DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Sprint car racing really sucks sometimes | Daily 7-16-2025
Sometimes sprint car racing is great. Other times it can really suck. We'll talk about that today, plus a race that nobody seemed to want to win, heavyweights going at it with Lucas, and a lot more. Let's go!
It's Wednesday, July 16th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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Last night was one of those race nights that reminds you just how dangerous sprint car racing really is. And I don't know about you, but it makes me have a bit of a love-hate relationship with the sport. When it's good, it's really good. But seeing guys get in really ugly crashes, with the possibility of getting badly injured, all of that is why sprint car racing can really suck. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, driver Kalib Henry got into the frontstretch catchfence last night at Attica in the World of Outlaws B-Main. He was battling Brady Bacon for the final transfer spot coming to the checkered and the two came together. Bacon threw a big slider into turn three and didn't clear. The two banged wheels hard, with Henry's car going wing first into the catchfence. The program was delayed for over an hour while Henry was extricated from the car, and subsequently put on a helicopter and flown to Toledo for medical care. Word from the race track last night was that Henry had feeling in all of his extremities and was talking to officials. At 1:15AM this morning, Henry's social media shared quote "Kalib’s preliminary scans have come back clear. At this time there is no indications of any further head, neck, or back injuries. More assessment will be completed when final test results are received and evaluated. Further updates will be provided when available. Kalib's family, team, and friends have seen the messages and outpouring of support. While we cannot respond to everyone, we are incredibly grateful for everyone’s thoughts and prayers during this time" unquote. That's certainly good news to hear, and hopefully things continue to progress. When you're a sprint car fan, it's always the thing you dread. Those few tense moments after a big crash waiting to hear the announcer say the driver is out of the car and okay. And I'm sure I've said this before on the show, but track and series safety workers deserve way more credit than they ever get. Henry's car hadn't even stopped crashing yet last night and workers were already on the move. And those guys have no idea what they are going to find when they get there. That's a tough job to take on, and I'm glad we've got people out there like that. I know some people were upset this past weekend with Justin Whittall's actions at Port Royal. He blew a tire late while leading, let his emotions get the best of him, and he was out of his car onto the track with other cars still circulating. As we saw last night, sprint car racing is dangerous enough without needing to add to it.
After Henry's crash, the show did go on, and we ended up with a wild feature where it kind of felt like nobody wanted to win it. Kyle Larson started on the pole but he ended up only leading a couple of laps, getting by Kofoid in traffic at one point. He actually backed up to finish fifth on the night. Kofoid was probably the best car, and led the most laps, but a spin while battling with Sheldon Haudenschild took him out of the lead and he finished second. That spin for Kofoid paved the way for Sheldon to lead, but the 17 also making a mistake a few laps later, getting over the cushion by himself and throwing it away. Carson Macedo then in position to capitalize, and he led the final four laps to grab the win in the Brad Doty Classic. Outlaw win number six on the season, and his second in the past three races. Donny Schatz with the big charge from 16th to third. Hat tip as well to Tanner Holmes. 14th to seventh last night, which was his first Outlaw top ten since 2023. His last came at Devil's Bowl when he was driving the Shark Racing machine. That's got to be a nice boost for him, making it happen with the family car on a tough night in Ohio. Looking ahead, all the attention now shifts to Eldora for the next four days. Wednesday and Thursday are the High Limit nights, and then Friday and Saturday are the Outlaw Kings Royal nights. The Outlaw guys will obviously be burning two freebies to race these events. If you were curious, no real High Limit presence at Attica last night. Larson obviously there, but he's not a series full timer. Tanner Thorson the only high roller in attendance, with everyone else choosing to skip the Doty and focus on Eldora. Hopefully the weather plays the next few days.
In Iowa, really good racing at Shelby County with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. Bobby Pierce came out on top of a really fun battle that also included Jonathan Davenport and Ricky Thornton Jr. We had sliders, we had contact, and a lot of side by side racing. I even saw some chatter about a potential race of the year candidate. Pierce overcame an early penalty to pick up that $25,000 win, which was his second Lucas score of the season, and 21st overall. After qualifying, Pierce's 32 machine failed the droop check, with the deck height being too high. He was docked a row in his heat race at the start, but still finished second. Behind Pierce's win, Brandon Sheppard went 12th to second rolling some hot bottom, and RTJ was third. Devin Moran did get a top ten last night, but with all his challengers finishing ahead, he gave up more ground. It's now down to 150 back to Garrett Alberson, and Sheppard is 195 back. This could get really interesting here in the coming weeks as we start to approach that final cutoff. Lucas teams are off today for travel, and then the Silver Dollar Nationals weekend at Huset's starts on Thursday.
At I-75, Cory Hedgecock went for an opening lap spin, but got his spot back for the restart, and moved his way forward to get the Southern Nationals win. He topped Chris Madden and Garrett Smith for $7500. Headed to Senoia on Thursday, Jimmy Owens leads the Southern Nationals championship standings. He's driving in all of these races for Big Frog, and I've been asked in recent days about his status. We did bring this up previously on the show, but Owens is still with Koehler Motorsports. He's just added these Southern Nationals races with Big Frog to his schedule. Once this tour ends, Owens will be back with Koehler to continue the rest of his 2025 campaign. Owens now leading two late model championships, as he's also currently atop the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series as well.
Besides sprint cars at Eldora, you do have other dirt racing options today. That includes the Short Track Super Series at Afton Motorsports Park. If you want to get a full rundown on your viewing options, head over to dirtrackr.com/watchtonight. I count nine events there for today. That watch tonight page has what's racing, where, start times where available, and links to watch on the various streaming services.
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 Wednesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!