DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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You might hate it, but I don't think you can stop it from coming | Daily 6-18-2024
Details today on schedule cooperation in Illinois that other tracks could learn from, the USMTS can't catch a break, plus why gambling on dirt racing is set to be a boon for the sport, regardless of how negatively some view it. Let's go!
It's Tuesday, June 18th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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I want to double back today to the conversation about legal gambling and betting that's come to dirt racing with USAC. When we talked about this a few weeks ago, I was actually pretty surprised by the reactions on that show. A lot of you were very negative about what this would mean for the future, which caught me a bit off guard. A lot of assumptions that races would suddenly have manufactured outcomes, and even references to organized crime. You've been able to bet on basically every other major sporting event for a while now, and even though there have been issues, I have not seen the same backlash in those places. In terms of view count, that show actually didn't do that well, and when I have a daily show underperforming, I make changes to the title and thumbnail, because if I can't get people to click, they don't watch. And because I had changed the title and thumbnail away from the gambling topic, I even had comments that I was suddenly trying to hide something. I guess insinuating that the mob had gotten to me and made me change it. Quick reminder, not everything is a conspiracy. But also, I didn't remove the topic from the show, I just changed the title and thumbnail to try and get some more views. You know, because I'm trying to run a business here. Anyways, back to the gambling. We are now a few weeks into being able to bet on races, and I've been curious about the early impact, because anecdotally, it seems as though interest in USAC is up. I don't have access to FloRacing's streaming numbers, but I would venture a guess that they've seen a bump. I've had more messages and comments about USAC in the past two weeks, then maybe the last several years. People from places in the sport who I didn't think cared a bit about USAC have reached out to me with betting questions. Where can I do it, how do I get involved, where do I find the odds, etc. Now, my individual experience isn't hard evidence, but I do have at least something measurable to look at, and that's my website analytics. I have three areas of my analytics section dedicated to USAC, and you know what, all have seen a massive spike in recent weeks. For example, Chili Bowl time is often big for the midget portion of the site, obviously as people are doing research for pool picks. But the month of June has seen three times the traffic to the midget stats pages than I normally get during Chili Bowl. That's a huge jump. The sprint car pages are also up, as are the Silver Crown stats, and we've seen just a single Silver Crown race since this started. It would certainly appear to me that betting has brought a renewed interest to USAC. And along with that spike in interest, at least some measure of a financial benefit is sure to follow. As we've talked the last few weeks about Brady Bacon and my point that he should switch to winged racing, the discussion about payouts has been bubbling. Chase Raudman even had a video this week on his YouTube channel comparing the dollars on the winged vs non-wing side. As you could have guessed, the comparisons aren't great. There is orders of magnitude more money available in winged sprint car racing vs non-wing. So knowing that, and understanding that legalized gambling could bring more money into the sport and help those teams, does your opinion of gambling change? And understand if this is showing itself to be a valuable revenue driver and grower of interest for USAC, then the other series are going to take notice and likely follow. It seems like it's probably only a matter of time. So if every other major sport on the planet is benefitting from this, why should dirt racing not do the same?
In Iowa, Summer Nationals week two begins tonight at Davenport Speedway with a $5000 to win show. No Modified Nationals tonight, they'll be back racing tomorrow at Adams County. Tyler Erb the week one champion after winning all three races that were contested. Dennis Erb Jr. and Jason Feger the only other drivers to pick up three top tens. It doesn't look like Erb is competing this week as he prepares for the upcoming busy Outlaw swing, but Feger will be back. Others expected tonight include Billy Moyer, Cody Overton, McKay Wenger, Tanner English, Frank Heckenast, the Simpsons, Gordy Gundaker, and more. Hot laps get roliling at 6:30 PM local, and racing will be streamed live on DIRTVision.
Going back to yesterday's show, we mentioned that the Sycamore Summer Nationals date had been rescheduled for July 8th, which put it up directly against the Flo series race at Lincoln. But the track announced last night that they have called an audible, and the race has now been moved to July 18th. A post on their Facebook page said quote "We know that it does no one any good to compete against another track for big races, so we took our plans back to the drawing board" unquote. And DIRTcar's Sam Driggers told Dirt on Dirt that the event will not count towards any weekly championship because it will technically be after the Summer Nationals season was scheduled to end, but that it will still count towards overall points. The track as well is bumping the purse from $5000 to win to $6000 to win to entice teams to come back for the reschedule. Obviously these rain outs always suck, but I definitely applaud them for making this move. This type of cooperation would not happen in other places.
If you were hoping for some UMSTS modified racing this week, you'll have to wait a few more days. Tonight's race at Off Road Speedway and tomorrow's show at Beatrice have both been rained out. Beatrice has been rescheduled for August 7th, and officials with the series and track are working on a new date for Off Road. This is now four straight races lost for the touring modified series. The USMTS will try again this weekend, with 81 Speedway coming up Friday and Saturday. Jake Timm leads the championship right now over Jim Chisholm and Terry Phillips.
In New Jersey, the Short Track Super Series is back in action tonight with a $6000 to win show for the south region. It was just back to Sunday where Marc Johnson won the north region race at Devil's Bowl. At the moment, Mat Williamson leads both regional championships, and the overall standings. Drivers expected to race tonight include Williamson, Matt Sheppard, Anthony Perrego, Ryan Godown, the Grosso brothers, Billy Pauch Jr., Dann Bouc, and many more. Racing is set for 7:15 PM eastern and you can watch live on FloRacing if you can't get there.
Alright, that's it for the daily today. Make sure to hit up the streaming schedule at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight, and see all the latest news and releases from around the sport at dirtrackr.com.
Hope you guys have a great Tuesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!