DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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I think Ford and it's sprint car engine deserve an apology | Daily 6-26-2025

I think Ford and their sprint car engine deserve an apology for all the heat they've taken over the last five or six years, plus we'll talk Ricky Weiss' immigration issues, lots of racing to come this weekend, and more. Let's go!

It's Thursday June 26th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

If you haven't grabbed a subscription to FloRacing yet this season, it's a good time to jump in. Coming up they've got High Limit sprint cars, USAC, some PA Speedweek shows, the BC39 is next week, and a lot more. If you can't get to those races and want to watch from home, grab a subscription to Flo. You can sign up and help out DIRTRACKR at no additional cost to you, by heading over to dirtrackr.com/floracing. Signing up means you'll get to watch hundreds of races a year, and that's just on the dirt side. They've also got drag racing, NASCAR events, road racing stuff, and I'm sure things I don't even know about. So grab a pass at dirtrackr.com/floracing, or you can click the link below in the video description, or the FloRacing links at dirtrackr.com.

I started doing this show way back in February of 2020, which means that DIRTRACKR Daily has existed through much of the lifespan of the modern era Ford 410 sprint car engine. Tony Stewart Racing and Donny Schatz started using the engine in competition in 2019, but they didn't start using it full time until the 2020 season. As we've documented through the years, we've watched Schatz go from invincible, to struggling some nights to crack the top 15 or top ten in an Outlaw show. If you want evidence of that yourself, look at the past two racing weekends between Huset's and Knoxville. Along the way also, we watched Schatz go from Ricky Warner as crew chief, to Scuba Steve Swenson, and now to Todd Devnich this season. And 2025 has really been full of change, new crew, shock shenanigans, engine swap, and early season rumors of testing different chassis. Throughout this decline, there has been one common thread though when we've talked about Schatz, and that's been the blame for the Ford engine. A lot of folks out there believed that it was the sole reason for the problems, and that if the team just switched back to a Chevy-based 410, all would be solved. Just on my YouTube channel alone, there are dozens of these types of comments, a smattering of which you can see here. And these are just a sample from maybe the past year or two. Back in March, many Schatz fans got their wish when TSR announced Ford was dealing with parts shortages, and that they would be swapping back to a traditional Chevy-based engine for the foreseeable future. This was finally the moment that would turn things around for the 15. I said back then though that I wasn't convinced. I'll read you verbatim what I said on March 30th, quote "I'm going to keep my expectations fairly low for this team. I'm not convinced the Ford was as big a problem as some think, and I don't believe you just swap powerplants and start winning again" unquote. We are now three months down the road from the swap, and 24 sprint car races for Schatz with the Chevy power. And you know what, it's not really been different. An average feature finish of 10, 14 top tens and five top fives, still no wins, and six finishes of 15th or worse. The team only ran 12 races before that this season, with an average finish 10.58, but it's a tough comparison, given those 12 races only happened at five tracks, and half of those races were at Volusia. Don't even bother making the comparison to 2024, because those numbers will make this season look really bad. Luckily things turn over next Tuesday, but the team did use both of it's provisionals, missing features at both Knoxville weekends so far. Schatz did lead laps at Williams Grove in May, and finished second at Eldora, but in his last six races, he's only got one top ten finish. And let's be clear about all of this, it gives me no pleasure talking about a Schatz decline. It would make the Outlaws way more entertaining this season if Donny was up there mixing it up with Gravel and Kofoid and these other guys, and giving us a championship to actually talk about. I also just generally like and respect the way Donny races, and it would be great if in the midst of short slider after short slider, there was someone winning and doing it cleaner. My bigger point with all of this, is maybe Ford didn't deserve all the slander that's been sent their way. Maybe their engine isn't actually that bad. Maybe it wasn't the reason Schatz hasn't been winning 30 races a year. Let's not forgot that Zeb Wise used it down the stretch to win the All Star title. And Donny did win the Kings Royal and Knoxville Nationals with it. And Justin Peck has found victory lane with it twice this year. 24 races is still a very small sample size, and I do believe Schatz and Devnich need more time to really get their arms around what is now effectively an entirely new package. They are using a different engine and different shocks from three months ago. But maybe, just maybe, there will be some folks who get in the comment section today and admit they were wrong. Or you know, maybe not.

One news item for you, Ricky Weiss' pursuit of the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series championship appears to be over. Through six races, he had a win and four top tens, and is currently fourth in the standings, 18 points behind leader Zack Mitchell. The Hunt the Front guys slated for two nights this week with the Northern All Stars, with stops at Lake Cumberland and Florence. Weiss posted to social media yesterday that while he was at Eldora, he learned that his grandfather was ill. He went back to Canada to be with family, ultimately losing his grandfather while he was there. In the aftermath, he's since attempted to return to the US to continue racing, but has been denied entry back into the US. He shared quote "With the heightened security at the borders right now, I require extra paperwork that I had not needed in the past" unquote. Weiss is currently working with an immigration lawyer to get his documents sorted, but in the meantime won't be able to make this weekend's events. If you aren't aware, Weiss is from Manitoba, Canada. He last raced in the US during the Flo series show at Eldora before the Dream, but he did run a WISSOTA show in Canada last Saturday night, finishing third.

Running through your weekend dirt racing options. I just mentioned the Hunt the Front/Northern All Stars weekend. Big cash available both nights, and it sounds like some big names coming in there to race. For example, Hudson O'Neal has the Florence race on his schedule, but not with SSI, and instead Kevin Rumley's six car. Zack Mitchell currently with a slight eight point lead over Jimmy Owens in that title fight. You've also got the World of Outlaws late models up north in Minnesota and North Dakota. Drake Troutman and Bobby Pierce the most recent series winners, and Pierce stretching away for the championship. Summer Nationals continues with the Herald and Review 100 tonight at Macon, and then Farmer City, Highland, and Clarksville to come. There is also lots of other regional action, so check your schedules and the watch tonight page at dirtrackr.com.

Weekend open wheel action includes the Kubota High Limit sprint cars at Lucas Oil Speedway the next three nights. Kyle Larson is racing tonight, but not Friday and Saturday. Brad Sweet leads Tyler Courtney by ten points in the standings, with Aaron Reutzel, Rico Abreu, and Brent Marks not far behind. Just to stir things up, High Limit guys winless in their own series since June 4th! On the flip side, the World of Outlaws have Cedar Lake Friday and Saturday, and we are obviously coming off a big weekend for Buddy Kofoid. No changes in the championship given Huset's is show up points only. After Saturday night, both national sprint car series will be off for nearly two weeks, giving teams a break around the July 4th holiday. We'll see if any of these teams decide to forgo the break and go racing anyway. Pennsylvania Speedweek starts tomorrow at Williams Grove, with a busy ten race schedule coming up. Anthony Macri has won the last two speedweek championships, while Danny Dietrich has the chance to win both the Ohio and PA speedweeks in one season. Streaming will be split between DIRTVision, FloRacing, and Sprint Car Unlimited throughout. There is also IRA at Bloomington and Butler, POWRi, FAST, MOWA, ASCS, the All Stars and Mercer, and USAC sprint cars at Fremont and Millstream, plus lots of local and regional racing. If you're looking for modifieds, the Super DIRTcar Series runs Sunday and Monday in Canada and New York.

That is the Daily show for this final full week of June. Thanks for hanging around all week, enjoy the dirt racing weekend ahead, and we'll see you right back here on Sunday.