Thunder Valley Raceway Park in Oklahoma Closes - Rumors Abound That Current Lease Has Been Terminated
UPDATED: Track makes a statement on Facebook July 16th, which we have added to the original story.
Getting its start in 1992, Thunder Valley Raceway Park in Noble, Oklahoma has gotten a lot of attention in its 34 years of operation.
But the track may not see the 35th year, as its future is now in question after a rumored closing hit social media today.
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The 193-acre track, normally open between March and October each year, would host a variety of weekly events. It was also a stop on Rocky Mountain Race Week, including this year’s MEGAWEEK, and also previously hosted the King Of The Open Road event.
The track gained a lot of attention for no-prep events, and as a frequent testing track for Street Outlaws racers, as well as the original host of Outlaw Armageddon.
The track had been through some turmoil in the last few years, including being listed for sale back in August of 2022 for $2.85 million. It was sold to new owners, and then leased.
Rumors had circulated in late summer of 2024 if the track would even be open for a 2025 season, which was put to rest with an August 2024 announcement that there would be action in 2025.
The most recent event the track tried to host was their Midnight Madness on July 12th, which was canceled due to weather.
UPDATE: Below is a statement made on the Thunder Valley Raceway Park Facebook page on July 16th:
This will be my last Morning Ramblings. TVRP is Closed and No, I don't know what the future is.
I did my best and put my heart in sole into recovering it. I setup a remote suite with a fold out couch and moved in so I didn't lose any time driving back to the city. When my Slingshot got hit, I turned that into a new stage instead of getting it repaired. I met a lot of great people and had a great time. THANK YOU ALL WHO GAVE IT A TRY AND HELPED OUT!!! EXPECIALLY all the workers who worked in Oklahoma Heat day after day and could only smile when they got yelled at by racers!!! I simply can't see losing 30K per month going forward and 17K per month even when the weather doesn't allow anything.
A note to racers, stop with the bitching. We know you would like 80's pricing and 2034 payouts and we would like to give you that, but when the numbers don't add up, there is absolutely no way it can be done so no sense turning everyone off by complaining about it. Either come and race or don't. I have talked to like a zillion people and they don't come to the races anymore because all they hear is bickering, just stop.
To any future owner if there are any:
The Track, Timing System and all the prep vehicles are running good now. Oh, you'll need to change a sensor now and then, or something else, it is an Outdoor Sport and Oklahoma weather is not nice to electric stuff. The building are about 1/2 done with cleanup so turn them into something else like lodging, a bar, maybe electric car or drone races.
Setup a TVRP monthly car show and tell the participants to ""Prove It". Fire up Grunge Night and TNT often. Do flashlight starts once a month, and all the bikes and mini-bikes races you can handle. An go NoPrep!!.
Probably the most important tip is to not have any payout or sticky track event until you get the spectators flowing. Big Payout will NOT bring in racers so don't get talked into that. I met allot of great racers who GET IT, but far to many don't unfortunately. It costs 4-6K for one day Bracket Race. At $50 per tech card you would need 80 cars to break even. Guaranteeing a $2500 pot per class and then only having 15 racers for the class show up means you paid them to come race at your track. Just stick with NoPrep and parking lot events, which make good money, until you can get some race sponsors in place. I talked to 3 other track owners and they agree, Bracket = 90% of the Problems with only 10% of the return. Hell, go read the feed where I setup Groups for new projects to start doing the non track things I listed above. I was told more often to fix the (perfectly running, setting PB's Track) and stop wasting time on Spectators or other things (Racers, monitor your own policy should be implemented).
Look over the land. There is just under 200 acres to do stuff with. Eventually the land will no longer be a racetrack most likely, so setup some dirt bike stuff, maybe run some cattle in the back 50, heck, setup a shooting range like they have on the adjacent land.
Well, I'm off to take my neglected backyard neighborhood disc golf course back from the wild grass jungle it became while my tractor was at the track. All the neighbor hood kids will be happy again Also, maybe I can even have time to get my Switch out on the lake, it's been a busy summer.
Network Larry Out
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Thunder Valley Raceway Park and 1320 Video.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com