DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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The nicest dirt track in America you don't know about | Daily 4-4-2024
On this Friday show, the nicest dirt track in America that you don't know about, sprint car teams doing reconnaissance work at Texas Motor Speedway, updates on TMez and Ryan Robinson, and much more. Let's go!
It's Thursday, April 4th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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We've got a packed show today, lots to get into, including several news items, and a bunch of schedule stuff to know about for not only this weekend, but coming weeks as well.
We'll start first with the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series weekend ahead. Trouble last Saturday night for Gio Scelzi saw him drop from a tie for the lead with David Gravel, down to third behind Gravel and Donny Schatz. It was Gio's first finish outside the top ten this season, and a wild series of events that saw him crash out. These guys will continue to be in the thick of this fight though. As for Schatz, he's now the only driver left with a top ten finish in every race. This is Donny's best start to an Outlaw season since he went 11 straight top tens to start the 2020 year. I also continue to be impressed by the speed we've seen from Landon Crawley. I know he doesn't have the feature finishes to show for it, and this season will be a big learning year for him, but the kid is fast. And being fast is tough to teach. At the moment, Crawley has the fifth best qualifying average of full time drivers, and Sheldon Haudenschild and Buddy Kofoid are just a tenth of a position better. Those are two really fast guys to be in the same neighborhood with. Sheldon has won the past two trips to US36 Raceway, where the Outlaws will head Friday, and Arrowhead Speedway in Oklahoma will make it's first appearance on the Outlaw schedule come Saturday. This will be the sixth running of the Jason Johnson Classic. Arrowhead used to be Flint Creek Speedway, but the entire facility is brand new as of 2023. They opened Memorial Day last year, and this place just might be the nicest dirt track in America that you don't know about. I had a driver, who's opinion I very much respect, just this week tell me quote "Arrowhead is by far the nicest thing out there right now." 1/3 mile track, grandstands with seat backs, suites on both the front and backstretch, a paved pit area, new LED lighting, and pristine restrooms. The owners, Willie and Elizabeth Gammill, have invested a significant amount of time and money into this place the last few years, and it looks incredible. We don't get enough good news and positivity about race tracks these days, so I wanted to spotlight this on the show. The track sits about 80 miles straight east of Tulsa on highway 412. If you are nearby, I would definitely recommend getting there on Saturday. The Xtreme Outlaw midgets will join the World of Outlaws Friday at US36, and also race Saturday at Sweet springs. Cannon McIntosh your championship leader there after two races.
Another sprint car event to keep an eye on is the POWRi 410 races at the Dirt Track at Texas Motor Speedway. Remember this was originally an ASCS event, but it got flipped after the World Racing Group deal. These becoming 410 nights adds an extra wrinkle and a different group of cars, especially with High Limit going to TMS the following weekend, on April 13th. The TMS dirt track doesn't get used a ton, and the field this weekend will include some guys coming in very much to gather information ahead of that High Limit race. At the moment, that includes High Limit full timers Brent Marks, Chris Windom, and Brenham Crouch. I was told that work on the track surface has been ongoing the last few weeks in order to get it ready for these upcoming races. Some other names expected include Sam Hafertepe Jr. and past Outlaw full timer Noah Gass. Remember too, High Limit ends it's season with two nights at TMS in October, so if the championship battle is tight, information gathered now could come in big later on.
Elsewhere in sprint car racing, we've lost Friday's Attica show, the IRA opening weekend at 34 Raceway, and the FAST show at Atomic because of weather. Make sure to look at websites and social media before heading to the race track this weekend. The NARC sprint cars are at Stockton on Saturday with the Sprint Car Challenge Tour. Cole Macedo won the NARC opener a few weeks ago. And the Terre Haute USAC sprint car show is rained out, but Saturday at Red Hill is still on as scheduled. The Salute to Levi Jones is $10,000 to win.
Jumping back to High Limit, it was just like a week ago that they moved the Kokomo date from May 14th to May 13th. This took it out of a direct conflict with action at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway kicking off Indy 500 festivities. There was criticism out there that it was now scheduled on top of the FloRacing Night in America show at Brownstown, but that's been adjusted now. In a release yesterday talking about Kubota as the series presenting sponsor, it was revealed that the Brownstown show will now be run Tuesday, May 14th, which now moves it out of that conflict with High Limit. The series has also shifted the Macon show from May 29th, to Tuesday, May 28th. So if you are in that area, you can now attend both races.
In some driver news, Thomas Meseraull will miss a few weeks of racing as he heals up from a broken collarbone following an incident during the No Way Out 40 at Paragon. He shared onboard footage of the crash to his YouTube channel this week. TMez also said he had a ride lined up to run some World of Outlaws races coming up in the next month, but he is hopeful that the deal could still happen. I was a bit surprised to learn that TMez has never made a start against the Outlaws in his career. He's made plenty of local winged starts, and with series like FAST and the All Stars, but no Outlaw appearances.
Also, PJ Petersen shared yesterday that California sprint car driver Ryan Robinson is stepping away from racing after that nasty crash he had at Chico a few weeks ago during the NARC season opener. He was leading that race late and went for a wild ride down the backstretch. He pointed towards aggravating a previous injury, and mentioned being susceptible to concussions and vision issues. His sister Jodie Robinson will take over the 14W ride he was scheduled to drive this year.
Weekend late model racing coming up includes the Spring Nationals at Buckshot and East Alabama. Brandon Overton has taken over the Spring Nationals championship lead after last weekend's races at I-75 and Tazewell. The MLRA at Tri-City is rained out, and the XR Super Series opener at Volunteer has seen a schedule change. The Friday program is being pushed to Sunday, so now we'll have a $30,000 to win race on Saturday, and the $12,000 to win show on Sunday. Earlier start times are also in place, with grandstands opening at 3 and racing at 5.
And finally, the USMTS modifieds are racing this weekend, taking on the rescheduled King of America at Humboldt Speedway in Kansas. $3000 to win tonight, $5000 Friday, and $12,000 on Saturday. Dan Ebert holds a slight four point lead over Jake Timm in the standings at the moment with just four races complete.
That's it for the Daily show this week. If you still want a new DIRTRACKR t-shirt, move quickly, as sizes are becoming limited over at shop.dirtrackr.com. I sold the last 2X yesterday, but larges and XLs are still available. You can grab a sticker while you there as well. If you want to see your weekend streaming options, hit up dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
Hope you guys have a great Thursday out there, we'll see you back here on Sunday!