DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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It's not pure dirt racing. But that's okay. | Daily 12-7-2025
The Dome isn't pure racing. It's chaos, showmanship, and entertainment. But you know what, that's okay. We'll discuss, plus sprint car news from the both the High Limit and World of Outlaws sides and more. Let's go!
It's Sunday, December 7th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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Another Gateway Dirt Nationals has come and gone, and another three days of very on-brand entertainment. And I say entertainment, because this isn't a racing event for the purists. This is race car chaos in a football dome. Bobby Pierce became the first three time winner of the event, with what actually turned into a fairly straight forward feature. He was dominant, there was a bit of pushing and shoving down through the field, but Pierce's spot out front was never in doubt. He added the $70,000 win to cap his season that ended up at 96 starts with 32 victories, 67 top fives, and 82 top tens, to go along with a pair of championships. Those being the World of Outlaws and FloRacing Night in America titles. Pierce also took the win on his prelim night, while Ricky Thornton Jr. was the other prelim winner. RTJ and past winner Brandon Sheppard also on last night's podium. On the modified side, Ricky Thornton Jr. was the big winner, and he also won his prelim night, with Mike Harrison taking the other. Outside of the winners though, this event was anarchy and madness throughout. Two of the best looking cars were Garrett Alberson's 58 and Mike Marlar's Maximum Destruction ride, both were destroyed pretty early on. And killed quarter panels, decks, and spoilers became a bit of a laughable storyline all weekend. Any contact with the outside fencing ripped away metal bits like they were cardboard and paper. The sheet metal and body panel vendors had to have made a mint over the three days. We saw big crashes like Dave Hess' in the modified, there were plenty of run-ins and hurt feelings, and memeable and viral video clips to be had. There was Kyle Bronson and Brendan Smith's dustup that resulted in threats from Bronson and a close encounter on the backstretch. There was Hudson O'Neal and Mark Whitener going at it, with O'Neal referring to Whitener as (earmuffs for the kids) quote unquote "sh*t for brains." And then Kyle Bronson twirling O'Neal around on his shoulders in the infield after encouragement from FloRacing's Chris Moore. How about Tanner English hot lapping with a Christmas tree on the roof of his latemodel. He was later recorded having a pit area convo with an upset Drake Troutman. And there were plenty of others as well. We even saw drivers have their weekends end before they really began, with Tyler Erb and Hunt the Front's Joseph Joiner losing engines. Neither of those guys raced the rest of the weekend. Joiner said they didn't even have a backup engine, and even if they did it didn't make sense to try and battle from the back. For all involved, this pretty much ends the 2025 season. Across dirt racing, we still have midgets indoor at DuQuoin, and a few others, but these late model guys will now have a month to lick their wounds, clean up the damage from the Dome, and get ready for the Wild West Shootout and Outlaw opener in January.
Pulling back a bit, the Dome as an event is really starting to take hold in the sport. Just like the Chili Bowl in January, it occupies the perfect moment in the season, and is likely not reproduceable at any other point. The crowd continues to grow, with the upper bowl now open for ticket sales. I'm pretty sure some drivers and teams just show up to be able to sell merch to the many thousands of dirt racing fans on hand. And after some questionable moments through the first several years and the very real potential for this event to end, it seems like it's really found it's footing. The event though is not without it's issues. The wall and fence continues to be a problem, eating sheet metal and serving up some very blunt stops. Bronson's car was one example of a very short stop after getting swallowed up. It's a good thing they aren't going very fast. There is more downtime than there should be, especially for track issues and things like sponsor banner cleanup. And the surface can be challenging, which on some level is expected for a temporary track. But it does get pretty rough. As I said before though, this is not a pure racing event or major crown jewel. This is three days of motorsports entertainment. Like monster trucks or demo derby. There are cars and racing involved, but they are just part of the show. Crazy driver intros, clippable interviews, special wraps and merch, a big party, chaos on track, and a promoter who rides around on a three wheeler wearing a mullet wig and sunglasses. I think most would agree that racing shouldn't be like this all the time, but it's hard to criticize the success. Cody Sommer has created something that works really well, and I don't see it doing anything but getting bigger into the future. Especially when you see a guy like Rico Abreu running around talking about wanting to get in. It's the right event for the right spot on the calendar, and very much here to stay. Drop your comments below on the event as a whole, the action on track, or whatever is on your mind.
Two weekend sprint car news items for you. First, team owner Tony Vermeer announced late on Friday night that his 55 team with driver Kerry Madsen will flip back to High Limit for the 2026 season. He said quote "After researching our options we are pleased to announce we will be joining High Limit Racing full time for the 2026 and 2027 seasons with goals to achieve High Roller status and compete for wins each night" unquote. The Vermeer 55 was an original High Limit full time team with Chris Windom in the seat in 2024, but they went Outlaws for 2025 with Hunter Schuerenberg driving. Hunter Percent was released at season's end though, and Madsen gets the full deal after previously running a part time car for Vermeer in national shows and around the midwest. Madsen went away from that car though late in the year when he replaced Donny Schatz at Tony Stewart Racing in a fill-in role. For the full time car though with Schuerenberg, it was a disappointing season with just one top five in 68 Outlaw races, and an 11th place points finish. Towards the end of the season, Tye Wolfgang joined as crew chief after he was released by Kasey Kahne Racing, and he will stay on to be paired with Madsen. To earn a High Limit franchise for 2028, Madsen must either finish top three in one of the next two seasons, or finish top eight in both. I think that's going to be a tall task given what we've seen out of the High Limit roster and who Madsen will be up against. In no particular order, I'd say the current top eight are Rico Abreu, Aaron Reutzel, Brent Marks, Tyler Courtney, Justin Peck, Gio Scelzi, Daison Pursley, and Tanner Thorson. We also know Brenham Crouch is back, Tanner Holmes is in the Buch 13, and some combination of Chase Randall, Danny Sams, and Sye Lynch could be back. Sams won a race this year, and Lynch will have Heath Moyle. Down the stretch with TSR on tour with the Outlaws and in one High Limit race, Madsen had 22 starts with eight top tens and an average finish of 14.5. An average finish near there in 2026 would not get the Vermeer 55 inside the top eight. Pursley got the Buch 13 in with an average finish of 12.75, but it's only going to be tougher next year. I think there going to have to be at least top ten in average to have a shot.
The other news came from the World of Outlaws side of the street. Also later on Friday, Logan Fenton Racing announcing they and driver Skylar Gee were parting. Gee an Outlaw rookie in 2025, finishing 13th in the standings, with two top fives and nine top tens in 68 races. This ends a four year run for Gee in the Fenton car, with them winning seven 410 races together. That included two with the OVSCA and five with the AFCS. They were winless in 2025. The Fenton side said they will make an announcement shortly on their 2026 plans, and Gee said quote "All things come to an end and I'm grateful for the opportunity to race for Logan and his family! Through the good and the bad I'll never forget all the memories and great people who helped us along the way! I'm very excited for 2026! Stay tuned for updates in the coming weeks!" unquote. We that some change down the Outlaw order was likely, and things remain in the air for several teams. This now puts into question the status for Gee and Fenton, and we have no clarity on the Bill Rose 6 or Conner Morrell. Series choices for several are still TBD as well, including Bill Balog and Garet Williamson. As I said last week, this next few days into PRI should give us some more clarity.
That's all for the show today. Stick around this week, as there should be more breaking news, and I have several topics on my list that we weren't able to get today, including some track news, media things, tire testing stuff and more. So no lack of interesting subjects even as racing goes almost completely quiet.
But, hope you guys have a great Sunday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!