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Brian Shirley's Hunt the Front hot seat, Emerson Axsom on the fence | Daily 1-29-2025

Hudson O'Neal dominates, Brian Shirley's hot seat, an update on Emerson Axsom's plans, and some race track news. Let's go!

It's Wednesday, January 29th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

The Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series was at Needmore Speedway in Georgia last night. HTF getting in on speedweeks this year with some non-points action. They ended up with 27 cars, which was clearly affected by the Monday rainout. Some serious quality there though, with a bunch of the national touring guys making the trip up to race. In the main event, it was all Hudson O'Neal out front. He led all 40 laps after starting on the outside front row. It was his first win of 2025, and his first score since the Flo Night in America win at Brownstown last September. O'Neal though not in the SSI machine, but instead driving Kevin Rumley's car for some R&D. In victory lane, O'Neal said this was a new car, and FloRacing's Kyle McFadden talked a few days ago about Rumley confirming this was something different than we saw Jonathan Davenport race late in 2024 at World Finals. This goes hand in hand with the comments we heard from Longhorn's Steve Aprin when I talked to him back around Christmas. He said Rumley rarely shows up with much the same. If you haven't watched or listened to that interview, I would definitely recommend checking it out. It's on the YouTube channel, Facebook page, and podcast feed. O'Neal though has done some testing with Rumley here lately, and he won last season driving for the team. We'll see if he can bring some of this success back to SSI. Also on the podium last night were Ethan Dotson and Mark Whitener. Dotson was fifth with three to go, but drove to second in one lap after that late restart. He's been impressive so far this season, with four top fives and six top tens in nine races. He could be a sneaky guy to watch with the Outlaws this season. Dotson had some super late model wins last year, including with the Spring Nationals, Comp Cams Series, and with Hunt the Front. He seems to be finding his footing, and I've been told that ASD team has all the resources they need to contend. We won't see the Hunt the Front series now until their championship season starts on March 8th at I-75.

There was a wild moment last night at Needmore, which you have probably seen on social media at some point in the last 12 hours. In the midst of heat race action, Brian Shirley's car suddenly burst into flames while he was leading. He rolled to a stop with the car smoking, and then it went up big. It definitely had oil fire vibes, where it smokes a lot until it gets oxygen, then erupts. I was told from someone who was there that parts did not stay inside the engine block. It seemed to be an eternity before Shirley emerged from the 3S, but he was unhurt and track safety workers were able to extinguish the flames after a bit of a battle. Shirley told Kyle McFadden he's not sure what happened, and that they will evaluate things in the coming days. I think the most concerning thing watching the video is the amount of time it took Shirley to get out. In his comments, it seemed initially like he didn't know it was as bad as it was, so his urgency probably wasn't there right away. But then after the workers hollered for him to get out, he clearly struggled to free himself, and he said some of his safety equipment, like his HANS, slowed him down. For any racers out there, I would definitely encourage you to practice getting out. Put all your gear on, and work on exiting as quickly as possible. It shouldn't take more than eight or ten seconds to get out. Remember that the firesuit and things like fire bottles are only meant to buy drivers time. A firesuit is fire resistant, not fire proof. I don't know that the series have rules in place for these sorts of situations, but take it upon yourself if you race. We'll see if Shirley heads to All-Tech next, or if that Bob Cullen-owned team decides to pull back and wait for DIRTcar Nationals.

Up next for speedweeks is All-Tech with Lucas. They have practice tonight, and then racing Thursday through Saturday. Just one race complete so far for Lucas, that Tyler Bruening win back at Golden Isles. He leads the championship right now as well. I don't believe there is any video streaming tonight, but keep an eye on the late model reporters social channels, as they will no doubt be hanging around.

Later this week we'll have sprint cars on track at Volusia, as the ASCS begins their 2025 year. We'll talk about them more tomorrow, but one driver we will see racing is Emerson Axsom. The Klaasmeyer Petry 27 will run the 360 weekend, and then stick around and race against the Outlaws starting next week. Since sometime last summer, Axsom has been one of the names on the list of possible drivers to make the jump to a touring series. 2024 was his first full season of winged competition, moving over from non-wing sprint cars and midgets. He made 70 appearances pick and choose, winning twice and earning 30 top tens. His wins came at Knoxville and with the IRA, and he had top fives and top tens against both the Outlaws and High Limit. He and Chase Randall seem to be the last two who have a realistic chance of running with a series, but it sounds like Axsom and his team are still on the fence. I've had a few sources tell me they are headed to Florida to race, and that they will make a decision either during the trip, or after depending on how they race. If it's not clear, they are pondering a rookie run with the World of Outlaws. If they don't go Outlaws, they could still decide on High Limit, as that season doesn't start until basically the middle of March. Axsom rumors though have been tied to the Outlaws, and not High Limit. At least up to this point. One quick sidenote here, I got sent this screenshot late last night on Facebook. This is from what clearly appears to be an AI generated YouTube video that was about the Chili Bowl. There is a lot to process here, including that this photo is obviously of Axsom and not whoever "Jason Pursley" is. Clearly their AI model confusing Jason Pursley with Daison Pursley. That would have also been wrong though, not to mention that they stole the Axsom photo from TJSlideways' website. Be careful out there friends, as even dirt racing isn't immune now to AI generated junk.

Finally today... There has been a bunch of race track news this offseason, and I could probably start a second show to cover it all. There have been closings, purchases, and new promoters at a lot of facilities. In some more recent changes, we know that Tri-County in North Carolina is back in 2025. They have new promoters and are planning at least some events, including scheduling the new Southern Thunder Super Dirt Series, and some weekly action. The track sat empty for 2024, and it was previously operated by Ray Cook. It also sounds like we have maybe seen the end for Bakersfield Speedway in California. Scott Schweitzer is moving his operation over to the Kern County dirt track for this year, which includes races with both the World of Outlaws and High Limit. They are calling it Bakersfield Speedway at Kevin Harvick's Kern Raceway. I certainly understand why the named it this, but maybe not what I would have suggested for a track rebrand. Two track names in one is a bit confusing. The Schweitzers said in a post to social media that Bakersfield Speedway's aging infrastructure is too difficult to keep up, and that moving to Kern allows them to keep dirt racing going in the area. Kern will now host both sprint car national tours, plus NARC, USAC National Midgets, the local USCS series, plus IMCA action. And in Texas, Rocket Raceway Park is now under the ownership of the folks behind the Race On streaming service. Kevin Rogers is the new track GM and a full 2025 schedule is set. They'll have USRA divisions, plus USMTS, Elite 410 sprint cars, and more from February through October.

Alright, that's the show for today. Hope you guys have a great Wednesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!