DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
Dirt racing news, results, discussion, analytics. Sprint cars, late models, modifieds, you name it. From national series, to top local shows. Brought to you five days a week. Email the show at info@dirtrackr.com.
A sprint car seat filled, plus dirt racing media doesn't work like you think it does | Daily 8-15-2024
Coming up, more breaking sprint car silly season news, we'll touch on the big shows ahead this weekend, and I'll go deep on how this dirt racing media thing actually works and why things do or don't get covered and the challenges with all of it. Let's go!
It's Thursday, August 15th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
Over at dirtrackr.com, the analytics section has gone well beyond 2000 races this season, and is actually at 2,060 right now. We track 12 different dirt racing series and special events, and there is a ton of information that you can check out there for free, including full race results, driver pages, and a bunch of stats. But if you want access to every tool and number I use for researching the daily shows, grab a subscription to DIRTRACKR Plus. $4.99 a month, or $49.99 a year. The year subscription gets you two months free effectively. And you can cancel any time very easily. Signing up gets you access to the Plus Dashboard which has added stat tools and visualizations. Unlock more than 25 extra features, including exclusive insights not found anywhere else. Whether you're a race fan, member of the media, or work for a series or track, DIRTRACKR Plus is the perfect resource for current dirt racing data to elevate your knowledge. Beat your friends in those dirt racing pools, or get an edge when you place those bets on things like USAC. And some of your favorite drivers and media members are already signed up for DIRTRACKR Plus. See everything Plus has to offer and sign up for a subscription over at dirtrackr.com/getplus.
Right off the top today we've got some breaking sprint car news and yet another DIRTRACKR exclusive. We know that earlier this week Chase Randall parted ways with TKS Motorsports and the 2KS sprint car. We are still waiting on word for where he'll be next, but TKS has a driver for this weekend. They were originally headed to Jackson Motorplex Friday and Saturday to race against the Outlaws at the Jackson Nationals with Randall, but obviously that's not happening now. The car though, still headed to Jackson, but the driver behind the wheel will be Kelby Watt. I've been told for now, this deal between Watt and the Renfros is just for Jackson, but it could potentially grow into more. It's been a tumultuous few weeks for Watt, who lost his fill-in deal with Bill Rose just days before the Knoxville Nationals, and spent the weekend in his family car. In 13 Outlaw appearances with Rose, Watt was solid, making 10 features, and scoring a best finish of 12th at Pevely during the Ironman 55. He's still very early on in his sprint car career, having made 11 410 starts in 2023, and 30 so far this season. Watt did run the Jackson Nationals last season, so he does have experience at the track. We'll keep you posted as we know more for TKS and what the future holds for Chase Randall.
In racing action on Wednesday, Brian Shirley was a World of Outlaws Late Model Series winner at Highland Speedway. Tyler Bruening was out front early in that one, but Squirrel took the lead before half way on a restart, and drove on to his second victory of the season in Outlaw competition. Bobby Pierce drove up from seventh to finish second, and Bruening was third. It was Bruening's first Outlaw podium since 2022. Pierce did make up a little ground on Brandon Sheppard in the championship, but not much, as Shepp finished fourth. Headed to Spoon River tonight, the gap is now 72 between them. I don't want to make it seem like I'm dismissing Nick Hoffman here, who is still second, but he's continued to lose ground in recent weeks. Three straight finishes of 12th or worse, have him now trailing by 46. That team was really good in May and June, and solid into July, but as we get into crunch time they've definitely struggled a bit more. After tonight at Spoon River, the Outlaw weekend continues at Maquoketa with two nights for the Hawkeye 100.
There was some other news that came out of Highland yesterday, specifically around Dennis Erb Jr., and I want to use it to maybe enlighten you guys a little bit about what the landscape looks like for dirt racing media people, and those like me that try and cover the sport. I've been having a bit of a back and forth the last few days with someone on Twitter about how dirt racing gets covered, and they have specifically talked about dirt late models, and some of the crazy stuff that's happened this season. They were attempting to compare the NFL and someone like Adam Schefter to the dirt racing media, and wondering why we haven't gotten more details out of what went down with situations like those with Hudson O'Neal and Ricky Thornton Jr. And then yesterday, Dennis Erb Jr. shows up to Highland with a new chassis, and they wanted to know why it wasn't breaking news across the sport. I think it's a fair question, but I also see it as an opportunity to show what it is we are really up against. For reference on the Erb situation, with him switching from Rockets to suddenly Barry Wright, the first I'd heard anything about this was literally on Tuesday, in a random tweet. It's hard to put much stock in just one tweet from someone I don't know. And then the next time it's brought up, is when the World of Outlaws post a photo of Erb's car rolling out of the trailer yesterday at the track. I have no idea if other media folks knew about this in advance, and as I write today's show, there is nothing about it at Dirt on Dirt, or Speed Sport, or even the Outlaw website. So if folks did know, they didn't find it a big enough piece of news to worry about. And to be honest, had it not been for this Twitter back and forth, I don't know that I would have done much with it. Maybe a passing mention at most. I guess maybe other people might feel differently, and no disrespect to Erb, but this doesn't feel like a big story to me. Erb is a past Outlaw champion, but he's ninth in Outlaw points right now, has just two top five finishes, has led laps in just a single race this season, and hasn't won with the series since last June. Guys play chassis games all the time, and unless it's a top five or top ten guy, it's likely not going to get much attention. Again, you may disagree, but after 1,143 daily shows since 2020, I have a pretty good idea of what moves the needle. So why didn't I specifically, know about this in advance? It's pretty simple really, nobody told me. I'm not intimately familiar with the operation of Dennis Erb's team, and unless I get clued in, I'm not going to know about things like this. People like Adam Schefter break news because it's fed to them. That guy is just on his phone all day getting sent information from team personnel, agents, PR folks, whoever. And he's only covering 32 NFL teams. This idea that media folks are just all knowing is flat incorrect. Stories only get out that people want to get out. And let's go even further here with Erb and this chassis situation to help illustrate some of the problems. Erb has PR representation through Ryan Delph and Delph Communications. If a story was going to break about Erb, you'd assume it would come from him, which is often the case with dirt racing news. But even Erb's PR guy didn't have this ready to go. The Outlaws tweeted a photo of Erb's new Barry Wright car yesterday at 4PM eastern time, and it wasn't until three hours later that Delph posted a small story to Facebook and Erb's website about it. And he didn't even share an original photo with his release. It was the photo from Twitter that the Outlaws shared. And then that post from Delph wasn't shared to Erb's own Facebook page until 1:30 this morning. So if Erb's own PR guy didn't know, didn't have a photo, I'm not sure why the expectation is that those of us who talk about racing daily would have any idea. There is yet another side of this that often complicates things, and that's relationships. The Dirt on Dirt guys, Jeremy Elliott, Kyle McFadden, insert your favorite media personality here... They all know about some of these big stories in advance. Sometimes weeks in advance. But they can't break them until it's okayed by whoever their sources are. It's called an embargo. They can't go scorched earth and do what they want, because then those relationships end. And in the very small community that is dirt racing, if nobody trusts you, and nobody talks to you, then your media career is over. If they burn a source and go with a story, or piss someone off, then that bridge gets burned. I know of a writer who was banned recently from a race track for a short period of time because of a question they asked. Not a story they wrote, not a leak, not a social media post, but just a question. A lot of the big players in this sport are too sensitive and could not handle a world in which it was covered and talked about like the NBA, like the NFL, like NASCAR even. I've taken heat myself for things I've said on the show, that were rumors and speculation at the time, and actually ended up being true. That didn't stop a nasty message coming my way. To be clear here, I have not said all of this today looking for any sort of sympathy. And the other media folks would say the same. But I do think it's important to understand a bit how this works, and why things are the way they are. There is very little money to be made doing it, because the sport is so niche and demand isn't big for the content. That's why there are so few involved. It took me 14 months of daily shows before I brought in a single penny of revenue. The reporters and media people involved do it because they love it and they think it's important. Many can't even afford to do it full time, but they hustle to do the best they can anyway. So hopefully in the future when stories break a certain way, or things get covered in a way that seems odd or not completely forthcoming, you have a better idea of what's happening and what's at stake. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.
Alright, a couple of other things before we shut it down for the week...
The two national sprint car series are on opposite ends of the country this weekend. The World of Outlaws are at Jackson Motorplex Friday and Saturday for the Jackson Nationals. $25,000 to win on Saturday night, and we start this end run to World Finals. The series stays in the midwest for the next few weeks, before they head to California in early September. David Gravel still very much in control of the championship over Donny Schatz and Carson Macedo. Macedo has won this event two years straight, and that JJR 41 has been trending back towards the win column recently. Fresh off the Knoxville Nationals, I don't know that I'd expect a huge car count at Jackson, maybe high 20's, low 30s would be my guess.
Out in California, the Kubota High Limit sprint cars begin their run up the west coast starting tonight at the Tulare Thunderbowl. Tulare, Hanford, Placerville through Saturday night, then Chico for the Gold Cup, Douglas County, Grays Harbor, then to Skagit for the Skagit Nationals. Brad Sweet has a nearly triple digit lead on Tyler Courtney for the championship right now, but Sweet and the 49 team may be a bit vulnerable at the moment. They are clearly not where they want to be in terms of speed, and Sweet still hasn't won a sprint car race since May. Racing out west will be tough though, 40 cars pre-entered for tonight, and those California guys are capable of winning. Should be a fun weekend. You will see two 57s tonight, with Kyle Larson racing alongside Jock Goodyer.
Besides the World of Outlaws, your weekend late model options are very good. They include the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Batesville for the Topless 100. Dale McDowell won this race a year ago, Jonathan Davenport took it in 2022, and Hudson O'Neal before that. That final Lucas chase spot is still very much in play between Tim McCreadie and Hudson O'Neal, Ricky Thornton Jr. will be looking for a signature win with Koehler, and Devin Moran has been scorching hot lately with 12 straight top five finishes. And underlying all of this is plenty of turmoil and rumors about next season.
You've also got Hunt the Front at Senoia for $15,000 to win, some nice money for the Ultimate Heart of America series, and Iron-Man in action along with other local and regional shows.
One other schedule note, the USAC National Sprint Cars are rained out tonight at Red Hill Raceway. They'll be back next week at Kokomo. Weekend Silver Crown action is still on, which includes Friday at Gateway and Saturday at Springfield.
That's it for the Daily show this week. Thanks as always to everyone who tunes in regularly, it is very much appreciated.
Hope you guys have a great Thursday out there, we'll see you back here on Sunday!