DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Kerry Madsen out of Barshinger ride, what makes a good race resurfaces | DIRTRACKR Daily 5/6/21
It is Thursday, May 6th, two thousand and twenty one. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Today we've got news from Kerry Madsen and the World of Outlaws, and then we jump back into the discussion about what makes a race good or not. Let's dive in.
We learned yesterday that veteran sprint car racer Kerry Madsen and the Mike Barshinger owned Barshinger Racing team have parted ways in Central Pennsylvania. Madsen had taken over the team's number 24 after Lucas Wolfe departed the team at the end of 2020. The combination had been pretty solid so far, with Madsen winning back on April 6th at Bridgeport Motorsports Park in an unsanctioned race, beating Tim Shaffer. But now the team and Madsen are looking for other options. Madsen told Speed Sport's Kyle McFadden that it's been difficult being away from home in Iowa so much, and that he's going to focus on racing in the midwest. We will see him this weekend at Eldora with the World of Outlaws, as Madsen will jump behind the wheel of Tony Stewart's number 14 as a teammate to Donny Schatz. Beyond this weekend though, Madsen's schedule isn't clear, but he did tell McFadden there are opportunities. As for Barshinger, there has been no announcement on a new driver, but the team did say the two sides parted on good terms and that they wished Kerry the best. For more, find McFadden's story at speedsport.com.
I missed this over the weekend so I wanted to double back and make sure I mentioned it on the show. Back on Saturday, the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series announced they have rescheduled the Lawton Speedway and Devil's Bowl Speedway events for October 29th and 30th. The two shows were originally scheduled for April 16th and 17th, but both nights were lost to rain. These new dates now make this the final weekend before teams head to Charlotte for World Finals in November. The Outlaws will hit up Lakeside Speedway in Kansas on October 22nd, Lawton and Devil's Bowl on the 29th and 30th, then World Finals November 4th through the 6th. Depending on where things lie with the championship, these two races could now be pivotal in deciding late season points battles. For more on the announcement and the World of Outlaws schedule, visit worldofoutlaws.com.
Back on May 13th of last year I did an episode where we discussed what race fans consider a quote good race. At the time, I had just added a new stat to the race results in the analytics section which was total positions changed through the feature, and I used those numbers along with a few super anecdotal Twitter polls to judge a few races. I had found the race with the most position changes and the race with the least position changes for the World of Outlaws and asked people to vote whether each was a good race or not. The somewhat surprising part, was that voters actually said the race with less position changes was better, but that race did feature a late race pass for the win. So the conclusion after that episode was that late race battles up front trumped other factors when it came to judging what was a good race or not. I bring all this up, because this question of what makes a good race resurfaced recently. Last Friday, following the World of Outlaws show at Jacksonville in which Brad Sweet won a wild race that featured lead changes, late cautions, and some crazy moves, I talked about the race being a thriller and even used that word in the YouTube thumbnail and show title. Later in the day I got an email from someone who listens to the show disagreeing with my assessment that the race was a thriller. Their point was that tracks like Jacksonville are too small for high horsepower sprint cars, and that it just leads to too much bumping and banging and fighting with lap cars. The emailer pointed to a recent weekly show at Port Royal as an example of what constitutes a good race. In that race, there was some clean battling up front, with Steve Buckwalter going on to win a caution free affair. Following the race on Twitter, the overwhelming sentiment was that the race was entertaining, so I was actually a bit surprised to get an email like this. But I appreciate differing points of view, and it's interesting to point out that people watch races in different ways and enjoy seeing different things. So this brings me back to the original question about what makes a good race. On the show a year ago, we were talking very specifically about passes and late race battles. This email expands the discussion to include the type of racing and tracks involved. I personally am a big fan of the short tracks in dirt racing. I grew up going to a lot of pavement late model races, and I love the elbows out, beating and banging, battling through traffic that happens. Places like Jacksonville and the California bullrings are appointment watching. But on the flip side, I do also like the racing that happens on the bigger tracks. What we saw at Bristol, or places like Eldora, Knoxville, and Port Royal can be incredibly entertaining as well. The difference is you are watching a bit of a different skillset play out and drivers do different things. Instead of big moves through traffic, close calls, and elbows out racing, you instead get big speeds, momentum, guys trying different lines, and more. Getting to see drivers adapt from night to night is one of the biggest draws for me as a race fan, and why winning a championship is so big. That driver found a way to be fast across a wide variety of regions, tracks, and surfaces. I also wonder here if the idea of what's a good race is regional. Do California fans look at sprint car races differently than say Pennsylvania or Ohio? Do late model fans in the south like something different than midwest late model fans? It's an interesting idea to ponder. As you go about your day today, think about this and let me know your thoughts. Was Jacksonville actually a good race? What do you want to see when you head to the track on Friday night or dial up a live stream? This is definitely one of those questions we won't get one answer for, because everyone has a different view, but I will ask again anyway. What makes a good race? And thanks again to that emailer for dropping their thoughts to me.
There are five items on the streaming schedule today, all happening over at FloRacing. There is weekly IMCA racing from Marshalltown Speedway, California IMCA Speedweek continues at Petaluma Speedway, there is IMCA action from Kossuth County Speedway, and tomorrow is night one of the NOW600 Oil Capital Clash at Port City Raceway. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
Tomorrow on the show we'll take a look at the racing happening this weekend, including a big sprint car return to Eldora, the World of Outlaws Late Models in Wisconsin and more.
That's it for the show today, hope everyone has a good Thursday. 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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