Welcome to Master Gassers

As Master Gassers grows into what I hope will be a different and fun way of covering dirt racing, I felt it would be best to introduce myself and how I got here.

My name is Steve Thornton, and I grew up in Pennsylvania about 35 minutes outside of Philadelphia. From a young age, cars and dirt racing were part of my every day life. I spent much of my childhood sitting in the grandstands at Bridgeport Speedway, watching big block modifieds, URC Sprint Cars and whatever else ripping around the big 5/8 mile track. It was in those grandstands that my love for the sport started and never really dissipated.

The highlight of those nights was usually getting a checkered flag autographed by the top five feature finishers that would stage behind the grandstands after the race. It was my Dad taking me down to the souvenir stand to let me pick out a die-cast car to add to my collection. I became so invested in the action on the track at a young age, that I could memorize the car numbers and sponsors of nearly every car that raced there, even if they were only there for a limited time. I began using my toy cars to create their own series, where I would keep a notebook of points standings and even have an indoor track and an outdoor track in our backyard.

It was in those grandstands that I met Chris Moore, who would also be playing with cars with me in the bleachers. Chris would go on to become the Bridgeport track announcer and then the Short Track Super Series announcer and FloRacing employee. You can see him doing interviews at the Tulsa Shootout and Chili Bowl.

This is why I was vocal about Lincoln Speedway potentially doing away with the flagger. The flagger represents something for the young fans in the stands. The flagger was part of my childhood and something that I payed attention to throughout the night. The flagger, along with many other factors, kept people like myself and Chris Moore invested enough to still be involved with the sport today. In order for this sport to grow and continue to be successful, there has to be a focus on the young kids in the grandstands. There has to be a reason for a family to want to bring their child to the track.

It was in those grandstands where I fell in love with dirt racing, especially sprint car racing. It’s a funny thing, my family owned dirt modifieds and they would always complain when the sprint cars were in town because they would extend the program, impact track conditions and crash a lot. Those things didn’t matter to me when I was growing up, all I cared about was the raw speed and buying a new T-Shirt from the different sprint car merchandise trailers that would arrive with the series.

As I grew older, my involvement with dirt racing changed. We were a small, family-team trying everything we could do to compete with the well-funded modified teams. I began helping out in the pits, helping out in whatever way I could. I was the watchful eye of track conditions and would do my best to relay information to our driver at the time. At the end of the day, we simply did not have the money to invest in a motor that would help us win races. We didn’t have the money to buy a new car every season or keep up with the latest technology that other teams were using to set up their cars better. We were there because we were all passionate about dirt racing and wanted to be down there regardless of where we finished at the end of the night.

To put it in perspective, our driver retired at the end of 2022, which was after our 22nd straight year of fielding a car at Bridgeport. In those 22 years, I think we won 6-7 races. During those struggles, a top five finish meant so much to our small team, that a family hug ended up breaking my Mom’s ribs out of pure excitement. Now, my family still provides sponsorship and a motor for a team racing at Bridgeport, but they no longer field a car.

When I was in college, I majored in Journalism and focused on web design and becoming my own media entrepreneur. For my final project, I created my own Northeast Dirt Modified website called Delaware Valley Dirt Racing. I tried my hardest to keep it going after graduating, but the money simply wasn’t there and I needed to find something to pay the bills. I had a lot of fun doing it and I think I always knew that I would return to something like that later on in my life.

Like many, Covid flipped my life upside down. Having tenure at my job allowed me to move across the country to Arizona and continue working remote. My job provides me the flexibility to be able to work on Master Gassers and build the brand. I am the only one working on this website and everything that you see in terms of content is created by me.

My passion for dirt racing never left and it never will. My experiences at the track and as a part of a small dirt racing team has provided me with the motivation to promote the sport and the drivers who are in a similar position. I have such an appreciation for “grassroots” racers who are grinding it out just to get to the track, that I have made it a goal to promote that side of the sport as best as I can.

So, that is how Master Gassers was started and that is the direction I hope to take it in. I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know that I want to help grow the sport in any way that I can. I want to work with the drivers, teams, and series to provide better coverage, promote races and help them grow their brands.

Thank you all for following along and reading the content. I have a lot planned for 2024 and I hope that I can make even the slightest mark on the sport that I love so much.