DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Should outsiders race full timers differently? BC39 returns to Indy | DIRTRACKR Daily 6/3/21
It is Thursday, June 3rd, two thousand and twenty one. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Today we've got news from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Dominic Scelzi, we get you ready for tonight's action with the All Stars and USAC midgets, and I've got a philosophical question for you the dirt racing fan. Let's jump in.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced yesterday that after a hiatus in 2020 because of the pandemic, the BC39 is back on the schedule this season. The IMS Dirt Track, which sits inside turn three of the big track, will host USAC national midgets Wednesday August 18th, and Thursday August 19th. This is the week after the track hosts IndyCar and NASCAR on the road course. The event honors the late Bryan Clauson and highlights the Driven2SaveLives program and the Indiana Donor Network. This will be the third running of the race, with Brady Bacon and Zeb Wise winning the two previous editions. If you'd like to attend, tickets will be on sale soon, and fans can find information at ims.com/BC39.
And speaking of USAC midgets, tonight is the opener of Indiana Midget Week for the series. Starting tonight at Paragon Speedway, the USAC midgets will race eight times in 10 nights, with other stops at Bloomington, Lawrenceburg, Haubstadt, Circle City, Lincoln Park, Gas City, and Kokomo. Indiana Midget Week in 2020 was an epic week for Kyle Larson, who won four of the six races driving for Chad Boat and picked up the weeklong title. It was a cornerstone of his epic 2020 season that saw him win 46 times across sprint cars, midgets, and late models. Chris Windom and Tanner Thorson were the only other two drivers to win that week. In 2021 though, Larson is not expected to compete, so the battle for the Indiana Midget Week title will be wide open. Through six USAC midget races so far in 2021, Buddy Kofoid is the points leader having already won twice and finishing in the top ten in every feature. He's also led the most laps with 52, and is tied with Chris Windom for the most top fives with five. Kofoid though as yet to win a midget week feature in his career. Windom, Justin Grant, Tanner Thorson, and Thomas Meseraull complete the top five in the standings. Grant is the only one of those without a win this season. Midget week this year includes two more nights than it did last season, and three more tracks, with Bloomington, Haubstadt, and the new Circle City Raceway joining the fray. With the way he's been running in 2021, you've got to think that Kofoid will be at or near the top all week. He's averaging about a third place finish on the season, and this second year with Keith Kunz has really seen him take big steps forward in the midget. But this week really feels wide open, even with Kofoid's success so far. If someone like Thorson or Windom get hot, they could easily take the title. And I wouldn't be surprised if we saw wins from guys like Emerson Axsom, Cannon McIntosh, or Daison Pursley. Axsom has been really impressive this season, bagging five top tens so far and his first career win at Kokomo on April 30th. Obviously as the week progresses, we'll keep you updated on the action. If you can't attend these races, FloRacing will have live streaming coverage. I'm working this morning on doing a little bonus conversations episode to get you tuned up for midget week, so stay tuned for that later today.
If you're looking for some sprint car action tonight, the All Stars and IRA kick off a four race weekend at Fairbury Speedway in Illinois. They then travel to Wilmot on Friday, Plymouth Dirt Track Saturday, and Angell Park on Sunday. The early season headlines for the All Stars were dominated by Justin Peck and his quick ascension, but lately it's been all about Sunshine Tyler Courtney. Between Port Royal, Bedford, and Sharon in April and May, Courtney had finishes of 17th, 12th, and 14th. But since then, things have been very different for that Clauson Marshall team. He finished second at Tri City, picked up his very first series win at I-96, and has gone on to win two more times, has five more podium results, and hasn't finished worse than 8th. The recent run has vaulted him to the points lead, with Justin Peck trailing by 74 points. Behind Courtney, the battle for second is tight, with Peck, Ian Madsen, and Hunter Scheuerenberg all separated by only 22 points. Both Madsen and Schuerenberg are looking for their first wins, but Hunter Percent has been on the rise recently as well. His average finish over the previous five races is second best right now behind Sunshine, and he's got eight top tens in his previous nine races. Looking at tonight, Tyler Courtney is favored by the dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula. And as I just talked about, for good reason. The All Stars haven't raced at Fairbury since 1995, so many of the drivers in the field won't have previous experience there. But not all. Guys like Madsen and Schuerenberg ran with the Outlaws at Fairbury in 2018 and 2019. That could be a boost for their chances. Hot laps start tonight at 6:15, and you can watch live on Flo.
When the Outlaws head to River Cities on Friday and Granite City on Saturday, Dominic Scelzi will be in the field driving for Mark Dobmeier. Dobmeier continues to recover from injuries sustained in a crash at Cedar Lake last season, and the shows this weekend will be the first of five scheduled for Scelzi in the Buffalo Wild Wings 13. Scelzi will also come to the midwest later in the month and race for Dobmeier June 20th through the 22nd at Huset's Speedway, with the final night of that weekend paying $30,000 to win. Scelzi has made 96 World of Outlaws starts back through 2018, but has yet to appear with the series this season, instead choosing to focus solely on racing in California in 2021. And the change has paid big dividends, with Scelzi already having nine wins in 24 starts this year, including a sweep of the Peter Murphy Classic in May that saw him win four times in two nights between the 410 and 360. He is the current points leader for the NARC King of the West series as well. Scelzi has raced at River Cities before, including a sixth place finish there in 2018. I'll have more on the Outlaw weekend tomorrow.
This past Monday night at Lawrenceburg, there was a pileup right at the start of the first World of Outlaws heat that collected five or six cars. It started when Buddy Kofoid and Brad Sweet made contact right about the start finish line, and resulted in Sweet needing to use a backup car for the rest of the night. From where I sit, it looked to me like a racing deal. Sweet maybe thought he was either clear of Kofoid, or that Buddy was higher up than he was. But Kofoid didn't change lanes from literally the middle of three and four, so I can't blame him for holding his ground. In the aftermath of the crash, Sweet emerged from his tipped over 49 and had a brief conversation with Kofoid on the track. Yesterday, thanks to the Swindell SpeedLab YouTube channel, we got to hear that chat. Sweet asked Kofoid what happened, Kofoid says they met in the middle, Sweet has an exclamation with a choice word, and the conversation is over. Where things get interesting is in the trailer after the heat race. Kofoid and Kevin Swindell are debriefing and this idea of how you race the full time guys comes up. And that's my question today for you the watcher and listener. Do you expect a driver who shows up to race against the Outlaws, or Lucas, or USAC full timers, to treat those guys differently then he might treat other racers? In this example specifically, should Kofoid have given more quarter to Sweet because he's the points leader and an Outlaw full timer? And understand here, I'm not coming down on or talking negatively about Sweet. He got right reared on the front stretch, and regardless of whether it was his fault or not, most guys are going to be upset about that. But does being a full timer with a big series and racing for points mean outside drivers should run you differently and maybe give you more space? In my own personal opinion, the answer is no, they shouldn't. Racing is racing, and everyone is there trying to get the best finish they can. But I'm curious what you think. Drop a comment below or on social media and let me know your thoughts. It's an interesting thought experiment.
There are six items on the streaming schedule for this Thursday. FloRacing has Flo 24/7, USAC midgets at Paragon Speedway for the Indiana Midget Week opener, the All Stars at Fairbury, and weekly racing from Kossuth County. There is also WISSOTA action from Grand Rapids and Dakota State Fair Speedway on Speed Sport. 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 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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