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.
USAC Midget title fight swings back to Buddy Kofoid, How big could or should dirt racing get? | Daily 11-17-2021
Coming up we are talking last night's USAC midget action at Bakersfield, a big question about the future of dirt racing and more.
Today is Wednesday, November 17th, two thousand and twenty one. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Every major dirt racing series is basically done for the season and champions have been crowned, with one notable exception, the USAC National Midgets. Don't sleep on this series down the stretch here, as this championship fight between Chris Windom and Buddy Kofoid just keeps going back and forth. I talked yesterday on the show about Windom's season to date, and him taking control following the Western World win on Saturday night. But things flipped right back in Kofoid's direction last night at Bakersfield Speedway. In 2020, Kofoid came out on top of a spirited battle with Kyle Larson late in the going at Bakersfield, and he kept it rolling last night to make it back-to-back wins at the California track. Emerson Axsom started on the pole of the feature and led the first 17 laps, but Kofoid stalked him throughout, never letting the Petry 15 get too far away. Just past half way, with Axsom up top and Kofoid on the bottom, Buddy made his move. He tried a slider attempt the lap before, but Axsom was able to cross him back over. Coming to lap 18 though, Axsom banged off the cushion a bit, and that was the opening Kofoid needed. He grabbed the lead and never looked back in the closing laps. It was Kofoid's fifth series win of the year. Axsom settled for second, Justin Grant was third, Tanner Thorson fourth, and Cannon McIntosh ended up fifth. Windom finished seventh after starting seventh, and that meant another change atop the standings. Leaving Bakersfield and headed to Placerville now for the Hangtown 100, Kofoid is back out front with a four point advantage over Big Daddy. Things are far from over though, as following the three nights at Placerville, there are still also two nights at Merced, and Turkey Night at Ventura left on the schedule. This feels a little like the classic story of young up and comer versus the experienced veteran. Windom won't be fazed in these final weeks, as this is really similar to what he faced last season against Tyler Courtney. But Kofoid is eager to lock up his first championship, and you won't find too many dirt racers more talented than he. One note about last night's broadcast, it was great to hear Tony LaPorta back on the mic for USAC. I know he's been dealing with an illness, so glad to have him back in the mix on Flo. The midget teams have today to get some maintenance done and drive the 300 miles up to Placerville before the Hangtown weekend starts tomorrow. Don't forget the field will include both Kyle Larson fresh off that NASCAR championship and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott. We'll talk about all that on the show tomorrow.
Obviously as the USAC midget season works it's way towards the end, there will be a big hole in the field with Daison Pursley dealing with the spinal cord injury he sustained last weekend at Arizona Speedway. If you would like to help out Daison and his family, USAC is accepting donations to the Benevolent Fund. You can contribute by sending them to Daison Pursley, care of the USAC Benevolent Foundation, 4910 W. 16th St., Speedway, Indiana, 46224. You can also shoot a Venmo to @USACdrivers. This same information is also available on the USAC Twitter account @usacracing. At last check, Daison's family had updated that he had undergone surgery and has now been moved out of the ICU. We'll keep hoping for the best for Daison and his family and friends.
In response to me asking for questions for a future mailbag episode, I got a Twitter DM from Steve who is a regular consumer of this show. He and I go back and forth periodically, and I certainly appreciate him tuning in regularly. He sent me a fairly lengthy message with an overall question for the mailbag show, but I think it's worth giving this one some space and not burying it amongst other questions. His basic question came down to how big do we really want dirt racing to get. He compared it to NASCAR before things went crazy in the 90s and tickets and travel became insanely expensive through the early 2000s. I think Steve, like a lot of folks, likes the local feel of dirt races where you can buy a ticket pretty cheap, grab some inexpensive adult beverages with your friends, and enjoy a night at the races. I certainly don't blame him or anyone else for that. And his concern is that if dirt racing goes the way of NASCAR, that experience will be lost and priced above what most normal folks can afford. Definitely a valid concern. As someone who has worked in the industry, I do feel like there is plenty of room for growth, but I don't see a future where dirt racing becomes as big as NASCAR in this country. I think what we saw with NASCAR and the Cup Series was a wild confluence of factors that all happened at the right exact moment to thrust the sport into the national spotlight. At a time when sports and entertainment options were much less available, Cup races could be watched on TV by millions every weekend. The rise of the streaming services and more coverage online has certainly made dirt racing much more accessible in this current age, but there is no real threat of things going mainstream, and that set of factors that propelled NASCAR is not in place for dirt racing. If they know about it at all, I think most people in this country view dirt racing as very much a lower level of the sport, and not a major league comparison worthy of something like NASCAR, Formula 1, or IndyCar. Ticket prices will always go higher, because as with most things, the cost of what we buy is always going up. But I don't think people will be priced out of even the big World of Outlaws shows. I also think you will always be able to hit your local track on a Friday for some cheap entertainment because the vast majority of dirt racing competitors are just normal people who want to race, and not drivers looking to make it professionally. It's an interesting thought experiment, but it's my opinion that the dirt racing subset of motorsports in this country will always be a niche product. Drop me a comment, let me know your thoughts on Steve's question and what you think the future looks like, and what your ideal version of dirt racing looks like.
Since I last talked about podcast episodes a few weeks ago, there have been a bunch of new ones drop, so today's list might be a little longer than normal. Here we go. Winged Nation has shows with Daryn Pittman, Brent Marks and Dominic Scelzi, Brian Carter, and Cale Conley. Open Red has episodes recapping the 2021 season and the new Outlaw schedule. LoudPedal has Blake Anderson, Brett Moffitt and Buddy Kofoid. Passing Points has Noah Harris and Brad Sweet, and there are new episodes of Stick Signals, the Dirt Reporters, the Dirt Derds, and Wednesdays with Wayne. To see the full list of podcasts and new episodes, visit dirtrackr.com/podcasts.
There are two shows on the streaming platforms today, with DIRTVision broadcasting DIRTcar eSports racing from Fairbury, and as usual there is FloRacing 24/7. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
Don't forget also that you can now get subscriptions to DIRTRACKR Plus. More stats, advanced analytics, data visualization and all sorts of nerdy stuff is available for $4.99 a month or $49.99 a year. See more details by clicking Plus in the nav bar at dirtrackr.com.
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 next week for more DIRTRACKR Daily!