DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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One driver move is official, the other is still in flux | Daily 7-10-2024
SSI Motorsports has their guy, what's next for RTJ, plus Tuesday results, the World of Outlaws back racing, and more. Let's go!
It's Wednesday, July 10th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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Kicking off today with the big news from last night, and something we've been talking about the last few days in the aftermath of the Ricky Thornton Jr. and SSI Motorsports split, SSI team owner Todd Burns has hired Hudson O'Neal to be the new driver for the team. The team issued a release yesterday, with Kevin Kovac at Dirt on Dirt having the full rundown. O'Neal will debut with SSI when the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series kicks off a busy stretch tomorrow night at 34 Raceway. If you've watched the last two daily shows, you know this was expected, and we did get a few more details in the release. Most notably, that crew chief Anthony Burroughs will stick with SSI and lead the efforts going forward for O'Neal. Huddy will bring crew guy Nick Hardie to the team, joining existing crew members DJ Williams and Justin Tharp. Burns was quoted as saying the split with RTJ was the hardest decision he's made, and wished him luck. With Burns already backing O'Neal to some extent in his own effort, this hiring seemed to be the only one that made sense after dropping Thornton. With O'Neal's recent trajectory, and having Burroughs still in charge, this should vault O'Neal back into the conversation for race wins and a spot in the Lucas championship chase. He is currently 125 points out of fourth, that spot being held right now by Tim McCreadie and the Rocket house car that O'Neal departed earlier this season. We know that Huddy can win big races, we know he can win championships, and with everything at SSI's disposal, I don't see any reason to not expect O'Neal to run up front. If he and that team struggle though, the criticism will be loud from fans who already don't like what they've seen transpire the last few days. We obviously don't know the full details, and likely never will, but based on performance alone, this move seemed inconceivable. So I do think the pressure will be on this whole group.
On the RTJ side, rumblings are that things are proceeding with his next opportunity, and I would be surprised if he wasn't at 34 Raceway tomorrow. I've heard a few different options mentioned, and I'm reluctant to talk about them without more solid information. In what I see and based on conversations I've had, I would expect him to stick with the Longhorn camp. The 5S on Monday night with Steve Sheppard was a Longhorn, and I would think that Steve Arpin would want to keep RTJ in the fold. That should narrow down some of the rumors out there. I have seen a ton of comments about Thornton going to the Rocket house car at some point in the near future. I don't know if that's something people are actually hearing, or if it's just some sort of wishful thinking. It is my understanding that Mark Richards has reached out at various points to RTJ, but if I was a betting man, I don't think I'd put any money on that outcome. Anything is possible, I just don't see that as likely. With just a little more than 24 hours until cars hit the track with Lucas, we should know at least what the near term looks like for Thornton very soon.
Alright, moving on to some racing...
Mid-America Midget Week began last night for the USAC National Midgets. This was their first race back since Indiana Midget Week ended in early June. But we had a similar result to that last race, with Daison Pursley again going to victory lane. Pursley now has four wins in nine series races this season, and an incredible eight top five finishes. Had it not been for that late crash at Sweet Springs back in May after he led, we could easily be talking about nine top fives in nine starts. And just to make this even more impressive, those eight top fives, are also all podiums. This the type of run we've see in recent seasons from guys like Logan Seavey and Buddy Kofoid. The win pushed Pursley's championship lead to 87 over Cannon McIntosh. Zach Daum finished second using his own car and borrowed engine, and Justin Grant was third after leading 11 laps. Unfortunately for Seavey, he DNF'd after bowing out of the lead on lap eight with mechanical issues. Seavey has fallen to fourth in the standings, and already has as many finishes outside the top ten in 2024 as he did all of last season. This midwest trip continues tonight with a stop at Mitchell County. You can watch live over on FloRacing if you aren't headed for the track.
With the Super DIRTcar Series last night, we had maybe a bit of a surprise winner for the 77 lapper honoring Dale Planck. Mat Williamson and Tim Sears Jr. both lead early after they shared the front row together on the start. But on lap 23, it was third starting Jimmy Phelps who took over from Williamson in lap traffic on a very slick Thunder Mountain track. Phelps was out front for the rest of the feature, picking up $7700 and his first Super DIRTcar Series win since 2022. The last time Phelps was an SDS winner, was at Weedsport that year on August 15th. Behind Phelps' win, Williamson held on for second, with Sears third. Matt Sheppard had a good run in fourth, but Williamson did exted his championship lead to now 18 points over the 9S, with Anthony Perrego third. The big block touring series is right back to action on Sunday with a stop at Weedsport.
Week five with the Summer Nationals is not off to a great start so far. The opening round at Shadyhill was lost to weather, and yesterday's race at Hartford was a victim to the wet stuff as well. They will try again tonight at Butler Motor Speedway, with Crystal next on Thursday, Oakshade Friday, and the finale on Saturday at Wayne County. There is also a makeup show on July 18th at Sycamore, plus the Modified Nationals are part of the Prairie Dirt Classic at Fairbury later this month. Tyler Erb leads the season long standings, and the week championships so far have gone to Erb, two to Jason Feger, and one to Tanner English. Trevor Neville appears to be on his way to the modified title, as he's currently got a 265 point lead over Mike McKinney.
At Beaver Dam tonight, the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars return to action after having the July 4th week off from competition. When it was all said and done the only drivers we saw race last week with the Outlaw restrictions lifted completely was Logan Schuchart and Brock Zearfoss during PA Speedweek, and Gio Scelzi at Knoxville. None of the other nine full time Outlaw teams took advantage, even with a few others not far from a place like Knoxville last Saturday night. At the moment, David Gravel the championship leader over Donny Schatz, with Carson Macedo and Scelzi also withing 100 points. Kofoid 148 back, and would likely need a massive charge to drag the Roth 83 back into the fight. The Outlaws will race three of the next four nights, with two shows at Wilmot coming up Friday and Saturday. And then next week it's Attica on Tuesday for the Brad Doty Classic, and then what will likely be four nights at Eldora for most teams. That includes the two High Limit shows Wednesday and Thursday, and the Kings Royal festivities Friday and Saturday. We'll see if Logan Schuchart can carry any of his recent momentum into the coming weeks, fresh off that first Outlaw win of 2024 at Cedar Lake, plus two victories during PA Speedweek. The Outlaws will be live tonight on DIRTVision.
Looking at the other dirt racing podcasts this week, Winged Nation has Logan Wagner, Dirt Track Confessions has Jessica Friesen, the Dirt Nerds have Ryan Sutter, Dirt Tracks and Rib Racks has Danny Sams, Hoogie's Garage has Shayla Bade and Taylor Reimer, Dunewich on Dirt has Josh Shantz, and there are new episodes of the Dirt Reporters, Turn 2 Terribles, Getting up to Speed, The Hammer Lane, and the Driver's Project. To find something new to listen to, head over to dirtrackr.com/podcasts.
Besides the races I've talked about today, there is a lot of other options around the country today. That includes USAC East Coast Sprint Cars at Action Track USA, plus a bunch of local and regional action. Make sure to hit up the streaming schedule at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight for a full rundown.
That's it for the Daily show today. Hope you guys have a great Wednesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!