DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Should they be allowed to race? | Daily 8-18-2025

Should crates and 360s be allowed to run with supers and 410s? We'll dive into that today. Plus Sunday racing, and news and notes on Max McLaughlin, the Heidbreder sprint car, Tye Wolfgang, Robert Ballou, and more. Let's go!

It's Monday, August 18th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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Going back to last week, there was a situation at the North South 100 that I wanted to explore, because it's a conversation that is applicable to multiple car types and divisions in dirt racing. During the second Friday night prelim feature, Mike Marlar was well in control out front, when he started to catch and work his way through lap traffic. It took about six laps after a restart for the 157 to catch the tail of the field, and coming to 11 to go disaster struck. The lapper of Roger Williams ran the bottom in three and four, with Marlar banging the boards. Marlar moved to his outside on the frontstretch, but Williams apparently didn't know he was coming. Williams let the Gary Engle-owned 15 drift all the way to the wall, only Marlar was fully alongside. The contact from Williams, along with a hit to the outside wall and a track opening, damaged the 157 heavily, and Marlar was forced to retire. That handed the win to Devin Moran. Dirt on Dirt's Kevin Kovac wrote a story about it, with Marlar bemoaning the dramatically slower lap traffic, and wondering if those drivers should be allowed to race at all at this level. A key point in this incident was that Williams was driving a car with a 604 crate engine under the hood. That 604 probably making 400 horsepower, whereas the Clements steam under the hood of the 157 probably pushing 900. Marlar didn't specifically call out the crate part of the equation, but he did tell Kovac quote "It's a bummer that this person doesn't have a car as fast as that person. But, you know, there's a class for that." He also said quote "unfortunately, these guys don't want to run a class that they belong in." I certainly see Marlar's point in all of this, and it sucks that he got crashed out of leading that race. I just don't know how you police this. These big dirt races have always been about the local and regional guys having their shot at racing against the best. And sometimes that's going to mean guys with lesser equipment, but also lesser experience and ability. This same thing happens for example in sprint car racing. Cars with 360s racing against 410s, and even sometimes, gulp, 305s racing against 410s. Yes, it happens. 305s against 410s seems a bit crazy, but I can see the argument for the other situations. Track promoters and series want bigger car counts. And at some point, these lower level racers are going to want to take their shot. We've seen situations where horsepower didn't matter because of track conditions, like when things slick off. Even Williams pointed to that in his comments to Kovac. And 360s have run well against 410s at various tracks. I'm thinking about Weedsport as one example. So where does a big series like Lucas or the World of Outlaws draw the line? I guess you could ban crate cars and 360s, but that doesn't fix the talent and experience problem. Williams didn't crash Marlar because of the engine under his hood. That could have happened just as easily with a 430 cubic inch Cornett in the car. We've seen it plenty of times before. Maybe the solution is a minimum lap time, whereas you have to be within a certain window of the leader or get black flagged. Williams' fastest lap in that feature was in the mid 18s, and when Marlar caught him he was around 19 second laps. For comparison, Marlar's quick lap was a 16.7, and he was in the upper 17s when he caught the lapper. But I still don't think that solves a situation where a lapper doesn't know the leader is there. It might have saved Marlar in this instance, but not in every case. I definitely understand both sides of this one, I just don't know how you solve it. Or if it's even worth trying to solve at all.

In Sunday racing, Peter Britten was a Super DIRTcar Series winner at Weedsport. He topped Mat Williamson and Alex Yankowksi. Williamson a winner back on Saturday at Ransomville, and Anthony Perrego picked up a guaranteed Super Dirt Week starting spot by winning last Tuesday at Sharon. Williamson still with a fairly comfortable championship lead over Yankowski and Matt Sheppard. This SummerFAST speedweek for the SDS continues tonight at Brewerton, Tuesday at Land of Legends, and Wednesday at Fulton. One driver who we hadn't seen with the series in a long while was Max McLaughlin, but he was back in action last night. He's picked up an eight race deal to drive for Jack Lehner that will include all of SummerFAST, plus Super Dirt Week, and World Finals. McLaughlin lost his late model deal early in 2025 and has been trying to put something together to race anywhere since. He was out early in the feature last night with mechanical trouble.

At Huset's Speedway, Ryan Timms led flag-to-flag for his fourth 410 sprint car track win of the year. He topped Gage Pulkrabek and Matt Juhl. At Sedalia, Xavier Doney went fifth to the win to top the POWRi 410 series, beating Clinton Boyles and Kameron Key. Boyles spent the weekend driving the Heidbreder 19 machine, finishing fourth at Wheatland, and second last night. Heidbreder making the decision to drop Kevin Thomas Jr. following the Knoxville Nationals. KTJ with two top tens in 15 winged starts this season. His best result was a ninth with High Limit at Wheatland back in June. KTJ was a B Main finisher both prelim nights at the Nationals, and pulled off early in the Saturday C. Boyles had spent the last few seasons as a sprint car crew chief with Vermeer Motorsports, but recently announced his decision to leave that post. He spent the Nationals crewing for Bernie Stuebgen, before getting this opportunity to drive. Known more for his non-wing exploits, Boyles does have one career 410 winged win, a weekly show at Circle City back in 2021. Heidbreder will next field the 19 for Kameron Key when POWRi heads to Lake Ozark at the end of the month. Their plans beyond that are unknown. KTJ still with his non-wing ride though with Rock Steady. He's currently fifth in USAC points.

And in Sunday late model action, Dallon Murty was a Malvern Bank series winner at US 30 Speedway. Murty went three-for-three over the weekend, sweeping the Malvern Bank series wins at Park Jefferson, Shelby County, and yesterday at US30.

Two other notes, that Vermeer 55 team has a new crew chief for the rest of the World of Outlaws season. Mark Smith had been brought in to replace Clinton Boyles, but starting this past Friday night at Ogilvie, Tye Wolfgang has taken that job. Wolfgang recently lost the crew chief spot on Brad Sweet's 49 team at Kasey Kahne Racing, and we told you during the Nationals that he had a consulting gig for the week to help out Tanner Holmes. Schuerenberg had a miserable Nationals, but bounced back at Ogilvie with a top ten. Things went sideways early at Jackson though with a flip at the start of his heat. That put them in a hole they couldn't dig out of. We'll see if Wolfgang can help Schuerenberg turn around what's been a difficult rookie Outlaw season.

And finally, USAC sprint car regular Robert Ballou will miss extended time following an injury he suffered during Indiana Sprint Week. Ballou crashed at Bloomington Speedway, and he found out later that he's fractured several vertebrae in his back. In a press release, he announced that he doesn't need surgery, but that recovery will take eight weeks. The Mad Man currently sits seventh in USAC sprint car points, and won during Sprint Week at Lincoln Park. He actually raced the next day after that Bloomington crash, finishing 12th at Haubstadt. This is not the first time Ballou has faced an extended absence from the seat, and not his first back injury. He had a nasty deal back in 2016 at Calistoga that left him out of the car for nearly a year, and also time away in 2019 after a broken arm.

That is it for today. Hope you guys have a great Monday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!