DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Don't cheat with tires at these tracks, it will sting | Daily 2-5-2024

Rare cooperation in Central Pennsylvania as area tracks look to crack down on cheating, the High Limit rulebook is out and we'll tell you what you need to know, plus racing tonight at East Bay and Volusia and a streaming note for you. Let's go!

It's Monday, February 5th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

Over in the DIRTRACKR merch shop, I have just three of the alternate logo t-shirts left. They are all size small, and I've marked them down to just $10. I've been asked about a fresh round of apparel, and as soon as these shirts are on their way out, we'll start exploring some new offerings. You can grab one of these shirts on sale now over at shop.dirtrackr.com.

If there's something we know about dirt racing, it's that cooperation between series or tracks or teams is often difficult to make happen. There are a few examples around the sport, but for the most part, you can rarely get a group to work together on anything. So I was a bit surprised last Thursday when the announcement came out about several Central Pennsylvania race tracks working together to crack down on doping sprint car tires. According to the release, Williams Grove, Port Royal, Lincoln, and BAPS have all joined together starting this year to combat cheating with tires. The new policy says that if a team is found to have an illegal tire after lab testing, the team is then on the hook for the cost of the testing, they have to pay back their purse money for the night where they were caught, a $2000 fine is levied, with $1000 going to the York County Racing Club Injured Driver's fund and $1000 to the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing. The team will also lose their points for the event, and they will be suspended for two weeks for any events at either of the four race tracks. For teams racing sprint cars locally, those are significant penalties, as they should be for a cheating infraction as serious as altering tires. If you don't know what it means to cheat with tires, go watch my video from May of 2023 called "Why dirt racers cheat with tires, and how they do it." I went into an explanation on that show about the process after Roth Motorsports was busted by the Outlaws last season, leading to the suspension of James McFadden. Now, to be clear, policies like we are seeing implemented in Central PA are only as good as the enforcement around them, so let's hope they take that part seriously. I'm sure I'll get comments on this video about how terrible the testing labs are, and how things can be hidden or faked, or whatever. But we'll leave that discussion for another day, and maybe to other people who understand the science better. Hopefully too, this leads to more cooperation between the tracks in the area. I know that Jeremy Elliott has been advocating for a more cohesive schedule up there for several years.

In some other sprint car rules news, the High Limit series dropped their 2024 rule book over the weekend. On a very cursory glance, it seems to be fairly standard across the board. The car specification rules are basically exactly the same as you will find in say the World of Outlaws rule book, right down to the exact verbiage and drawings that have been used for many years about car construction. And many of those drawings were created by Outlaw officials. And this jives with comments we heard from WRG CEO Brian Carter during his Sprint Car Unlimited interview a few weeks ago, where he alluded to High Limit officials being included in safety meetings, and that they will continue to be included in things that involve the integrity of the sport. GASP, cooperation between these two sides in at least one area, that should blow some minds. One specific section of the rulebook where both sides are in agreement as well, is in the fire suppression systems. The Outlaws made these systems mandatory last year, with the All Stars and midweek High Limit series calling them recommended but not mandatory. The systems continue to be a point of contention for some teams and drivers, so I do think it's notable that a sprint car series owned by two drivers has gone ahead and mandated them. I think everyone involved understands that progress needs to be made in how the systems are implemented, but I don't know how you argue against trying to keep drivers from catching fire in the cockpit. If you are so inclined, you can view the High Limit rulebook over at highlimitracing.com.

Down south today, Lucas is scheduled to begin their portion of WinterNationals at East Bay. This will be the final ever peedweeks racing at the Tampa-area track as it's set to close after the 2024 racing season. The track was open for practice on Sunday, and it looks like they did get in at least some laps, with pretty close to 40 cars participating. MyRacePass has Jonathan Davenport topping the speed charts. We'll have to keep an eye on the weather today, as there is rain in the Tampa forecast, but it looks like the rest of the week should be good to go if they don't end up racing tonight. Ricky Thornton Jr. leads the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series standings after six races. Hudson O'Neal, Devin Moran, Jonathan Davenport, and Brandon Sheppard complete the top five. Some guys in early holes after the first few events that are 10th or lower in the standings include Tyler Erb, Garrett Alberson, Mike Marlar, Earl Pearson Jr., and Max Blair. Keep an eye on websites and social media today for Monday show status updates. If it does happen, you can watch live on FloRacing.

Across the state at Volusia, DIRTcar Nationals gets rolling tonight as well, with UMP modifieds on center stage. They'll be the only division on the card tonight, with sprint cars not joining officially until Wednesday, although they do have practice tomorrow night. There is no reason to not expect a big field of mods all week, as Volusia routinely draws near 100 cars for DCN. Some drivers who have already picked up Florida modified wins this year include Kyle Strickler, Austin Holcombe, and Lucas Lee, with completed stops at North Florida and East Bay. Speedweeks wraps up for the modifieds this coming Saturday with the Big Gator championship. You can tune into DIRTcar Nationals tonight and all week long live on DIRTVision.

One other streaming note for you... Usually when we have a DIRTVision series and a FloRacing series at the same track on the same night, we end up with one of those lame streaming nights where you have to flip back and forth. Think about like a Let's Race Two at Eldora. But coming up early next week at Volusia, I've been told you won't have that with the USAC sprint cars. Flo will still only carry the USAC portion next Monday and Tuesday, but DIRTVision has been authorized to broadcast the entire night. So if you are a DV subscriber, you will not have to play that game. You'll get to see the full show of DIRTcar sanctioned late models and the USAC National Sprint Cars. The USAC season starts Friday and Saturday coming up at Ocala. They'll then be at Volusia Monday and Tuesday next week, then back to Ocala the following weekend, February 15th through 17th. Hopefully this isn't the last time we'll have streaming cooperation in 2024.

That's it for the Daily show today. Make sure to hit up the streaming schedule over at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight to see your viewing options for this Monday.

Hope you guys have a great Monday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!