DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Aero bits called out, Knoxville responds; mod-standout getting a chance | Daily 4-24-2025
Shark's new driver confirmed, at least for this weekend. Plus sprint car teams push the limits at Knoxville with aero bits, a modified standout getting a late model chance, and a lot more today. Let's go!
It's Thursday, April 24th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
Today's Daily show is being supported by BAPS Motor Speedway and SprintCarUnlimited.TV. Coming up this Sunday, BAPS will continue their expanded 410 sprint car schedule with round number three of their season long championship. Sunday's program will feature some of the best sprint car teams in Central Pennsylvania, joined by 358 modifieds. If you can't get to the track, watch it all live on SprintCarUnlimited.tv. Sprint cars will be on track for hot lap/time trials at 5PM. The upcoming 410 schedule at BAPS will feature several more 410 sprint car shows, including Pennsylvania Speedweek in June and the World of Outlaws in July. All races, except the World of Outlaws event, will be included in the track championship. And new this year, the BAPS point fund has been grown to $20,000. Head over to bapsmotorspeedway.com to see the full slate of races, and if you want to watch each of the championship races live, including this Sunday, plus the PA Speedweek show, the Kevin Gobrecht Classic, and the season finale Sprint Showdown in November, you can do that all season long on SprintCarUnlimited.TV.
So before I could even get the Wednesday show uploaded with the Ashton Torgerson rumors, the young driver went ahead and broke his own news yesterday on social media. He will indeed get behind the wheel of the Shark Racing 1A sprint car. The way the announcement is worded though, it kinda seems as though this initial run is only for this weekend. Torgerson mentions three nights of racing in Pennsylvania. That would definitely include the Grove on Friday and BAPS on Sunday. Jacob Allen's original schedule had Port and not Lincoln, so my assumption is they'll stick to that. If you don't know Ashton Torgerson, he's a young guy from the west coast, has made multiple Chili Bowl appearances, and spent much of last season running midgets. This season, it seems as though the focus has shifted towards sprint cars, and he's run some in a family owned car, but also with Clayton Snow. Five races so far with High Limit, two with NARC, and that first night of Mini Gold Cup. He made both High Limit features at Central Arizona, and a 15th on the second night there is his best finish of the year. Torgerson's best career 410 finish was a seventh with NARC at Southern Oregon last year, but he's still very green when it comes to 410 competition. Just 23 career starts headed into this weekend. In 2025 at the Chili Bowl with Keith Kunz, he was eighth in a Saturday B-Main. And last year in a full time run with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series, he won three times on his way to fourth in the final standings. Make no mistake, he's getting thrown into the deep end here with three big Central PA shows. I think the expectations will be pretty low for the 18 year old driver, as most drivers don't just roll into tracks like Williams Grove, Port Royal, and BAPS and immediately go fast. That Saturday show at Port Royal is $15,000 to win, so that will be a packed field for sure. Looking beyond this weekend, I do think it's likely the 1A remains a fluid seat for the rest of 2025, unless Torgerson really shines. Rumblings are the Tanner Holmes door might not be completely closed, and I've heard Shark and Bobby Allen are still interested in him running at least some races.
Jumping back to last weekend at Knoxville, I know some of you saw Jeremy Elliott's 90 at 9 yesterday where he discussed the aero bits that were found on a few cars during Thursday's practice night leading into the World of Outlaws events. If you don't know the story, Paul Silva's 57 driven by Kyle Larson, along with the cars of Tasker Phillips and Jack Anderson, were all spotted with added aero pieces. On the 57 specifically, there was an underbelly piece that ran a significant length of the car all the way to the fuel tank, and I was also told there was some sort of enclosure around the right rear shock. Cleaning up the flow of air underneath the car could be helpful on a big track like Knoxville, and it woudn't be the first time it was done. I don't know the specifics on the other two machines, but all three teams were told by World of Outlaws officials to remove those extra parts before cars were allowed on track. The Outlaw rulebook is pretty specific about not allowing these types of pieces to be added to the cars, and there is an entire section of the book devoted to the body. There is also the catchall rule at the end about any new designs needing to be approved in advance by series officials. It's a fairly bold move by these teams to go so blatantly against what is allowed, but hey, I guess sometimes you need to test the system. It's my understanding that none of the three who were found with the parts alerted officials to their presence ahead of time, but that several other crew members in the pit area spotted the parts and passed the information along. No penalties are forthcoming because the pieces were not used in competition. When I talk about some of these tech things on the show, and we show off photos, and point things out, understand that this same thing is happening in the pit area every week to all the top running cars. Crews are on the hunt for any perceived advantage they can spot on their competitors' machines, and anything outside the ordinary is going to get reported. And with what we've seen from Silva over the past year, between the wing and the turned up exhaust, his car is going to be in the crosshairs as soon as it's rolled out of the trailer. Something that I think went unnoticed this week in the aftermath of the Thursday aero part discovery, is that Knoxville itself made some rule changes in advance of their season opener this coming Saturday. Under section 7.18 of their sprint car rule book for body side panels, section E saw verbiage updated about how those side panels can be fabricated and where they can be located. That update can be found at knoxvilleraceway.com/rules. You can wander through the Outlaw rulebook over at dirtcar.com/rules.
In some late model driver news, the World of Outlaws have lost one of their rookie competitors, with the announcement that Daniel Adam will step back from the super late model, and spend much of the rest of 2025 driving a modified. Through the opening 10 series races, Adam had made just three main event starts, and currently sits 18th in the championship standings. His best finish was a 16th place run at Swainsboro. In a release, the team revealed that Adam will run midwest modified events in a Longhorn mod, but their super late model won't sit quiet. Decorated modified driver Mike McKinney will step into that seat and contest races with MARS, the Summer Nationals, and other scattered events this season. McKinney has already won twice this season, and won 17 modified races in 2024, but he hasn't raced a late model since 2021. Team owner Joe Adam said Daniel needs time to quote "fine tune his race craft and learn more car control" unquote, which is why this move is being made. With Adam off the tour, the World of Outlaws Late Model Series heads to Talladega this weekend with 19 full time teams.
Alright, let's run through some of the major dirt racing coming up this weekend. Starting first with late models, I just mentioned the World of Outlaws at the Talladega Short Track. They've got two nights coming up, with Saturday paying $50,000 to win. This event is being run alongside the NASCAR weekend across the street at the big track. Bobby Pierce leads the championship right now over Ryan Gustin and Nick Hoffman.
On the flip side, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series is back racing after more than a month since their last event. They've got Georgetown, Hagerstown, and Port Royal coming up. Devin Moran, Ricky Thornton Jr., Jonathan Davenport, and Brandon Overton are the four chase cars at the moment, but a lot has happened since they last raced. Based on the results we've seen elsewhere, I would expect Hudson O'Neal and Brandon Sheppard, who are eighth and ninth, to be better going forward.
You've also got MARS at Brownstown and Peoria, while weekend Comp Cams shows have been cancelled.
Headlining the sprint car weekend is the World of Outlaws at Jacksonville and Haubstadt. David Gravel still in control, with Logan Schuchart now second, and everyone else behind losing more ground. Tracks like Jacksonville and Haubstadt have produced surprise winners in the past, so don't be shocked if we see some different names up front Friday and Saturday. For example, Brady Bacon has won two straight at Haubstadt.
In Ohio, the All Star season should hopefully get started on Saturday at Fremont. The delayed start to the season did allow them to add a 13th full time team, with Creed Kemenah signing on with the series. I still think Devon Borden, Kalib Henry, and Brandon Spithaler are the early championship favorites. Rival Ohio series FAST is also in action, with a Saturday show at Muskingum County.
The POWRi 410 sprint cars are at Creek County and Tri-State this weekend. Just one race complete so far, a Sam Hafertepe win at the Texas Motor Speedway dirt track. Creek County with some nice upgrades for the 2025 season, including better lighting, a new catchfence, and changes elsewhere. They also painted that new catchfence black, which is a small thing tracks can do that helps the viewing experience. The black catchfence actually appears to disappear in your view. Hat tip to them for the work.
Up in Wisconsin, the IRA sprint cars open their season at Beaver Dam on Saturday. Steve Sinclar and his group putting together a list of full timers that is 20 strong, and that will be a tough championship to win this season.
And in California, the NARC season continues Saturday at the Tulare Thunderbowl. We are still not sure how this championship is going to play out, as race conflicts and weather could go a long way towards deciding who is even in contention for the full pull. DJ Netto leads Kaleb Montgomery and Shane Golobic in the standings, but first to 22nd are separated by just 51 points.
Weekend races affected by rain, include the ASCS National Tour at RPM Speedway. Both nights there have been postponed with new dates forthcoming. And the USAC midget opener at Kokomo has been pushed back a day, with racing Friday off, and the event now running Saturday and Sunday. I've seen questions wondering why Jason McDougal is driving the 7X midget that we normally see Thomas Meseraull in. McDougal is filling in for TMez, who will be in a winged sprint car at Knoxville. He's registered for the 360 division there this season.
Alright, this show has gone on long enough today. Hope you guys have a great Thursday out there and a great weekend, and we'll see you back here on Sunday!