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.

Curious new pieces spotted on top dirt late model | Daily 4-29-2025

A top dirt late model is spotted with some interesting new parts, and we'll show you what they are and talk about what they are for. Plus a new look for the Kreitz 69k sprint car, more All Star full timers, and an open sprint car seat. Let's go!

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

Starting with High Limit tomorrow night, we are about to be into a stretch of five straight days of dirt racing to watch on FloRacing. And if you haven't yet gotten a FloRacing subscription for 2025, and you want to help out DIRTRACKR at no additional cost to you, sign up over at dirtrackr.com/floracing. Flo is home to a ton of big dirt racing series and events, and they've also got plenty of paved racing, drag stuff, plus action sports. And you can explore an entire world of other sports and events as well through the other FloSports verticals. So dirtrackr.com/floracing, or you can click the link below in the video description, or the FloRacing links at dirtrackr.com.

Those of you who tune into this show regularly know that I try where possible to talk about interesting things happening around the technical side of dirt racing. That's included aero stuff with both sprint cars and late models, thru-rod shocks, tire doping, traction control, coilover sprint cars, anything Paul Silva-related, secret engine projects, and chassis talk for days. Some stuff I've been alerted to by friends in the pit area, some things I've noticed myself and reached out, but over the weekend it was a few of you who were on your toes. I had several messages from people tuned into weekend dirt late model action who noticed something curious on a car for one of the sport's best at the moment. It certainly made my nerdy race car heart happy that you guys were keeping your eyes peeled for things like this. On Sunday at Port Royal Speedway, the Koehler Motorsports 20RT of none other than Ricky Thornton Jr. was sporting an onboard camera for FloRacing's coverage. The onboard was used at various points through the night, including very early on in hotlaps. This onboard view is where folks spotted something a little different. If you look at the base of the cage tubing where it meets the body work, you'll see these little flange pieces. The idea I believe behind these is to help seal off the openings there for aerodynamic purposes. These pieces were not on the 20RT before Friday at Georgetown, and I can't find another example of a car running them, including the other top Longhorn cars like that of Bobby Pierce or Jonathan Davenport. Asking around a bit, these are apparently 3D printed. This is an early version of them, and they could be on sale to the public in the future. In this photo from my friend Paul Arch, you can see they are used all the way around those various cage tubes. RTJ certainly had a good weekend, with a second at Georgetown, and wins at Hagerstown and Port. Do I think these pieces are why? No, obviously not. We've seen him fast and winning plenty in the past without them. But I do think it's something interesting to look at as teams try and find any little bit of time out of these cars. I'm sure it won't be long before a bunch more teams will have something similar mounted up. We've also documented all of the crew turnover that this 20RT team has dealt with, but things might be settling on that front a bit. Zack Frields and Skylar Cooper have been in place, but over the weekend saw the first races out for new guy Nick Hardy. Hardy was previously crew chiefing Hudson O'Neal's car at SSI, but he departed that squad when Jason Durham was brought in. In a Dirt on Dirt story from yesterday, Kyle McFadden had all the details on the recent change, and there was a line in there about Thornton making quote "95 percent" of the setup decisions. As we've kind of expected for a while, RTJ basically serving as his own crew chief. Going forward though, the load should be lightened a bit with a full crew now behind him.

Moving on to some sprint car things, we already knew that Christopher Bell is racing the Kreitz sprint car on Friday this week at Rocket Raceway Park with the Elite Outlaw series. He is also confirmed to be racing Thursday with High Limit at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track. And I believe Daryn Pittman will be in the Kreitz 69K on Saturday night with High Limit. The 69K though will look very different than the usual baby blue. Bell is running an Interstate Batteries scheme on his Cup car at Texas on Sunday, and the Kreitz machine will match. A rendering and a photo were floating around online yesterday. CBell already with a World of Outlaws win this season, going back to DIRTcar Nationals. He tried to run the High Limit show on Thursday at Las Vegas, but got foiled by the weather. And we've seen the Kreitz machine also run well with Pittman and Ryan Smith in the car this season. Smith with two wins.

Next, the All Star Circuit of Champions is in a break now until June following their 2025 season opener this past weekend at Fremont. Kalib Henry with a big charge through the field to win that one over Cap Henry and Zane DeVault. In the final days and hours leading up to that opener, their list of full timers did grow to 14. I think we talked last week about Creed Kemenah joining up late, and the other addition was Greg Wilson. He signed up at Fremont, and ended up going 14th to fifth in the opener. Classic Greg Wilson. The two-time All Star champion and past World of Outlaws full-timer has IRA wins in each of the last two seasons, and could definitely find himself in the mix for victories on tour this year. So the final list of All Star drivers includes Devon Borden, Cody Bova, Justin Clark, Zane DeVault, Bobby Elliott, Kalib Henry, Van Gurley Jr., Darin Naida, Aiden Price, Brandon Spithaler, Trey Jacobs, Leyton Wagner, plus Kemenah and Wilson. Not surprising to see Henry and DeVault run up front there, and I was impressed with the run from Bova. Spithaler and Borden both in an early hole. Up next is a trip to Central PA for stops at Williams Grove and Lincoln in early June, and then it will already be time for Ohio Sprint Speedweek.

For those of you free agent sprint car drivers on the market for a ride, there is currently an open one in the midwest around Knoxville weekly competition. Yesterday on social media, BDS Motorsports posted they are starting a second 410 sprint car team and are looking for drivers with funding. They want to run at Knoxville and regionally as funding allows. They are looking for resumes and videos from drivers to showcase their skills. If you don't know, BDS is owned by Bryan Sundby and they currently field a car for Tasker Phillips at Knoxville. He was a winner at the track in 2024 and ended up fifth in the track championship. Tasker also with three 360 wins in 2024, but those came with the EFR team. If you want to throw your name in the hat for consideration, go find BDS Motorsports on social media for contact information.

That's the Daily show for today. If you want even more dirt racing content in your life, make sure to find DIRTRACKR on TikTok, Instagram, or Facebook. I'm always posting photos and videos to those platforms and others.

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