DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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A driver making a coilover sprint car go fast, two racers drivers hit the big stage | Daily 6-25-2025

One High Limit sprint car driver took his sprint car team a different direction late in 2024, and his choice is just starting to bear fruit. We'll deep dive that today, plus talk Brandon Sheppard's ups and downs, and two drivers with an uncle who is one of the best ever are set to hit the big stage. Let's go!

It's Wednesday June 25th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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Back in 2024, there was twice during the year where we spotlighted sprint cars that were using a different suspension setup than is the norm. The first was the Sammy Swindell, Flea Ruzic, Shawn Wood science experiment that showed up at the Knoxville Nationals. That car was on coilover shocks, but the right front shock, was actually mounted inboard. Those guys continued to iterate on that car, and it raced a bit more as the season went on. The other driver who ended up switching away from a traditional torsion bar setup later in the year, was Tanner Thorson. He hit up some POWRi shows at Texas in October between High Limit races, and has been on the coilovers ever since. With a traditional setup, a torsion arm is connected to the torsion bar, and that bar twisting basically replaces what most of us know springs to be on a car's suspension. As the front and rear axle move, that pushes on the arm, and you get that twisting from the bar, which is the spring. And then shocks are in place to control your compression and rebound. With Thorson's car though, there are no bars or arms, and all of that is now contained in the coilover shock/spring combination. Last year, Flea Ruzic told me they went this direction because they have more options for tuning, they can change spring rates easier, there is less bind, and the coilovers react quicker. All of that sounds great, so why don't more teams do this? Well, with so many more options, it can be tougher to find the right window to get everything into for it to work right. That would mean more practice and testing to start dialing everything in, and for top level teams, there isn't a lot of time for that. One friend told me, go buy a new Maxim, four 1000 pound torsion bars, and you'll be pretty close for a lot of race tracks. There are a lot of notebooks on torsion bars, guys go fast doing it, so why go away from it. For a guy like Thorson though, he's done a bunch of midget racing where coilovers are more common, he works on all of his own stuff, so all of this is familiar to him. Going out full time with High Limit was always going to be a tough road, and while he showed he can win and go fast with bars, he also has the leeway to experiment. Since switching though, results have been mixed. He'd been fast, had some top ten finishes, led laps at Tri-City with High Limit, won a POWRi show at Creek County back in April. But also plenty of tough nights, finishes outside the top 15, and nine High Limit B-Main appearances. That race at Tri-City though seemed like a turning point. He started up front, led laps, probably should have had a top five finish, but had issues late and ended up 17th. From there though, 11th at Kokomo, top tens at Ransomville and Grandview, and 11th at the Weikert. Then things really seemed like they started to click. Fourth at Butler, third at Red Cedar, second at 141, top tens with the Outlaws in Wisconsin, and more good runs since. Seven straight top nine finishes in a 410 sprint car isn't something we'd seen from him previously. And even though he missed the Friday night feature at Huset's, still a solid weekend there. So what's different? Asking around some friends in the pit area, it sounds like Thorson has really been able to hone in a lot of his package, not just the coilovers, but also engine stuff and general car setup. It also helps that he's getting a lot more seat time. Something like half of his career 410 sprint car starts have happened in just the last year and a half. Small improvements all the way around have helped that 88 be better, and it doesn't hurt to have a hall of famer like Stevie Smith in your corner. Smith 12th all time with the Outlaws in wins with 84. Qualifying has been an issue for Thorson, but a lot of these good finishes lately have come on nights where he times better. The difference this year though, is he's passing a lot more cars come feature time. He leads High Limit in feature plus minus, and even though his average start is down, his average finish is better. Better adjustments before the main show, and better race craft is paying off. In 2024, Thorson was 13th in the High Limit standings by year's end. Right now, he sits seventh, and is well in line to earn a High Limit franchise. That's a significant turnaround. I think wins aren't far off, and maybe Thorson will inspire others to try different paths.

In Tuesday Summer Nationals action at Springfield Raceway, Tyler Erb went to victory lane for the third time this season. He battled Kyle Bronson early on, and took the lead right before half way. He went the distance from there, topping Ashton Winger and Brandon Sheppard at the end. A number of flat tires last night derailed guys, including Bronson, Daulton Wilson, Dillon, McCowan, and others who ran towards the front. Last night's 17th to third charge for BShepp was his first podium finish in any dirt late model race in nearly a month, going back to the MARS shows at LaSalle at the end of May. He had issues on Sunday at Lincoln after super trucking from Lernerville, and went out in a B main. And that was after being 14th at the Firecracker. It looked back in April like he was maybe starting to get things turned around with Rocket, winning the Illini 100, and then his next start at Cedar County. There have been some good runs since then, including two seconds during Illinois Speedweek, but Shepp hasn't been able to find victory lane again, in either the house car or the family B5. It sounds like he'll be back in action tonight at Tri-City. Last night's win for Erb, with Jason Feger ending up ninth, did give Terbo the overall points lead, and he's in the driver's seat early here for the week three title. Tonight's show will also feature the Modified Nationals drivers.

Starting on Thursday, the World of Outlaws Late Models head north for a four day trip through Minnesota and North Dakota. They've got stops at I-94, River Cities, Norman County, and Nodak. The focus will be out front on the big names like Bobby Pierce, Nick Hoffman, Ryan Gustin, Brian Shirley, and maybe some Lucas guys that will roll through. But a pair of drivers will be making their World of Outlaws late model debut, and that pair has a famous, and highly decorated dirt racing uncle. Laela and Amelia Eisenschenk are 17 year old twin sisters from North Dakota who regularly race 410 and Racesaver sprint cars, and WISSOTA late models in the area, under the Donny Schatz Racing banner. If you're going to go racing, what better than to rely on an uncle who's won 10 World of Outlaws sprint car championships. Amelia has four top fives, and 13 top tens in 25 races this year. And Laela has a trio of Racesaver sprint car wins, to go along with six top fives and 12 top tens in 31 races. Laela also ran during the Tulsa Shootout this season, and Amelia was in the field for the Gateway Dirt Nationals last December. The duo will drive a pair of identically wrapped late models, with Laela in the 15, and Amelia in the 1, and they plan on appearing at all four shows this weekend. And since the Outlaws are only a few hundred miles away at Cedar Lake this weekend, I would not be surprised if Schatz was hanging around at least on Thursday, and maybe Sunday as well, before and after.

If you want some dirt racing today, besides the Summer Nationals, there are also several local shows around the country. Stop by dirtrackr.com/watchtonight to see what your streaming options are any day of the week.

That's the show for today.

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