DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Big changes for this late model team, and what's next for everyone involved | Daily 11-25-2025

What was a fairly quiet dirt late model silly season has grown a bit more interesting in recent days and weeks. We'll talk about some big changes for one team in particular and what's next for everyone involved. Let's go!

It's Tuesday, November 25th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

Today's Daily show is being supported by our friends at the Wild West Shootout. The six race mini-series takes place January 10th and 11th, 14th, and 16th through 18th in 2026. And new this year is the host track, with the event moving to Central Arizona Raceway and back to the state of Arizona. The track is located just south of Phoenix down I-10. Things at Central Arizona are really on the rise, and this past season we saw High Limit race there, along with USAC, and now they'll host the best late model racers in the world, along with a great field of modifieds. The list of confirmed drivers is already about as stacked as you'll find anywhere, with Bobby Pierce, Jonathan Davenport, Hudson O'Neal, Ricky Thornton Jr., Brandon Sheppard, Brandon Overton, Mike Marlar, Tyler Erb, Ryan Gustin, Garrett Alberson, and Billy Moyer just a few of the many expected. All week long the action off the track will be just as good, with free concerts each of the Saturdays, plus barrel racing on select nights during intermission, there's a golf tournament, cornhole tournament, and more. Grab some friends and kick off the 2026 dirt racing season at the Wild West Shootout. Discounted six-day ticket packages for reserved seats and single day reserved seat tickets are available now at wildwestshootout.net. That's wildwestshootout.net for single day and ticket packages. I'll also put the link below in the video description.

So after thinking we'd have a pretty tame dirt late model offseason, there are some big things that have been percolating for a few weeks. Some people noticed something different on one specific car design that came out for the Dome, and changes are underway behind the scenes. A couple of days ago, Dylan Braddy's Nightowl Design dropped the wrap for Brandon Overton's 76 for the Gateway Dirt Nationals. A sweet looking red, white, and blue Budweiser design, which tracks, given St. Louis is the home of Bud. But missing from that wrap is the Longhorn Factory Team logo. That in and of itself hasn't been completely unique this year, as other 76 car wraps haven't had it, but we did go from a Longhorn Factory team scheme to this Bud car, and the logo is suddenly gone. Others have also noticed changes with merch, and changes to social media bits. I've gotten multiple messages in recent days about the changes folks have noticed, but this is a story I've been following for several weeks. And the suspicions are correct, Riggs Motorsports and Longhorn are splitting after two years together as the partnered Longhorn Factory Team. Riggs served as the Longhorn Factory team for 2024 with Brandon Sheppard in the seat, and 2025 with Brandon Overton. Before that, it was Paylor Motorsports with Tim McCreadie. Sheppard drove for Riggs as well in 2023 with Longhorn support, but not as factory team. I'm told the split is amicable, but that both sides, Longhorn with Steve Aprin, and Riggs with team owner Scott Riggs, realized a change was necessary. Expectations have been super high for this factory team the last two years, first with Sheppard and then Overton. But even though there have been race wins and a World of Outlaws championship, things never quite reached the level of expectations. And maybe those expectations were impossible to realize. But when you see Jonathan Davenport, and Bobby Pierce, and Ricky Thornton Jr., and Devin Moran, and others having so much success with Longhorns, it was hard not to expect the same here. Looking over the season, according to Overton's website, he had four wins, along with 28 top fives, and 62 top tens in 107 races. They were not in the Lucas chase though, and pretty far out of contention by the cutoff. Just a single Lucas win on the year was not what anyone thought would happen, especially with a veteran crew and crew chief Anthony Burroughs. It's an incredible illustration of just how hard it is to win and win regularly in dirt late model racing. It would seem they had all the right pieces and plenty of support, and it just didn't work. Going forward, Overton is staying with Riggs, they're running the Dome coming up, and then plans for 2026 are still TBD. I think both national tours are on the table, and potentially even a pick and choose slate. I would expect though that they stay in the Longhorn orbit, continue to use those chassis, and get support like the other top teams. I think that's a good indicator that things between the two sides are still on good terms. On the flip side, what happens next with a Longhorn Factory team or house car is still up in the air. I wouldn't expect anything Longhorn-owned to materialize, at least in the near term. We know that Kevin Rumley's six car has done a lot of R&D work in recent years, and I would expect that to continue. We talked a few weeks ago about the emergence of an Ohlins shock program on that car, and Mike Marlar running them as well. I think Longhorn can continue to lean on that program for further development without a defined factory team or house car. But will we see another Longhorn Factory Team branded car come speedweeks? I wouldn't say it's impossible, but I don't think I'd expect it.

This split between the two sides, Riggs and Longhorn, isn't the only layer to this story though. The Riggs Motorsports 76 is going to the Dome with what will be almost an entirely different crew. Of the original group, I'm told that only Ryder Cantillo remains. Anthony Burroughs and Justin Tharp have departed the 76 team in recent days. Who Riggs and Overton go to the Dome with, I don't yet know, but Burroughs and Tharp already have their next deal. This one might surprise you a bit, but Burroughs and Tharp are headed for a reunion with a driver they had a lot of success with previously when they were all at SSI Motorsports together. And that driver is Ricky Thornton Jr. I'm told that Burroughs and Tharp are headed for Koehler Motorsports, and that they will join back up with RTJ for the future. Where the 76 was housed at Longhorn, and where Koehler's shop are, are not that far apart here in North Carolina, so it won't be a big move for either crew member. We'll see if RTJ and Burroughs can recapture some of the magic they had previously when they were melting faces across dirt late model racing before RTJ was ousted from SSI in 2024. Thornton has not been bad by any stretch of the imagination, he did win a Lucas title with Koehler and a lot of races. But that crew chief spot has been a bit fluid, with Chris Madden briefly holding it when they won the Lucas title, and Zach Frields being listed as crew chief for a lot of the last season. This should provide some stability for that group, and Tharp is a veteran who's been a crew chief as well.

Pulling back a bit here, it's been a tough few years for house car programs here at the highest levels. Brandon Sheppard won the 2024 Outlaw title, but clearly things weren't working there, or he wouldn't have left. And Rocket's house car program, now with BShepp again, has struggled to regain any of their past performance and dominance. Can a house program both create information and do development, while also trying to win big races and championships. It's a big question to consider. We've heard Longhorn's Steve Arpin talk in the past about serving customers a lot, and I'm just wondering if these two purposes for a house car can co-exist at a point where late model racing is as competitive as it's ever been. Margins at the top are razor thin, and I don't know if the two modes can successfully co-exist. It's an interesting topic to think about, and it makes me wonder if the house car model is still the right way to approach things in this current era. Anyways, I know there is a lot to digest here, but that's where things stand. The good thing is, is it sounds like there is no ill will or bad feelings, and that everyone is parting on good terms. As we know, that isn't always the case when these things happen.

Alright, before we shut down, there is racing today. The USAC midgets are at Kern County for the Jason Leffler Memorial. Just two races left to decide the 2025 champion, but Cannon McIntosh is in the driver's seat with his performances here lately. Two finishes outside the top 10 at Merced mean Justin Grant has some serious work to do. This one is live on FloRacing tonight if you want to tune in. The pre-entry list they posted a few days ago had 30 plus cars on it, so lots of talent will be racing. We'll talk about results on tomorrow's show.

And speaking of tomorrow's show, I know there is a lot going on that we didn't cover today. I do want to talk about the Central PA sprint car series that was announced, there are some more late model things to discuss, and racing coming up this weekend like Turkey Night. Tomorrow will be the last regular daily show for the week, but stick around on Thursday for that Brad Sweet interview. An hour talking about his retirement, High Limit, and a lot more. Some really good stuff in there.

That's the show for today. Don't forget, if you want even more dirt racing content, make sure to follow DIRTRACKR across social media. That means Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and more. Wherever you are, so is DIRTRACKR.

Hope you guys have a great Tuesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!