DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Weekend dirt racing and remembering the legend, Scott Bloomquist | Daily 8-18-2024

Tim McCreadie breaks through with Rocket, Bobby Pierce can't make up ground, plus weekend World of Outlaws and High Limit results, and we'll remember Scott Bloomquist. Let's go!

It's Sunday, August 18th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

It took 25 Lucas starts to do it, but Tim McCreadie is finally a winner in the Rocket house car. He led 52 laps last night in the Topless 100, and did a nice job managing his stuff all the way to the end. It was a battle between him and Ricky Thornton Jr. for a lot of that feature, but RTJ went out of the lead with 35 to go because of a flat tire. McCreadie inherited back the lead from there, and never gave it up again. Jonathan Davenport went 15th to second, and Garrett Alberson was third. Both Ethan Dotson and RTJ got tires at that lap 65 caution, and both were able to drive back to top five finishes. I think it showed just how much harder those guys could run on newer rubber. McCreadie started on the pole of the Friday feature at Batesville, and ran third behind Thornton and Dale McDowell after he was docked on the initial start for jumping. I wondered then if he was maybe pressing a bit trying to get that first win, because that's not really a mistake you see TMac make very often. I felt like last night though was a very McCreadie performance, in a race that really was about management. It was his first Topless 100 win since 2008. As the regular season starts to wind down here, he's edged out a 60 point cushion on Hudson O'Neal for that final chase spot. Now that the pressue is off for that first win, I'm going to be super curious to see how McCreadie does down the stretch here. They've been really consistent, now the question will be can they knock off some more wins and really challenge for this championshp. There are rumblings about that Rocket house car for the future, and McCreadie is trying to make his case for why he should stay. I still think RTJ is the championship favorite, especially with what we've seen through this first two weeks with a new Longhorn Chassis and Chris Madden running the show. The Friday win, laps led Saturday, and a bounceback top five. More big money is coming this week, when the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series heads to Port Royal, with $50,000 to win on Saturday night.

With the other touring late model series, the World of Outlaws, what a weekend it was for Brian Shirley. He won the Wednesday night show at Highland Speedway, then came to Maquoketa Friday and Saturday, and won both of those as well. I don't know what those guys found, but three in a row is a seriously impressive run of races, especially against this group. He dominated the Friday show, and then battled last night with Cody Overton early, then Bobby Pierce. Pierce picked up a flat with 13 to go though, and it was all Shirley from there. Nick Hoffman nipped Brandon Sheppard right at the end for second. Pierce had picked up ground on BShepp in the title fight Wednesday and Friday, but that flat last night cost him all of the progress he'd made. His 12th place result and BShepp on the podium sees the gap right back to 76. We're down to just 10 race nights left in the season, and Pierce is going to start running out of chances quickly. Hoffman still holds second, but he's slipped to 64 back, following four nights of 12th or worse results. He needed that second place run last night. The Outlaws head to Atomic Speedway this week for two nights.

At Jackson Motorplex, the Jackson Nationals wins were split between Carson Macedo and Donny Schatz. Schatz stopped Macedo's dominance at the track last night with a green-to-checkered win, and a $25,000 payday. Sheldon Haudenschild made a last corner run at Schatz last night, but couldn't get a move done. He and David Gravel were the podium finishers. Those two also on the podium Friday behind Macedo. I was impressed again with Emerson Axsom. He just keeps on running well and picking up good finishes. Led laps and a podium at Beaver Dam. Sixth in the Kings Royal. Made the Knoxville Nationals main event, and fifth last night. I would not be surprised to see him pickup a big sprint car win before the season was over. The Outlaws are back this week with two nights in North Dakota, River Cities Friday and Red River Valley on Saturday. Gravel still inching away in the championship fight, with the gap back to Schatz now 106. Macedo is 142 behind, and everyone from Gio Scelzi in fourth on back has lost touch.

Out in California, the Kubota High Limit sprint cars are off and running on their west coast trip. Races at Tulare, Hanford, and Placerville, and three different winners. Thursday night Kyle Larson outdueled brother-in-law and fellow series owner Brad Sweet for his sixth straight win in a sprint car. He started fifth, and led the final nine laps. Since missing the feature at the Kings Royal and showing up with turned up exhaust headers, he's swept the Ironman 55 weekend, won the Front Row Challenge, handled his prelim night at Knoxville before a 55 lap dominant run at the Nationals, and now this Tulare victory. Even during that magical 2020 season when he won 32 times, he never went six-in-a-row. It's probably good for his competitors that his focus will be shifting towards the NASCAR playoffs soon. At Hanford, it was a similar story for Brad Sweet. Led a bunch of laps early, but got beat late. This time though it was Tyler Courtney. Sunshine had been up and down this summer in High Limit competition, but it was a solid drive. Rico Abreu ended up second for the second straight night, and Sweet was again third. And then last night at Placerville, it was a brutal race through lap traffic, with James McFadden eventually coming out on top of Justin Sanders and Corey Day. High Limit win number two for McFadden, and a nice way to close the weekend for Sanders, who had tough nights at Tulare and Hanford. The wildest moment of the night came with four laps to go, when the lap car of Jamie Veal suddenly checked up off turn two and collected second running Zeb Wise, and Brad Sweet. Wise was in contention for the win, which his team desparately needs, and Sweet was in the top five. I have no idea how Sweet was able to continue, as he hit Zeb's 26 broadside. Everyone was okay. Zeb showing some speed out west, but last night was insanely bad luck. For my friends down under, if you were curious about Jock Goodyer's opening stretch of races, 16th at Tulare, 19th at Hanford, and 11th in a B main last night. Not much change in the High Limit standings with Gold Cup up next. Sweet still leads Sunshine, with Rico up to third, Brent Marks fourth, and Corey Day fifth. 60 plus sprint cars and $100k to win at Chico starts Thursday.

Other weekend open wheel winners included an ASCS sweep for Sam Hafertepe, Zeth Sabo was an AFCS winner at Attica, Chase Dietz won at Williams Grove, Riley Goodno was a MOWA winner at Lincoln, Greg Wilson took the IRA show at Wilmot, Darin Naida was a Maverick winner, Matt Campbell won at Lincoln, Robbie Kendall and Mike Wagner split Port Royal wins, and Justin Grant and Dakoda Armstrong were weekend Silver Crown winners.

If you want some racing action today, you've got plenty of options, including the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series from Senoia. Their show last night got interrupted during heat races, and they will continue action today. There's also IRA at Angell Park, USAC East Coast Sprint Cars, and lots of regional action. Check out the streaming schedule over at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.

Finally today, it's been a rough weekend for late model fans and really the larger motorsports community following the tragic loss of Scott Bloomquist. Back on Friday morning, Bloomquist was killed in a plane crash on his property in Tennessee. He was flying a 1938 Piper Cub, and was the lone occupant of the aircraft when it apparently crashed into a barn. The 60 year old driver started his incredible racing career in the early 1980s, and along the way became one of the sport's greatest. Something like 600 feature wins, he won the Lucas title three times, the Outlaw title once, was a four time Hav-A-Tampa champion and joined the Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame in 2002. He was a winner of the Dirt Late Model Dream an incredible eight times, and won the World 100 four times to go along with a slew of other major race wins in his career. But besides the late model chassis innovations through is Team Zero and all the success on track, Bloomquist was one of the most polarizing figures in the sport's history. He was as recognizeable as it gets, was always good for a soundbite, and illicted strong responses and emotions from those that both loved and hated him. Even over the last several years as his career slowed down due to a variety of factors including lingering injuries and ailments, people were still fascinated by what the voodoo child was up to. His final national touring victory came against the World of Outlaws at Thunder Mountain Speedway in 2020, and his final appearance was at the USA Nationals at Cedar Lake just two weeks ago. He'd made only a handful of starts in 2024, but still showed speed, including an 11th place run during his prelim feature at the Dream, and a pair of top five runs, one against the Spring Nationals at Tazewell, and a second place finish with Hunt the Front at All-Tech. He'd also had two nasty crashes this year, including with Hunt the Front at Ultimate Motorsports Park, and that wild flip during Dream Saturday at Eldora when he tangled with Shannon Babb. Even at 60 years old, Bloomquist was still on the ragged edge. Through my own career in dirt racing, the one notable run-in I had with Bloomer was at Volusia in 2016. He'd won a feature during DIRTcar Nationals, climbed out of his car and sprayed water all over the photographers and people in victory lane (including me), and then got on the stage and promptly told Blake Anderson about winning jewels on a gambling machine in Tampa days before and then shouted let in rain. He closed out by biting the head of the gator trophy during victory lane photos. If you are looking for good Bloomquist tribute stuff, let me point you towards the nearly two hour live stream that Michael Rigsby did with FloRacing. It's available on Flo, YouTube and Facebook. There is also a good written piece from Dave Argabright at Dirt on Dirt. Feel free to share your own thoughts and memories about Bloomquist in the comment section below.

Hope you guys have a great rest of your Sunday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!