Waterbury, VT – Officials from Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl are pleased to announce the return of Merchants Bank for the 7th Annual Merchants Bank 150 on Sunday, May 1. The Merchants Bank 150 is the second event on the 2005 schedule for the ACT Late Model Tour, and will open Thunder Road’s 46th season of stock car racing.

Since its inaugural running in 1999, the Merchants Bank 150 has quickly become one of the most prestigious events at the Barre, VT oval, and has also seen great side-by-side action from the regular NAPA Tiger Sportsman, Allen Lumber Street Stock, and PowerShift Junkyard Warrior divisions in recent memory.

Barre, VT – Thunder Road Int’l Speedbowl has been cited as an “Editors’ Choice” in the May 2005 issue of Speedway Illustrated magazine, chosen by two of the publication’s major editors as the nation’s best short track. Speedway Illustrated is the nation’s leading stock car racing publication with published monthly circulation of 120,000.

Executive Editor Dr. Dick Berggren, a well-known television broadcaster, said of Thunder Road, “It’s where fans can see stock car racing at its best and racers can hammer down in fast but affordable cars.”

ACT is based in Waterbury, Vermont, and has a seemingly endless supply of talented drivers living in its home state. But ACT also has strong ties in the state of Maine. In fact, ACT President Tom Curley is a native of the Pine Tree State. Maine drivers Dick McCabe of Kennebunkport (right), Mike Rowe of Turner, and Unity’s Ralph Nason grabbed more than their share of checkered flags in the former ACT Pro Stock Tour’s formative years. In fact, McCabe was the series champion in 1981 and 1982, taking a whopping 15 wins in that two-year span. Oxford Plains Speedway legend Leland Kangas was the 1980 Rookie of the Year and Beech Ridge Motor Speedway Champion Rick Zemla drove Bill Griffin’s Pepsi Challenger Buick to the same feat in 1984.