DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Brent Marks is wrong about sprint car racing | Daily 9-19-2024
Brent Marks said not long ago that sprint car racing is quote "awful" and quote "worse than it was before we tried to create passing." So is he right, or wrong? I'll share my own opinion, and we'll deep dive hard on the stats to see if they back up his claims. Let's go!
It's Thursday, September 19th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
The 4-Crown weekend at Eldora Speedway starts tomorrow. Two nights of High Limit sprint cars and all three USAC national divisions. It's going to be a great two days of racing, and if you're going to be in town, make sure to stop by The Whistle Stop and grab something good to eat. It's just a seven mile ride straight south of the race track to Ansonia. If you cross the train tracks, turn around you've gone too far. You can get breakfast, lunch, dinner, pizza, and they've got a full bar so you can enjoy a nice adult beverage. Andrew and his staff do a great job, so if you stop in, tell them DIRTRACKR sent you. If you want to ride a little further south, head to Sure Shot Tap House in Greenville, Ohio, a great place to eat, drink and play. They've got a full menu, plus all sorts of adult beverage options on tap, self pour, plus the Bullseye Game Lounge upstairs with duckpin bowling and 24 arcade games. When you're not at the track, keep yourself fed and entertained with these two establishments, the Whistle Stop and Sure Shot Tap House. Thanks to them for their support of Eldora, this show, and dirt racing.
Going back almost two weeks ago, there was a Brent Marks social media post about the current state of sprint car racing, and the quality of shows we are seeing. I didn't comment about it at the time, because I wanted to see how the response to Marks' post played out, and I wanted some time to dive into the numbers and see what some of the stats have to say. In that post, Marks said that he thought sprint car racing had gone backwards since 2023, and he quote "realized how bad sprint car racing actually is right now." He went on to say quote "Ive watched so many races since the beginning of the summer and 98% of these events, the quality of the entire show is just awful, worse than it was before when we tried to 'create passing'" unquote. He didn't mention any specific reasons or possible fixes, but he did bring up the rules package and going back to older packages. Looking back over the past few seasons, the only things that have really changed are the new sprint car tires that debuted early in 2023, and this season's change to the 1 inch wicker bill. So when he's talking rules, this has got to be what he's referring to. For full context, which is important here, Marks' post came the day after the miserable track conditions at the Tuscarora 50, where the track rubbered around half way. He pointed towards seeing videos of people leaving Port during that feature as proof of how bad it's been. To be fair, that's not proof of how bad sprint car racing is. That's an isolated situation where track conditions went sideways, and the Port Royal folks acknowledged they screwed up. There have been record crowds this season at the Ironman at Pevely, plus Outlaw shows at Weedsport, Jacksonville, Volusia, Kenndale, and 81, plus High Limit at Skagit. And that's just what I could find with a quick Twitter search. Also, Eldora and Knoxville were packed for the Kings Royal weekend and Knoxville Nationals. Marks is a talented driver, he's been around a long time, and I like his guys. His opinion is one that should be taken seriously by both fans and series officials. In this instance though, I don't agree just based on my own observations. I've watched a crap load of racing, especially the last five years, and anecdotally, I don't feel like all that much has changed. You're going to have nights that suck, and you're going to have some bangers. That's been the case this season. I don't believe it's better, but I don't believe it's worse either.
Jumping into the numbers, I looked at World of Outlaws results the past three seasons, and we'll get into some High Limit stuff as well. 2022 was before any of the changes, 2023 was the new sprint car tire, and this season it's been the 1 inch wicker. So we've got some nice variations to make comparisons on. We had 74 Outlaw races in 2022, 76 last season, and 58 so far in 2024. Where possible, I'll try and give standardized info with the numbers, so we can have accurate comparisons. First, lap leaders. 32 in 2022, 30 in 2023, and 26 so far in 2024. We are actually on pace this season to have more lap leaders than we did in 2022 before any of these changes. What about race winners? 18 different winners in 2022, 20 in 2023, and 16 so far this year. Again, on pace for more this season. And to be clear, I'm not saying we'll have more this year, just that at the moment, we are ahead in terms of averages. Next, I've got the number of features with multiple lap leaders. 51 in both 2022 and 2023, so far this year, 38. This one is off just a touch from the previous two seasons. The best was 2022, and we're down just a few percentage points there so far this season. Continuing with features, how about positions gained? This one I calculated using feature plus minus numbers, looking at total spots gained from starting positions to finish positions. 1,382 in 2022, 1,385 in 2023, and this season already 1,396. So more spots gained through less races this season. That doesn't jive with the idea that you can't pass in these main events. Another stat that gets pointed to often is winners off the front row, and that number has crept up since 2022 with the Outlaws. It was 54% of feature wins came from front row starters in 2022, it climbed to 60.5% in 2023, and is up a bit more this season to 62%. That is definitely not great, but where this gets blown out of the water is with High Limit. If tires and wickers are creating worse racing out front, then how do you explain the High Limit stats for 2024? In 47 features, just 38% of wins have come off the front row. High Limit and the Outlaws have the same car rules. 62% isn't great for the Outlaws, but 38% with High Limit is very good for those looking for more racing out front. Looking deeper into race night programs, I did some heat race numbers as well. 90% of heats were won off the front row in 2022, it's been 92.8% each of the last two years. So it did rise in 2023, but no difference with the wickers in 2024. Passing in heats, also doesn't seem to be tougher. Using that same plus minus calculation I used for features, total heat race position changes for 2022 was 660, it dropped to 619 in 2023, but things have ticked back up again for 2024 with 574 right now. 574 heat race position changes is on pace for better than 2022 before any of the rule changes. If you want the full picture for High Limit this year, they've had 47 races, 33 different lap leaders, 16 winners, 39 main events with multiple lap leaders, 515 heat race spots gained, 1,148 feature spots gained, and that 38% number for feature wins off the front row. Their heat wins from the front row is lower at 89%, but it's not a straight comparison because of the inverts. Looking at all of this, it's really tough to conclude that the racing is quote "awful" compared to past years. A bunch of these stats are on pace to be better, and while a few are down, like heat and feature wins from the front row, how do you explain what High Limit is doing? Brent Marks clearly has a different perspective on these races than we do as fans, but all of the data doesn't appear to show what he's saying. He's in the midst of his worst season performance wise since 2020, and shared his opinion on the state of the sport the day after he needed a provisional to start a main event on a track that ended up taking rubber early. I don't know what it's like driving and wrenching on these things every race, and I'm not saying there isn't maybe some truth in his thoughts. I also agree that we need to keep working together to find ways to make things better, and I'm aware of some of the problems that these guys are facing, including quality control and consistency issues with things like tires. But based on what I've seen, and the numbers, I don't think sprint car racing is really bad right now, and I don't agree that it's awful, or worse than it was even a few years ago. There is more money available then ever before, there is more parity than ever before, and while there is always going to be work to do, I think it's pretty good right now.
Alright, I know that was a lot, but I do want to hit on a few things coming up this weekend. Before we do though, I know we just ran a merch sale not that long ago, but I want to blow things out and get rid of everything I have left. So here's what we're going to do at shop.dirtrackr.com. Everything is on sale as of today. No coupon code necessary, prices are automatically marked down. I'm going to continue lowering prices every day going forward by a little bit until I'm sold out. So, you can wait and get a better deal, but you also take the risk of things selling out. Play that however you'd like. As of this recording, I've got 16 of the circle stickers, 43 daily show logo stickers, and 24 t-shirts left in stock. Happy deal hunting.
Coming up this weekend, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series is at Knoxville for the Late Model Nationals. These three nights are the final chances for two drivers specifically, to lock themselves into that final chase four. Ricky Thornton Jr., Jonathan Davenport, and Devin Moran are solid, but just 15 points separate Hudson O'Neal, who is in, and Tim McCreadie, who is out. Based on recent past history, McCreadie might have the edge. His average finish back to 2021 is four spots better at Knoxville than O'Neal, but Huddy ran third in the Nationals in 2023. This one will likely be very tight all the way through Saturday night. In case you were wondering also, RTJ the defending event winner. He swept all three nights last season.
Out in California, the World of Outlaws sprint cars close out the west coast trip with two nights at the Tulare Thunderbowl. Saturday's Dennis Roth Classic finale pays $83,000 to the winner. David Gravel's points lead is down to 86 over Carson Macedo, and this is actually a California track where Gravel has historically been better than Macedo. The JJR 41 though has been hot lately, as has Buddy Kofoid and the 83. You know Kofoid will be extra motivated to win this for Roth.
At Eldora, two nights of 4-Crown are on tap. All three USAC divisions, plus High Limit. Logan Seavey's bid for a USAC triple crown is not looking great, but another Eldora sweep like he had in 2023 could keep those hopes alive. On the winged sprint car side, this is the first time that both nights of the 4-Crown are High Limit sanctioned. In recent years, Friday was an Outlaw show, while Saturday was All Stars. High Limit full timers got swept out of the wins at Eldora back in July, but they don't have to worry about the Outlaw drivers this time. Don't forget that Corey Day is racing both the ARCA and Truck Series shows tonight at Bristol, before heading to Eldora tomorrow.
Elsewhere, there is a ton of local and regional action happening over the next several days, including season finales for a lot of race tracks. Get out there and enjoy it, as your chances to see dirt racing in 2024 are going to start to dwindle.
This show has gone on long enough today, so we'll call it good right there. Thanks for another great week, I heart all of you guys, even the haters.
Hope you have a great Thursday and weekend out there, we'll see you back here on Sunday