DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

Dirt racing news, results, discussion, analytics. Sprint cars, late models, modifieds, you name it. From national series, to top local shows. Brought to you five days a week. Email the show at info@dirtrackr.com.

A lot of dirt late model penalties this week with Hunt the Front announcement, additional PA bans | Daily 7-9-2025

Hunt the Front announces penalties over the Michael Page-Cory Hedgecock kerfuffle, Pennsylvania tracks back Port Royal over the Taylor Farlling suspension, and also ban the driver, plus new for Jimmy Owens and Tuesday racing results. Let's go!

It's Wednesday, July 8th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

Real quick before we get started, if you like what we do here five days a week, please consider subscribing to the show on YouTube, the podcast places, or like and follow on Facebook. It's free to do that everywhere, and it will help keep you in the loop on everything happening in dirt racing. You can watch full episodes of the Daily on YouTube, Facebook, and Spotify. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and dirtrackr.com. Full show transcripts are also available at dirtrackr.com/daily. We are across 43,000 subscribers right now on YouTube, and past 42,000 on Facebook, with my goal 50k for 2025 on both platforms.

We start the show off two days in a row with announced penalties for dirt late model racers. Yesterday it was Port Royal dropping the hammer on Taylor Farlling, and today it's Hunt the Front fining and suspending Michael Page and Cory Hedgecock. Going back to this past weekend's Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series show at Senoia Raceway in Georgia, Hedgecock and Page clashed on the backstretch after the checkered flag. Page ran into Hedgecock's car, nearly turning it over, and then the two drivers exited their machines and proceeded to have a physical altercation. Tensions between the two, at least on this night, started in heat races when Page threw an opening lap slider at Hedgecock into turn one for the lead. The slider didn't clear, Hedgecock didn't back out, and the 23 ended up over the cushion, making contact with the wall. Hedgecock then returned the favor coming to the checkered on the final lap of the night's feature. He ran the slider line into three to get by Page for third, and Page initially tried to keep him pinched down. The two drivers though drifted all the way to the top, with Page's 18X eventually ending up with two wheels up on the Senoia concrete. Hedgecock ended up third, with Page dropping to seventh. I think everyone in America knew what was coming next. The announcement from Hunt the Front says that Page was given multiple warnings on the driver radio to not escalate the situation after the checkered, and that if he did he'd be disqualified. Obviously we know Page didn't listen, and he was DQ'd from the event, losing about $2000 in the process. After the contact, there was then the altercation between the two drivers who both climbed out to continue the festivities. They were also joined by several crew members from the infield. In the aftermath, besides the DQ, Page has been fined $1000 for fighting, and an additional $1000 for his crew members entering the race track and participating in the shenanigans. He's also been suspended from the series for 30 days, and placed on probation for the remainder of the season. As Hunt the Front is a DIRTcar-sanctioned series, the suspension and probation also carry over to DIRTcar and World Racing Group events. On the other side, Hedgecock was also fined $1000 for fighting, and he's on probation for the rest of 2025. Page's suspension will really only keep him away from the Duck River event at the start of August. Those two races are the only ones inside the 30 day window. He'd originally been a full timer with the series, but both he and Sam Seawright dropped off before Lake Cumberland because of some health issues for Seawright's father. No suspension for Hedgecock, along with that third place finish, does keep him in the hunt for the series title. He trails Jimmy Owens right now by 32 points. I haven't seen any public comments from Page, but after the race on Saturday, Hedgecock did share to social media quote "10th to 3rd with HTF last night at Senoia. Didn't go to jail, did get cuffed, Bubba is my boy now. Had a scuffle, i can fight 1, but not 10. I’ll wear an ass whoopin', and that was regardless totally worth it" unquote.

And updating yesterday's show where we talked about the Port Royal suspension of Taylor Farlling, other area race tracks will be upholding Port's decision. Besides Port Royal, Farlling is also now barred from BAPS Motor Speedway and Clinton County Speedway. Both Pennsylvania tracks announcing yesterday that the ban through the rest of 2025, and for all of 2026 is in place. BAPS general manager Kolten Gouse was quoted as saying "Our top priority is safety at our speedway not just for our competitors but for our fans as well as our employees. We continue to support our fellow speedways and uphold the suspension at BAPS Motor Speedway." And Clinton County's statement said in part quote "We stand united with both Port Royal and BAPS Motor Speedway in prioritizing safety, sportsmanship, and the integrity of our sport. As such, Clinton County Speedway will also uphold the suspension of Mr. Farlling and impose the same sanctions: he is hereby banned from all racing activity at Clinton County Speedway for the remainder of the 2025 season and the entirety of the 2026 season." Farlling had made two appearances at BAPS in 2025; that included for the test and tune in March, and a third place finish back on April 13th. I don't see where Farlling has made any recent appearances at Clinton County, but the track does run limited late models regularly.

Shifting to a bit of dirt late model team news, Jimmy Owens is slated to run the Southern Nationals coming up with Big Frog Motorsports. The Newport Nightmare is supplementing his schedule with Koehler Motorsports, this isn't a team change. Owens will run all 11 races in the Big Frog 58V, with that schedule starting this Friday at Beckley and running through the next few weeks, with the finale set for July 26th at Tazewell. It's been a solid season so far for the late model veteran, with three wins and he's leading the Hunt the Front championship. Owens drove the 58V to a second place finish a few weeks ago at East Alabama, and should be a factor for some wins with the Southern Nationals. He'll return to the Koehler 20 car to continue that HTF championship chase in early August.

In Tuesday racing action, Zack Mitchell went to victory lane for the first time ever with the Summer Nationals. He led all 30 laps at Shadyhill Speedway, after starting outside front row. The track did take rubber, and Mitchell was able to keep his right rear tire underneath him for the duration. Trey Mills and Rusty Schlenk were second and third. Polesitter Colin Shipley was in line for a good finish, but he went from second to 21st in the final running order when he lost a tire late. The night's modified winner was Curt Spalding, who won with the tour for the first time in four years. He topped Tyler Nicely and Trevor Neville. This final Hell Tour week of 2025 continues tonight with a stop at Montpelier.

At Sweet Springs with the USAC National Midgets, it was all Cannon McIntosh. He started on the front row with Justin Grant, and led all 40 laps en route to his third win of the season, and second in a row going back to the BC39. JG ended up second, with Daison Pursley third. Grant though still comfortably out fron in the championship headed to Mitchell County in Kansas tonight.

Closing out today, we are wishing a speedy recovery to sprint car driver Paul Nienhiser. Paul was injured in a crash this past weekend at Benton County Speedway and is currently at the University of Iowa Medical Center with compression fractures to his T3, T4, and T5 vertebrae. According to a social media post made by his wife, Paul crashed out from the lead because of a part failure. He has feeling in all of his extermities, but is dealing with quite a bit of pain. Paul is a guy who wins a lot in regional sprint car racing, and was a past guest of my interview show. We certainly hope he starts feeling better soon.

That's the daily show for today. If you want more dirt racing content, make sure to follow DIRTRACKR across social media. Wherever you are, so is DIRTRACKR. Just search D-I-R-T-R-A-C-K-R on your favorite platform. I'm always posting photos, show links, short videos, and more.

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