DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Port Royal Speedway DROPS THE HAMMER | Daily 7-8-2025

Port Royal Speedway announces a big penalty against a late model competitor and sends a message in the process. We'll go through the details, plus the past history between the drivers involved that led into the incident. We'll also talk Tuesday racing and more. Let's go!

It's Tuesday, July 8th, 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 USAC midgets tonight. They've also got racing straight through the weekend with Lucas, High Limit, and more on the slate for the next several days. 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, plenty more. 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.

Port Royal Speedway yesterday announced one of the longest bans of a driver from a track that I can remember in recent history. Going back to June 28th, Taylor Farlling went after Dillan Stake during the night's limited late model feature at Port. Stake made a mistake into turn one, hit the inside wall, slid up the track, made contact with Farlling, and Farlling spun in front of the field. The two drivers started up front, so when Farlling spun, he ended up turned the wrong way in front of basically the entire field, and was hit by oncoming cars. Certainly not a great situation, and one that would have angered most drivers. What came next though was the unnecessary escalation that led Port Royal officials to levy a hefty penalty. Under the subsequent yellow, Farlling went after Stake twice, driving around the track backwards to do so. He missed the first time in turn one, before hitting Stake's stopped car head on in turn four. There was then a scuffle on track between the two drivers and crew members. Farlling was eventually DQ'd from the night and Stake DNF'd with the damage Farlling caused. Farlling later pointed towards there being history between the two drivers, and there is video floating around of an incident from Path Valley a few weeks prior. In that late model race, Farlling was battling with another driver and got sideways out of turn four after what looked like just a bit of contact. Stake, who was trailing the battle, took the two three wide to take advantage of the mistake and Farlling got squeezed into the front stretch wall right at the Path Valley flag stand. Under a caution a few laps later caused by Farlling slowing, he waited for Stake and spun him out in turn four to show his displeasure for being squeezed. Stake definitely needed to give Farlling room, which he didn't, but it was another example of Farlling using his car for retaliation under yellow. The Path Valley incident felt like an overreaction, but the Port deal was on another level. In an announcement yesterday, Port Royal revealed that Farlling has been banned from the track for not only the remainder of 2025, but also the entire 2026 season. So a full 18 months. And he won't be allowed to race in 2027 until a fine is paid to the York County Racing Club's Injured Driver's Fund, and he must meet with Port's race committee to quote "determine if reinstatement is appropriate". The track said quote "After a thorough review of the events and in accordance with Port Royal Speedway's Personal Conduct Rules, it was determined that Mr. Farlling used his race car in an aggressive and dangerous manner, violating the track's standards for driver safety and sportsmanship. The incident involved actions deemed by track officials as using a race car as a weapon — an egregious offense that the speedway takes with the utmost seriousness' unquote. Track officials sending a message here both figuratively and literally, as the announcement also says quote "These actions are being made public not only to clarify the severity of the situation but also to reinforce the speedway's commitment to maintaining a safe environment for all competitors, crew members, and fans. Port Royal Speedway wants to encourage all other tracks in the area and around the country to follow the same course of action regarding issues of this matter. The speedway remains committed to upholding the integrity of the sport and ensuring a safe racing environment for everyone involved' unquote. Management clearly saying here that we won't put up with this type of stuff, and we don't think anyone else should either.

In this same vein, I have been asked since Saturday what's happening with the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series and that incident between Michael Page and Cory Hedgecock that happened this past weekend at Senoia Raceway. Nothing has been announced as of yet, and I thought we would have had some clarity yesterday. I would expect though that a penalty is likely coming for Page, but I wouldn't be surprised if Hedgecock was sanctioned as well. If Page is indeed penalized, this wouldn't be the first time we've seen action taken against him. Page was suspended for a full year back in 2022 for an altercation that happened at the Ice Bowl during Ironman sanctioned competition.

There wasn't any big time dirt racing on Monday. With everything that's been happening in recent weeks, it almost felt a bit strange that the calendar was so quiet. Don't worry though, that quiet period ends today. The final Summer Nationals week of the year begins today at Shadyhill Speedway. The 2025 Hell Tour will finish out with other stops this week at Montpelier, Butler, Crystal, Oakshade and Wayne County. The Modified Nationals will then wrap during the traditional finale at the Prairie Dirt Classic in a few weeks. The four weekly dirt late model champions so far include Jason Feger twice, Ryan Gustin, and Brandon Sheppard. Feger leads the overall standings by 59 points over Tyler Erb. Those two plus Dillon McCowan are the only three to start all 22 features up to this point. Terbo leads all drivers with six wins. On the modified side Trevor Neville has 62 points over Chase Holland. Neville looks to be in control, but if the modified guys race a bunch this week, we could see movement. Only a driver's 12 best finishes count.

With USAC, the midgets begin Mid-America Week with four races coming up through Saturday. Action starts tonight at Sweet Springs in Missouri, then goes to Mitchell County in Kansas on Wednesday. Teams will get Thursday off, before two nights at Jefferson County Friday and Saturday. Justin Grant leads the championship right now, and his move to Chad Boat's team this season looks like it's paid off nicely. Three wins, six top fives, and nine top tens in 10 starts. The BC39 is the lone blemish, but he led the most laps in that one before getting a late flat tire after contact. Kale Drake, Cannon McIntosh and Jacob Denney all still within striking distance. Kevin Thomas Jr. in fifth, and on back, all those drivers more than triple digits away. Those other three in Drake, McIntosh, and Denney are the only others to win with USAC this season. And surprisingly, Logan Seavey's midget winless streak is now beyond a full year.

There was also supposed to be Short Track Super Series modifieds at New Egypt today, but just a little bit ago as I write this, track and series officials have postponed the event until August 21st. There is rain and thunderstorms predicted for the afternoon there today. The Short Track Super Series will try again on Thursday at Outlaw Speedway.

We'll wrap it up right there for today. Don't forget you can watch the Daily show completely ad free over at patreon.com/dirtrackr. That is one of the perks of the top tier membership I have named "reserved seating." You can sign up free as a member on Patreon, but the premium tiers do have added benefits. So check that out at patreon.com/dirtrackr.

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