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At WBC, the Thunder Alley event has a festive atmosphere, like the vendor booths at a NASCAR race. Everyone who signed in spun a prize wheel and took something away. This year each heat featured a ‘count the candy in the jar’ contest. One container had 294 mini Swedish Fish, a Yankee Candle jar contained 499 jellybeans, and a POM juice bottle held 1,233 mini M&Ms. Whoever guessed closest received the container (and candy). There were many smiles and laughing could be heard often.
Perhaps due to this fun environment, Thunder Alley attendance increased about 50% over the previous year: 38 individuals played. Every Heat had at least 24 players, last year there were only 25 total participants. Nearly half the field, 17 people, played in all three Heats, including three who already had a win in the first Heat.
Thunder Alley games can vary greatly based on cards drawn and play style. During the Heats, one table ended early due to a rain out when the second rain card was drawn. One table drew multiple cards that removed wear from cars, virtually negating the effect that wear markers had in the game. Another table had the exact opposite happen, and at the end of the race the majority of cars were slowed due to having three or more wear tokens on them. Depending on whether the pack of cars stays together or breaks apart, a game might end in one hour or run well over two. In 2025, both ends of the extreme happened, though it was more common to run long than short. All games did finish within the three hour time slot.
Through three Heats, 17 different winners emerged. Mitzi Hubble and Curt Collins II won two games. Four others: Daniel Bush, Steve Lollis, Jon Manley, and Dave Stiffler, had a win and a second place. Eighteen people qualified for the Semifinal which was played as six games of three players. The six players with a win and a second or better were separated to their own tables, and the rest of the field was assigned randomly. There was one no-show, which meant two happy alternates made the Semifinal.
Most games in the Heats had four players, one had five. In the Semifinal three-player games, everyone has five cars rather than three or four. This typically gives players more control over their own fate and lessens the blow of losing a car to being lapped or a track incident.
All six winners of the Semifinal advanced to the Final, here’s how those games ended:
- Daniel Bush got the high score with cars scoring second through fifth
- 199 - Daniel Bush
- 180 - Steven Proksch
- 172 - Joshua Githens
- Steve Cameron had cars finish first, third, and fifth
- 195 - Steve Cameron
- 178 - Andy Lewis
- 175 - John Manley
- Defending champ Curt Collins II took advantage of a late caution after a close race where all three players appeared to be about to win
- 195 - Curt Collins II
- 179 - Rob McKinney
- 174 - Anita Lundry
- First alternate David Wolfe had four cars in the top five to overcome Dave Stiffler’s points for having the first place car.
- 194 - David Wolfe
- 191 - Dave Stiffler
- 163 - Chuck Hubble
- Mitzi Hubble had the last place car, but also the first place car!
- 193 - Mitzi Hubble
- 179 - John Spinello
- 176 - Larry Jex
- Grant LaDue squeaked past Candy Collins when his entire team finished fourth through eighth
- 190 - Grant LaDue
- 187 - Candy Collins
- 170 - Steve Lollis
Final:
Qualifying positions for players’ cars were set by drawing the top card, per the game rules:
- First - David Wolfe
- Second - Daniel Bush
- Third - Grant LaDue
- Fourth - Steve Cameron
- Fifth - Curt Collins II
- Sixth - Mitzi Hubble
Through the first round of the game, David had the lead car but also another that had lost the draft (no longer with the pack). Grant got his cars close together, Mitzi had all of her cars in the main pack in the same line, Daniel had his cars mid-pack close together, and Curt was in the back largely by himself with two cars behind the pack. A Caution flag was drawn, as it often would this game, and all of the cars bunched back together.
After the second round, David had one car in the lead but the other two trailed the main pack. Daniel had lost the draft with two of his cars. Curt had two cars in the top six, and one way back left behind the main pack. Both Grant and Steve appeared to be favorites at this point with all their cars in the pack. Grant kept his cars clustered together and Steve was keeping pace with all of his cars securely in the pack.
After some hard racing in the third round, roughly the half-way point, another caution came out, bunching everyone up again. Nobody seemed to have much of an edge at this point, though David was the only one to have led laps, and he had done so with multiple cars.
In the next period of racing, Curt was bumped out of line. He ended the next turn nearly a lap down with one car, though his other two were in the second pack that contained all of Steve's cars. Mitzi, David, and Daniel all had two cars far behind and were forced to work together to prevent going a lap down. Grant had put all three of his cars in the top four and broken away from the field. Only a caution could prevent him from running away with the game. Like Curt, Daniel was also lapped with one car, then a caution came out saving them both. As happy as these two were, Steve wasn’t too happy that his car blew an engine and took the car out of the race. That caution was a disaster for Grant. The finish line was not far away, but too distant for any single card to push him over the line. To make matters worse, he would have to go first.
On the restart, Grant’s cars were first, second, and third. He sent one car alone toward the line. Mitzi moved second and pushed an entire line, which allowed Daniel to pass a bunch of cars from the back. David found himself in position to cross the finish line for first and second place. Even though his other car finished fifteenth, that was enough to win the game. One of Daniel’s cars was pulled in with David’s for third. Steve took a couple of his cars to the finish line as fourth and fifth. Curt salvaged a rough race by finishing in sixth and eighth places. All of this happened before Grant got another turn. He had gone from the top three positions at the restart to finishing tenth and lower.
In the end, a caution had flipped the race upside down. Some who were counting themselves out finished at the top, and Grant had gone from first to last.
The final points were David Wolfe 121, Daniel Bush 111, Steve Cameron 105, Curt Collins II 104, Mitzi Hubble 95, and Grant LaDue 93.
The event deck contains roughly one yellow flag card for every two green flag cards. In last year’s final race, there was only one caution. It was very unlikely to come out on the last turn. If the race had stayed green, Grant certainly would have won. Thunder Alley was a one-plaque trial event, but each finalist took home a hand painted stock car with the WBC logo, the year, and their place.
2025 was an enormous success! I hope to build on this year in 2026. Let’s make Thunder Alley the most fun event at WBC!
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Collins II, Curt [2nd Year]