READING -- It was a dark and stormy night for Bob Miller on Aug. 19, 1990.

He couldn't sleep as the alarm clock read a few minutes past midnight.

It was race day for the inaugural 410 sprint car show for Thunder on the Hill at Grandview Speedway, and the sound of rain bouncing off his porch had Bob asking himself what did I get myself into?'

Yet, as often can be the case, Mother Nature can ruin a dirt track event in no time. But on this occasion, Bob prevailed.

By 2:30 that afternoon the cloud had moved out, the sun was shining and the first-ever Thunder on the Hill (TOTH) show went on as planned as a large crowd watched Steve Smith win the inaugural race.

The TOTH idea came from sprint car legend Dave Kelly, who was Bob's best man in his wedding.

"Dave brought up the idea about a 410 sprint car show at Grandview and set up the meeting with Grandview owners Bruce and Theresa Rogers," Miller said. "I never thought it was going to go on for 19 years, but 79 races later, here we are."

Race No. 80 will take place next Wednesday night, with the opening round of the Keystone Classic for 410 sprint cars. Sharing the open-wheel doubleheader card is the ARDC midgets. The series comes to Selinsgrove on Sunday, May 25.

There are six TOTH shows set for 2008. The next show is June 5 when the USAC sprint cars return for their eastern swing. The ARDC Midgets will be on the card as well. The PA Speedweeks race is set for July 1 along with the 358 modifieds. The big-block DIRT modifieds are in on July 16 with the "5-25's feature-only" programs rounding out the schedule Aug. 12 and Oct. 18.

But the very first race, and the series, almost didn't happen.

"I never had my money involved before in the race, as I was always a hired hand," Miller said. "The day before the first show and even into the day of the show, it rained. All I could see was disaster. If we had bad weather and only had 800 people, I probably wouldn't have tried it a second time. But it turns out we endured up with the second or third largest crowd ever at Grandview for that time period."

The series has grown from one or two races a year to five or six races now. Some of the biggest names in open-wheel racing and sanctioning bodies, such as the California Racing Association, World of Outlaws and DIRT modifieds, have been a part of the series history.

Miller, who works full-time for Pepsi, is also the long-time public relations man for the United Racing Company, a position that he has held since 1985. The URC comes to Selinsgrove on Saturday night for the annual Jack Gunn Memorial Challenge and again on July 19.

Miller's love of racing goes back to his childhood days, when he grew up at the famed Reading Fairgrounds.

"My parents went to the races and, from what my mom tells me, I was two when I first started going. I remember the crowds, the loud cheers and the announcer, Warren Ruffner," he said of his early days at the track.