DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
Dirt racing news, results, discussion, analytics. Sprint cars, late models, modifieds, you name it. From national series, to top local shows. Brought to you five days a week. Email the show at info@dirtrackr.com.
Kyle Larson takes Front Row Challenge, Santa Maria Raceway shutting down | DIRTRACKR Daily 8/10/21
Today is Tuesday, August 10th, two thousand and twenty one. This is DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Coming up we are talking last night's Front Row Challenge at Osky, the Short Track Super Series race coming up tonight, some bad news from Santa Maria Raceway, and some numbers for your Tuesday.
Before we dive in, if you like what I'm doing here, please subscribe to the show, leave a review, and hit those follow and notification buttons depending on where you consume this. Make sure to follow @dirtrackr on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. And don't forget dirtrackr.com has a bunch more cool dirt racing stuff. Now, let's get going.
As is customary during Knoxville Nationals week, the Front Row Challenge took place last night at Southern Iowa Speedway for 410 and 305 sprint cars. The 410 portion of the night paid $21,000 to the winner and we had 25 cars in the pits. Terry and Lori McCarl continue to do a nice job promoting this event, and it was good to see it actually on a streaming service this year. They have been hesitant in the past to allow a service like Flo or DIRTVision to broadcast the event for fear of losing ticket sales, but last night was a step in the right direction with it being live on Flo. And, as you might expect, it sounded like the crowd was very good. For drivers, this is the very last chance to get some seat time before prelim nights start Wednesday. Carson Macedo was the only Outlaw regular in the field, but it was a stout group none the less. We also had an interesting driver move for the Roth 83. We knew Parker Price Miller wouldn't be in it this week as he was committed to Guy Forbrook for the Nationals. And thanks to a tweet from Dominic Scelzi, it sounded like Roth asked him to come out, but he declined. So last night at Osky it was Kasey Kahne getting the call to drive the 83. Kasey has been around lately driving his own 9T machine as a third KKR entry in some All Star shows and he raced on Sunday in the Capitani Classic. There are some rumors flying around about who will be in the 83 at the Nationals, but nothing official. We'll see what happens there later in the week. Back to last night, Kyle Larson was in the field, but it wasn't a cruise for his Paul Silva owned team. They had engine issues during the King of the Hill and were forced to change it right before the feature. They got it done in 15 minutes, and Larson came to the green in the fourth position. Out front, pole sitter Brian Brown led early, but with the fresh engine, the 57 was on the move. On lap 15, Larson made a strong pass on the top to grab the lead from Brownie, but it wasn't over yet. On a restart with six to go, Brown challenged Larson into one and even briefly took the lead, but it didn't last long. Larson officially led the final 16 laps en route to the $21,000 win. Brown settled for second with Carson Macedo third, Anthony Macri fourth, and Kahne in fifth. Larson yet again showed his versatility, winning on the road course at Watkins Glen on Sunday in the Cup car, and then showing up at Osky and winning in the sprint car. He will compete all week at Knoxville, but will be back and forth on Saturday, with NASCAR having practice earlier in the day before the Indy road course. Colin Smith won the night's Racesaver 305 sprint car race.
Things are quiet at Knoxville today in terms of racing, but if you're in the area, there are still things going on, including the Queen's contest at 7PM, outlaw karts at English Creek, and a kick off party at Dingus starting at 9. We officially crossed over 100 pre-entries for the Nationals, so we'll see the next two nights how many actually get signed in. We'll have a lot more on Knoxville tomorrow.
The Short Track Super Series North Region is in action tonight at Woodhull Raceway in New York for round seven of the season. North region winners so far in 2021 include Anthony Perrego, Steve Paine, Matt Sheppard, Jeff Strunk, and Stewart Friesen twice. Sheppard and Perrego are locked in a tight championship battle, with only 9 points currently separating the two with four races left. Both drivers have one win apiece, but the difference right now is Sheppard's two more top five finishes. Friesen, Andy Bachetti, and Mike Mahaney complete the top five. The series hasn't raced at Woodhull since 2018, with Billy Van Pelt topping Sheppard and Bachetti for the win that night. Bachetti, Ryan Godown, and Friesen are all past winners at the track as well. Tonight's 55 lapper will pay $5500 to the winner and crate 602 sportsman and hobby stocks are also on the card. Grandstands open at 4:30 PM ET, with racing set to get underway at 7:15. For more info, check out shorttracksuperseries.com.
In some not so great news from yesterday, Santa Maria Raceway in California announced it is suspending operations. They have been battling permitting issues with the county and complaints from a nearby homeowners association and were at a point where they could no longer afford the mounting legal fees. Besides a robust racing schedule which originally included the World of Outlaws for 2021, the track was also used as an entertainment and convert venue. It's a shame to lose another race track, and it's astounding to me yet again that people build homes near a race track and then are shocked that they can hear race track things from their house. Most of the remaining events on Santa Maria's schedule have been cancelled, which includes several USAC events and the King of the West sprint cars. USAC has announced they are looking at options for possible replacements.
Looking through the dirtrackr.com analytics section this morning, I've got a few numbers for you today. First, following a pair of top five runs over the weekend at Cedar Lake, Brandon Sheppard now has 16 straight top five finishes with the World of Outlaws. If you push it out further, he's finished top five in 20 of his past 21 starts, and 21 of 23. His consistency has returned in a big way, and that's bad news for Chris Madden in the championship fight. Sheppard is also a perfect 100% in both top ten and top five efficiency. That means when he starts up front, he stays there. With the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars, Jacob Allen's top ten finishes over the weekend at Pevely were the first time he'd finished top 10 two nights in a row with the Outlaws since back at Volusia. After he picked up that first Outlaw win at Dodge City last year, I wondered if we might be seeing a turn in his career, but this season has been disappointing for Jacob. Hopefully Pevely is a step in the right direction for that Shark team. Looking at starting position for World of Outlaws sprint car winners in 2021, it pays to start in an even numbered spot. 32 of 53 races have been won by a driver starting in an even numbered position, which is 60% of races. 26 of those come from drivers starting second and fourth. Are we seeing a trend towards the top being better on starts? I'm not sure, but in 2019 and 2018, the most race wins came from the pole, but in 2020 and so far in 2021, more wins have come from the second place starter. Also, it doesn't pay to start fifth. No winners have come from fifth this season, and over the last 180 races, only four times has a winner started there. You'd be better of starting sixth, as 12 winners have come from outside row three over that same stretch. To see more stats and numbers like these, check out dirtrackr.com/analytics.
There are five shows on the streaming schedule today. FloRacing has the Short Track Super Series from Woodhull and Flo 24/7. Speed Sport has modifieds from Willamette and IMCA action from Park Jefferson. And the second night of outlaw karts at English Creek is live on The Cushion. TO see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
A quick note before we close out today, I just want to say welcome to all the new subscribers that have joined the YouTube channel in recent days. The Aaron Reutzel show turned out to be a popular one, and we went from 1800 subscribers to now over 2500 in just a few days. That's super cool, so hopefully you enjoy what I'm doing here. Don't forget to also check out all of the other ways you can keep up with dirtrackr and if you'd like to contact me, email info@dirtrackr.com. Questions and suggestions are also welcome.
That's it for the show today, hope you have a good Tuesday. If you have thoughts about the topics on today's show, leave them in the comments below or tweet at me.
Thanks everybody for tuning in, I'll see you tomorrow for more DIRTRACKR Daily!