Matt Hirschman Earns 'One For the Other Thumb' in 75th Race of Champions at Thompson

A new location produced a familiar outcome in the 75th edition of the Race of Champions.

Matt Hirschman lifted the Al Gerber Trophy for the 10th time in his remarkable career on Saturday, winning the Race of Champions in its first visit to Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.

Over the course of the 150-lap race, several drivers spent time contending for the win. Jon McKennedy, Friday's Outlaw Open Modified Dash for Cash winner at Thompson, led the first 64 laps, with Ron Silk and Patrick Emerling also spending time at the front of the field.

However, Hirschman dominated the second half of the race, claiming his first win at "The Big T" since 2008.

"It went really smooth, actually," said Hirschman in victory lane. "Early in the race, the 79 [of McKennedy] was real strong. The 16 [of Silk] came on after going to the back. Knowing those guys, they were going to be really tough to beat here today. I give them credit, I think they're better at Thompson than I am.

"I've been gaining ground on it. We finished second-place with Tri-Track in October here last year, second in August with the Whelen Tour. After being away for a long time, I hope I'm getting the knack of it and figuring it out a little bit."

Earlier this year, Jake Lutz picked up the win in the "72nd Race of Champions" at Lake Erie Speedway, finally made up after multiple thwarted attempts since the 2022 season. In eight runnings of the Race of Champions 250 at Lake Erie, Hirschman went to victory lane five times.

Hirschman did not expect that track record to continue at a track that had troubled him in the past, but his dominance of the long-running event continues.

"It's pretty crazy," remarked Hirschman. "It's expected that we would win the Race of Champions at Lake Erie, which we did not. I don't think we were the favorite here at Thompson today, but we pulled it off. The race has just been incredible for my career. Ten wins, and they came at four different race tracks along the way.

"I'm not done yet, but certainly having one for the other thumb is a good thing. I know I'm probably getting to the back nine of my career. I don't know how many more I can win, but I'll certainly try. This one's extra special, I think. I think it was a bigger challenge and some of the other ones were at tracks that I was a little bit more familiar with and a little bit better at."

McKennedy settled for a second-place finish behind Hirschman, his car trailing smoke and losing power in the closing laps. It wrapped up a solid Sunoco World Series of Speedway Racing for McKennedy, including Friday's win and a victory with the New England Supermodified Series on Saturday.

"It was a pretty unique race," said McKennedy. "A lot of strategy came into it, a lot of coming and going, pit stops. It was a neat little format, a lot of fun. The guys in the pits were awesome again. All year, they've been great. Big thanks to them. Overall, a great weekend. We won the Open race last night, won the Super race today, and a second here with the Race of Champions. Pretty awesome weekend.

"Matt was just really good. He's one of the best. I thought maybe we had a chance with around 10, 12 to go, but we started losing a little bit of power and it started smoking. Luckily, we were able to finish second, considering the circumstances.

Emerling finished third, recovering from a restart where he fell back to sixth. Like in Friday's Dash for Cash, restarts were the trouble spot for Emerling and his hopes to win.

"We had a good car," said Emerling. "The whole team, we executed. We put ourselves in a pretty good position on that last pit stop there. I think Matt, his strategy kind of fell in a little bit for him there. I don't know. I had a hard time firing again on the restart. Just come late up out of the corner, had that little bit of wheel spin on the late exit of that restart, just enough for him to put an edge on us and then, you know, get run into the marbles in the next corner there.

"I was pretty scared with the 79 there. He was blowing up. Something was going on with him, smoking. I wasn't even in the racing groove on the bottom. When stuff went loose there, I didn't want to be in it."

Silk finished fourth, with Jacob Christman rounding out the top five.

With the win, Hirschman also secured the 2025 Race of Champions Modified Series championship. It is his eighth championship with the series, and his first since 2015.

-Photo credit: Connor Sullivan

Race of Champions 150 Unofficial Results