DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
Dirt racing news, results, discussion, analytics. Sprint cars, late models, modifieds, you name it. From national series, to top local shows. Brought to you five days a week. Email the show at info@dirtrackr.com.
Scott Bloomquist is back! Plus, who is the new World of Outlaws race director? | Daily 3-18-2024
A bad rule showed itself Sunday at Williams Grove, Scott Bloomquist is back, the Outlaws have a new race director, and more today. Let's go!
It's Monday, March 18th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
We'll start first today with the drama that happened at the start of the feature yesterday at Williams Grove. I know the track conditions were not good, and you are more than welcome to criticize them, but that called back start is where I'm going to focus here. I had to watch the replay five or six times to even see where that start could have gone wrong, and if you really watch, it looks like maybe Cameron Smith was on the hammer just a bit before the chalk line. But, especially for the season opener, that feels like a ticky tack call at best. Even so, if the tower or flag man wants to make that judgement, whatever. Throw the caution, put Smith back a row, and move on. You probably wouldn't have ever heard anything about it. But this idea of penalizing the entire front row is something I didn't even know existed anywhere. You haven't heard me be critical super often of officials in dirt racing, but that is just a rule that needs to go away. I understand the reasoning it's in place, to avoid the guys on the front row from playing games on these starts, but Danny Dietrich absolutely did not deserve to be put back a row. In the aftermath, Anthony Macri and Ryan Taylor got moved up, and Macri went on to dominate the main event, earning his second sprint car win of the season. Just this morning, we've seen Dietrich sound off on Twitter on the situation, responding to a video posted by Jeremy Elliott, and Aaron Ott was critical as well. This is something it sounds like needs to be re-evaluated going forward. Dietrich did find his way to victory lane on Saturday night at Lincoln, topping Paulie Colagiovanni and Matt Campbell.
Before we move on, episode seven of the sprint car build series with Zach Hampton premiered on Sunday on the YouTube channel. In this newest video in the series, Zach shows us the installation of the fuel system, including the tank and lines, plus the car getting to ride heights on setup blocks and the torsion stops. Just a few episodes are left at this point, and the car is really starting to come together. You can check out the entire series for free and catch up any time at youtube.com/dirtrackr.
Since we didn't talk about any actualy racing action yesterday, I wanted today to double back to at least a few things from the weekend. With the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series opener at Talladega, Brandon Overton handled the field for the $15,000 win. Cory Hedgecock and Chris Ferguson joined him on the podium. The Hunt the Front field of full timers did grow as we expected, to now well past 20. Joining the 19 we talked about last week included Hedgecock, Wil Herrington, and yes, Scott Bloomquist. Bloomer was at Talladega, and did sign up for the series' loyalty program. This was the first time we'd seen Bloomer in a car in 2024, with his last appearances coming at World Finals back in November. As he works his way back into things, the smaller commitment of the Hunt the Front series seems like a good fit. He started the main event in 11th, but finished 26th after having some issues and pulling off. I've been told that the full timers list could grow yet again, as the series doesn't race again until April 12th, and there isn't really a deadline to sign on, like we see with Lucas. Guys will remain eligible for the points as long as they keep showing up. So as we talked about before, this series will be super competitive all season.
Elsewhere, Ricky Thornton Jr. won $10,000 and the season opener for James Essex's Northern All Stars Late Model Series at Brownstown. He topped Mike Marlar and Josh Rice in that one. I didn't see it, but apparently RTJ shared a Snapchat story about a second car the SSI Motorsports team is going to run coming up. I've seen some wonder if maybe that would be for Hudson O'Neal, but I can't confirm or deny that, and I didn't actually see the post from RTJ. If you know more, let me know on that one.
Another story we've been waiting on confirmation for so we could talk about it, is the new race director for the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. The Outlaws have been looking for a permanent replacement since the departure of Mike Hess late last season. Hess obviously now the guy for High Limit. Past Outlaw race director Don Grabey finished out the 2023 season, and has been in attendance through the first several weeks this year. But going forward, the new voice on the driver radio and the guy making the calls is Doug Leonard. Leonard moves over to the sprint cars after previously working as the race director with the Super DIRTcar Series, which is obviously also under the World Racing Group banner. Leonard has race directed as well at tracks like Oshweken, Merrittville, and Humberstone. He's an experienced hand who shouldn't have a problem sliding right into that role, and I've been told from some that have heard him on the driver radio, that he does a nice job.
Speaking of the Outlaws, they did get both shows in over the weekend at Cotton Bowl Speedway, even though the weather looked really iffy for both days. It definitely hurt the car count, but we saw some incredible racing. Friday night it was Brent Marks who went seventh to the win, taking the lead late from Carson Macedo after a nice slider battle. Marks survived mid race contact as well with Preston Perlmutter. Both Donny Schatz and David Gravel were involved in the same crash, and their trouble, along with a podium for Gio Scelzi, saw a change atop the standings, with Scelzi now leading. His place was solidified with the win on Saturday, leading all 30 laps and holding off a late challenge from Marks. Headed this week to Big O Speedway and Kennedale, Scelzi now leads Gravel by 16, with Schatz, Logan Schuchart, and Carson Macedo the rest of the top five. Macedo bounced back from a bizarre crash in Saturday qualifying where the rear end completely came apart, sending him into the turn three wall, to finish eighth. Macedo now three straight top eight runs after a brutal start to the season during DIRTcar Nationals.
Other weekend winners included Matt Sheppard bagging the $50,000 at Port Royal with the Short Track Super Series. He took the lead 20 laps in, and kept his tires together long enough to lead the rest of the way. He topped Billy Decker and Loudon Reimert at the end.
With the Xtreme Outlaw midgets, Thomas Meseraull won the opener indoors at Du Quoin on Friday, and was in contention again on Saturday, before a late crash with lap cars ended his and leader Joe B. Miller's shot at the victory. Cannon McIntosh inherited the lead and drove on to the win.
And out in California, it was a wild weekend at the Silver Dollar Speedway. DJ Netto won the Friday, unsanctioned sprint car show on a cowboy up surface, with Chase Johnson and Justin Sanders on the podium. Things went even a step further on Saturday though. Less than half the field was running at the finish, the leader had a huge crash on the final lap, and Cole Macedo won $10,000, surviving the 40 lap main event. The NARC season continues this week at Merced.
That's it for the show today. Make sure to keep up with everything dirt racing over at dirtrackr.com, and follow DIRTRACKR across social media. TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, you name it, we are there.
Hope you guys have a great Monday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!