Speedway, Indiana (January 8, 2025)………Late model racing superstar Ricky Thornton Jr. will make his USAC Silver Crown debut when the 2025 series season opens on Sunday, April 13, at Indiana’s Terre Haute Action Track.
The Chandler, Arizona native, who has amassed more than 400 wins and 30-plus championships in factory stocks, modifieds and late models throughout his career, will compete in his first ever USAC Silver Crown event behind the wheel of a second Team AZ Racing entry as a teammate to the team’s full-time driver, C.J. Leary, in an Avanti Windows & Doors sponsored machine.
For Thornton, the recently crowned 2024 Lucas Oil Late Model champion, getting an opportunity to wheel a Silver Crown car has been a goal for quite some time. Come April, he’ll get his shot in the 21st running of the Sumar Classic at Terre Haute’s famed 1/2-mile dirt oval.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve just never had the opportunity,” Thornton revealed. “(Team owner Michael Burkhart) reached out to me last year, actually. We talked a little bit, but we just couldn’t find the right time for it to work. The hard part for me is a lot of the races are on the same weekend somewhere else. It’s hard to be somewhere Saturday and get there by Sunday to go to do it.”
However, the schedule will work in the 34-year-old driver’s favor this year. The previous two nights, on April 11-12, Thornton plans to compete in the World of Outlaws Late Model Illini 100 at Illinois’ Farmer City Raceway, just on the other side of the state line from the Silver Crown race on Sunday, April 13, in Terre Haute, Indiana, making travel logistically possible.
In recent times, Thornton has competed in midgets and sprint cars, including making his USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship debut in July of 2024 at Nebraska’s Jefferson County Speedway, making the feature in the process. In 2017, he competed in a 360 Challenge Cup Sprint Car event at Central Arizona Raceway, winning the main event his first time out. Nonetheless, a champ car is an animal all its own and is a challenge he’s looking forward to tackling.
“We’re hoping to find somewhere where we can go and test so I can kind of get used to the car,” Thornton said. “We’ll get a little bit of practice the day of the race, but it would be nice to go practice somewhere, and when we get there, not be so in the dark. I have a little bit of an idea with what’s going on, but until you’re in the seat, you really don’t know 100 percent.”
In fact, it’s an entirely new challenge as Thornton has never before been to the Terre Haute Action Track nor has he attended a Silver Crown race in-person or sat in the seat of a Silver Crown car. With that said, he’s seen plenty of both when taking in the action on FloRacing over the years.
Thornton pondered the expectations for his Silver Crown race day at Terre Haute. From track conditions to the feel of the car with a full fuel load to the competition he’ll face, the tangibles run the gamut. But once he feels in tune with the car and team, he’s confident that he’ll be right on pace.
“I think the biggest thing for me is going to be the start of the race,” Thornton anticipates. “As far as having all that fuel and stuff like that, how different the car is going to react to try to do things, that’s going to be the biggest thing. Figuring out the car and just getting used to it is going to take me a little bit of time with the car being so big and the wheelbase so long. I feel like once I get the hang of that, I’ll be in good shape. But I’m also racing against a really good group of guys. Being comfortable and trying to race are two different things, so hopefully, I can be competitive right out of the box.”
