BARRE— Thunder Road International Speedbowl has been sold.
Business partners Cris Michaud and Pat Malone signed documents Tuesday afternoon to make official the biggest and most important transaction in Vermont stock car racing history, purchasing the 56-year-old facility from founder Ken Squier and longtime promoter Tom Curley.
The purchase price was not disclosed publicly.
Michaud, a three-time Thunder Road champion from Northfield, became a race official in 2014 upon his retirement from driving competitively. He served in several roles for Curley’s organization, which included the American-Canadian Tour, though his primary role was as race director.
Malone, who owns Montpelier-based Malone Properties, is a commercial real estate investor and developer, and has been involved in local motorsports as a sponsor of race cars for several years.
The change in ownership is the first for Thunder Road since a messy, yearslong legal battle that began in 1978. Squier and Barre’s Cooley brothers built and opened Thunder Road in 1960. The track was a smash hit, drawing crowds averaging 6,000 in its first year. Once adopting sanction from NASCAR in 1965, the track rose to national prominence and flourished in the early 1970s.
With commitments growing as his national television and radio broadcasting roles expanded, Squier put Thunder Road up for sale. Tommy Kalomiris, a businessman from Long Island, purchased the track in 1978 with grandiose plans, but struggled mightily and the track quickly fell into disrepair; he ran just six races before shutting the doors.
Only five races were run over the next three years as lawyers and banks postured. Squier and new partner Curley won the deed back, opening again in June 1982. Since then, Thunder Road hasreclaimeditsspot as a standard bearer for short track racing, both competitively and promotionally; Curley was named the national Auto Racing Promoter of the Year in 2004 by Racing Promotion Monthly, the industry’s highest honor.
Curley, who is 72, has been in declining health in recent years due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Squier, 82, i s ready to be out of the track ownership business. Curley will still own and operate the American-Canadian Tour in 2017, and Squier continues to work daily at Radio Vermont and WDEV, which has been in his family and operated in Waterbury since 1931.Source: Rutland Herald site
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