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DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

Dirt racing news, results, discussion, analytics. Sprint cars, late models, modifieds, you name it. From national series, to top local shows. Brought to you five days a week. Email the show at info@dirtrackr.com.

A sneaky addition, and micro sprint tracks opening to late models | Daily 11-26-2024

Teams aren't messing around when it comes to Gateway Nationals prep. We'll talk about that, plus an interesting addition to Ryan Gustin's car, regional late model and sprint car news, and we're going to give away some race tickets. Let's go!

It's Tuesday, November 26th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

The Gateway Dirt Nationals inside the Dome in St. Louis is next week, December 5th through the 7th. Late models, modifieds, and always plenty of bent sheet metal and bent feelings. If you cannot get to the Dome, FloRacing is the place to be Thursday, Friday, and Saturday with live streaming coverage. You can watch from your desktop, mobile device, or connected TV. They're on Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast, and Apple TV, plus Apple and Android mobile devices. If you need a FloRacing subscription, click the links below, or visit dirtrackr.com/floracing. Now, over to that giveaway I've been teasing the last few days. My friends at Flo are letting me give away four tickets to the Dome, you get all three days, plus passes to the VIP club section above turns one and two. If you want to enter, I've created a simple Google form, drop in your email address, and that's it. You are entered to win. I will pick one of those emails as the winner and announce it on the show tomorrow. You can find that form at dirtrackr.com/dometickets. I will say, please only enter if you can actually attend the event, meaning you can get to St. Louis next week. Move quickly, because you only have about 24 hours to enter. We gotta do this quick so we can make sure you have the tickets in time. So, dirtrackr.com/dometickets to enter, dirtrackr.com/floracing if you need a subscription. And a big thanks to my friends at FloRacing for letting me do this.

Speaking of the Dome, it's pretty wild what this event has grown into. The track build started today and is ongoing as you watch this on Tuesday. But the teams have been deep into their Dome prep for weeks already, including coming up with special wraps, special merch, and even testing. It was almost exactly one year ago that I was headed out to Millbridge Speedway here in North Carolina to see Brandon Sheppard test in advance of the Dome. He and the Longhorn Factory Team with Randall Edwards and Kevin Rumley were working on setup stuff, and needed the tight confines of Millbridge to do some tuning. The Gateway track is listed as 1/5 mile, and the 1/6 mile Millbridge is both close to Longhorn's shop and a good measuring stick. And I'd say that test day paid off, as BShepp went on to win the Gateway Dirt Nationals last year. This testing culture that is pervasive in dirt late model racing is evident again this year in advance of the Dome, and yesterday it was Bobby Pierce sharing his prep. He took his Christmas-themed late model to Coles County to get his setup dialed in. Coles is even smaller than Millbridge, listed at an eighth of a mile, but similarly is home to regular micro sprint action. Pierce's late model looked massive out there, but he did say that the track should host a Summer Nationals race in the future. That would be insane. Coles had even scheduled a Dome test day for this past weekend but was rained out. Another micro track that's hosted some Dome testing is Doe Run in Missouri. I saw Silver Crown and modified racer Kyle Steffens posted a YouTube video of his session from there within the last day as well. Doe Run also sharing via social they can open the track any day for rental sessions leading into Gateway. The size of the Dome track and the conditions there are unlike any that most late model and modified guys see all season, so it isn't shocking that teams that are able are looking for any practice they can get. One more Gateway paint scheme for you. How about this Scott Bloomquist tribute for Ryan Gustin and the Todd Cooney-owned machine. Very cool look for that car, and let me just point you towards one specific thing here. How about the addition of the Wells Motorsports logo to the door. That's new. Several folks have talked about this car just becoming the Wells Infinity Chassis sort of house car in the aftermath of the departure of Brandon Overton from Wells. This would certainly seem to point towards a tightening relationship.

I mentioned on the show yesterday that the Bakersfield USAC midget event scheduled for today was under threat because of weather, and before I could even get the show posted, they went ahead and moved action to Wednesday. So no racing at Bakersfield tonight, they will try again tomorrow.

We already know the schedules for the two top late model series, and now we'll start to get looks at the regional stuff for 2025. A lot of that I would expect to happen around the PRI show in a few weeks. One of those we are waiting on is MARS, with a significant part of their schedule centered around Illinois tracks. But Matt Curl, Jonathan Clayton and the MARS folks will open their 2025 season in Iowa, as they will sanction the Nippy 50 at Maquoketa next March 28th and 29th. This will be the second year of this event, which was unsanctioned in 2024. Ricky Thornton Jr. topped Ryan Gustin and Brandon Sheppard and others in a strong field in that one. Friday will be $7500 to win and $1000 to start, and Saturday will be $15,000 to win and $2000 to start. That will be a nice way to kick off the MARS year, and we'll wait now for the rest of the schedule. Jason Feger your MARS champion in 2024.

In the south, it's already been a busy offseason for change with the regional late model series there. We know that Travis Scott and Kelley Carlton are starting up their Southern Thunder Super Dirt Series, and that Dewayne Keith is moving from the Southern All Stars to become the series director for the Ultimate Super Late Model Series. And in recent days, that Southern All Stars series has come under new ownership, with Ray Cook and a group of investors taking it over. The SAS will run something like 25 races next year, with Cook scheduling in between his Spring and Southern Nationals tours. Cook acquired the SAS from previous owner Matt Wagner, who said in a release that he didn't have time to operate the tour any longer. It will be interesting to see how all of these series fit together next year, in terms of schedules and drivers. There are obviously a lot of late models in the southeast, but they will continue to have no lack of options for where to race.

A couple of regional sprint car ride new items for you. It sounds like the Dewall 16 sprint car will have Riley Goodno in the seat next season at Huset's. Brooke Tatnell had been in this car, but he posted to Facebook last night that he's basically out, except for potentially a handful of races away from Huset's and Jackson. And the reason he's out is because the team is partnering with Goodno Motorsports going forward. Tatnell made 24 sprint car appearances this season, with seven top tens. His best finish was seventh, which happened four times. No High Limit races, and his best Outlaw run was 15th at Cedar Lake. On the flip side, Goodno raced 62 times with seven top fives and 13 top tens, and he picked up a MOWA win at Lincoln in August. Interesting note about that weekly championship at Huset's, nobody in the top eight in weekly points had a track win in 2024. That feels like it's a stat that is probably not true at any other track in the country. Besides a few races in the 16, Tatnell said he'll run a limited schedule in his own 14 and hope to build that out, alongside helping his son Garrett get going in sprint cars.

Also, the Matt McGarry owned sprint car team based in Missouri will run weekly at Knoxville in 2025 with Kameron Key in the seat. McGarry fielded cars this past season with Key, Zach Daum, and Kyle Bellm driving. Key had 13 410 appearances in 2024, mostly between POWRi and MOWA. He did race with High Limit at I-70 and Wheatland later in the year. Six top fives and seven top tens, and POWRi win at Lake Ozark in August for Key. McGarry shared to social media they will also make select World of Outlaws and High Limit appearances, and that he hopes to fill in some other races with Daum and Bellm driving.

We'll call it good right there for today. Thanks as always for tuning in, hope you guys have a great Tuesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!