DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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A new, old sprint car chassis builder emerges | Daily 2-19-2024

A new, old player in the sprint car chassis business has re-emerged, and several of the sport's best are using them. That today, plus USAC's new full time announcer, and more. Let's go!

It's Monday, February 19th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

When I put these shows together five days a week, I do a ton of research each day, usually multiple hours to try and bring you the best possible picture of what's going on in dirt racing. I watch a ton of racing action, but that's not enough to understand everything that's happening. Which is why I built DIRTRACKR's analytics section. It's got race results and stat breakdowns for all the top national series and special events, and at this moment is across 1800 races worth of data. And if you want access to every tool and number I use for these shows, grab a subscription to DIRTRACKR Plus. $4.99 a month, or $49.99 a year. The year subscription gets you two months free effectively. And you can cancel any time very easily. Signing up gets you access to the Plus Dashboard which has added stat tools and visualizations. Unlock more than 25 extra features, including exclusive insights not found anywhere else. Whether you're a race fan, member of the media, or work for a series or track, DIRTRACKR Plus is the perfect resource for current dirt racing data to elevate your knowledge. Both World of Outlaws series, all three USAC National divisions, the Chili Bowl, High Limit, Lucas and a lot more. See everything Plus has to offer and sign up for a subscription over at dirtrackr.com/getplus.

One of the most viewed videos I've made on the DIRTRACKR channel was one I did about the sprint car chassis builder for Kyle Larson and Rico Abreu shutting down. That Daily show came out on March 31st last year, and to this point has done 52,000 views. That was one of those that I didn't expect to blow up, but for some reason it did. At the time, Speedway Motors, which sells all sorts of parts and pieces for race cars, had announced they were closing down the chassis building portion of the Eagle Motorsports business. Speedway was going to continue selling components, but not full chassis, and they did end up releasing some employees. Paul Silva had famously been utilizing Eagle chassis for years, obviously to great success more recently with Kyle Larson in the seat. And other guys in Eagles included Rico, Ryan Timms, Chase Randall, and Logan Wagner when he drove for Zemco. At the time, we weren't sure how those teams would move forward for repairs and new pieces. Would they end up needing to switch manufacturers, could they just keep recycling what they had, or was there a third direction? The conversation around sprint car chassis is usually effectively non-existent, and it's something I've even talked about on the show, how we just don't seem to care much. At least not nearly to the point that we do on the late model side. Chassis are a constant story in dirt late model racing, but you rarely hear about them on the open wheel side, unless it's a mention by a driver in victory lane while they rumble through the supporters list. But under the surface, sprint car chassis do seem to be a big deal. Car owners like Silva remain fiercely loyal to their favorites, and we've even seen guys cheat the system to keep their favorites in rotation (see Aaron Reutzel from a few years ago). Think about also Donny Schatz and J&J. And even Sheldon Haudenschild flipped back to J&J this season after a year and half in Triple X's. The 17 team obviously looking for some speed after struggling through 2023. Some of these components are probably worth more attention then we give them. So back to this Eagle situation with guys like Larson and Rico, what has happened in the nearly 12 months since Eagle was shuttered. Well, there was a release last June about a new Eagle branded chassis builder popping up in Nebraska owned by Mike Boston. He is building cars, including some micros, but Rico and Larson and those other guys didn't migrate his direction. Instead, they followed longtime fabricator Brian Schnee to his new venture with Dan Lawson, Schnee-Lawson Chassis. This offshoot was setup last April in the aftermath of the Speedway/Eagle situation, and they have since built a new shop in Missouri near I-70 Motorsports Park. You can literally walk from their building to the pit area of I-70 up the entrance road, they are so close. If you aren't aware, Schnee has been building chassis for like 40 years, including famously for some of the best like Doug Wolfgang. He eventually sold out to Speedway himself and was incorporated into the Eagle line there. But now he's back out on his own and building and repairing cars under this new brand. Sprint car driver Xavier Doney is working at this new operation as well, and running these chassis when he races both winged and non-wing shows. On it's Facebook page, Schnee-Lawson shared a photo of Ricky Warner and the RAR guys picking up a few new cars back in December, and besides Rico and Larson, another high profile team has switched to this brand recently. Tyler Courtney and the Clauson Marshall 7BC have started out hot this year, already winning with both High Limit and the Outlaws, and during his victory lane interview at Volusia, Sunshine very briefly mentioned utilizing these new cars. The 7BC was previously a Maxim team, which is what Brad Sweet drives among many others, but they swapped over during the offseason. Sunshine was already headed in a strong direction last year after he came back from injury, so I wouldn't equate all this recent success to the change, but it certainly doesn't appear to have hurt them. With these three top guys all running these cars, I wonder how long it will be before others want to jump in on the fun. It's certainly a nice advertising campaign to have Kyle Larson, Rico Abreu, and Tyler Courtney winning in your equipment. If you want to check them out, search for Schnee-Lawson on Facebook. There is also a podcast from Speedway featuring an interview with Brian Schnee from 2021 that you can find on YouTube.

USAC's early season racing is complete down south, but there was going to be a lingering question into the spring: who would fill the role as series announcer? The previous two years it was Chet Christner, but he's pulled back to a different role at FloRacing. In 2021 it was Tony LaPorta, who's now the pit reporter for High Limit, and before that it ws Rob Klepper, who is now the voice of the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets. To start the season, Bryan Hulbert handled the duties at Ocala and Volusia, but that felt like a stop gap for the time being. Hulbert has been the main voice of the ASCS sprint cars, and a cornerstone at the Chili Bowl. But just this morning came the official word that Hulbert will stick around in the role with USAC for good. When racing starts back up again on April 5th, Hulbert will be the guy for the USAC National Sprint Cars, National Midgets, and Silver Crown Series. I personally love this move, Hulbert is very good on the mic, and I'm surprised it took a series this long to pluck him away from the ASCS. He does an incredible amount of research, he's got a great voice, and he's a seasoned pro. Big win for USAC and it's fans with this move. You can see the full details in a release at usacracing.com.

If you were hoping to see some dirt late model racing this weekend in North Carolina, unfortunately you are now out of luck. This weekend's XR Super Series opener at Ultimate Motorsports and RV Park in Elkin has been cancelled. They cited frigid night time temperatures and potential precipitation in advance of the event. The XR season will now open April 5th and 6th at Volunteer Speedway for the Spring Thaw. The series recently announced an expanded schedule for 2024, that originally included 22 events, that was obviously before this cancellation. All races are either $12,000 to win or $30,000 to win. The full schedule is available over at xrsuperseries.com.

That's it for the show today. The streaming schedule is quiet today, with no racing slated until later this week. You can see it and a lot more over at dirtrackr.com.

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