DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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The Outlaws say Grinding + Liquid = BAD | Daily 2-18-2025

Wet grinding your dirt racing Hoosiers with Simple Green not a good idea for the Chili Bowl. There is another series where you probably shouldn't do it either, and we'll talk about that today. Plus the All Star field grows to ten, some schedule updates, and more. Let's go!

It's Tuesday, February 18th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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Going back to January and all the tire testing at the Chili Bowl. If you might remember, Clinton Boyles was one of the drivers busted for a failed tire test, and he was DQ'd from action on Saturday. In the aftermath, he did a video for FloRacing where he spoke directly with tech director Cody Cordell about the situation, and what happened. Boyles revealed that weeks in advance, he had done some wet griding on the tires using the cleaner Simple Green. They were then put away for use later on. He and Cordell talked about how that process, when using cleaners like Simple Green, can get guys busted on those tests for doped tires. That grinding with whatever chemical reaction happens between the tire surface and the cleaners doesn't have a big effect, like some other chemical alterations certainly can, but it does take the tire sample far enough away from the benchmark that it does come up as failed. We don't know exactly what happened with Hunter Schuerenberg's failed test and Sam Johnson's, but I did appreciate and respect the honesty and transparency from both Boyles and Cordell in that moment. Boyles was certainly under no obligation to talk about it. Now, I bring all of this up, because a racing series made a change to their tire rules not long ago, and it would appear as though what happened at the Chili Bowl played a role in the added terminology. Before DIRTcar Nationals started, the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series put out a rules bulletin regarding tires and tire testing, to quote "clear up language" in that section. If you are curious, tires are covered in section 10 of that rulebook, which you can find at dirtcar.com/rules. There were a couple additions and clarifications in there, with among other things it being noted that quote "Tire samples sent for analysis must match the benchmark provided to the laboratory by Hoosier Tire, as determined by the laboratory." That just added some specificity to that particular rule. I think most everyone already knew this. But also, in that section 10, subsection B, verbiage was added about wet grinding. That sentence now reads "Chemical alteration of the tread carcass and/or tread compound, such as tire 'soaking' and/or the introduction of tread 'softener', and/or wet grinding with any liquid, and/or the physical defacement (removal, altering and/or covering) of tire sidewall markings in any manner will not be permitted." If a tire failed under the previous verbiage, it was still a failed test, but for those looking through the rules, this does give a proper warning about this technique. I don't know specifically if these changes were in response to an actual situation that happened with the sprint cars, but for this verbiage to be added not long after Chili Bowl, it makes me think there is at least some connection. This same language was not added to the late model rulebook, but they do still have the section regarding washing and spraying tires within three hours of a race, and that crazy swimming pool mention. So, if you are going to race with the World of Outlaws sprint cars any time soon, don't wet grind your tires with Simple Green. That will get you DQ'd here as well. I don't believe we've had anyone busted for tire doping with the Outlaws since it happened to James McFadden and Roth Motorsports during the 2023 season.

Sticking with sprint cars, in recent days the new look All Star Circuit of Champions grew their full timer list to 10 with the addition of 2024 Butler Motor Speedway track champion Van Gurley, Jr. The rest of that roster includes Devon Borden, Kalib Henry, Cody Bova, Aiden Price, Justin Clark, Darin Naida, Bobby Elliott, Brandon Spithaler, and Leyton Wagner. We are still about six weeks away from the start of the All Star season at Attica. Things kick off April 11th and 12th. Offhand, I'd call Henry the championship favorite here, with Devon Borden in the mix if he can turn things around from what was a miserable 2024 with the Stehman team. I like Spithaler as well, he had eight wins a year ago. I'll be curious to see who else Rich Farmer can sign for this deal. The top two Ohio drivers from last year were Cap Henry and Cale Thomas. Henry obviously not committed here, at least not yet. And as far as I know, Thomas doesn't even have a ride after departing the Jay Kiser 23. The Kiser car also still without a driver, although I don't know how eager Jay is to fill the seat. Still a lot of other names in that area who could find their way on to this tour. We will continue to keep you updated on these regional tours as we get closer. FAST has continued to add some names, and the IRA roster is starting to fill out as well.

In some schedule news, we've already lost some races that were supposed to happen this coming weekend. The Tuckasee Toilet Bowl Classic at Clarksville Speedway is off because of cold temps and winter weather. Clarksville will try and run the event the following weekend, but it seems as though the reschedule will be unsanctioned. Originally this was on the Southern Thunder Super Dirt Series calendar, but they shared to social media that they won't be a part of the reschedule because of not being able to work around dates and find a suitable make up. The Southern Thunder series is back March 15th at Lancaster. Clarksville will now run super late models next Friday, the 28th for $2500 to win, and next Saturday, March 1st, for $7500 to win. A full program of other divisions is also going down. With this event off, that leaves $15,000 to win for crates at Hendry County, and the Southern All Stars at Buckshot for $5000 to win as your dirt late model options coming up this week. Cory Hedgecock took the SAS opener at I-75 a few weeks ago. This series working through it's first season under the control of Ray Cook.

That's your daily show for today. If you know of someone who is hard of hearing, and they'd still like to check out this show, you can find full transcripts over at dirtrackr.com/daily. Those show pages include the full script, plus links to podcast pages, and you can listen to the audio there as well. I know I have some folks who just prefer reading, so if that's you as well, check that out.

Hope you guys have a great Monday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!