DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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We've been using "breaking news" a lot lately... Today is no different | Daily 12-19-2024
We've got a big show for you today, a lot of things to talk about, including breaking sprint car news, more series full timers, race tracks news, and more. Let's go!
It's Thursday, December 19th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
Today's show is being supported by Sprintcarunlimited.com. You guys hear me talk about Jeremy and his work pretty regularly, and I've been a paid subscriber to his site since 2021. And that's because there is nobody out there doing the type of work you can find at sprintcarunlimited.com. In just the last few weeks he's broken a bunch of news, including Chase Dietz to Stehman, Freddie Rahmer out with Eichelberger and Brock Zearfoss in, plus the Kyle Reinhardt and Preston Lattomus stuff with Capitol Renegade, and the news with Gerard McIntyre and Scott Cowman. So with a subscription you get breaking news, regular commentary, and his weekly podcast. And right now, through January 3rd, you can get all of this for just $28 a year when you use code "Holiday2024" at checkout. That's code "Holiday2024" at checkout at sprintcarunlimited.com. $28 bucks a year is less than $2.50 a month. And if you want even more, check out the Sprint Car Unlimited YouTube channel where Jeremy does his daily 90 at 9 videos, plus regular interviews on the Deep Dive. Thanks to sprintcarunlimited.com for the support of DIRTRACKR.
Speaking of breaking sprint car news, we had some just a little bit ago with Garet Williamson and Fischer MotorSports committing full time to the 2025 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series schedule. I know you've been listening to me hint at a possible addition to the Outlaws for weeks, and we'd been hearing all the way back to World Finals week that this announcement was likely coming. Williamson becomes the third rookie to join the 2025 class, and this will be a big step up for him and that team. They did spend 2024 though getting themselves ready for a national tour run, racing 72 times, including 41 appearances with the Outlaws and 11 with High Limit. Their best finish came at Huset's in August, where they were fourth. Away from the national tours, Williamson won three times this past season, twice at Huset's and once in weekly action at Knoxville. He also had top fives against POWRi's 410 division, and finished strong at World Finals. Williamson admitted to Jeremy Elliott that they didn't get all of the funding they were hoping for, but that the Fischer team is going to make it work anyway. Towards the second half of 2024, there were a number of teams we knew who were considering a jump like this for 2025, but so far, Fischer the only one of those to actually make the move. I like this for Williamson and Fischer, I think he's talented and they've got nice stuff. They will struggle along the way for sure, but I think you'll also see a lot of growth. The addition of Williamson takes the Outlaws to nine confirmed, joining Bill Balog, David Gravel, Carson Macedo, Donny Schatz, Logan Schuchart, Sheldon Haudenschild, Cole Macedo, and Chris Windom. Williamson will battle for the that rookie title against Cole Macedo and Windom. And Fischer and TwoC with Macedo the only net gains for the national tours this offseason. Still also assuming Buddy Kofoid will be back here, and Gio Scelzi hinted this week on his podcast about being back, so that would push the Outlaws to 11. Still waiting on plans for the Rose 6 and the Premier 70. 12 for the Outlaws remains my bet.
As we were talking yesterday on the show about Cody Overton returning to the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, they were announcing the return of Dennis Erb Jr. as well. The 2022 series champion will be back for year seven with the Outlaws, looking to reclaim some of that speed he had during the title winning season. Since scoring that crown two years ago, Erb has points finishes of eighth and ninth, and just a single Outlaw win. Of his six seasons on tour, 2024 was definitely the toughest, and it even included a brief chassis swap from Rocket to Barry Wright, before eventually switching back. He did find victory lane though elsewhere, winning four times across DIRTcar competition, MARS, and the Northern All Stars. Erb becomes the 11th commitment for the Outlaws, and he joins Cody Overton, Ethan Dotson, Bobby Pierce, Nick Hoffman, Brian Shirley, Daniel Adam, Ryan Gustin, Cade Dillard, Brent Larson, and Dustin Sorensen for 2025. That still leaves Kyle Bronson, Tyler Bruening, Tristan Chamberlain, and Dustin Walker as unknowns, plus any new additions. We are just about five weeks away from the start of the World of Outlaws late model season at Volusia for the Sunshine Nationals.
The USAC sprint car field grew by another yesterday as well with the announcement that CJ Leary is back full time in 2025. He's switching though from BGE Dougherty over to Team AZ for the championship run. Team AZ losing Daison Pursley to winged competition, and this move shouldn't surprise those of you who are locked into the non-wing side of things. Back in October Leary was announced for the Silver Crown series next year in a Team AZ backed car. With BGE Dougherty in 2024, Leary ended up fifth in the national sprint car standings, and had just a single win, early in the year at Ocala. I believe this takes us to four public commitments for USAC's sprint car series, with Leary joining Briggs Danner, Logan Seavey, and Jake Swanson.
I think the last major schedule release we don't have yet from World Racing Group is for the ASCS 360 National Tour. In the meantime though while we wait for that schedule, the series did announce some rule changes for 2025. That included that sprint car frames must now conform to World of Outlaws chassis specifications. Also, dished wings are no longer allowed with the series, and instead flat top 25 square wings with 2 inch wicker bills are the standard. Cars must weigh a minimum of 1500 pounds, up from 1475. And any aluminum block is allowed, but must run ASCS approved weight in front of the motor plate. I'll leave the debate over whether these rule changes are good or bad to others, but I will say it's rare to see rule changes met with any sort of praise. I know not long ago Sam Hafertepe and Dominic Scelzi had a mini debate over the aluminum block stuff on the Driver's Project podcast, which I believe came after changes were announced at Knoxville. And the ASCS was one of the last places in the US where dished wings were still allowed, but now it looks like Australia is about all that's left.
Doubling back to some race track news, first updating the situation at Portsmouth Raceway Park in Ohio. Not long after the announcement came that Portsmouth would not be opening for the 2025 season, their Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series date was shifted over to Atomic Speedway. So Atomic will now host Lucas on both March 21st and July 4th in 2025. Everyone involved moving very quickly to make this change. The other big date that Portsmouth had was the Dean Knittel Memorial, which is a big paying sprint car event. It had previously been the cap on Ohio Sprint Speedweek with the All Stars, before then moving to the High Limit schedule for 2024. The Knittel though was left off the High Limit slate for 2025, and promoter Jeff Knittel has been trying to find a place for it ever since. Just yesterday though, it was announced that the Knittel, which will pay more than $26,000 to win, will again cap Ohio Sprint Speedweek, but at Atomic. The original plan was for that finale at Atomic to pay $10,000 to win, but this change ups that significantly. Now action is $26,554 to win and $1554 to start. There is also other bonus money available. That's a big pickup for both Atomic and the new All Star Circuit of Champions. Two quick All Star notes before we move on, they have their first two declared full timers in Darin Naida and Cody Bova.
Moving on, things at Cherokee Speedway in South Carolina are suddenly in flux. Back in November a deal was announced for Hunt the Front to co-promote the track with Tony Adair, which included launching a six race mini series with a $10,000 payday, and moving the Blue-Gray 100 to October and putting it on the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series schedule. But in recent weeks there have been some cryptic social media posts from the track account, and then back on Tuesday, it was announced that Adair would be stepping away from the the track as promoter after eight years. The current financial climate of racing and the uncertainty of lease agreements were cited as Adair's reasons. The departure of Adair seems to also have put the Hunt the Front deal in jeopardy, as a post yesterday revealed they will not be co-promoting the track and partnering on the lease. They will though continue to work with track owner Lennie Buff on their quote "six scheduled races next season." The schedule at Cherokee doesn't typically start until February, so we'll see what they are able to put together between now and then. I haven't seen that a 2025 schedule was released anywhere for the track. Cherokee had a robust weekly program, while also hosting regional series like the USCS sprint cars, Ray Cook's Southern Nationals, the Ultimate Late Models, and more.
And along similar lines, last week came word that Joe and Jill Spiker are getting out of promoting, which means the end of their tenure at Bloomington, Lincoln Park, and Terre Haute. Bloomington has plans already in place for their future operating group, while Lincoln Park owner Dave Allison says they will make an announcement on the track's future promoter in January. We'll see what happens with Terre Haute, as that track will be headed for their fourth promoter in as many years.
Before we shut it down today, I just wanted to give a quick update about holiday plans for the show. After today, we'll have a normal Daily on Sunday, and then next week it will be a special episode run. I haven't done any interviews in a while, so for your Christmas week, I've got a number of different guests lined up. That includes folks on both the sprint car and late model side. So all week we'll have fresh content for you, with everything posted in the usual places, including YouTube, Facebook, and the podcast feed. My plan right now is to return to regularly scheduled Daily shows starting Monday, December 30th. So don't go anywhere during Christmas week, we'll keep rolling along.
Alright, that's the Daily for this week. Hope you guys have a great Thursday out there, we'll see you back here on Sunday!