DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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You know what they say about rules... | Daily 5-19-2025

Touring sprint car drivers get laps elsewhere with rainouts, Tim McCreadie is so back, and as some sprint car teams push rules boundaries, it's important to remember what they say about rules... Let's go!

It's Monday, May 19th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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We'll start today off with a little bit of a discussion about rules. I know many of you saw that before Ransomville on Friday, during the High Limit driver's meeting, competition director Mike Hess made it a point to say that all watches are now illegal with the series. Toby Bellbowen from Sprint Car Hub is here in the US right now, and he shared to social media that Hess said going forward they are not legal, and that if drivers are caught with them, they will be disqualified. He said it's too difficult to discern what device is and isn't for health purposes. It was a great catch from Toby, and I know it made the rounds. Just for disclosure, I did text Hess last week about Rico Abreu's watch following Kokomo, but got nothing but crickets back. At least he's still speaking to guys like Jeremy Elliott. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, a bunch of folks were up in arms following the Monday High Limit show at Kokomo last week when Rico was spotted wearing a watch post race. We heard from Jeremy Elliott that Rico had prior approval from Hess directly to wear the watch, because it did not have communication abilities. Obviously now, that approval has been rescinded. The High Limit rulebook does have a provision for smart watches, and it mentions wifi, cellular, and satellite devices being illegal, along with phones. There were a lot of comments from folks saying Rico should have been DQ'd, but you can't go back and do that retroactively if you had given him permission to wear the watch. As I said the Tuesday after, it probably just makes sense to ban all wristwear, regardless of what it looks like or does, and that's what High Limit decided. I do think a key point to remember in all of this, is it's not what the rules say, it's what they don't say. In this case with Rico, if it wasn't a smart watch, and instead technically a fitness tracker, than it could be argued that it was legal under the way the rule was written. It likely had bluetooth connectivity, but bluetooth is not mentioned in the High Limit rules as banned. Hess originally ruled it legal, but I'd venture to guess he changed his mind based on the public and private reactions in the aftermath. And it seems as though the interpretation of rules like this is becoming a key point in sprint car racing. Because of various factors, like the ever shrinking box that teams are in, and the challenges of this current iteration of Hoosier tires, some teams and crew chiefs are pushing boundaries. We know that Paul Silva's 57 and a few other teams showed up to the Knoxville Outlaw races a few weeks ago with aero bits that were deemed illegal by Outlaw officials. Were they aero parts, or underbody protection? That was the sticking point. The Outlaws decided they were for aero and didn't allow them. And Knoxville added a rule change about it to also ensure it was clear they weren't allowed. Silva though, seemingly undeterred, appeared to have brought at least some of those parts and pieces to Texas Motor Speedway with High Limit just days later. There is a photo online of the 57 in the pits at Texas with what looks like to be those parts added, although it's unclear to me if they were actually used on track. If Hess did allow them, that would be yet another rules divergence between the two national tours this year. Another example is the in-car shock adjusters. But even if they were disallowed, Silva clearly not deterred from at least trying it out in the face of getting rebuffed by the Outlaws and Knoxville. The two series rulebooks are incredibly similar, in some places word-for-word the same, but Hess doesn't seem to be afraid to make decisions that differ from the Outlaws. Wrapping this up, I have a hard time being upset at Rico over the watch, or Silva or any other crew chief for pushing the boundaries. It's not like they were trying to hide it. The worst thing officials are going to say is no if you approach them about something like this. But if a guy like Silva is able to hit on something, it's likely worth the effort. Even if you can get a win or two before the series decides later on it's banned. Not that the 57 needs any car advantages, given they have Kyle Larson in the seat. It makes me wonder what other areas teams may venture into that were previously thought to be settled, because as I said earlier, it's not what the rules say, but what they don't say.

Last night at Bedford Speedway, Tim McCreadie again reminded us what he's capable of when his race car is right. He dominated the World of Outlaws late model feature, leading all 35 laps and flat driving away from Bobby Pierce towards the end. TMac was involved in a crash the night before at Marion Center, and it took a big effort to get that car put back together for Sunday at Bedford. But the work paid off. McCreadie hadn't won twice in three series starts since he did it with Lucas back in 2022. But that happened over a nearly two week span. Not a three day span. With as good as Pierce is, I don't think McCreadie could really get into the championship fight with the Outlaws, but the last several races have shown that the decision to switch to Longhorns and the decision to go Outlaws were the right ones. We now won't see the Outlaws again for a month, as Lucas, Eldora and some other events take center stage. The break seems like it's come at a very good time for Tanner English and the Coltman Farms team. That 96 squad has had issues in recent weeks with hurting engines, and English was in a different car last night. Jim Bernheisel offered up his Lazer chassis machine to English to stay rolling in the points. English had a flat in the feature and finished 21st.

Other race winners last night included Kale Drake with the USAC midgets at Sweet Springs, Troy Wagaman fought off Anthony Macri and Danny Dietrich to win at BAPS while Aaron Reutzel and Kody Hartlaub became best friends, Tim Shaffer was an IRA winner at Angell Park (is that Michael Dutcher's first winged win?), and Kaleb Johnson won for the second week in a row at Huset's after leader Landon Crawley got caught up in a crash with a lap car. Over the last few days, with the Outlaws and High Limit rained out, quite a few drivers made their way to other places to get some racing in. That included Bill Balog running with the IRA last night, Bill Rose also making his first appearance since Knoxville last June, and guys like Aaron Reutzel, Tyler Courtney, Spencer Bayston, Kasey Kahne, and Brent Marks racing in PA. That Saturday night race at Port Royal where Macri won a thriller over Garrett Bard had several High Limit guys in the field as they obviously looked to get laps before the Weikert coming up next weekend.

That's your show for today. We are making some schedule changes around here, so for at least the next couple of months here this summer, you'll likely see Daily shows posted much earlier in the day. Don't be alarmed, all is good. And maybe this will work out better, who knows. Anyways....

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