RPW Exclusive: Looking Back on the 2025 “Monster Bash” at Thunder Mountain Speedway
RPW Exclusive By: JOE PHILLIPS / RPW – CENTER LISLE, NY – Friday’s originally scheduled portion of the 2025 Monster Bash during Halloween weekend at Thunder Mountain Speedway, in Center Lisle, NY was cancelled due to heavy rain that occurred on Thursday throughout New York State. With the cancellation, the Friday portion of the weekend was moved to Saturday, making the Saturday portion a monster of its own.
The car counts for the evening were 38 Open Modifieds, 44 DIRTcar Sportsman, 27 IMCA Modifieds, 35 600cc Modifieds and 18 Factory Stocks. There were so many cars in attendance that teams were forced to park on the infield or just outside the pit gates, which is normally reserved for staff/crew parking.
With the high car counts, current Thunder Mountain Speedway promoter Mike Mallett decided to bring in Johnson Towing from the Middletown, NY area to assist the usual track crew. Andy and Joseph Johnson are familiar faces at track throughout New York State. And when the phone rings, the Johnson crew springs into action.
With Friday’s action being cancelled, the Hustle the Highway 600cc Modified series was combined with the regular Saturday 600cc feature. As a result, the feature on Saturday was the richest Hustle the Highway series purse, and quite possible, the highest purse ever for the class. Hustle The Highway director Doug Windhausen pointed out that the purse and contingencies were close to $10,000. With the large dollar amount on the line, racers were out to grab all they could!
With cooler temps and the car tires being cold, the 600cc Modified “Sam Usborne Memorial” feature was marred by red flags the first few laps. Drivers were safe, but a lot of equipment was damaged. At the end Charles Lohmeyer, Aiden Miller, and Anthony Desimone were the podium finishers.
The best feature race of the night was the Open Modified division. 27 cars took the green, and the feature ran pretty much caution-free. The biggest Invader for the event was Danny Creeden in the #16X. With the Super DIRTcar Series running at Georgetown, Modified Track Champion and favorite Darren Smith was absent, leaving the field wide open for anybody to contend for the win.
At the end of the 40 laps, Rocky Warner was the winner, followed by Danny Tyler and Brandon Loucks. Incidentally, Loucks put on his usual driving clinic, searching the high and low grooves trying to find speed. Sadly, the modifieds were about the only class to try the high groove. All the other features had the cars locked down on the inside in the corners.
This was especially true for the IMCA Modifieds. The IMCA cars were locked down low, and this resulted in some tangles with the tractor tires throughout the feature.
At the end of the “Ed and Jan Billings Classic”, it was Charles Fulton, Keith Lamphere, and Brad Sites who emerged as the podium finishers.
A couple of guest drivers in the IMCA class were Modified standout Jimmy Zacharias, driving the #23B car, and Tom Eiklor in the #5 car. Eiklor finished 10th while Zacharias ended the evening with an unfortunate DNF.
The next to last race on the evening was the DIRTcar Sportsman. Hunter Hollenbeck was the winner in the #72 car followed by Cody Manitta in the #6. Having a rare DNF was the #39B of 2025 Thunder Mountain Sportsman Track Champion Matt Brewer. Matt was caught up in a few skirmishes and decided to save the car for the 2026 season. Also struggling to qualify was Luke Powell, who advanced to the feature via a provisional.
Last on the card was the 40 lap Factory Stock feature. For most of the season, the factory stocks had issues trying to finish an extra distance race. Saturday, this was not the case. Granted, there were a few hard hits and upset drivers, but the race ran fairly quickly. Rich Green was the winner, followed by Earl Zimmer, and Harry Marvin.
Though it was cold, the track surface held up nicely and was smooth all night. Rumor has it, that some of the new clay that was staged after Labor Day was added to the surface. The track certainly seemed richer and tackier, even with the colder temperatures.
The Second Annual “Monster Bash” was a resounding success. Fans were treated to trick or treating, high car counts and exciting racing. The bash proves that even late in the season, racing is always exciting. And now that the final checkered flag has fallen at Thunder, the teams will begin the process of tearing down the race cars and prepping them for 2026!
