DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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A potent dirt late model combo ending, and something dirt racers NEED to do better | Daily 10-31-2024
Today on the show, a look through the list of late model drivers who we know are running Lucas next season, plus Brandon Overton's final races with Wells, and one thing that teams and drivers just have to stop doing. Let's go!
It's Thursday, October 31st, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
This weekend at Bridgeport Motorsports Park is their season finale, and the Saturday program will feature a stacked field of 410 sprint cars racing for $10,000 to win. And if you can't get there, watch the Dirty Jersey Finale live on Sprintcarunlimited.TV. That Saturday card also includes $4000 to win for modifieds plus 4-cylinders. The list of sprint car drivers expected to race is going to be a very interesting mix, with guys coming from Central PA, Ohio, some national names, plus the guys who regularly race around New York and New Jersey. This will be the debut of Daison Pursley in the Buch 13 in advance of their full High Limit run next year. You'll also see Anthony Macri, Danny Dietrich, Ryan Timms back in the neon green 27, Lance Dewease, Davie Franek, Briggs Danner, and more. We could also see Ohio invaders Bryce Lucius, plus the track announced Cole Duncan racing with Bill Rose. Don't miss out on one of your final chances to see some of the top names in 410 sprint car racing compete this season. Grab a pay-per-view pass and tune in Saturday over at Sprintcarunlimited.TV.
It's been an interesting last 24 hours around dirt racing, and there are lots of bits to pick through and talk about. I'll start first with some confirmations on full time drivers for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series for 2025. I've had conversations here recently with several industry friends about how dirt racing announcements get made and how teams conduct themselves when it comes to media, and if teams and drivers are out there listening right now, can I just say that I don't love that we find out where you are racing next season through social media posts where you are looking for crew help. If we as the sport of dirt racing want to be taken more seriously, we need to start taking ourselves more seriously. This isn't a personal attack on anyone, but I do think this is something we have to do better. If this was NASCAR, we wouldn't find out that Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Xfinity team was going Cup racing because they posted online they were looking for a Cup crew chief. But we effectively found out that Ricky Thornton Jr. and Jimmy Owens are returning to Koehler Motorsports this way. And Daulton Wilson's team posted to Facebook about a week ago that they are looking for help, with plans to run Lucas full time again. Clay Harris, the same thing. Two days ago, post looking for crew help, mentioning plans to run Lucas again. So as we look down through the order, that's three series confirmations effectively, with RTJ, Wilson, and Harris. Another team that will be returning, that at least gave us a dedicated announcement post, is Paylor Motorsports with Carson Ferguson. Carson finished 16th in Lucas points, but he didn't run most of speedweeks, and didn't become a full time driver with Lucas until Tim McCreadie left the team for Rocket. Paylor took advantage of their announcement post to thank some sponsors, and mention the search for additional marketing partners. The driver that wins the announcement game though so far, is one that I bet many of you don't even know, and that's Minnesota racer Dan Ebert. Ebert will make the leap from USMTS competition, to the late model and Lucas full time next season. They will run Rockets with Andy Durham power and Fox Shocks. Ebert well known for his modified exploits, but he has made scattered late model starts in his career. He's currently fifth in the USMTS championship with two wins. But, if you want to talk about impact for an announcement, their Facebook video right now has 21,000 views. That's pretty damn good for a guy with less than 10,000 Facebook followers. Two other interesting notes in the Ebert video, they mentioned testing with Rocket and Mark Richards coming up, and that they chose Lucas to be closer to Richards so they can get support on the road. Not that this was really in question, but that feels like at least some confirmation that the Rocket 1 will be full time Lucas again as well. So to recap, RTJ, Wilson, Harris, Ferguson, Ebert, and the Rocket 1 all appear to be ready for full Lucas runs in 2025. And if you want me to make some assumptions, I'd say we'll likely see Devin Moran and Hudson O'Neal back as well. Moran shared that his Double Down team is done for the season, so no World Finals next week. He will be at the Dome in December, but in a different car.
Continuing on this job post announcement thing, we had one yesterday on the sprint car side as well. Tanner Thorson and the Rod Gross team are looking for help next year also, as they will again chase High Limit. Thorson had a win, five top fives, and 16 top tens in 48 races with High Limit this year. Thorson and the 88 team become our fifth High Limit confirmation, joining Pursley and Buch, Jason Meyers and Spencer Bayston, Justin Peck and Rudeen, and Brad Sweet. I still think both the Outlaws and High Limit will end up in the 12ish range on both sides for 2025.
Looking ahead to the weekend, we will have a few different championships decided. The first of which will be the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series. They take on I-75 Raceway in Tennesse, with a Friday $10,000 to win show, and Saturday's finale $20,000 to win. I'm not intimately familiar with the Hunt the Front points breakdown, but with Brandon Overton out front by 84 over Ashton Winger, it seems like this one is likely just a formality at this point. Sam Seawright, Zack Mitchell, and Joseph Joiner complete the top five. Based on what we're hearing right now for dirt late model silly season, this is likely the final ride for Brandon Overton in the Wells 76. I've heard he may run World Finals, but probably in a different car, and then his 2025 plans should become official in the coming days. This weekend's Hunt the Front finale will end a five year run together for Overton and Wells, that was highlighted by that magical 2021 season. 30 plus wins, and over $900,000 in earnings. He swept the double Dreams at Eldora, won a World 100, plus bagged the Firecracker, North South 100, and others. Things seem to have shifted though this year, with Overton and that 76 just not showing the same speed every week. His only national tour win came with Lucas at Smoky Mountain in June, and he hasn't won a race anywhere since a split field prelim show at Volunteer on June 28th. 18th at the World 100, 21st in the Dirt Track World Championship, and it's really some consistency that's carrying him to this Hunt the Front title. Maybe a change of scenery will do well for both sides here.
A quick update here for you as well about the National 100. The race track posted Bobby Pierce was a likely entrant, but that's not happening. Pierce's website shows his next event as World Finals, and there is no mention of this weekend's racing on his social media. He did though get engaged earlier this week. The track confirmed here just a few minutes ago as well that he's out. The National 100 at East Alabama runs through Sunday.
If you want some sprint car action this weekend, your options are dwindling a bit. We've already lost the Short Track Nationals, and as of just a few minutes ago as I write today's show, Lake Ozark has sacked the POWRi finale. We were going to get the Rudeen debut for Justin Peck at this event, but now we'll have to wait for World Finals. So your winged options include the aforementioned Dirty Jersey finale at Bridgeport, and the NARC ender at Stockton. Three points separate Justin Sanders and Cole Macedo for the championship, so that will come right down to the final laps. That Stockton show also features the final season race for the Sprint Car Challenge Tour. Andy Forsberg on his way to that title.
Elsewhere, the USAC CRA sprint cars are at Mohave Valley in Arizona for the Western World. Besides the CRA regulars, we know CJ Leary is running that one with Team AZ. RJ Johnson leads Tommy Malcolm for that title with a few nights still to go.
And the Short Track Super Series will close out 2024 with a stop at Georgetown. Matt Sheppard has already won the north region title, and will secure the overall championship as well. The south region belt is still up for grabs though, with Alex Yankowski leading that one.
That's DIRTRACKR Daily for this final week of October. If you like what we do here, please subscribe on YouTube or the podcast places, and follow DIRTRACKR on across Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram.
Hope you guys have a great Thursday and weekend out there, we'll see you back here on Sunday!