DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Hunt the Front building one of the toughest late model series in America... | Daily 3-11-2024
In advance of their opening weekend, we'll dive into a massive field of full timers for the Hunt the Front series, plus some race results, and update on Trey Osborne, and I want to know why you can't than your guys enough... Let's go!
It's Monday, March 11th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
On the YouTube channel on Sunday, episode five of the 410 sprint car build series with driver Zach Hampton premiered. Front end assembly begins in this newest video, including the front axle, hubs, brake, tethers, radius rods and more. You can tune in any time for free, and don't forget to roll back and watch the first four episodes as well. Zach started from a bare frame, worked through the interior and dash, and showed us rear end assembly and squaring. If you want to understand the process of putting a car together, and get educated on parts and pieces and setup, this is the video series for you. New episodes will be released every Thursday and Sunday until the car is finished. Watch now at youtube.com/dirtrackr.
I mentioned briefly yesterday that the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series 2024 season is scheduled to kick off this coming weekend at the Talladega Short Track. They've got $5000 to win Friday, and $15,000 to win on Saturday. About a month ago we rolled through their list of series full timers after the announcement that Tanner English was going to forgo a national tour for this season, and instead go full time with Hunt the Front. At that moment the list was big, and with just a few days to go before the opener it's grown even larger. Within the last few days, South Carolina driver Cla Knight has added his name to the mix, and we are now at 19 drivers declared for this second season of the southeastern based championship. The expanded schedule for 2024 includes 25 races, with a bunch paying at least $15,000 to win, and they've added a bunch of money to the point fund. It's now $50,000 to win, from a $150k fund total. The signed on drivers are getting to participate as well in a loyalty program that includes free entry to races, an additional mid-season points payout that guarantees cash to all those with perfect attendance, access to provisionals and a free streaming account. So, here is the list of all 19 drivers, including the two we've already mentioned. They are Sam Seawright, Clay Harris, Joseph Joiner, Jackson Hise, Cameron Weaver, Carson Ferguson, Ashton Winger, Josh Putnam, Bo Slay, Dalton Cook, Trey Mills, Stacy Boles, Caden Mullinax, Trent Ivey, Jeff Smith, Josh Henry, Zach Mitchell, plus Tanner English and Cla Knight. That's a very strong lineup of rookies, veterans, and some of the top talent in the region. Josh Putnam was the series champion in 2023, but he'll have a much more difficult path this season. We saw Clay Harris run really well against Lucas during speedweeks. Several of these guys are already regional champions, including Carson Ferguson, Zach Mitchell, Josh Henry, Jeff Smith, and Knight. Tanner English has national touring wins on his resume, as does Ashton Winger, who was also the Summer Nationals champion in 2023. This will be a difficult championship to win in 2024, and this full timers list doesn't include a rotating cast of characters who will be in and out all season trying to steal some wins. We know guys like Brandon Overton and Jimmy Owens have plans of racing with this series, and names like Ricky Thornton Jr., Mike Marlar, and Dale McDowell had HTF wins a year ago. This could end up being one of the toughest late model tours in the country.
At Georgetown Speedway yesterday, the Short Track Super Series got their south region season going with some Sunday afternoon racing. Brandon Grosso, Jordan Watson were the front row, and Grosso led most of the 40 lapper. Tires were an issue though on a difficult track surface, and there ended up being several victims, including Grosso. Stewart Friesen took the lead from Grosso coming to eight laps to go, and Grosso immediately slowed with a flat right rear. At the same moment, Matt Sheppard also pulled up lame with a flat. Over the final few laps as Friesen drove on to the win, we also watched Mike Mahaney suffer the same fate. As luck would have it, Friesen's 44 machine also had a tire go down, but it happened just after the checkered flag. He made a quick trip to the pit area for a fresh right rear before pulling back onto the track for victory lane. Mike Maresca and Mike Gular were also on the day's podium. Next up for the modified competitors is the $50,000 to win Speed Showcase at Port Royal. They've got practice and qualifying on Friday, with the 75 lapper coming up on Saturday.
Watching Stewart Friesen in victory lane yesterday get interviewed, he gave us the old "can't thank my guys enough" line. When did that become so pervasive in these post win interviews? Why can't a driver thank their guys enough? I tweeted this morning that just one time I want a driver to say they thanked their crew just the right amount. You know, we won today, the guys worked hard, I gave them all a hand shake, they'll get a nice cash bonus, and it's just the right amount of thanks from me. My guy Freddie Kraft replied that he likes when they leave out the enough part. So drivers just say "can't thank my guys..." Why can't you thank them? Did they do a bad job? Or are there no guys to thank? It's funny how we end up with all of these cliches, like there is some sort of race car driver interview school that everyone goes through. Before seasons start, everyone is just so damn excited about how exciting this new exciting season is going to be. If you took a shot for every excited you heard, you'd die very quickly from alcohol poisoning. I saw another today from Kyle on Twitter. Hats off to 'em. You know, when you get beat, hats off to those guys for really kicking our ass today. What other cliches do you guys like or maybe hate that we get in these interviews? Leave me a comment below.
Going back to the USAC sprint car season opening stretch in Florida, you might remember that night at Ocala Speedway where we had two race cars leave the ballpark in turn three. One was Zach Daum, he was okay afterwards, if not a little banged up. The second was Trey Osborne, but he wasn't as lucky as Daum was. In the aftermath we found out that Osborne fractured his back, potentially putting his first full USAC sprint car season in doubt. Osborne had planned on splitting the season between the Baldwin Fox 5 and his own car. Yesterday evening, Osborne shared to social media that his recovery is going well, and that he should be cleared to race in late March or early April. If that holds, there would be hope that he could not miss any races, as the USAC schedule doesn't start back up again until April 5th at the Terre Haute Action Track. If you're at a USAC race, Osborne is tough to miss, as he stands six feet, eight inches tall and has bright red hair. It was a tough ride he took at Ocala, but hopefully he'll get to race again soon.
We'll call it good there for today. Appreciate you guys as always tuning into the show and for helping to push the growth. If you want even more, check out dirtrackr.com and follow DIRTRACKR across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
Hope you guys have a great Monday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!