DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Get to know the All Star Circuit of Champions field | DIRTRACKR Daily 3/31/21
It is Wednesday, March 31st, two thousand and twenty one and you are tuned into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
The All Stars released their full time driver roster yesterday, so we'll double back and get you prepped before this weekend's racing, we've also got fresh podcast episodes, today's streaming schedule and more. Let's jump in.
The All Star Circuit of Champions return to racing this weekend after a two month break following Florida and Georgia. They head to Attica this weekend with a new series title sponsor in FloRacing and 11 full time drivers ready to fight it out for the championship. That opening stretch of races early in the season are a nice tune up for a lot of drivers and teams, but the races start paying points this weekend and the racing will ramp up. With three time and defending champion Aaron Reutzel's departure to the Outlaws and Roth Motorsports, this year's All Star title fight is completely wide open, and as such we've seen a lot of teams and drivers step into that series. The 11 full time confirmed drivers we will see this season are Lucas Wolfe, Brent Marks, Tyler Courtney, TJ Michael, Zeb Wise, Ian Madsen, Justin Peck, Bill Balog, Cory Eliason, Hunter Schuerenberg, and Kyle Reinhardt. The one driver who was talked about as a possible series regular, but didn't end up joining was Zach Hampton. If you don't know about some of these guys, or maybe all of them, I wanted to run through and just give you a bit of detail on each today. Some are fairly well known, and some are not.
First up is Lucas Wolfe. Lucas has been a Central Pennsylvania regular in recent years, knocking down a bunch of wins. He also has an Outlaw in on his resume, and was a full time Outlaw regular for several seasons in the late 2000s and early 2010s. He's taking over the Coldren Motorsports 07, and his talent and experience on a tour could pay big dividends for that team.
Brent Marks joins the All Stars full time this season after running a pick and choose schedule in 2020 with his CJB Motorsports team. Marks came up through the Pennsylvania sprint car ranks and was a full time Outlaw competitor for three seasons, from 2017 through 2019. Marks is a past winner with both the All Stars and Outlaws and I believe could be a serious contender for the championship in 2021.
Moving over from mostly midget and non-wing competition with USAC, Tyler Courtney will contend the full All Star season with Clauson Marshall Racing under the guidance of Tim Clauson. Courtney has previous titles with both the USAC midgets and sprint cars, but isn't a complete stranger to winged competition. He ran a sizeable wing schedule in 2020, which included top five and top ten finishes with both the Outlaws and All Stars. His talent behind the wheel and rapid improvement with more winged seat time could make him a title contender as well.
TJ Michael is back full time with the All Stars after a few seasons away, having last run full time in 2017. Michael is from Texas, but has a ton of experience on Ohio's dirt tracks, including multiple wins with the FAST Series. He just picked up a win this last weekend at Waynesfield Raceway Park. In his last full time season with the All Stars, he finished 7th in the standings with two top ten finishes. He should easily eclipse that top ten finish number this season.
After winning rookie of the year with the All Stars in 2020, Zeb Wise is back for his second full time All Star run, but he's doing it with a different team. He's moved from the Sam McGhee Motorsports 11 over to his own Wise-Priddy Racing number 10. Wise is the youngest driver to ever win a USAC national midget feature, and he's partnering up with veteran crew chief Wayne Priddy to tackle the 2021 schedule. In his first year with the All Stars he had three top five and 19 top ten finishes. Another year on the road along with an experienced crew chief on the wrenches could make Wise a regular threat for race wins.
Replacing Wise in the Sam McGhee 11 is veteran driver and Australian native Ian Madsen. Madsen has wins with both the All Stars and Outlaws and his experience full time with the Outlaws will be a benefit to the team that finished third in the standings in 2020. He has five second place finishes with the All Stars in his last 29 starts, and it wouldn't surprise me to see him grab a few wins in 2021.
Justin Peck is joining the series full time this year, taking over the Buch 13 ride from Paul McMahan. McMahan and the 13 finished top five in the standings each of the past three years, and with what we've seen from Peck so far this season, that team could be a serious nightly threat. From Indiana, Peck has two Central Pennsylvania wins in recent weeks, at Port Royal and Williams Grove, and looked strong in early season races with the Outlaws and All Stars. There is no reason to think they couldn't be a top five contender all season.
With ten IRA sprint car championships on his resume, there is no doubting Bill Balog's pedigree. He and his B-Squared Motorsports team will try and replicate their success with the All Stars this year. The North Pole Nightmare will be up for rookie of the year honors, and will be looking for his first ever All Star win. His Outlaw win in 2016 at Beaver Dam showed he can compete on the national stage.
Back for his third season full time, California's Cory Eliason and his Rudeen Racing team are the favorite for the championship I believe. He battled Aaron Reutzel down the stretch in 2020, eventually settling for second, but his team did rack up three wins, 23 top fives, and 32 top tens. Eliason is capable of winning any night out with the All Stars or Outlaws, and in recent weeks has started picking up some momentum, including a podium finish at Cotton Bowl with the Outlaws. If you're going to win the All Star title in 2021, you'll have to go through the Rudeen 26.
Another rookie in 2021 is Missouri's Hunter Schuerenberg. He and his Vermeer Motorsports team will join the series full time after running a pick and choose schedule in 2020. Schuerenberg is a past winner with USAC, MSCS, MOWA, and the IRA and most recently picked up a 410 win at Attica in Ohio. He had three top fives and five top tens in 17 starts last year, and it wouldn't surprise me to see him sneak up and grab an All Star win this year.
And rounding out the field is New Jersey's Kyle Reinhardt aboard the RQM number 91. Reinhardt gave up his engineering career in 2019 and moved to Pennsylvania to chase his dream of being a sprint car racer, and will get his first full shot with a big series. He's already won in Central Pennsylvania, and was impressive starting the season at Screven in Georgia, driving from 7th to finish 2nd behind Aaron Reutzel on January 30th.
I talked about this earlier in the year, but this All Star title hunt will be one of the more compelling battles to watch all season. There are at least four or five guys who could win this championship, and even more who could win races. We'll talk more about the All Stars at Attica on Friday, including win predictions.
If you're in the mood for some more dirt racing audio this week, the new podcast episodes keep coming in hot. Winged Nation has Bobbi Johnson, DJ Foos, and Justin Peck. LoudPedal has Kevin Thomas Jr. and Matt Weaver, and Erin Evernham. Stick Signals as Brandon Sheppard, Forward Bite has Josh Rice, Ohio Dirt has Duane Hancock and Hunter Schuerenberg, Passing Points has Shane Stewart, and there are new episodes of the Dirt Nerds, Wednesdays with Wayne, and the Midwest Autosports podcast. To see the full list of shows and episodes, visit dirtrackr.com/podcasts. If you know of any shows that I don't have listed there, please reach out and let me know.
There are two items on the streaming schedule today. FloRacing has Flo 24/7, and DIRTVision has another round of DIRTcar eSports action featuring UMP modifieds at Bristol Motor Speedway. To see the full daily streaming schedule, with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
That's it for the show today, hope everyone has a good Wednesday. If you have thoughts about the topics on today's show, leave them in the comments below or tweet at me.
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