DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Hoosier, big sprint car names go testing... Are new tires coming for 2026? | Daily 10-16-2025
Hoosier exploring changes to sprint car tires and we've got details on a recent quiet test, plus we'll dive into a big championship weekend and more. Let's go!
It's Thursday, October 16th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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Back in 2023, Hoosier introduced a new version of their sprint car tire which was adopted by all major racing series and tracks. Teams went from the H sprint car tire to the D tire. If you might remember, that tire rolled out during the early season World of Outlaws trip to Lincoln Speedway. If you don't remember, that D tire brought in a bunch of differences over the previous tire, which included a new tread design that allowed the tire to be used in either direction. That meant you could run it one way, remount it flipped around, and run it the other direction. That wasn't possible with the previous H tires. Because of that, the D didn't have camber, which the H did. There were also different compound options before with the H, but the introduction of the D meant teams only had one single compound, with the 12 available for the left rear, and the 15 the right rear compound. The other main differences, were the sidewalls, with the lefts having a softer sidewall, and the rights having a stiffer sidewall. As we watched things play out, it took some drivers a while to figure out how to go fast with the new rubber, and even to this day, this current version of Hoosiers has it's detractors in the pit area. Some think it's the reason we've seen some bigger crashes, others talk about their inconsistency, and I've heard drivers and crew members talk about how this should have been the area of focus, and not things like top wing wicker bills. For those hoping for changes, there is some possibility of that for 2026. There have been rumors in recent weeks that Hoosier was looking at changes, and even did some testing to try and make some decisions. I'm told that some time in September, Hoosier held a sprint car tire test at Kokomo Speedway, and I've heard that Brad Sweet and Rico Abreu were two drivers who participated in that test. It sounds like a number of options were tried, but that it was sort of a blind test, that the drivers didn't know exactly what they were on. That is not uncommon for tire testing, and something we've seen other manufacturers do in motorsports. I'm thinking right now about watching F1 cars pound around on just black sidewalled Pirellis during tests. We'll see what ends up coming out of these tests and if Hoosier does indeed decide to make changes. I know another big point of emphasis is the cost of tires these days, and with tires up around $350 each, you can understand why. For a national touring team, you're looking at tens of thousands of dollars a year in just rubber alone. Between rising engine costs and tire prices, it's not easy to go sprint car racing these days without a significant budget. This will continue to widen the gap between the big teams and the smaller local and regional teams. There will no doubt be comments on this video about opening up the tire rules and allowing other manufacturers in, but these days there aren't really other manufacturers outside of Hoosier and American Racer. And I've heard multiple times that American Racer doesn't have the capacity to keep up with a full scale rollout. And a friend said to me recently quote "the problem is no one in this generation remembers how effed up open tires were before." I'll keep you posted if I hear more on this.
Moving onto racing. High Limit wrapped up their midweek season last night at Lucas Oil Speedway. And if I'm Rico Abreu today, I might be buying the Marks Murray Motorsports team a nice steak dinner. Brent Marks got around Aaron Reutzel in lap traffic, and went on to the win, with Reutzel settling for second. With Rico finishing sixth, that was enough for Rico to earn the midweek title and $20,000 by just a single point. The KKR 49 and Brad Sweet ended up third in the standings seven points back, and Tanner Thorson was fourth, 10 points back. Marks and Reutzel were joined on last night's podium by Sye Lynch. Headed next to the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track to end the High Limit season, the year-long title fight is razor thin. Rico's team leads the Ridge and Sons 87 team by nine points with two features left, and Rico's got 28 points on Sweet for the driver's title. The pressure will be on Rico Friday and Saturday with those two teams chasing. They can certainly afford to take risks and go full send to try and close the gap to the 24. Drop me a comment and let me know who you are picking for the championship.
One other news item to come out of last night, is that High Limit will sanction the Hockett/McMillan Memorial next year at Lucas Oil Speedway. This was previously an ASCS 360 event with WAR sprint cars. Then it went 410 with POWRi's winged series, and now it'll go High Limit. POWRi will remain involved with the WAR series still on the card for 2026, so fans will still get that winged, non-wing mix. The dates for this one for next year are September 17th through 19th, 2026. High Limit released their 2025 schedule last year on November 4th, so we could get their full slate here in the coming weeks if that holds true for this year.
At Eldora, the Dirt Track World Championship starts tonight with modifieds and super stocks. Friday is more modifieds, plus steel block late models, and Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series qualifying and heats. And then Saturday is the steel block feature, and we'll crown the 2025 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series champion. Bobby Pierce is the defending event winner, and although three drivers are still mathematically alive, this is really a two-horse race between Devin Moran and Ricky Thornton Jr. It's only 15 points between them, but if RTJ sets quick time in his group, and wins the race, he gets the title no matter what Moran does. So this thing is still completely up in the air between those two. Davenport is not dead yet, but he'd need a lot of help. If he goes fast time, and wins the race, he'd need Moran 17th or worse, and RTJ 15th or worse. Not impossible, but those are long odds. Experience and recent success at Eldora makes me think Thornton is the favorite, but I think anything is possible here. You'll need to double box High Limit and Lucas on Saturday night to follow both of these tight championships.
The rest of the weekend dirt late model slate is pretty light. There's good 604 money on the line at All-Tech, the Fall Clash races at Hagerstown, and there is Southern Thunder at Talladega. Other than that, it's mostly local and regional stuff.
Elsewhere in sprint car racing, the World of Outlaws have a three-show weekend with Lincoln Park, LaSalle, and Angell Park on tap. Three fun race tracks should provide some good action Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. David Gravel's DNF at Lincoln last weekend means the door is open for just a little bit of championship intrigue with eight races to go. The gap to Buddy Kofoid is 106, which is not insurmountable by the end at World Finals. That's about 53 feature positions over eight nights, means Kofoid has to beat Gravel by a little less than seven spots on average per night. Is it likely, yeah, probably not. Is it possible though? Absolutely. Especially if Gravel has more trouble. Just something to keep an eye on through the weekend.
One sidenote on that Lincoln Park show, Bernie Stuebgen will field a car for Tony Beaber on Friday night, with Beaber announcing it will be his final sprint car start. Beaber is commonly known for his sprint car chassis repair business, the Beaber Institute of Technical Chassis Healing, or what he calls Bitch Slapped. Before an appearance at Fremont a few weeks ago, Beaber hadn't made a sprint car start since 2018. A post from him on social media read in part quote "Might as well go out in style and race with the World of Outlaws."
Other sprint car action to check out this weekend includes the Trophy Cup at Tulare. We talked about the entry list earlier this week, and Spencer Bayston and Anthony Macri making appearances there. USAC will be at Dodge City and Route 66, with Kyle Cummins already crowned the series champion. The ASCS is racing, and Lincoln Speedway will conclude their season with a $15,000 to win 410 show.
And if you're a northeast modified fan, the Short Track Super Series south region ends it's season this weekend at Hagerstown. Matt Sheppard enters with a 25 point lead on Alex Payne for that region championship.
That's all for this week. Appreciate you guys tuning in, following along, and being part of the DIRTRACKR community.
Hope you guys have a great Thursday and a great weekend out there, we'll see you back here on Sunday!