DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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News for Longhorn, Kevin Rumley; Eliason and TKS split, Outlaws at Atomic reaction | Daily 5-27-2025

Another sprint car team parts ways with their driver, and it's starting to feel like more changes are coming. We'll talk about that, plus the Outlaws and Atomic take a beating for the Monday feature, and change is in the air for Longhorn Chassis, it's Dynamics division, and Kevin Rumley. Let's go!

It's Tuesday, May 27th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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The World of Outlaws hit up Atomic Speedway in Ohio last night for a Memorial Day day run. And going back to our discussion last week about track work versus taking the time necessary for it, things went the "no track work" direction last night ahead of the feature. And some folks were not pleased. I had a message before the feature even started about the track taking rubber, and unfortunately, we ended up with a race that had very little passing. The night's hard charger in Cap Henry went just plus three, and we had just 18 cumulative position changes throughout the entire field. That's the smallest run for an Outlaw hard charger since Bristol in 2022, and the fifth fewest position changes in a feature over the last 611 races. As you can imagine, the reactions today are not great. There are some things to mention here though, that certainly go against the narrative today. First, the idea that there are never passes for the lead with the Outlaws. How quickly we forget, but we just were on a stretch of four straight races with multiple leaders. And of the 25 shows this season, 13 have had multiple leaders. Also, I see Atomic taking a beating for never producing good racing. That doesn't seem to track either. Last night was actually a big outlier for Atomic. Over the previous five Outlaw shows there, they've had between 40 and 49 total cumulative passes per race through the field, and three of five had multiple leaders. Things last night with the track certainly didn't go how anyone would have hoped, but contrary to popular belief, I don't think Atomic's Charlie Vest or the Outlaws hope for or try to have rubber down surfaces. In that main event, Carson Macedo led all 25 from the outside front row, and kudos to Cole Duncan for trying to win that one late. He tried to put a move on Macedo in three and four, but it didn't work, and he ended up third, with Chris Windom slipping by for second. At least he tried to make something happen. It was a career best finish for Windom, Hunter Schuerenberg had his first top five of the year, and Sklar Gee with back-to-back top five runs for the first time in his career. It's also been a brutal couple of days for Zach Hampton. He crashed real big at Port Royal on Sunday and destroyed a car. Then got DQ'd after qualifying last night for being light at the scales. Then got DQ'd again after the heat races for not having his head and neck restraint system. Needless to say, the six team called it a night after that. The Outlaws head next to River Cities and Red River Valley this coming weekend.

In other Sunday action, Matt Sheppard led flag-to-flag at Thunder Mountain Speedway to top the Super DIRTcar Series Natural 77. He beat Peter Britten and Erick Rudolph in that one. Sheppard well down the order through the first four points races with the SDS, sitting in seventh. He's 42 points back of championship leader Alex Yankowski even with the victory. He's had a bit of a tough start, but things seemingly turning around. The big blocks back next week for a stop at Big Diamond.

Because silly season never stops, we had even more sprint car ride news last night. This one felt a bit news dumpy, releasing things at 9:20 PM eastern time on Memorial Day right in the middle of the Outlaw dash at Atomic. But, TKS Motorsports and owner Troy Renfro made the decision following High Limit at Port Royal to part ways with driver Cory Eliason. TKS did not yet announce plans for a next driver, and Eliason's future plans are unknown. In 17 starts in 2025, Eliason and TKS had one top five and three top tens. They'd run eight Outlaw shows, five with High Limit, three Knoxville weekly, plus with the MSTS at Huset's. Eliason missed the feature both nights of the Weikert. I'd heard last week that this deal was going sideways, and I honestly expected word to come before it did. It actually made me question the info, but this will teach me to have more faith in the source who sent it to me. Word on the streets is that Renfro is looking for a younger driver, and he's already begun the process of trying to get his next steering wheel holder. We'll see what he's able to put together. There are some quiet rumblings out there of more ride changes to come, nothing super solid yet, but it seems as though some out there are getting itchy and looking for change.

Final topic for today. There are some interesting things happening right now in the dirt late model chassis and shock space, which I told you guys a few weeks ago would likely start playing out. In the aftermath of Jonathan Davenport misspeaking after his Fairbury win, where he thanked Penske Shocks instead of Bilstein, I had some industry friends clue me in on a few things happening behind the scenes. Davenport made sure to make it clear after all the chatter that his Lance Landers-owned 49 is still indeed on Bilsteins. I loved all the folks who tagged me in his various posts and commentary. Late last week though, Longhorn and it's Dynamics division made a few announcements about new parts, with the company now offering it's own Longhorn branded right rear shock, and also their own shock piston. They are also offering Bilstein shock packages with upgraded components made in-house, and they hired a new Dynamics team member. That's what we know about publicly. Behind the scenes though, there are more changes, including a big one for Kevin Rumley. I spoke to Longhorn's Steve Arpin late last week, and he sent me the following information regarding the new parts and pieces from Dynamics and what's up with Rumley's situation. Arpin shared quote "Longhorn Chassis launched our Dynamics Division with a commitment to work more closely with our customers—providing tailored performance solutions and addressing challenges, regardless of the brand of shock they use. While we continue to value and respect our long-standing relationship with Bilstein, we've also built an elite in-house team that has already delivered race-winning innovations" unquote. About Rumley and some of the rumors I'd been hearing, Arpin shared quote "As a result of global restructuring, Bilstein was unable to renew Kevin's contract. Kevin has been integral to Longhorn Chassis since day one, playing a critical role in our growth while simultaneously contributing to Bilstein. Bringing Kevin on full-time to further contribute in the development of our expanding Longhorn program was an easy decision—his expertise is unmatched, and the opportunity to focus his talents solely on our in-house innovation efforts strengthens our team and future" unquote. Even amidst these changes, I would not expect any of the big teams to suddenly shift to Longhorn Dynamics-branded shocks. Arpin told me they are still working closely with Bilstein and that for example, the Longhorn Factory Team with Riggs Motorsports will continue to utilize Bilstein's products. If you are unaware about Rumley's situation previously, he was kind of on both sides. He was tied in with Bilstein, but also heavily involved at Longhorn. Definitely interesting news though, and I think we'll continue to see things move and change and grow in this space.

That's the show for today. Hit those like and subscribe buttons, leave your comments below, have a good Tuesday out there, and we'll see you back here tomorrow!