DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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This race track's revival suffers significant blow | Daily 4-16-2024
High Limit begins their midweek championship within a championship tonight, Billy Moyer picks up a super late model ride for the year's big shows, and we've had a big setback for this race track's revival. Let's go!
It's Tuesday, April 16th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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It might be early in the week, but we do have big time sprint car racing tonight. The Kubota High Limit sprint cars are headed for Red Dirt Raceway in Oklahoma with $20,000 on the line and the start of the midweek championship. Remember that this new full national tour version of High Limit is actually two championships in one. There is a season long title, which includes the chase for the first five charters, but there is also the shorter midweek deal. It is 10 races and has it's own $100,000 point fund on top of elevated purses for each event, with those shows all paying $20,000 to win. Tyler Courtney is the current overall championship leader, with Brad Sweet, Brent Marks, Corey Day, and Anthony Macri completing the top five. Macri was not a driver initially signed on with High Limit, but he has run all six events so far. High Limit shared a pre-event entry list yesterday with 35 cars expected to race tonight. All of the current full time teams are represented, plus Kyle Larson, who we know is planning to compete in all the midweek events. We know that Conner Morrell fell off the tour last weekend, and I was curious if that meant Cap Henry was still in line to chase the midweek title, and he is listed on the entries for tonight. Other notables include Ryan Timms, Cole Macedo and Kevin Newton in the 16 machines, Tanner Holmes, Brady Bacon, Kerry Madsen, Dominic Scelzi, and Hunter Schuerenberg. There could and probably will be some additional changes to this list by tonight. A lot of these drivers are going to Red Dirt with very little experience there. The last major touring sprint car race to happen at the track was an All Star visit back in 2020. The track does host a bunch of sprint car racing though, including the OCRS and the USL. Some drivers who were at that All Star show that are racing tonight include Larson, Cory Eliason, Justin Peck, Zeb Wise, Blake Hahn, and Scelzi. If you can't get to Red Dirt tonight, FloRacing will have live coverage. If you need a FloRacing subscription, click the link below on YouTube, or the FloRacing links at dirtrackr.com. That gets you everything Flo has to offer, and helps out DIRTRACKR at no additional cost to you.
The situation at Pennsboro Speedway in West Virginia is a story we've been following since October of 2022. Following their involvement in bringing North Wilkesboro back to prominence, XR's next hope for a race track revival was Pennsboro, the original home of several big dirt late model events, including the Dirt Track World Championship. A year and a half later, a schedule is in place for 2024, but plans recently took a significant blow. After originally starting work on a quarter mile track that was going to utilize part of the previous half mile, plus the infield, work shifted over the winter towards bringing back the original track layout. XR abandoned the reconfiguration with the support of the local community, and back at the end of February we shared some images of progress to bring the surface to modern standards. A warm winter in the area had allowed crews to get started, with the first event schedule for May 26th and 27th. Just a few days ago though, the track and XR's plans suffered a major setback with the entire facility being flooded. There are two creeks that cross the race track itself, and they went over their banks because of recent rains. Here are some photos of the before and after from the Pennsboro Facebook page. The creeks have since dropped back down to normal levels, but this will mean cleanup and added delays. With about six weeks left before the first event, there is still a lot of work to do before the ULMS and Ultimate Heart of America late models are scheduled to race. XR and it's team will need the weather to play nice between now and then to have any chance of getting everything completed. The rest of the Pennsboro schedule includes FAST and BOSS sprint cars in July, crate late models and modifieds in August, and the XR Super Series late models in October. We will continue following progress at Pennsboro into the future here.
A quick Tuesday stat of the day for you. We've talked plenty here in the past about how good Logan Seavey has been lately in USAC and open wheel competition. But here are some numbers to back it all up. First, Seavey right now is riding a 22 race top ten streak in USAC national midget competition. The last time he was outside the top ten in a USAC midget race was June 5th of 2023 at Circle City. He actually led late into that race, but DNF'd. Overall, the last time Seavey missed the top ten in any USAC show was September 16th of 2023 at Haubstadt. He was 11th. Since then, he's racked up 23 straight top tens, 10 in the sprint car, 11 in the midget, and two in the Silver Crown car. And this doesn't include his trio of wins at the Chili Bowl back in January. Seavey's USAC season continues this weekend on the pavement at Toledo for the Silver Crown opener.
In some late model news this week, hall of fame dirt late model racer Billy Moyer is partnering up with Todd Cooney to run some special events this season. The schedule will include the Dirt Late Model Dream, the World 100, Late Model Knoxville Nationals, and the Dirt Track World Championship. The pairing will kick their season off April 26th with the World of Outlaws at Arrowhead Speedway. The team is looking for additional sponsorship and funding for the car. Moyer's 21 will be in addition to the 30 car that Cooney runs, and the 19R for Ryan Gustin. Those two are regulars this season with the Outlaws. Gustin is currently 10th in the standings, with Cooney in 16th. Both drivers are still seeking their first top ten finishes. Moyer already has a pair of crate late model wins this season, going back to Central Arizona Raceway in January. Last year, Moyer appeared 53 times, picking up three victories, including a MARS win at Farmer City in March.
That's it for the daily show today. High Limit isn't the only thing racing tonight, so make sure to stop by dirtrackr.com/watchtonight to see your streaming options. There is action coming up from Beaver Dam and Millbridge.
Hope you guys have a great Tuesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!