DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Tyler Courtney running every race at 4 Crown, Gypsum Racing closing teams | DIRTRACKR Daily 9/22/21
Today is Wednesday, September 22nd, two thousand and twenty one. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Coming up we've got some silly season news involving the northeast and World of Outlaws Late Model Series, plus we are talking Tyler Courtney at 4 Crown, changes to the DIRTcar Nationals schedule, and tonight's postponed from yesterday FloRacing Night in America race.
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Unfortunately for those of us who were looking forward to some Tuesday night racing, the Flo Night in America late model race at Farmer City was rained out yesterday. It looked earlier in the day like things would be okay, but then rain popped up and wiped out the event. The good news is that they have rescheduled the event for tonight, and with a pretty quiet Wednesday across the country, a lot of eyes will still be on this race. But for those expecting to see Kyle Larson tonight, they will be disappointed. Following last night's rainout, the Rumley six team packed up and headed home. I'm assuming that tonight's race conflicted with something on Larson's schedule and he wasn't able to attend tonight. It also sounds like no Jonathan Davenport tonight either, so the points could be blown wide open with the top two both missing. It's a shame for sure to not have those two in attendance, but there will still be plenty of good cars and drivers to see tonight, as we mentioned on the show yesterday. For a lot of the late model competitors, this will be a tuneup before this weekends three nights at Brownstown Speedway for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. That event gets underway tomorrow night. If you can't be at Farmer City tonight, FloRacing will have the live stream.
We are starting to get into that time of the year where drivers and teams will be making decisions about next season and there have already been some rumblings about a few moves across the landscape of dirt racing. First, in a recent post to DirtTrackDigest.com from Bill Foley, it was revealed that the Super DIRTcar Series will lose two of it's full time teams for 2022 as Gypsum Express owner John Wight is planning on shuttering two of his three race teams. The 91 of Billy Decker and the 42p of Pat Ward will shut down at the end of the season, with Wight saying it's not as much fun as it used to be and that the teams weren't as competitive as he'd hoped. Decker is currently second in the Super DIRTcar Series points standings to Matt Sheppard, but has gone winless this season in series competition. Pat Ward has made nine Super DIRTcar Series appearances, with just one top ten. Both drivers have made starts for other car owners in recent seasons, but full plans for each remain up in the air. As for the third Gypsum car driven by Wight's son Larry, that car will also most likely not run the series next season. Wight said the 99L would probably run weekly and that he doesn't have interest in the SDS for that car. Lightning Larry is currently eighth in Super DIRTcar Series points with two top fives and seven top tens in 14 appearances. It's a shame, because those red Gypsum cars have been a staple of the northeast scene for a long time.
Elsewhere yesterday, Cole Perkins, who covers late model racing and handles PR for several drivers, tweeted that Illinois driver Kyle Hammer has intentions of running full time with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series next season. Hammer has made scattered starts with the Outlaws and Lucas this season, along with being active in the modified ranks. He finished 11th in the Modified Nationals points standings and has three DIRTcar wins this season, two at Farmer City and one at Fairbury. Hammer's best Outlaw finish this season was 11th at Red Cedar, and he raced the Late Model Knoxville Nationals this past weekend with Lucas and finished 21st in the big money show on Saturday night. We'll have to wait on confirmation from the series, but if true, Hammer would be in line to race for rookie of the year with the Outlaws. As is always the case, as more moves start to be announced for next season, we'll keep you posted.
The 4 Crown Nationals are coming up this weekend at Eldora Speedway, with the event featuring races for the World of Outlaws, All Stars, and all three USAC divisions. We'll have a full preview for each series later in the week, but I did see yesterday that Tyler Courtney is going to participate in all six races through the two days. With Clauson Marshall he'll run the winged car with both the Outlaws and All Stars, the non wing car with USAC and the 7BC midget. Sunshine will also compete in the Silver Crown race with Chris Dyson. Eldora is a track that has been very good for Courtney, so expect him to be a factor every time he hits the track. I love when drivers do stuff like this, and it's great to have weekends like 4 Crown where drivers can hop from car to car all weekend. More on 4 Crown on tomorrow's show.
In some event news from yesterday, the schedule for the 2022 DIRTcar Nationals was released, and it includes a slight alteration for the two week event. In the past, racing started on Tuesday the first week with a full program for UMP modifieds and a sprint car practice night. In 2022 though, things will be moved up a day, with racing starting on Monday night, February 7th. Following Monday, we'll have two nights of modifieds and the All Stars on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the World of Outlaws taking over for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. And new for next year, Sunday the 13th will be an off day. That will allow for a break for the event and so action doesn't compete with the Super Bowl which is scheduled for that Sunday. Racing will pick back up on that Monday the 14th, with late models and the big block modifieds taking center stage for week two. As someone who's been to DIRTcar Nationals a bunch, I think this is a great move. Give folks that work the event a day off, and don't make people choose between DCN and the Super Bowl. And you still keep the flavor of the event. To find more details on the announcement and the event head to dirtcar.com and dirtcarnationals.com.
If you're looking for more dirt racing podcasts to check out this week there are plenty of new episodes. Winged Nation has Jason Hutchings, Justin Peck and JJ Hickle. Open Red has Sye Lynch, LoudPedal has CJ Leary, Passing Points has Kyle Bellm, and there are new episodes of Stick Signals, the Dirt Reporters, and the Dirt Nerds. To see the full list of shows and episodes, checkout dirtrackr.com/podcasts.
There are three shows on the streaming schedule today. DIRTVision has micro sprint action from Millbridge Speedway, FloRacing has the rescheduled Flo Night in America late model show at Farmer City and Flo 24/7. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
That's it for the show today, hope you have a good Wednesday. 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!