19th season of ‘Thursday Thunder’ starts June 2 at AMS

HAMPTON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Now that school is out, many of you are probably looking for things to do.

Here’s an idea: Thursday Thunder.

It’s back for a 19th season at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The weekly event, which includes Legends and Bandolero races, isn’t just fun for race fans.

With all the entertainment going on every Thursday night, no one will leave unsatisfied (except maybe the drivers who don’t win the races).

Drivers, ranging in age from kids to grandpas, race on the quarter-mile track that’s located in the quad oval of the superspeedway. It’s where some of today’s NASCAR stars, like Joey Logano and David Ragan, got their starts.

“As a kid, it’s neat to just be at a racetrack that the NASCAR stars are racing at on the weekends,” Ragan said last week. “I had a similar experience–showing up to a large facility with a lot of grandstands, and the banking that the Dale Earnhardts and Jeff Gordons were racing on and saying, ‘Man we get to drive on that track,’ and when you’re eight, nine, 10 years old that’s a really neat thing.”

Ragan, Logano and Reed Sorenson, all current drivers at NASCAR’s top level who began their careers at tracks like Atlanta’s quarter mile, all attended a media day at the track May 24.

The weekly racing series starts June 2. For more information, check out  atlantamotorspeedway.com.