RESULTS: NERRC #3 – Midnight Madness

5th Anniversary of Midnight Madness

This year marked the 5th running of the Midnight Madness, racing under the lights, event at Thompson Speedway. When the idea was first announced in 2020, it was a welcome addition to a shortened season already encumbered due to the Covid pandemic. Being able to offer something new, different, and exciting to our racing community, the night race quickly became a big hit. It is now attracting other drivers from across the country, who plan and add it to their season schedules as a bucket-list race.

With almost 130 cars attending the 2025 weekend, there were 8 groups out on track, which included a CRE session as well as the Historic Racing Group. Overall the weekend ran smoothly, with a morning qualifying, an afternoon daylight race, and then the night-races kicked off just after 8:30pm as dusk hit and the track lights were turned on.

Two track records were set. Congratulations to Bruce Ledoux in GTX and Michael Collier in LC, who set these during their afternoon races.

As always, this event would not be possible without the volunteer workers. While only a one-day event, it is a very LONG day for our workers, who arrive on station by 10:00am and were still out on track, on the grid, in tech, and in the tower at 11:00pm when the final race concluded.

Flagtronics LED Boards

The Midnight Madness race was also the first NER event where LED boards were positioned at each flag station around the track. This allowed our F&C operators to utilize both traditional fabric flags, along with the lighted LED boards, to communicate track conditions with drivers.  Some competitors currently have a Flagtronics system installed in their cars, that replicate the LED board flag conditions. This was not required for the Midnight Madness event, but did allow the NER CRB to gather feedback regarding the use of both the LED boards on their own, and in conjunctions with the the Flagtronics on-board systems, during a regional qualifying and race sessions.

Flagtronics was first introduced, and optional, at the 2023 Runoffs as a proof of concept. In 2024, it became mandatory for all Runoffs competitors. Now, in 2025, a Flagtronics in-car system is required for anyone participating in both the Runoffs and any Hoosier Super Tour event. The use of Flagtronics, LED boards or station lights, are gaining in popularity at tracks across the country, so it is something both workers and drivers should start becoming acclimated to.

Greg Amy was the Flagtronics control operator for this weekend, and is looking for any and all feedback from everyone. So far, initial comments have included that it was extremely helpful and useful at night, but the boards might have been a little difficult to see during daytime due to their size. Suggestions on how to differentiate on the LED boards between a standing, waving and full-course yellow was requested. There has also been discussion on the consistency between fabric and lights – making sure they are both “displayed” as close to simultaneous as possible.

If anyone has any specific feedback to provide Greg, please reach out and let him know.

New Track Records

GTX – #72 – Bruce Ledoux – 1:20.070

LC – #6 – Michael Collier – 1:24.881