how the points work, whoever finished ahead of the other was going to be champion. Jeff won his heat, Gary finished second in his, so Jeff started on the pole and Gary started fourth. Jeff led the first 14 laps. Gary got by Brenda S. and Mike P. and ran Jeff down, and on lap 17 they went into Turn 3 side by side, right under us. They touched. Both of them wiggled. Neither one lifted. Jeff came off the corner ahead by a fender and stayed there, won the race, and Gary finished second, six points ahead, champion. Jeff won more features (5 to 4) and the race, and lost the title by six points. That's dirt racing. They shook hands in the pits and Jeff said "next year" and we believe him.

Street Stocks: 24 cars, which meant a B-main. Dale H. (#01) was already the champion and finished fourth. The feature went to Chuck E. in the #29 after Tony V. got turned around on lap 11 (nobody's fault, just racing). Amy G. in the #57 finished second in only her first year and got a standing ovation when they announced her as Rookie of the Year. There were a lot of little girls in the stands that night who noticed.

August 28

Hot and dry, the track went slick by feature time, which the veterans love and the young guys hate. The dust was something else. Lisa's white sneakers are now Thunder Valley red.

Late Models: Tommy K. in the #4x took his fifth win of the year on a night when Randy B. spun in his heat and had to come from the back of the feature. Randy got to third by the end, which is why he's the champion, but Tommy was the class of the field. Scott M. second.

Modifieds: Brenda S. (#52) won it, her third of the year, running the high line all night when everybody else was down on the bottom fighting for the same six feet of clay. Gary L. second, Jeff D. third. That's the night the points got tight.

Street Stocks: A wild one. Two red flags, one for a car that got up on its side in Turn 2 (driver was fine, walked out, waved, the crowd went nuts), and 15 laps took almost 40 minutes. Dale H. won, Kevin T. second, and Amy G. got her first-ever feature win taken away by a caution with two laps to go and finished third instead. She got her win two weeks later. We were happier about that one than the champion was, probably.

Earlier in the season: We were keeping recaps on a legal pad and got behind. We'll type up the good ones (the Memorial Day 50-lapper, the July 4th fireworks night, the night it rained at lap 8 of the last feature and they called it) over the winter when there's nothing else to do. Check back.

You can bring your own cooler into the grandstand (no glass), and we do, but you're missing out if you don't visit the stand under the grandstand at least once a night. It's run by the same family that's had it forever, and the menu hasn't changed since Kenny was a kid, which is how we like it.

• The Thunder Burger. Griddle-fried, on a soft bun, with grilled onions whether you ask for them or not. Get two. $2.50.
• Walking taco. A little bag of corn chips split open with chili, cheese and onions dumped in, eaten with a fork out of the bag. It's genius. $2.
• Pork tenderloin sandwich. Hangs over the bun on all sides. The single best thing at the track. Sells out by the modified feature, so go at intermission.
• Popcorn in a paper bag, nachos, hot dogs, pretzels, pop in the big cups, and coffee that you will want by the late model feature in April and September.
• Intermission special: funnel cakes. Powdered sugar and clay dust, together at last.

Our favorite thing at the track that isn't a race car. Every Saturday at intermission, after the heats and before the features, they open the gate on the front stretch and any kid who brought a bicycle can line up and race one lap of the quarter mile. They split them up by age (little ones, then the 8-to-12s, then the big kids), the flagman waves the real green flag, and the whole grandstand cheers like it's the feature. The winner of each group gets a trophy and a free pop, and every kid who finishes gets a checkered flag sticker. Some of these kids take it very seriously. There are a couple of ten-year-olds who've clearly been practicing in the driveway.

Bring a bike, bring a helmet (they make them wear one), and get to the front stretch gate as soon as the last heat is over. Our nephew won the 8-12 group on August 14 and hasn't stopped talking about it. He's now telling people he's a racer. That's how it starts. That's how it started for half the guys in the pits.

Off-season: the awards banquet is in November at the VFW hall, and the track usually posts next year's schedule around February. Practice night is the Saturday before opening day in April. We'll be there. We'll put the 2000 schedule up here when we get it.

Other motorheads on GeoCities.us: Project '67 Mustang (Dave's going to bring it out to the track when it's done, he says), Gearhead Garage, and The Corvette Diaries.