DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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They didn't copy Longhorn | Daily 7-21-2025
Rocket recently rolled out a new chassis design for Brandon Sheppard, but Mark Richards isn't too thrilled with all the comparisons that have been made. Plus we'll talk issues at Huset's, James McFadden's new engine, and more. Let's go!
It's Monday, July 21st, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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Two weeks ago here on the Daily show, after Brandon Sheppard went to victory lane with Lucas at Atomic Speedway, we pointed out how his Rocket house car suddenly looked very different to the piece he'd been driving previously this season. There were very clear differences in the cage around the driver, which meant likely changes elsewhere also. Since that new car showed up at Atomic, BShepp has raced it nine times, and the Rocket redesign seems to be working very well. Two wins, including the Diamond Nationals at Lucas Oil Speedway, six podiums, and an average finish of 4.22. That first weekend the car was out, I got sent several messages about how it looked more like a Longhorn, and that talking point has really taken hold in the days since. I said two weeks ago that it obviously wouldn't be hard for Rocket to get ahold of a Longhorn if they wanted to check one out, and that BShepp would have some fairly intimate knowledge of those cars given his two years as Longhorn house car driver. People in the Rocket orbit though haven't taken too kindly to this "Longhorn copy" talking point around the new car, including owner Mark Richards. Late last week, when FloRacing's Kyle McFadden asked Richards about the Longhorn copy stuff, Richards replied quote "I don't give a f--- what they think, and you can write that. We didn't copy Longhorn" unquote. Richards revealed to McFadden that after Sheppard finished 14th at Lernerville for the Firecracker, the team returned home to their West Virginia shop and decided they were just going to build something entirely new. Richards did say they changed some driver safety stuff, which is obvious, but wouldn't really reveal much else. Richards' comments about the car not being a copy were very similar to those I was sent in message early last week from a very good source. I was told there was quote "absolutely nothing" copied in the new build from other manufacturers. Whatever is under the bodywork has certainly worked, given the recent rise in performance we've seen from the Rocket one. That hasn't stopped others in the pit area though from throwing out some barbs. At Huset's back on Friday after winning his heat race, Ricky Thornton Jr. stopped to see FloRacing's Ben Shelton at the scales for an interview, and RTJ said quote "This Rocket's pretty good, I mean this Longhorn's really good..." Thornton obviously making reference there to the Longhorn copy stuff, since I doubt he suddenly forgot that he doesn't drive a Rocket chassis. If you want to read Kyle McFadden's full piece on the new Rocket design, which I recommend, I'll put the link below in the description on YouTube. A lot of good stuff in there from both Richards and Sheppard.
Coming out of this past Lucas weekend at Huset's, the track there is again under scrutiny for the way it races with late models. Things never really did widen out in the feature on Saturday night, and then things were called early because of a rain shower. The track prep experts were out in full force, and there were again questions about crowd sizes there. Track prep debates are not something that interest me at all, and I think sometimes you just don't get bangers. For whatever reason, the configuration at Huset's just doesn't seem to work well for late models. A smaller, high banked track I thought would have created great racing, but something is just missing there. In nine Lucas races there going back to 2022, we've only had lead changes in three of them. But I don't think it's for lack of effort on the track's part. There is plenty of passing down through the field though, Dan Ebert went 20th to seventh on Saturday night. And it makes sense why the crowds aren't massive. South Dakota isn't a big late model area. There is a reason why the marquee division weekly at Hust's is 410 sprint cars. The Huset's team though deserves a lot of credit for creating an incredible facility and investing heavily in the sport. Tod Quiring wants that place to be a big event track, and you can't say he hasn't tried his ass off to make it happen. Big money for sprint cars with the High Bank Nationals, and he continues to bring Lucas back and pay good money.
As for the results, Devin Moran, Jonathan Davenport, and Hudson O'Neal getting wins at Huset's. The championship order remains the same, and Moran finding some speed meant that the guys behind didn't make up ground. Alberson is still 150 points back, and Sheppard 175. Lucas now quiet for a few weeks with the North South 100 next on the schedule in August.
An interesting change on the sprint car side that I wanted to point out today, that I know a few folks noticed last week at Eldora. James McFadden and the Tarlton 21 machine swapped over to Toyota power mid-event this past week. They ran the first two nights with High Limit with their usual Kistler engine under the hood, but then the TRD 410 engine was bolted in for the two World of Outlaws nights for the Kings Royal. Friday night didn't go great with JMac out in a C-Main, but the Kings Royal was much better. McFadden went seven to three in his heat race, and ended up 12th in the big show. McFadden obviously very familiar with the Toyota steam, having run it with Roth Motorsports previously. And I'm assuming that relationship is what led to this opportunity. Tarlton even adding the TRD logo to the nose wing side panels. Crew chief Drew Warner told me they have no issues with the Kistlers they'd been running, but this was just an opportunity to try something new. If they can get their cars into a similar ballpark to Buddy Kofoid's, they might be pretty good here through the must lucrative part of the sprint car season. Coming up this week, High Limit is at Lernerville tomorrow, the Outlaws head to BAPS on Wednesday, and then it's Williams Grove and Weedsport over the weekend.
One news item that got lost in the mix last week was the World of Outlaws announcing a return to Lincoln Park Speedway for later this year. The series has added the track on Friday, October 17th, which sets up a three race weekend. After Lincoln Park on Friday, the Outlaws will race at LaSalle Speedway on Saturday, then Angell Park Speedway on Sunday. This part of the schedule sets up the end of the season, with the only thing remaining after Angell Park is a trip west to 81 Speedway and Arrowhead Speedway, before things culminate at World Finals in early November. You can see the full schedule over at worldofoutlaws.com.
That's the show for today. There is a bit of dirt racing happening tonight, so if you want to check out your options, visit the streaming schedule over at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight. The page covers all the dirt racing streaming services, and has everything you need to know, including what's racing, where, what service, start times where available, and links to watch. It's completely free, no signup or login, just something we've been doing at dirtrackr.com since almost the beginning.
Hope you guys have a great Monday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!