DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Ryan Timms isn't ready... But that's okay | Daily 9-10-2025
I hate to tell you this guys, but Ryan Timms isn't ready. A bunch of thoughts on that today, plus Mansfield schedules it's first dirt races, Hunt the Front makes schedule changes and more. Let's go!
It's Wednesday, September 10th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
When I put these shows together five days a week, I do a ton of research each day, usually multiple hours to try and bring you the best possible picture of what's going on in dirt racing. I watch a ton of racing action, but that's not enough to understand everything that's happening. Which is why I built DIRTRACKR's analytics section. It's got race results and stat breakdowns for all the top national series and special events, and at this moment is nearing 2400 races worth of data. And if you want access to every tool and number I use for these shows, grab a subscription to DIRTRACKR Plus. $4.99 a month, or $49.99 a year. The year subscription gets you two months free effectively. And you can cancel any time very easily. Signing up gets you access to exclusive insights not found anywhere else. Whether you're a race fan, member of the media, or work for a series or track, DIRTRACKR Plus is the perfect resource for current dirt racing data to elevate your knowledge. Both World of Outlaws series, all three USAC National divisions, the Chili Bowl, High Limit, Lucas and a lot more. See everything Plus has to offer and sign up for a subscription over at dirtrackr.com/getplus.
As we've talked about sprint car news and rumors in recent weeks, one name that I've been asked a lot about and I've seen comments about, is Ryan Timms. He came up on the free agency episode, and again after the Port Royal win this past weekend. Does someone try and hire him away from the Liebig car. Is he a candidate for TSR, SJMR, insert your favorite team acronym ending in R here. Or could or should he make the jump to full time national touring competition in 2026. Sprintcarratings.com has him seventh right now, and fifth in money won for 2025. 14 wins in 55 races, along with 24 top fives and 31 top tens. He's obviously on fire right now and getting a lot of attention, so I think it's not outlandish that these questions are suddenly popping up. Going out with the World of Outlaws full time, or joining High Limit is a natural progression, and it seems like so many these days are trying to get there. But while I do think Timms has a future on one of the big tours, I wouldn't expect it for 2026. And that's with Liebig, or any other team. It's not a secret that several high profile organizations are in the market for sprint car drivers, and Timms' resume this season has suddenly swelled with two of the biggest wins on the calendar and the Huset's track title. This though, isn't the moment to rush him onto a tour. I know Jeremy Elliott said this week he doesn't think Timms should change anything for next year, and I certainly agree. I will also say, Timms' name isn't one that I've heard connected to any of the big time open seats. And it was just two weeks ago that Timms was on The Driver's Project podcast with Daryl Turford, Sam Hafertepe, and JJ Hickle saying he's not ready for a national tour. Even if he might be a candidate for one of those rdes, it's not nothing that even he's saying he's not ready yet. Consider this, of the 55 410 races he's run this year, 15 were at Knoxville, and 16 were at Huset's. That's more than half his schedule just at two race tracks. 26 of his 31 top tens, at those two tracks. And of his 14 410 wins, 13 were at those two places. I got tagged in a reply to Jeremy Elliott today where someone said Timms is the number one sprint car driver in the country, but you can't compare what guys like Buddy Kofoid, David Gravel, Brad Sweet, Rico Abreu, Aaron Reutzel, Anthony Macri, Carson Macedo, any of the top guys do to Timms. Yes, he's on the rise, and he won the Knoxville Nationals. But those guys are winning in different parts of the country, at different race tracks, every weekend. Timms is correct, he isn't ready, and the numbers show it. But you know what, that's okay. He's young, he's incredibly talented, and he's going the right direction. Timms has a great situation with Shane Liebig's team. He can race a lot of times, they can pick and choose, Timms can continue to grow without the pressure, they've got good chemistry. Give him another season or two to continue getting experience and learning, and then we can start talking about moving up. Until then though, if I'm Timms or his dad Randy, I'm sticking with the current setup. There is absolutely no need to rush.
In Ohio, the progress to bring back Mansfield Speedway has continued all summer, and yesterday track owner Matt Tifft revealed the dates for the first oval track events at the facility for 2026. To get things started, they will host super late models, UMP modifieds, and FAST Series winged sprint cars on May 2nd. The sprint car and late model races will pay $5000 to win and the mods will pay $2000 to win. Action will continue on May 3rd with their first night of destruction. Tifft, who spent time racing in NASCAR, and has been racing dirt late models in recent seasons, announced his purchase of the facility back in June. Since then, they've made a lot of progress to make the track raceable again and the entire facility able to handle all sorts of events. Besides cleaning up, powerwashing the existing grandstands, bringing in new catch fencing, and redoing concession and ticket buildings, they also recently paved the access road, and announced a new track sponsorship. Tifft's plans and hopes for the track include traditional dirt racing events like he announced yesterday, he wants to host the big series, but he wants Mansfield to be available for other events as well. He's talked about car shows and drift events, but also things like you might see at theme parks like a Halloween attraction, or drive through Christmas light shows that are on the schedule at places like Charlotte Motor Speedway not far from where I'm sitting right now. Turning these tracks into multi-use facilities mitigates risk, and brings in revenue when the track is quiet. If you want follow the progress, make sure to find Matt Tifft's YouTube channel. He posts regular videos documenting all the work they are doing.
One other schedule news item to come out of yesterday was the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series making some changes to their season finale Blue-Gray 100 weekend at Cherokee Speedway. What was originally one event spread over two days, with $35,000 to win, is now going to be two complete programs. Friday will be $8000 to win, and Saturday is $35 grand to win. Those two nights will help settle the Hunt the Front title fight that will pay $50 grand to the champion. Along with this comes a few changes to the Cherokee schedule and a few sanctioning bits. Hunt the Front's Cherokee Chief Series will not co-sanction the September 20th race at the track, instead that first Blue-Gray 100 night will count towards Cherokee Chief points. And the Carolina Clash will co-sanction the Freddy Smith Memorial in November with Cherokee Chief. Jimmy Owens leads Zach Mitchell and Cory Hedgecock for the HTF championship, and there are four race nights left to decide it. Two at Southern Raceway at the end of September, and now these two dates at Cherokee. To see the full schedule, head over to htfseries.com.
In WISSOTA action last night at I-94, Kevin Eder bagged the $3000 payday, getting by Tyler Peterson very late in the going. That was Eder's third WISSOTA Challenge Series win in the last five races. He's now just five points behind Shane Sabraski for second in the standings. Sabraski finished 16th last night, and gave up ground to championship leader Dave Mass, who ended up fourth. Tonight's $3000 to win show at I-94 will settle the WISSOTA Challenge Series championship for the season. Thursday starts prelim action for the WISSOTA 100.
That's the show for today. Remember when it comes to tuning into the Daily, you have a lot of options for where to find these episodes. They are available on YouTube, Facebook, and Spotify in video form. You can also listen via Spotify, YouTube's podcast feature, and all major podcast platforms. That includes Apple and iHeartRadio. You can also read the show over at dirtrackr.com/daily as full transcripts are available for each day.
Hope you guys have a great Wednesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!