DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Does something need to be done? | Daily 4-10-2024

Hunt the Front's deep and talented late model full timers list gets even better, and how should we handle standards for the sport of dirt racing's top series. We'll discuss that and more. Let's go!

It's Wednesday, April 10th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

The $20,000 to win Weldon Sterner Memorial presented by Chuck's Auto Parts Solutions at Lincoln Speedway is right around the corner – like next weekend right around the corner. The 20th anniversary race scheduled for Saturday, April 20th is packed with giveaways for fans and includes a pre-race fan zone event in the pits where fans can meet their favorite drivers! In addition to the $20,000 winner's share, drivers in both the 410 and 358 sprint divisions will be competing for an increased purse that is spread throughout the field along with additional contingency prizes. Make sure you’re there to see who will add their name to the prestigious list of Weldon Sterner winners that includes Brian Montieth, Lance Dewease, Greg Hodnett, Kyle Larson and the most recent winner of the event, Buddy Kofoid. So mark your calendars, tell your friends, and make sure you're in the stands at Lincoln Speedway on April 20th!

The Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series is back in action this weekend with two nights coming up at All-Tech Raceway in Florida. The Friday prelim show is $5000 to win, and the Saturday race is $15,000 to win. Through just one race so far, Brandon Overton is the championship leader following his win at Talladega back a few weeks ago. The Hunt the Front schedule will start to ramp up here as we get deeper into the spring with another show in late April, and five races coming up in May. The series has signed over 20 full time teams to compete all season, but there will be some shuffling coming up. Last night, North Carolina driver Chris Ferguson announced his intentions to run the series full time, which if my math is correct brings them to 24 full time teams. Fergie was third in the opener and is fast wherever he goes, both regionally and nationally. He immediately becomes one of the top challengers for the title. Another full timer though might be in doubt already, and that is Dalton Cook. Cook finished fifth in the standings a year ago, and it was announced back in early February that he would be returning for year two. But the Southern All Stars are headed for Moulton Speedway in Alabama on Friday, and Cook is listed on their confirmed drivers list. So even with his status with Hunt the Front, I would not expect him to be at All-Tech. Going forward, I could definitely see Hunt the Front maybe adding another driver or two depending on how things go, but I also think there will end up being others fall off. That will just end up being the nature of the beast with so many top level teams and drivers competing with this series every week. This weekend's event at All-Tech will feature a nice field of cars, including Brandon Overton who does have it on his schedule. If things continue to go well, I'll be curious to see if Overton ends up chasing any championships this season. I thought maybe Spring Nationals as he was the points leader, but then he went XR racing last weekend and missed two shows. There is no deadline to sign with Hunt the Front, so this could be a possbility.

Moving on, I wanted to double back to react to some content from earlier this week. Back on Monday, Jeremy Elliott posted a 90 at 9 video to his Sprint Car Unlimited YouTube channel about standards in sprint car racing. He pointed towards the heat race incident that took out Bill Balog last Friday night with the World of Outlaws at US36 Raceway. Very late in that one, with Balog running second behind Buddy Kofoid, and headed for a dash transfer, he tangled with the lap car of Austin Hartmann and turned over. Balog finished at the back of the heat, and needed to race into the night's feature through the LCS. He ended up 15th. It was a tough blow to Balog's night, as a guaranteed top eight start could have resulted in a much different feature finish. Jeremy's point in his video was that the top series, like the Outlaws, need tougher standards on allowing drivers to race, and mentioned Hartmann being more than two seconds a lap off the pace in that heat. Obviously, it's never a good look to be lapped in an eight lap heat race. I do agree that there should be some measure of standards for these events, as top level dirt racing is already dangerous enough. And to some extent there are standards. Drivers in the past have not been allowed to run shows, like with the Outlaws, for various reasons, including age and lack of experience. Specifically in this case with Balog though, the other driver involved, in Austin Hartmann, is an interesting driver to look at. This isn't a completely inexperienced driver when it comes to 410 sprint car racing. Five previous Outlaw appearances, and nearly 50 410 sprint car starts the past two seasons. That includes races with the IRA and MOWA. His last Outlaw race was in July of 2023 at Wilmot. 18th of 32 cars in qualifying, fifth in his heat, and a 19th place finish. This was not some 16 year old kid making his first 410 start. Why exactly he was so far off the pace in that heat, I don't know, but in looking at his resume, I don't see a reason to bar a driver like him from competing. There are plenty of other drivers who you could talk me into not allowing to race, but Hartmann has shown himself to be respectable in the past. Jeremy mentioned that he can't go play for the Dallas Cowboys or the Boston Celtics, but this idea that other drivers can go race against the best is something I've always liked about the sport. Get some equipment, learn how to race, and go take on the best. You're going to get beat, because the drivers at the top of sprint car racing are incredible, but this is always what this thing has been built on. A traveling group of the best up against the local and regional drivers. I think this is a really hard problem to address, especially since the vanity metric of car count is so important to so many for lots of reasons. Where I agree with Jeremy though, is the idea he brought up of a minimum speed. If any driver at any point can't get to a minimum lap time, then black flag them. That would include drivers struggling, or those with damaged race cars. I think that would help avoid perception issues and the difficult task of trying to decide who can race and who can't. It would also remove those moving road blocks, and hopefully keep active races a bit safer. A driver could still sign in and attempt to make a show, but if they aren't up to speed, they don't cause problems for other guys. If you didn't see Jeremy's video, I'll link to it below in the video description on YouTube.

It's only Wednesday, but we've already lost our first event of this coming weekend to weather. The USMTS announced late yesterday they have cancelled this weekend's two night show at Boothill Speedway. The series will be back in action April 19th at Arrowhead Speedway. Jake Timm is the current championship leader over Dan Ebert and Terry Phillips with five races complete so far.

If you're in the market for other dirt racing content this week, might I suggest an episode or two from the long list of podcasts. Winged Nation has Danny Dietrich and Sheldon Haudenschild, Quicktime has Bill Balog, Dirt Track Confessions has Jacqueline Rumley, Hoogie's Garage has Bryce Lucius and others, Turn 2 Terribles has Matt Campbell and Jake Moser, Racing Roundup has Michael Millard, Caution Free has Van Gurley Jr., and there are new episodes of The Dirt Reporters, the Dirt Nerds, Dunewich on Dirt, Plum Wild, Getting up to Speed, and the Drivers Project. To see all the shows and all the episodes, stop by dirtrackr.com/podcasts.

That's it for the show today. If you're a subscriber to our email newsletter, The Slider, you have a fresh issue in your inbox today. Check that out when you have time. And hit up dirtrackr.com/watchtonight for today's streaming schedule.

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