''Saturday Night Thunder'' is a former

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

program that showed USAC racing on Saturday nights. It began on Thursday nights with the name ''Thursday Night Thunder'' on

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

. It featured dirt (like

Ascot Park Ascot Park can refer to: * Ascot Park (speedway) – dirt racing track in Gardena, California * Ascot Park, New Zealand – suburb in Porirua, New Zealand * Ascot Park, South Australia Ascot Park is a suburb in the south-western part of Adelaid ...

Gardena, California Gardena is a city located in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 58,829 at the 2010 census, up from 57,746 at the 2000 census. Until 2014, the US census cited the City of Gardena as the plac ...

) or paved oval tracks around the United States, although it frequently featured tracks in the Indianapolis area. Various racing series were televised, including Silver Crown,

midget Midget (from ''midge'', a tiny biting insect) is a term for a person of unusually short stature that is considered by some to be pejorative due to its etymology. While not a medical term like "dwarfism", a medical condition with a number of c ...

, and

sprint cars Sprint may refer to: Aerospace *Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design * Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automotive and motorcycle * Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 * Chevrolet Spri ...

. The series witnessed drivers like

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Moto ...

's rise prior to moving to

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and h ...

. It also saw the death of driver

Rich Vogler Richard Frank Vogler (July 26, 1950 – July 21, 1990) was an American champion sprint car and midget car driver. He was nicknamed "Rapid Rich".

. During the summer of 1993, the program also featured the Fast Masters series. In 2023, the ''Thursday Night Thunder'' name will be revived as the

Superstar Racing Experience Superstar Racing Experience (SRX), officially known as the Camping World SRX Series, is an American stock car racing series founded by Tony Stewart, Ray Evernham, Sandy Montag and George Pyne. The formation of the series was announced on July 13 ...

moves from CBS to ESPN.

References

{{reflist Open wheel racing Dirt track racing in the United States ESPN original programming Auto racing mass media