DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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The engines, chassis, and shocks all the top sprint car teams are using | Daily 4-2-2025
What exactly do the top sprint car teams have under their hoods and body panels these days? Today on the show we'll deep dive engines, chassis, and shocks for a bunch of sprint car teams, and see if there are any magic setups. Plus the weekend rainouts are rolling in quick. Let's go!
It's Wednesday, April 2nd, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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So, this might be super nerdy, and maybe too inside baseball for most casual dirt racing fans. And as such, I'm sure the views on today's show won't be great, but I've seen some folks ask about this topic, so I thought we could dive in. The chassis conversation in dirt late model racing is certainly a regular topic, we did stuff on it yesterday, and I've said in the past I don't know why it's not a thing in sprint car racing. I don't know if people don't care, or if because the drivers and teams don't really talk about it, that it just kinda gets swept under the rug. It's interesting too, because in dirt late model racing, the chassis builders have merch trailers and sell hats and shirts and stickers and stuff. Most of the chassis and engine builders on the sprint car side barely have websites and social media accounts. And some don't at all, or they haven't been updated in years. It's one of the reasons why the research for the show today was incredibly tedious. For today though, I did a deep dive on who in sprint car racing runs which chassis, which engines, and which shocks. Those three things are three big keys for guys, and I was curious myself what exactly the breakdown was. Understand though, that these combinations can change quickly, and even though I feel pretty good about the information, it is possible that things may have already changed for some teams. I am missing a few items as well for a couple of drivers and teams. I tried to cover most of the top touring teams, and I put together a list of 27 combinations. There are six chassis builders represented, including Maxim, Triple X, Schnee Lawson, J&J, RPM, and KPC. There are 12 engine builders; Rider, Kistler, Stanton, Charlie Garrett, HP, Morrison, Cappetta, Shaver, Newman, Fisher, Don Ott, and Speedway. And I've got five shock builders: FK, CSI, FOX, AFCO, and an FK offshoot in SBS. So here is the full list I put together. It took me a while to compile all of this, so don't take it personally if your favorite driver isn't included. It's not a slight, I just wanted to make sure I covered a lot of the top guys, and it took me a few hours to run all of this down. But, driver name, then their chassis, engine, and shock package in the four columns. You'll notice I don't have complete info on Ryan Timms, Daison Pursley, and Rico Abreu. I'm missing shocks for Timms and Pursley, and engine for Rico. If you are curious about the totals, Maxim has the most cars with 14. The engine spread is much wider, with Rider leading the way with five teams. And then Factory Kahne by the far the most common shock builder with 19 teams. It's actually 21 if you include the SBS FK teams. SBS is Schure Built. There is clearly no magic combination though, as there are race wins across the spectrum of these options. For example, Gio Scelzi runs the same package as David Gravel, but those two with significantly different results at the moment. I do think there are some interesting outliers, with one being the Jason Meyers team. They are the only major team running KPC Chassis, which are built in California. Anthony Macri is the only Don Ott engine team on here, but Ott actually builds engines for a lot of teams, including a bunch in Central PA. The Rider that Buddy Kofoid runs is obviously the Toyota Rider, so his is different than say the Kyle Larson Rider. Ryan Timms has Speedway power, and Speeday also has a Toyota option, although that's not what Timms runs. And how about the 69K of Don Kreitz. I said tongue-in-cheek yesterday that I think I could win in that car, and although their chassis and engine choices are in line with a lot of other teams, their shocks are an outlier; AFCOs built by Benic. If I was Benic, I'd be hammering that marketing point hard, and selling me some more shocks. At some point, I'll try and share this full list to social media so you guys can take a deep look at it. But there you go, a full rundown on what 27 of the best drivers and teams in sprint car racing are using for chassis, engines, and shocks.
Moving on... A common theme I think we are going to see a lot of places this weekend is rainouts, and a lot of shows have already been cancelled or postponed. First, the World of Outlaws late model series weekend at Atomic Speedway has been postponed. Ohio supposed to get a ton of rain in the coming days. The does say track and series officials are trying to find a reschedule date. With Atomic off for now, the next Outlaw late model shows are April 10th and 11th at Farmer City for the Illini 100. With no Lucas on the calendar, and the Outlaws postponed, I think the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series show at Talladega Friday and Saturday could pick up quite a few cars. I know some big names were already planning on that, I heard Brandon Overton yesterday as one possibility. And Todd Cooney's team with Ryan Gustin has already decided to make this switch.
On the flip side with the Outlaws, this weekend's Jason Johnson Classic at Arrowhead Speedway is off as well. They are moving the Saturday show to October 25th, and pairing it with the makeup for the winded out 81 Speedway show, that one will run the day before on October 24th. That was previously an open weekend on the Outlaw schedule between LaSalle Speedway and World Finals. The World of Outlaws Sprint Cars are back April 11th and 12th at Pevely.
High Limit has also sacked their complete weekend between Route 66 Motor Speedway and Dodge City Raceway Park. Rain, snow, and cold temperatures are to blame here, and this adds to the already tough week for High Limit with Vado on Tuesday getting cancelled because of wind. There is a couple of weeks now in between racing for the Kubota High Limit sprint cars, with Texarkana 67 Speedway up next on April 30th, followed by two nights at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track. Over the next few weeks, I think you could see a bunch of High Limit teams go race with the Outlaws, with Pevely coming up, as is a trip to Knoxville, plus that sweet Jacksonville/Haubstadt double header. I think a lot of teams will have that Knoxville weekend circled as laps there are always crucial for the big week in August.
And out in California, the entire NARC sprint car weekend is now sacked. The Saturday show at Stockton had already been cancelled because of an eletrical fire that knocked out power to the grandstands. And now Friday at Ocean Speedway has been rained out. That one is cancelled as well and will not be made up. Next on the calendar for NARC is the April 12th Mini Gold Cup at the Silver Dollar Speedway.
Another regional show sacked is the POWRi 410 sprint cars at Lake Ozark. That was supposed to happen on Saturday.
Anyways, sorry for the crap news to close out the show today. But, I hope you have a great rest of your day. We'll see you back here tomorrow!