DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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A quiet test is underway to make dirt racing safer | Daily 10-2-2025

It's been a nasty year for sprint car crashes, but one series is using a small device to try and learn and make progress in the area of safety. We'll dive in on that, plus talk National Open, Pittsburgher 100, weekend racing, and more. Let's go!

It's Thursday, October 2nd, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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With all of the injuries we've seen in major sprint car racing this year, obviously safety has been top of mind for drivers, teams, series, and tracks. I know seats and belts have been talked about, along with a bunch of other things. We've seen the development of systems like CASM that will supposedly soften some of the blows, but even with those there is still a lot to learn, and I know some drivers are for them, and others are very wary. These things are tough to test, because crash testing in a lab can only go so far, so many sprint car crashes are different, and actual testing would be really cost prohibitive in a space where there aren't unlimited budgets. But one series is trying to bridge the gap between crashes and what we know about that. In recent weeks, these little blue things have been spotted on sprint cars, placed there by World of Outlaws officials, and they are a solid step in trying to learn where we can get better. The first time I saw this was from a Tanner Holmes post on Facebook a few weeks ago, and then my friend Paul Arch sent me a similar photo a few days ago. Doing a bit of research, it looks like USAC also experimented with these little devices a few years ago, but I haven't been able to confirm if they are still in play. But what these are is a little compact data recorder. When the cars are in a crash, these start recording information, and then via the QR code on them, officials can access the information recorded via an app. These little IDRs, or impact data recorders, were developed by a company called Impact Detect in conjunction with the FIA, which is a world motorsports sanctioning body. And these can be used on really any race car. I've seen videos of them on touring cars and karts, and like I said, USAC tried them. And these things are dramatically less expensive then a traditional impact recorder, some of which cost several thousand dollars. One article I found had these listed around 25 pounds, which would be near $35 US. You stick it near the driver and close to the center of gravity for best results. And these things are small, about 6 centimeters long, and they weigh just 12 grams. Supposedly they have a two year lifespan, and can record up to 80 incidents before they need to be replaced. Impact Detect's website says the IDR quote "records and stores X, Y, and Z acceleration data. Once installed in a vehicle cockpit, it records all high-G impacts over a set threshold." So that gives you an idea of the type of data these collect. Having the added data would help officials know if drivers need to get checked for things like concussions, and they an aid in understanding the forces these guys are under when they crash, so future safety developments can be made and implemented in a much smarter way. I'm told this project is very much still in a quiet R&D phase, and it will likely be at least some time before the series talks about it publicly, but it's great to see some progress being made. I know these were on cars in California and Ohio, and it sounds like a decent number of cars will carry them this weekend at Williams Grove when the Outlaws are there. If you want to investigate for yourself, just search FIA IDR around the web, and you can see a bunch of the articles and videos for yourself. Chet Christner did a video for USAC a few years ago about them, which you can find on the USAC Facebook page with a search.

Alright, let's run through and talk about a bunch of the racing coming up this weekend. We'll start first with the World of Outlaws sprint cars at Williams Grove for the National Open. $12,000 to win on Friday, and $75,000 to win on Saturday. Carson Macedo the defending event winner, and Anthony Macri took the only completed 2025 Outlaw show at the Grove back in May. No Macri this weekend though as he is still out with that back injury from Eldora. Yesterday, the Outlaws posted a pre-entry list that is 58 cars strong and includes all the Outlaw teams, Pennsylvania regulars, some travelers, and more. Interesting to note that on a High Limit off week and with big money on the line here, just four High Limit full timers entered. They are Gio Scelzi, Daison Pursley, Brent Marks, and Justin Peck. Rico Abreu has it on his schedule on his website, but he isn't listed here. And I know the RSR 87 with Aaron Reutzel is running with POWRi this weekend. I'm assuming the rest of the teams are taking the weekend off. It should be a good, ol' fashioned Outlaws vs. Posse weekend though, with the big cash coming, and plenty of drama in bound.

Other weekend sprint car options include the aforementioned POWRi shows at Lee County Speedway. Those should draw solid fields, and Ayrton Gennetten has just about wrapped up the series championship with just a few races left. Out in California, the very tight NARC championship battle heads for Tulare on Saturday. Cannon McIntosh will be in a Roth 83, Tanner Holmes is back with Tarlton, and four drivers still have a shot at the NARC crown. DJ Netto leads Sean Becker, Bud Kaeding, and Dominic Gorden, but only 63 points cover that top four with four races left. After this weekend, it's Antioch, Kern, and Stockton. They will be joined Saturday by the 360 Sprint Car Challenge Tour Austin Wood is leading the championship. Also out west, the USAC CRA hits Mohave Valley with RJ Johnson leading Ricky Lewis by 27 points there. In Ohio there is FAST sprint cars at Atomic, the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets hit Jacksonville in Illinois, and Saturday is the Tony Hulman Classic at Terre Haute for the USAC National Sprint Cars.

Weekend dirt late model action is headlined by the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series playoffs at Pittsburgh's PA Motor Speedway for the Pittsburgher 100. Ricky Thornton Jr. comes in with an 80 point lead over Devin Moran, while Jonathan Davenport still has an outside shot 160 points behind. Hudson O'Neal's 270 point deficit is likely too much to overcome with just three races left. JD won the Pittsburgher last year, while Moran was the prelim feature winner. RTJ a winner at the track in 2023 and 2020. JD and Moran need to make up serious ground this weekend, or this thing could be over before they even hit the track at Eldora for the Dirt Track World Championship in a few weeks. We'll see if any non-playoff drivers can spoil the party, like we had with Nick Hoffman last week, or if these guys will get all the glory. As we said weeks ago when Josh Richards' return to dirt late model competition was imminent, this event was in their plans, and Richards will indeed be back in a Rocket 1 this weekend. Richards last raced at Lernerville back in August for the Hillbilly 100, but didn't finish the weekend when they had an engine go south. His last Lucas start at PA Motor Speedway came in 2021, and he was second in this event in 2020 after leading laps.

In Kansas, the World of Outlaws late models begin their final run to World Finals with stops at Humboldt and 81 Speedway. They've got this weekend, two shows at Boothill, and then it will be World Finals, and that's it for their 2025 season. Bobby Pierce with a 116 point lead on Nick Hoffman for the title with just these seven races remaining. There could be some other movement down the order, but Hoffman the only driver with any shot at catching Pierce. The Outlaws last raced a few weeks ago in Georgia, with Hoffman winning at Needmore and Ashton Winger taking Senoia. Those races followed four straight wins for Pierce.

Elsewhere, MARS closes out it's season with two nights of the FALS Frenzy. $5000 to win Friday and $12,000 to win Saturday, plus the modifieds. There is also MSCCS at Greenville, Iron Man at Mudlick, Southern Thunder at Senoia, and more.

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Hope you guys have a great Thursday out there, we'll see you back here on Sunday!