SARVER, Pa: Regardless of the conditions or location, when Ricky Thornton Jr. rolls into a dirt track anywhere in the country, he is one of the favorites to contend for the coveted first-place check.
Thornton is that talented in a Super Late Model. He’s also shown his chops in other disciplines, which is what made his venture last weekend at Lernerville Speedway so intriguing.
But running a 410 Sprint Car for the first time is different. There are few similarities to a Late Model, and Thornton was thrown into the deep end of the pool without a floatie against High Limit Racing regulars, some of whom are the best drivers in the country.
The difficulties Thornton faced were evident once he took to the racing surface. It was a steep learning curve, but despite not making the main event Friday or Saturday night, the Chandler, Ariz., driver absorbed information and figured out what he needs to improve on for the next time he competes in the division.
“I had a great time, and I’m glad I got a chance to come out and run with High Limit, honestly,” Thornton said. “Obviously, the competitor in me, I wish I would’ve had a way better night, but at the same time, there is a lot to learn to run a Sprint Car.
“We had a decent weekend and improved every time out, and I feel like if I went somewhere and turned 100-150 laps — learn the car a little more — I think we would be in better shape. Overall, we decided we were going to do this Thursday at three o’clock, and Bernie was scrambling to get another car together. So, it was a last-minute thing, but I’m glad we did it.”
Continued Thornton, “I had a good time, and I’m looking forward to doing some more Sprint Car stuff. I don’t know where our next one will be, but I do know we are going to go to Charlotte. So, we will see if we can learn, but I love Sprint Car racing, so it’s nice to do it.”
It didn’t take long for Thornton to realize that the two cars — a Sprint Car and Super Late Model — were glaringly different. Despite being comfortable behind the wheel, hot laps and qualifying were eye opening Friday night, and it continued Saturday.
According to Thornton, “You try to charge into the corner running a Late Model, you’re not making the corner.” In a Sprint Car, the 33-year-old driver figured out you need enter wide open in most cases, turn the car, and then lift in the middle of the corner.
But that wasn’t the only surprise. One of the biggest problems Thornton encountered was keeping the car straight on the straightaways and setting it up for the upcoming corner.
“I didn’t think it would be as hard to go straight down the straightaway as it was,” Thornton said. “Getting into the corner and running really hard wide open, that is different than what I’m used to, but it’s tough to tell yourself you need to do this and do that while you’re racing.
“It’s night and day different, really. I tried to learn the curb a little bit getting into Turn 1. Usually, we can cheat it a little bit, but in a Sprint Car, you almost have to enter on it. There is still a bunch I can learn. It’s little stuff — technique stuff — that’s different.”
On Friday, Thornton timed 19th out of 20 cars in his flight. He ran last in his heat race, and despite not qualifying for the main event, Thornton improved and passed a couple of cars in the B-Main.
Thornton was 18th in his flight on Saturday and 10th in his heat race. That buried him in the C-Main and couldn’t make enough headway to advance to the B-Main, and his weekend came to an end without getting valuable A-Main laps.
Imagine being a favorite to win every night out in one division and not contending for a spot in the main event in another. That’s tough to deal with, but Thornton was able to keep it in perspective.
“The hard part for me is that I’m used to being really, really good, so it’s hard to come out and run this stuff and not be as competitive as I thought I would be,” Thornton said. “I knew we didn’t have a shot to win, but I thought we would at least have a shot to get in the show. I wasn’t even close to that.
“I got myself so far behind in qualifying … not that I hit a really bad lap, I just didn’t hit it the right way. Even today (Saturday), I didn’t get off Turn 4 the way I needed to and killed both laps. It’s little stuff like that I can learn from.
“But I had a great experience overall. Obviously, I wanted to make the show, but I knew it was going to be a tall task no matter what, not having any laps. I didn’t wreck it, I didn’t flip, and it rolled into the trailer. So, I feel like it was a successful weekend.”