DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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"Bad day for motorsports" as three fail tire tests at Volusia | Daily 3-13-2024
It was a wild day yesterday, with three big time dirt late model racers being hit with penalties following tire infractions at Volusia. We'll get into all of it today, including the fines and suspensions, what both sides are saying, and what this means going forward. Let's go!
It's Wednesday, March 13th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
I guess we'll just get right into it. As per usual, major penalty news broke yesterday right as I was uploading the Tuesday Daily. And I thought yesterday was a good show, some information about Gas City, we talked more wicker bill stuff, but all of it was overshadowed by the announcements from the World of Outlaws Late Model Series and DIRTcar Racing that three tire penalties were being levied for infractions at Volusia. I had a bunch of people reach out to me about doing an emergency live stream, but I wanted to give this a little time to breath, because I figured we'd get at least some comment from the parties involved, and eventually we did. Easily the most significant of the three was against the Outlaws' defending champion and current points leader Bobby Pierce. Pierce finished third in the DIRTcar Nationals finale at Volusia, behind Devin Moran and Chris Madden, but a tire sample taken from that night came back from the lab as you always hear in these instances as not matching or conforming to the benchmarks provided by Hoosier. Basically this means the tire was chemically altered. For the infraction, Pierce has been fined a total of $8400; that includes a $1000 fine, a $400 tire analysis fee, and the $7000 he won that night. On top of that, he's suspended for 30 days or the next four Outlaw races, whichever comes last, and he's lost 294 points. The points penalty and the missed races are really the teeth of this decision. Pierce dropped from the lead, down to 23rd in the standings and he's now 288 points behind Brandon Sheppard. The points lost from four races on the sideline will make that gap even more significantly wider. This is not a situation where Pierce, if he were to continue racing with the series full time, could climb out of this hole. Show up points are 100, and dead last is 102, so Pierce will likely be somewhere around 700 points back by the time he could race again. That is insurmountable. Along with Pierce, both Kyle Bronson and Devin Moran had tires fail lab testing as well, with their infractions happening during the DIRTcar sanctioned races at Volusia. Both of the samples were from February 13th, when Devin Moran won and Kyle Bronson finished third. Both are suspended from DIRTcar sanctioned events for 30 days, and each received the $1000 fine and $400 fee for the tire analysis. Bronson's total fine was smaller, because he had $2000 in prize money, while Moran has to give back $9000 in prize money. So at least in terms of the monetary portion, Moran has the largest fine.
As far as those suspensions, it is my understanding that because of the DIRTcar affiliation, Bronson and Moran would be out of Outlaw events as well for 30 days. But for all three, I do not believe that the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will keep them from racing. In the infamous swimming pool rules bulletin, that specific situation would result in both series not allowing drivers to race, but even though it's tire related, the series don't go along in these cases of tire tests. Bronson and Pierce were signed Outlaw full timers, while Moran is a Lucas guy, so the effect will be different for all three. Bronson has not received an Outlaw points penalty, so he remains eighth, but missed races will drop him down the standings as well. Neither Moran or Bronson has shared anything publicly that I can find as of me writing today's show. We'll get to Pierce in a minute. As for what happens next, all three can appeal, which they have seven days to submit a request for. Appeals are heard by a three person commission, with everything on the process spelled out in the series rulebooks, which are available to view at dirtcar.com/rules. I will say here that appeals are very difficult to win in these instances. McFadden's team didn't win on appeal last year, but we have seen some penalties reduced, so maybe that's a possiblity here, but I wouldn't expect that.
On the World Racing Group side, CEO Brian Carter appeared in a DIRTVision video explaining the situation, and he said they took 67 samples between the modifieds and late models during racing at Volusia to start the season. These three came back as non-conforming. He said the chemicals found in the tires that don't belong are not part of the manufacturing process at Hoosier, and are not found on the Hoosier Tire campus. He said they tested multiple samples from the same cutting, and all three came back the same. Carter called it a bad day for motorsports, and said there are a lot of the competitors that expect them to do the right thing.
As for Bobby Pierce specifically, both he and his mom have shared their thoughts publicly via lengthy social media posts, and I did talk to Bobby on the phone yesterday. A lot of what our conversation looked like is included in his Facebook post. He maintains his innocence in the situation, but understands he's up against it when it comes to the appeal process. He told me his tires were purchased from Hoosier Tire Midwest, and that they did not get any tires at the race track. When we spoke yesterday, he was in the process of seeing if they could track down the tire in question, as we are at this point nearly a month since this happened. Pierce told me he wasn't sure what the rest of their season would look like, but he did share in the Facebook post that the rest of their Outlaw schedule is TBD. He raised questions about the testing process itself, and the lab that is used, but said that he is a proponent of tire testing to help keep the sport honest. His tires were checked at multiple points during those opening races, and probably triple digit checks happened on the 32 last season in route to his championship. I'm not going to share his Facebook post here, as it is quite lengthy, but you can find it at facebook.com/bobbypierce32.
Even with all of the tire testing that is done, it's actually quite rare for anyone to be penalized for it. The last time the World of Outlaws Late Models issued a tire penalty was to Garrett Smith following DIRTcar Nationals in 2022. The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series penalized James McFadden and the Roth Motorsports team last season, and before that it was Jeff Halligan way back in 2020. I guess we'll see in the future were the three dirt late model teams show up to next.
One other note from the World of Outlaws from yesterday. Their upcoming race at Lawton Speedway on March 23rd has been moved to Kennedale Speedway Park. A recent fire at Lawton destroyed parts of the facility, including the press box and some seating, along with some damage in the concession area. So Outlaw teams will hit Big O Speedway on Friday March 22nd, then head to Kennedale on Saturday, the 23rd.
If you want some other dirt racing content this week, Winged Nation has Donny Schatz and Landon Crawley, Quicktime has Brian Paulus, Dirt Track Confessions has Ashley Stremme, Dunewich on Dirt has Ross Bailes, Turn 2 Terribles has Cale Thomas and Chris Shuttlesworth, Across the Groove has Jim Allen, Racing Roundup has Dylan Cisney, Ohio Dirt has Greg Wilson, Plum Wild has Ethan Toedter, and the Caution Free Podcast has Branden Goodman. There are also new eps of the Dirt Reporters, the Dirt Nerds, Hoogie's Garage, and Dirt Tracks and Rib Racks. To see all of the shows and episodes, visit dirtrackr.com/podcasts.
That's it for the Daily show today. Hope you guys have a great Wednesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!