DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Paul Silva's turned up sprint car exhaust is spreading | Daily 8-19-2024

Sunday dirt racing results, Paul Silva's turned up header pipes are spreading, and the sprint car world says goodbye to a friend. Let's go!

It's Monday, August 19th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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I don't know what it is about Senoia Raceway in Georgia and big time shows, but they have been snake bitten with weather. And that continued this weekend with the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series. The Saturday night program was hit with rain mid-show, but fortunately they had a nice Sunday there and were able to get everything completed. Yesterday's afternoon race was led to green by Sam Seawright, and he was out front for 30 of the 50 laps. Fourth starting Shane Clanton hung around behind Seawright through the first half, but took the lead with a slider with 20 to go, and never looked back. It was Clanton's second win in just 15 starts this season, and it was good for $15,000. Ashton Winger ended up second, and Joseph Joiner went ninth to third. For all his time out front, Seawright finished 15th after shenanigans between he and Josh Putnam left Putnam spun out, and Seawright penalized to the rear. There was contact between the two under caution, and later more under green. The issues for Seawright, and a 14th to fourth run for Brandon Overton saw him extend his championship lead to 84. The Hunt the Front season continues Friday and Saturday this week at Lake Cumberland.

In Sunday sprint car action, Joe B. Miller was an IRA winner at Angell Park. Fun show, and Joe B. wasn't really even in the conversation until late. Jake Neuman led a lot of that feature, but the 51B came roaring around the top late to take the lead. Neuman came home second, and Greg Wilson was third after winning Saturday at Wilmot. The IRA title fight is pretty tight right now, with just 38 points separating Scotty Thiel and Jake Blackhurst. The IRA is back in action August 31st at Plymouth.

And at the Missouri State Fair Speedway, Ayrton Gennetten picked up $5 grand and the POWRi 410 victory. He got by Brian Brown late in that one to score the win, with polesitter Blake Hahn also on the podium. Gennetten now with three POWRi wins on the season, and he's got a pretty significant triple digit lead on Hahn for that championship right now. Still a lot of racing left though, with the next race coming up on August 30th at I-35.

Over the weekend in California, Paul Silva and his guys were busy wrenching on cars for both Kyle Larson and Jock Goodyer as High Limit embarks on their very first west coast swing. Thursday at Tulare, Larson bagged his sixth sprint car win in a row, and as we've documented, this streak has coincided with the 57 showing up with those turned up exhaust headers. We first talked about this two weeks ago, showing photos and sharing some of the reasons why Silva might be doing this. And in the days since, others have weighed in, but there hasn't been any added clarity, as Silva and his guys won't share. Which is understandable. We've heard everything from the turned up exhaust adds downforce, to it keeps tires and suspension bits cooler, to it's actually nothing but a distraction. Where the truth lies, I don't really know, but it's hard to ignore. Because if it is actually nothing, it's one hell of a coincidence that Larson misses the Kings Royal, Silva fits these headers, then Larson goes on a run like we haven't seen in a very long time. On the Saturday of the Knoxville Nationals I asked Jeremy Elliott of Sprintcarunlimited.com if he'd heard any chatter in the pit area about the setup, and he said he hadn't really, but it's clear that we weren't the only ones that noticed. At that Thursday show at Tulare, Larson's car wasn't the only one fitted with that style of pipes. Jock Goodyer in the Works Limited 57W had them, which isn't shocking because that's a Paul Silva prepared car. If he'd learned something with Larson, you would expect he would do the same with the other car he was responsible before. But elsewhere in the pit area, suddenly both Rico Abreu and Dominic Scelzi were running them. Rico had weekend finishes of second twice, and 13th. Scelzi was 21st at Tulare, and ninth at Hanford. He did not race at Placerville. And these two weren't the only drivers around the country to try them. Tylar Rankin ran a similar setup with the IRA at Wilmot and Angell Park. Here's a photo of his car from Loren Kelly. He was 19th on Saturday and 13th on Sunday. And Matt Campbell went to victory lane on Saturday night at Lincoln with turned up tips on his exhaust on the X machine. His weren't quite as severe though, but still different. Neither Rankin, nor Campbell, Abreu, or Scelzi had previously run anything like this. Sprint Car Hub and Toby Bellbowen did a video on this very topic yesterday, trying to explain some of the reasons. And in it, he had conversations with a few guys, including Placerville winner James McFadden, who admitted they had also mocked up a set for the Roth 83. So teams are taking this seriously. A very common reaction I've seen from many people since this came to light, is that turned up exhaust is nothing new. And yes, we certainly understand that. Paul Silva did not invent this. But in recent times, this has not been a thing in major sprint car racing. I think the question becomes though, how do you not go this direction as a team? Motorsports are very monkey see, monkey do, but this is why. If a team is suddenly having success with something, whether you believe it works or not, you can't really ignore it. As long as it's not hurting your car's speed and performance, there really isn't a good reason not to try it, even if you aren't fully clear on what benefits it provides. That's why what was one car, then became four, now six that we know about it. I think in the coming days and weeks, you'll see this on even more race cars around the country. It's not an expensive thing, all it takes is a little tubing and a weld job. And if it doesn't work, you just cut them back off. Paul Silva has started something here, and I think it's contagious. Keep an eye this week on the Gold Cup, the Outlaws in North Dakota, and weekly action. My guess is you'll see a lot more turned up pipes.

Finally today, a sad note as the sprint car world has a lost a friend and an innovator. Long time World of Outlaws timing and scoring official Eloy Gutierrez passed away this morning at the age of 75, following a battle with cancer. If you might remember back in May, I did a daily show about Eloy and why he should be inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame. In the 1990s, he and his business partner BD Shafer brought electronic timing and scoring to dirt racing. They buried the scoring loops at many of your favorite race tracks, including Eldora, Knoxville, and Williams Grove. He was a pioneer in the sport, and having timing and scoring available on race broadcasts, in the pit area, and on websites and social media wouldn't be possible without his work. For a long time, he even towed around a portable scoring tower to race tracks that didn't have one. But beyond his immeasurable contributions to sprint car racing, Eloy was also just an incredible human being. One of the nicest people you could ever meet, and you'll see that today across social media, as messages about Eloy are shared. He was a friend to all in the pit area, and always in a good mood. I will certainly miss our conversations, and I know a bunch of folks are hurting today. I am going to reiterate again that he should be inducted into the hall of fame. Most race fans will likely not know his name or his face, but they've all encountered his work. He dedicated much of his life to sprint car racing, and I don't know of anyone more deserving of the honor.

We'll call it good there today. Appreciate you tuning into the daily show.

Hope you guys have a great Monday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!