DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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New USAC announcer coming to FloRacing, Gio Scelzi and KCP Racing set for 50+ Outlaw races | Daily 1-25-2022
Coming up we are talking USAC announcers on FloRacing, Gio Scelzi's plans, Super DIRTcar Series and Xtreme Outlaw regulars, and last night's iRacing World of Outlaws show. Let's do this.
Today is Tuesday, January 25th, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
I want to kick off today's show with some news that came out yesterday that I wasn't really expecting. For 2022, USAC and FloRacing will have Chet Christner on the mic calling the full slate of USAC races. He'll be joined often by Pat Sullivan, and Kristy Bemmes and Drake York will continue their roles reporting from the infield. If you've spent any time watching dirt racing streams in the past, you obviously know Chet. His energy is infectious, and everyone knows that signature line "drop the hamma." It's a great move for Chet, and I'm looking forward to hearing him all season long. On the flip side though, the announcement for Chet means that Tony LaPorta is out as the play by play guy for the series. This was unexpected, because even though TLP got off to a tough start in Florida last year, I felt like he really did a nice job all year as he got up to speed. He got thrown in the deep end right off the bat, and I, like most people, turned that first USAC midget broadcast of the season on last year and immediately was like "who the hell is this guy." Trying to figure out who he was turned into me having him on DIRTRACKR Conversations, and it was a great chat learning about his past and his plans for the future. When Rob Klepper departed that announcer role after the 2020 season, we didn't get that notice from USAC or Flo that there would be a new voice on the call, and I think that wasn't fair to LaPorta. On top of the fact that he was learning a new series, new drivers, new teams, and even a new racing surface, as he came over from the pavement world, it was a shock to viewers to not have that familiar voice. That turned into some fairly crappy posts on social media during that first weekend and honestly, often throught the year, and TLP spent the season trying to overcome the negative sentiment and grow into the spot. Which, to his credit, I think he did well. He wasn't afraid to say when he didn't know something, and he did a lot of work to get to know everyone and get better. I'm not privvy to what went down behind the scenes between USAC and FloRacing, and I'm sure they have their reasons, but I hate it for Tony. I look forward to Chet in that position, and know he will do a fantastic job. This is certainly nothing against him. But I do hope Tony finds a spot somewhere in the dirt world. His big voice and passion for motorsports are exactly what we need in the booth, in the pits, and on the mic.
We talked yesterday on the show about sprint car plans for Tyler Courtney and Jacob Allen, and yesterday we found out what's on tap for Gio Scelzi and the KCP team. They will again not run full time with a series, instead going pick and choose. Right now, their plan is to run a sizeable Outlaw schedule, something like 50 or 60 races, and then fill in with All Star shows, and weekly action at Knoxville. They will open the year in Georgia and Floria with the Outlaws and All Stars, and then they are going to head all the way back west and run the full west coast Outlaw schedule, which is a big leap for that team based in Des Moines. In 2021, Gio made 49 appearances with the Outlaws, grabbing a late season win at Lakeside Speedway, and piling up 12 top fives and 29 top tens. He added 23 starts with the All Stars, earning nine top fives and 17 top tens. He was also the 360 Knoxville Nationals champion. Late in the year, following the departure of crew chief Bernie Stuebgen, they paired Gio with crew chief Dylan Buswell and immediately found speed. This team could definitely spoil some shows this season and grab some wins. KCP has been a full time Outlaw team before, back with Ian Madsen, and I'm hoping we'll see them go back that direction soon with Gio. He's definitely got the talent to compete at the highest levels.
If you're a fan of the Super DIRTcar Series, they inked two full time drivers over the weekend at the Motorsports Trade Show in Philadelphia. If you're a regular consumer of this show, you already know that Anthony Perrego has teamed up with Vinny Salerno to chase the 2022 championship. It will be Perrego's first full run with the Super DIRTcar Series, and he officially signed his platinum agreement over the weekend. Joining Perrego as a rookie is Pennsylvania driver Mike Gular. But don't let that rookie status fool you, Gular is anything but inexperienced. He won the New Egypt track championship in 2021, and has been a regular with the Short Track Super Series in the past. The two series not having any conflicting dates is what's allowing Gular to make this move for 2022. He still plans on running for the South Region title and the Elite set of races with the Short Track Super Series, on top of the full SDS schedule. The northeast modified season actually kicks off in Florida here coming up pretty quickly. The Short Track Super Series will be at All-Tech Raceway from February 9th through the 12th. And then the Super DIRTcar Series joins the DIRTcar and World of Outlaws Late Models at Volusia for DIRTcar Nationals February 14th through the 19th.
Speaking of series full timers, I wanted to double back and give you guys an update on the regulars expected for the Xtreme Outlaw Series, which is the new non-wing series from World Racing Group. On the sprint car side right now we've got Landon Simon, Jason McDougal, Chase Stockon, Shane Cockrum, and Zach Daum. And I definitely think we could have more sign on. Over on the midget side, we've had our first commitments pop up in recent days. First, Chad Boat Industries plans on campaigning three cars for three young drivers during the 12 race season. 15 year old Jade Avedisian, 16 year old Dominic Gorden, and 15 year old Jace Park will all be Xtreme Outlaw drivers in 2022. Avedisian was impressive last year in limited starts between POWRi and USAC, including that strong fourth place finish at Merced with USAC late in the year. Dominic Gorden finished 12th on his Chili Bowl prelim night a few weeks ago, and ended up 7th in a C-Main on Saturday. Jace Park is coming out of micro sprints, and if Boat is fielding a car for him, he must have talent. Joining the three young guns is veteran midget racer Andrew Felker. He was the 2012 POWRi National Champion, and has won POWRi west titles as well in recent years. He should be a favorite for the championship with his talent and experience. There is still plenty of time for drivers to commit to both series, as the sprint cars debut in a few weeks at Volusia, and the midgets don't open until April at Farmer City. For more deets on the series, check out xtremeoutlawseries.com.
The battle for the iRacing World of Outlaws World Championship is going to go all the way to the finish at Charlotte next week, and last night was everyone's final chance to position themselves before the finale. Weedsport Speedway was the host last night, and Alex Bergeron entered with a very slight four point advantage over Cameron Merriman, with James Edens only another 15 points back in third. The other fight in the standings is to avoid relegation, and right now Tyler Ducharme and Gregory Lamey are in, and Aiden Bierlein and Brayden Shute are out. In the feature, Merriman had a headstart on Bergeron, grabbing a front row starting position through heat races, with Bergeron starting outside the top ten after a third place finish in the fourth heat. The opening half of the main event saw a three car battle for the lead between Evan Seay, Merriman, and Hayden Cardwell, with Seay in control. But near half way, Merriman was able to take the top spot and put some distance between himself and the field. Two cautions inside five laps to go wiped out Merriman's lead though, and brought the field back together. On the final restart with three to go, Cardwell got to Merriman's inside and the two banged wheels into turn one. That let both Cardwell and Tyler Schell by. Cardwell drove away to the win, Schell finished finished second, Braden Eyler nipped Merriman at the line for third, Merriman was fourth, and Dylan Yeager completed the top five. Edens ended up sixth, and Bergeron couldn't do any better than ninth. That's two weeks in a row now that Merriman was leading very late in the race and couldn't close out for the victory. Either way though, he's the points leader headed to the final race of the year next Monday night at Charlotte. Chase Raudman said on the broadcast last night that unofficially Merriman is taking a 13 point advantage to that race, so Bergeron will have some work to do if he's going to get a fourth championship in the sprint car. The racing kicks off next Monday night at 9PM ET on DIRTVision and on YouTube.
There are two shows on the streaming schedule today, both on FloRacing. The WinterNationals continue from East Bay, with modifieds on the card, and there is 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 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!