DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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You won't believe this sprint car story, and another new dirt late model chassis | Daily 9-2-2024
Buddy Kofoid's redemption, Jock Goodyer gets a US win, Sunday winners and Monday racing, plus news from Shane Van Gisbergen and Cody Sommer. Let's go!
It's Monday, September 2nd, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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World of Outlaws Sprint Cars at Huset's last night for the High Bank Nationals makeup and $100,000 to the winner. The feature ended up being a battle between Carson Macedo and Buddy Kofoid, with Kofoid coming out on top for the big money. Kofoid was able to take advantage of Macedo stuck in lap traffic to take the lead, and then he survived a hail mary attempt in the final corners to score what was really a redemption win. Remember back to the High Bank Nationals in 2023, Kofoid led the first 30 laps from the pole, before his Toyota engine expired in a big way, which handed the lead to David Gravel. This year though, no issues with the Toyota power, and Kofoid earns his first career six figure payday. Macedo settled for a close second, and Bill Balog joined them on the podium. This to me felt like a statement win as well after what was really a miserable Knoxville Nationals for this team a few weeks ago. They were on the outside looking in come the big show Saturday night, while their teammate James McFadden really had no issues all week. This was also Kofoid's first win of any kind since Attica way back in May. Since then, they've had some good stretches and led laps a few times, but just couldn't close the deal. In an interesting twist, Kofoid's crew chief Dylan Buswell shared to Twitter that the engine that expired last season at Huset's taking them out of the win, was the same one they used last night. No changes in the Outlaw championship picture through the weekend, as with the differing format, only show-up points were available. David Gravel still leads Donny Schatz by 110 points, with Macedo third, 114 back. Coming up, the Outlaws will spend the next three weeks in California, racing at Stockton, Hanford, Bakersfield, Merced, and Tulare. The Tarlton Classic at Hanford pays $21 grand to win, and the second night of the Dennis Roth Classic at Tulare is $83,000 to win. This could be a pivotal stretch in the championship, because David Gravel has been awfully quiet lately. They have continued to stack up top ten finishes, but no laps led since winning at Weedsport at the end of July. Macedo's average finish over his last five races is 2.4, and it's 3.5 over his last ten. If that JJR41 can keep up this pace, they just might be able to make something of this championship. I believe we are at 19 races left on the season. 114 points over 19 races is not impossible. The Outlaws will next be on track Friday at Stockton.
Elsewhere in Sunday action, Jock Goodyer is now a winner on US soil. He and Paul Silva's decision to head back to California paid off with an $8000 win in the Nor Cal Posse Shootout at Placerville. He topped Shane Hopkins and Tanner Carrick and a 31 car field that also included names like Justin Peck, Ryan Bernal, and Andy Forsberg. Anthony Macri went fifth to the win at Lincoln to pick up the $20,000 Kevin Gobrecht Memorial. He's now won his last three straight sprint car starts. He and Joe Mooney will be bringing a lot of momentum into Port Royal this week. Ayrton Gennetten was a POWRi winner at Lake Ozark, Joel Myers Jr swept the IRA weekend, Cale Thomas won the FAST show at Wayne County, and Jake Bubak won the IMCA RaceSaver Nationals at Eagle Raceway for the third time.
In USAC midget action after something like six weeks since their last race, Zach Wigal picked up his first career series win. He led 26 laps and topped Cannon McIntosh and Logan Seavey at Angell Park Speedway. Points leader Daison Pursley went ninth to fifth. The midgets are right back today for another round at Angell Park, before going quiet again for a few weeks. Their next event is the 4 Crown Nationals at Eldora later this month. Can I just say here, I have really not enjoyed the way this USAC midget schedule has played out this season. I'm rarely going to be critical of things like schedule organization, but I do hope that Kirk Spridgeon and the USAC guys will have a hard look at this one for 2025. They didn't start til May, raced for a few weeks, took a month off, did a few more shows, took another six weeks off. I just don't know how you build any momentum this way. I'm as deep in on this stuff as anyone, and I've been checked out on this series this year.
Real quick, this is the last call for the Labor Day discount on DIRTRACKR merch. Through midnight tonight, if you use code "LABORDAY24" at checkout at shop.dirtrackr.com, you can get 25% off your entire order of shirts and stickers. That's "LABORDAY24" at checkout for 25% off at shop.dirtrackr.com.
With the Hillbilly Hundred at Tyler County rained out, a bunch of teams went to Eldora early to run the Baltes Classic yesterday. 65 cars for $5000 to win is a pretty crazy field. Garrett Alberson ended up leading all 30 laps from the pole, holding off Carson Ferguson and Jonathan Davenport. Ricky Thornton Jr. made a charge for the lead at one point, and actually held it briefly before Alberson drove back by. It was Alberson's first career trip to victory lane at Eldora. Eldora is quiet today and Tuesday, with the Flo series on track Wednesday and the World 100 starting Thursday.
Other Sunday late model winners included Chad Simpson with the MLRA at Moberly. He's got a commanding lead in that championship as well. Morgan Bagley was a Comp Cams winner at Magnolia, and McKay Wenger is finally a MARS winner, picking up the win at Spoon River over Ryan Unzicker and Jason Feger.
Around the country today, a fresh week of racing starts, and we'll have action every night. Port Royal has their Labor Day Classic today for $7300 to win. This will be the locals' last chance to tune up before the Tuscarora 50 starts on Thursday. There is also the Short Track Super Series at Utica-Rome. This race was supposed to run yesterday, but got pushed back because of weather. And at Boone Speedway, the 42nd IMCA Super Nationals get rolling tonight. You'll get a full show for the late models, plus prelim action for northern sportmods, and hobby stocks. The first on-track action is slate for 2PM central time.
To close out today, I've got two news items for you. First, according to Australia's speedcafe, Shane Van Gisbergen and Trackhouse Racing team owner Justin Marks are apparently exploring the possibility for SVG to run the Chili Bowl next January. SVG will be a full time Cup Series driver in 2025, and is currently in the midst of his first full time season in the US, driving in the Xfinity series and a part time Cup Schedule. SVG has experience in sprint cars and midgets, racing at places like Bay Park and Western Springs in New Zealand, but his previous Supercars team owner put the kibosh on his midget racing following a crash. Van Gisbergen is not a small guy, and he told speedcafe that his size could be an issue in both being comfortable in the car, and performing well. If something gets worked out, he said they might test in the coming months. Either way though, SVG does plan on returning home to New Zealand during the offseason to get back in a sprint car.
And finally, another new dirt late model chassis is making it's debut at Eldora this week. Gateway Dirt Nationals promoter and previous president of Scott Bloomquist Racing, Cody Sommer, is rolling out his new DRT piece. DRT stands for Dirt Racing Technologies, and the car was on track yesterday during the Baltes Classic. In a release, Sommer says the car design isn't a copy of another chassis or brand, unlike quote "several examples of new chassis over the years." Before heading to Eldora, the DRT car was tested by Nick Hoffman, and it did make it's first appearance in qualifying on Sunday. Sommer is driving it at Eldora, and he qualified 24th of 32 cars in group A, and finished eighth in heat three. The car did not appear the rest of the night, and Sommer tweeted a photo of a very bent shock. He said their plan was to take it night by night through the week, so we'll see if the blue number 13 signs in on Wednesday for the Flo series race.
That's it for the show today. Make sure to hit up dirtrackr.com/watchtonight to see your streaming options on this Labor Day.
Hope you guys have a great Monday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!