DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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BShepp's Eldora ride, Durham's influence, and everything must go | Daily 5-14-2025

Hudson O'Neal has had an insane turnaround in recent weeks, and we'll talk why plus the numbers behind it. I've also got details on a dirt late model veteran selling out his equipment, racing going on tonight, and is the Rocket house car really not racing the Dream? Let's go!

It's Wednesday, May 14th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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Another race program featuring the FloRacing Night in America Series presented by our friends at Kubota, and another excellent show. Last night at Marshalltown, the late model main event had six lead changes among three drivers in just 50 laps. I'd say there were some bent feelings after that one as well. Brandon Overton, Bobby Pierce, and Hudson O'Neal all took multiple turns out front, and in the end it was O'Neal coming out on top for his fourth win in 31 starts this season. O'Neal also a perfect three-for-three in Flo series shows at the Iowa track. Overton settled for second after starting on the pole and leading two laps, and Bobby Pierce was third. Pierce actually got roughed up by Overton into turn three after a later restart. The 32 was out front, and Overton thought he'd go high, but both went low, and there was some pretty significant contact. Overton said afterwards he didn't mean to get into the 32, but Pierce seemed to ratchet up his intensity there late, nearly going off the track in turns one and two a few times. That included throwing a haymaker slider at Overton on a subsequent restart. That really turned out to be the key moment of the race, as Pierce trying to collect it, and Overton trying to avoid, allowed O'Neal to skirt by on the bottom. That was the final pass for the lead, and O'Neal got away from there. We need to talk about what an insane turnaround we've seen from O'Neal and this 71 team since they brought on Jason Durham as crew chief. From Golden Isles in January, to Volusia in February, throwing out the races where O'Neal drove Kevin Rumley's car, O'Neal made 15 appearances. He did have a best finish of second at Ocala on February 7th, but he also missed three features at Volusia. In the main events he did qualify for, his average finish was 13.17. Very pedestrian, and nowhere near the type of pace we've seen him have plenty of times in the past. Starting at Atomic though in March, Durham joined this team after splitting with Stormy Scott, and the effect was immediate. This car has raced 13 times since then, with three wins, no missed features, and an average finish of 5.54. They've gone from ninth in the Lucas standings, with what appeared to be no shot to make the chase, to now sixth, just 60 points back. That is one hell of an about-face. I do want to give a hat tip as well to Justin Duty who went 14th to fourth on the night. The driver from my home state of Oregon hustling his car around the bottom last night to a great finish against a tough field. The Flo series is now done for a few weeks, with a midweek race at Eldora before the Dream next on the schedule. The late model week continues tomorrow, with Lucas headed for Eagle and the Outlaws at Raceway 7.

A few other dirt late model notes for you. The Rocket house car posted their upcoming schedule to social media this week, and it included last night's Flo show, the upcoming Lucas events at Eagle and Wheatland, the Flo show at Eldora, and then Lucas events at Smoky Mountain. Strangely missing in between though, was the Dirt Late Model Dream at Eldora. It left a lot of folks wondering what Brandon Sheppard's plans were, and whether that was going to maybe be a B5 race. The family-owned B5 has already made multiple appearances this season in between house car starts. It would certainly be a bit shocking though to not see the Rocket house car at an Eldora crown jewel. I had multiple messages asking me about it, and I did reach out for clarification. The Rocket team let me know this morning that it was an oversight, and those races are indeed on their schedule. If you hit up the tour page at rocket1racing.com, you'll see the Dream dates are listed there. So no worries Rocket fans, BShepp will be in the 1 car at Eldora. Shepp coming off back-to-back second place finishes at Farmer City and Fairbury, and he was 10th last night at Marshalltown.

One more for you. It looks like Chris Madden is completely unwinding his dirt late model operation. The South Carolina driver has made 14 starts this year, but has done so in a second GR Smith-owned entry. Madden with varying levels of success in 2025, which has included a Spring Nationals win in February at Swainsboro, but also seven missed features. He last ran against the Outlaws at Talladega, and his schedule does show the Dream at Eldora coming up. Late last night though, a business called Norville Auction and Real Estate shared to Facebook pictures with Madden in his shop, with the post reading quote "After 30 years of Racing Chris Madden is Retiring!! Norville Auction and Real Estate has the honor of liquidating Chris Madden Racing!!" unquote. Apparently the online auction will take place after Eldora with exact dates still TBA. We know that Madden has been dealing with some health issues in recent years, and that he's wanted to stay around home more for family time. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think we've seen Madden on track in a car out of his own shop since sometime last summer. The auction post saying Madden is retiring is a bit curious. My assumption is that it means he's retiring from his own team, but will continue racing with GR Smith. I have reached out for clarification. I'll let you know if I hear back.

Shifting towards racing happening today. The World of Outlaws sprint cars are over the border in Canada for the first time since 2017. That last race was at Ohsweken, and they are back there for races today and tomorrow. Things shift to Cornwall on Sunday, before coming back to the states next week. Logan Schuchart the last race winner in Canada, and he could use a good run tonight to bounce back from the disaster that was Williams Grove last weekend. He and Carson Macedo, who also happened to be David Gravel's closest title challengers, were both caught up in a crash when the lap car of TJ Stutts spun in front of them. Outside of running out of fuel way back on Volusia, it's really the only blemish on Schuchart's stat sheet for 2025. It looks like the Outlaws are expecting high 30s, maybe low 40s for a car count, and we actually got an expected entry list ahead of time. The Outlaws maybe taking a page out of the High Limit book here. Outside of the Outlaw teams, names here to point out include Stewart Friesen, who does have an Outlaw win on his resume. Plenty of other Canadian and northeast US drivers here, including Glenn Styres, Jordan Poirier, Davie Franek, and Dylan Westbrook.

We were also supposed to have High Limit at Fremont tonight, but rain has spoiled that one. They are working on a potential makeup date. Up next for the High Limit teams is New York stops at Ransomville and Utica-Rome on Friday and Saturday.

There are a few other scattered racing programs out there today, so stop by dirtrackr.com/watchtonight to see what else you can get into. We'll call it good there for today.

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