DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Rumors surround curious early season driver change | Daily 4-9-2024

Today on the show we'll talk through a curious silly season move from Monday in dirt late model racing, plus Gio Scelzi vs Jacob Allen, an update on the conditions at the Stockton Dirt Track and more. Let's go!

It's Tuesday, April 9th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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Because Silly Season in dirt racing doesn't have any sort of definitive schedule any more, we always have to be on guard for driver changes, and we had a curious one yesterday in dirt late model racing. Around 5PM eastern time, Coltman Farms Racing posted to their Facebook page that the team had quote "mutually agreed to part ways" with driver Ethan Dotson. Dotson, from California, joined the Coltman Farms team in September of 2023, and it didn't take him long to find victory lane. Dotson bagged nearly $10 grand at the Talladega Short Track with the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series on September 30th. So far this season, Dotson had made 17 appearances between the two national tours and various regional shows. He won the season opener for the Spring Nationals at Waycross back at the end of February, and at the moment is fourth in the Spring Nationals championship standings. Dotson is coming off a weekend where it appeared he had mechanical issues on Friday at Buckshot with the Spring Nationals and DNF'd, but then bounced back to a top ten on Saturday night at East Alabama. Looking at his recent results, there is no string of crashes, or missed features, or poor finishes. Speedweeks down south earlier this year was a battle, with the team making six of 12 Lucas features, and two of four at Volusia with the Outlaws. They did lead laps in that Outlaw season opener. But nothing that you wouldn't expect out of a regional team up against the big guys. So it certainly makes you wonder if something more might be up here, and the message boards and social media seem to think they've got it figured out. The overwhelming sentiment is that this could be the destination for Hudson O'Neal. Huddy obviously looking for a permanent ride at the moment after departing the Rocket house car a few weeks ago. In the interim, he's been driving Kevin Rumley's car, but a full national tour run is not something we've seen a Rumley car do in a few years. And all along, this has been characterized as a temporary deal. In six starts with Rumley, O'Neal has five top tens, including two sevenths this past weekend at Volunteer with XR. The Coltman Farms team wasn't a national touring operation between Dotson and David McCoy, but with all of the sponsorship deals this season among top guys from Brett Coltman, it would appear as though they have the resources to make a jump. At this point though, all of this is just speculation and rumors. We'll see what pops up in the coming days. We are still a few weeks away from Lucas getting rolling again, with an April 26th stop at Georgetown next on the schedule. No word from the Dotson side on what could be next for him. Before the Coltman Farms deal, he was racing for Chris Bragg, which is a name we've heard recently as Logan Seavey will drive a super late model for Bragg coming up soon.

Moving on, did you guys see the interesting back and forth yesterday between sprint car drivers Gio Scelzi and Jacob Allen on Facebook? If you might remember back to Saturday night at Arrowhead during the World of Outlaws show, Scelzi, Allen, and David Gravel were all battling for second inside ten to go. All three had a close moment on the frontstretch, and in the aftermath we saw that Allen had a collapsed front end after contact with Scelzi's KCP 18. He went from a very likely top five to a DNF. Yesterday though, Allen posted a photo of a front end build to his Facebook page with the post saying quote "Building new front end today.. waiting for Gio to come help me put it together! Should be good to go by end of the day" unquote. Scelzi responded by saying quote "if you want to talk shit you can at least tag me in your post so I can see it." The back and forth then spilled further into the comments, but it looks like some of those replies have now been deleted. Don't worry though, there are plenty of screenshots floating around because the internet never forgets. I don't know if this was real or fabricated drama, but I think either way I'm here for a little spicyness between the drivers. Things, at least publicly, are often pretty tame, and so when we do see things like this, or the Brad Sweet vs. Tim Kaeding video at Huset's from last year where the two drivers shared some friendly words, it turns into a big deal. In reality though, this is often much closer to what things actually look like. People get heated, things are said. If this adds a little something extra to the racing going forward, count me in.

Jumping back to the reconfigured Stockton Dirt Track. There were definitely some strong opinions on the remodel following this past weekend's NARC 410 and Sprint Car Challenge Tour event. Several of you made your thoughts known in my comments section on the Sunday show. It sounds like though, work is already underway to evolve the track and make improvements. Gary Thomas, who is an announcer and media guy in California, posted a statement to Twitter yesterday. It read quote "Spoke with Stockton Dirt Track Promoter Tony Noceti and stage two of the new track remodel is already being worked on, but first off, he wanted to thank all the teams and fans for supporting Saturday's event. Conditions were obviously challenging, and we were fortunate to get the show in with all the rain that had fallen leading up to it. Plans are in place to raise the banking and add material to the surface, along with adjusting the width and shape of it. The track lighting is also going to be addressed. The turn three k-rail/fencing protecting the pump house will also be extended down the backstretch, giving it a more natural and safer angle that teams have expressed concerns about" unquote. This was a big change to the Stockton track, and I'm sure Noceti and his team knew there would be some issues going in. But it's good to see they have plans to make adjustments. NARC will be back at Stockton later this month, on April 27th.

That's it for the Daily show today. Make sure to head over to dirtrackr.com/theslider and sign up for our free email newsletter. I have two new pieces to send out this week, so don't miss out on those. If you would like to contribute to a future issue of The Slider, shoot me an email or DM.

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