Offseason Spotlight: Tyler Cahoon Named Thunder Road Sportsman of the Year

Barre, VT – At any level of auto racing, being a good sportsman is as important as being a good racer. In 2019, Danville’s Tyler Cahoon managed to be both. The 38-year-old veteran was already at the Thunder Road Banquet of Champions to celebrate his 8th-place finish in Maplewood/Irving Oil Late Model points – and got another reason to celebrate when he was surprised with the 2019 Thunder Road Sportsmanship Award.

Cahoon got his racing start at Thunder Road in the Street Stocks, winning the division championship in 2000. He returned to weekly Thunder Road competition in 2016 after spending the previous 15 years racing  Late Models at White Mountain Motorsports Park, with the American-Canadian Tour (ACT), and barnstorming at tracks around the region. His 2019 campaign was certainly solid on the track. His third career Thunder Road win on August 8 was the highlight of a regular season that included three podium finishes and eight top-10s in 14 events. Cahoon capped the year by winning the third segment of the 57th Vermont Milk Bowl and finished third overall.

But it takes more than good results to be a top sportsman. Being a good sport is about being a gracious winner and loser, about helping others when they need it, and about having fun on and off the track. As previous winners have attested, the Sportsmanship Award is one of the most distinguished awards a driver can receive at Thunder Road

“To me, it’s more important than winning a championship,” 2018 Thunder Road Sportsmanship Award winner Robert Gordon recalled the following winter. “It’s kind of what racing is all about – just having a good time. Yeah, you want to do well, but I don’t think doing well is as important as having a good time while you’re doing it.”

In retrospect, Gordon’s quote was also a perfection way to describe Cahoon. The second-generation driver and his #38VT Optical Expressions of Berlin team have always put fun first. His hauler is always one of the last ones to leave a Thunder Road event whether he finished first or 20th. Until they do depart, there’s usually a few other teams gathered around the hauler with him, telling tells of the night’s action and enjoying a few beverages.

Furthermore, Cahoon is a driver can almost always be counted on to race everyone clean inside the car and have a smile on his face outside it. The respect he gives others is usually repaid in kind. On the rare occasions where there is an issue – such as when he found himself perched on Jonathan Bouvrette’s car at the 2017 Vermont Milk Bowl – it’s smoothed over or forgotten within hours, if not minutes.

There’s also the little things that separated Cahoon from his peers. A prime example involves the re-opening of Forsythe Hill in mid-July. The rest of the year, whenever his division had out-of-car intros, Cahoon made sure to turn and gave a big wave to the growing number of fans in Turn 3. Cahoon’s willingness to do anything to help local racing succeed – from being friendly to young kids in the introduction line to getting up before dawn for a TV interview – are why he was chosen as the Sportsmanship Award winner.

“Wow. I definitely did not expect this,” Cahoon said after being presented with the award. “I think somebody close to me once said a long time ago, after his second Sportsmanship Award, that ‘I’m not racing you guys hard enough’.”

After that joke, though, the normally lighthearted Cahoon got serious for a moment, talking about the importance of remembering what short track racing is supposed to be and how to approach going to the racetrack.

“There’s many of us who have raced for a long time in this community, and we’re all family, without a doubt,” Cahoon said. “Some nights, depending on the event, you might be down on that. You might be on the wrong side of a call, or whatever it might be. But other nights, you’re on the top side – you’re carrying that checkered flag around the track, you’re waving to your fans, and you’re having a great time.

“Either way, we all need to remember that this is a hobby,” Cahoon continued. “I don’t believe any of us here are making money at this sport. We’re here to have fun – no different than back in grade school or high school when we were playing basketball or on the baseball field. We have to keep that in hindsight. When certain things happen throughout the year…we all need to remember that this is a hobby and we just like to have fun. So thank you to everybody that allows us to come and play in their sandbox and have a good time, whether it’s Thursday night or Saturday night or whatever night it might be. And go out with a bang – have fun. That’s what it’s all about.

“This is definitely a special honor,” Cahoon concluded. “It’s definitely something myself and my team have been thinking about. And you can bet we’re going to race you harder next year!”