DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Color-coded dirt late model tires like Formula 1 coming soon | Daily 5-1-2024
The Outlaws head for Jacksonville, a dirt late model speedweek taking something out of the Formula 1 playbook, and an interesting story about a key NASCAR team figure and the connection between his upbringing and Corey Day's pavement debut with JR Motorsports. Let's go!
It's Wednesday, May 1st, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
It's race day for the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars as teams are headed to Jacksonville Speedway tonight in Illinois for a $12,000 to win show. We haven't seen the Outlaws at Jacksonville since 2021, Brad Sweet was the winner that night over Donny Schatz and David Gravel. Before that, Carson Macedo was a winner there in 2019. We haven't seen the Outlaws in nearly two weeks, since Paducah and Haubstadt, as obviously last weekend's racing at Knoxville was rained out. As a quick reset, the championship standings are tight at the top right now, with five drivers within 68 points. David Gravel leads Donny Schatz, Gio Scelzi, Logan Schuchart, and Carson Macedo. Gravel and Sheldon Haudenschild lead all drivers with three wins each. He's still looking for his first win of 2024, but the hottest driver as of late just might be Buddy Kofoid. 10 straight top ten finishes, and an average finish of 3.6 over his last five starts. That Roth 83 team is trying to race their way back into the championship picture after getting themselves in a hole early on. So far through 15 races, feature wins have been pretty evenly distributed among the first two rows of feature starts. The pole, second, and third all have four wins each, two wins have come from fourth, and the furthest back we've seen a winner start is seventh. That was Brent Marks at Cotton Bowl. I think we'll see a healthy field supporting Kenny Dobson's event tonight, and we already know of a few. This will be late model star Brandon Sheppard's World of Outlaws Sprint Car debut. He'll be in a Valvoline sponsored B5 sprint car teamed up with Jake Neuman. We also talked yesterday about Logan Seavey, he'll be in a winged car for Landon Simon. I also saw that our guy Zach Hampton is loading up his car and driving in from Knoxville to race. This will be his third 410 start of the year. Some other names to expect include Skylar Gee fresh off that AFCS win, Garet Williamson, Jake Blackhurst, NASCAR driver Chase Briscoe, McKenna Haase, Paul Nienhiser, and plenty more. Grandstand tickets are sold out for tonight, but you can still walkup and grab pit passes. If you can't be there tonight, watch it live on DIRTVision.
Unfortunately, there are a few rainouts to mention today. First, no Kubota High Limit sprint cars at 81 Speedway tonight. That one has been cancelled. There was a reply on social media that they could reschedule if a future date is found that works, but usually cancelled means they aren't coming back. Next up for High Limit is two nights at Lakeside Speedway. Those happen Friday and Saturday with big money on the line.
Also, the World of Outlaws Late Model Series has sacked the first night at Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Wisconsin. Thursday is off because of wet weather, but Friday and Saturday are still a go, with $25,000 on the line each night. Those races are also $1750 to start. You can find full details on the weekend over at worldofoutlaws.com.
If you want other racing today, there is also weekly action at Millbridge featuring micros. NASCAR driver Kyle Busch was in victory lane last week, picking up a winged micro win, and he and son Brexton have become regulars out there. You'll often hear our guy Steve Post in the announcer's booth as well.
Did you guys see the story this week in Area Auto about the tires for the upcoming Appalachian Mountain Late Model Speedweek? This dirt late model speedweek runs June 7th through the 16th, and has stops at Clinton County, Port Royal, Hagerstown, Path Valley, Selinsgrove, Bedford, Lincoln, and BAPS. All the races are at least $5000 to win. The founder, Jim Bernheisel, has decided that he wants to mark all tires so that fans know what the drivers are using, similar to what we see in Formula 1 with red, yellow, and white sidewalls for the compounds. Teams can choose between several Hoosier and American Racers, with the softer tires painted green, mediums will be red, hards will be yellow, and the extra hards will be blue. Bernheisel told Steve Barrick that they will have templates and paint available at the series trailer, and that either teams or officials can do the painting. For this first year of the program, the color marking will be optional, but teams that participate will be eligible for cash bonuses and a drawing for a free tire each night. Going back to our discussions earlier this year about tire selections in dirt late model racing being more public, I love this. We've seen Lucas officials pass the information to the FloRacing broadcasts, we've seen DIRTVision incorporate it into their scoring graphics, and now this. I'll be curious to see how many teams participate, but bringing more information to the fans is the right move. If you want more info on this speedweek, visit lmspeedweek.com. Hat tip to my guy Paul Arch for pointing out this story to me.
The other interesting note I have for you today goes back to our Sunday show about Corey Day's potential future on pavement and in NASCAR. Day won his first pavement late model race over the weekend at Hickory Motor Speedway here not too far from the Charlotte area, and he did so driving a JR Motorsports car. JRM obviously tied in heavily with Hendrick Motorsports, and I said that I figured Day probably already has a development deal signed with Hendrick. There are plenty of dirt racing connections that are obvious with HMS, including Jeff Gordon and Kyle Larson, like I mentioned on Sunday. There is another though that is not so obvious, and one that was pointed out to me from some friends I have in the NASCAR garage. Hendrick's current president and general manager is Jeff Andrews. He's been an employee at Hendrick since 1992, coming up through their engine department, and eventually leading their engine operations, before being promoted to president in 2022. Andrews is actually from Fresno, California, and grew up in his dad's engine shop and going to the old Kearney Bowl. The Bowl was originally dirt, before being paved in 1959, according to Wikipedia. It was closed in 1970. That engine shop though built powerplants for all sorts of race cars, including sprint cars. And I've been told that one of the sprint cars that had engines out of that shop was driven by Corey's dad Ronnie. Supposedly Corey and Ronnie have been spotted at some NASCAR races in the last year or so, hanging out with Andrews. So there is your connection for Day and Hendrick, and your cool dirt racing backstory for the day. Andrews is an important figure at Hendrick and in NASCAR, but grew up in Fresno learning how to build engines with his dad. I love that.
Around the other dirt racing podcasts this week, Winged Nation has Brandon Sheppard and Dominic Scelzi, Quicktime has Anthony Macri, Dirt Tracks and Rib Racks has Scott Daloisio, Hoogie's Garage has Matt Juhl and Dale Furby, Dunewich on Dirt has Eddie McGrew, Turn 2 Terribles has Wyatt Hinkle, Getting up to Speed has Tyson Blood, Caution Free has Bodey McClintock, and there are new episodes of the Dirt Reporters, Dirt Track Confessions, The Dirt Nerds, Racing Roundup, and The Driver's Project. To see a full rundown on all of these shows and their recent episodes, head to dirtrackr.com/podcasts.
That's it for the Daily show today. Keep an eye on the DIRTRACKR social media and online store later today. I'm headed to pickup new hats after I'm done recording, and they should be live in the shop this afternoon. This is a limited run, so don't wait to get one.
Hope you guys have a great Wednesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!