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.

Courtney takes All Star opener, Xtreme Outlaws debut, Thornton gets first Volusia win | Daily 2-15-2022

On the show today we are talking the All Star opener, the debut of the Xtreme Outlaw Series, plus more from DIRTcar Nationals. Let's go!

Today is Tuesday, February 15th, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.

The All Star Circuit of Champions finally got their 2022 season going last night at East Bay Raceway Park after they lost their first four nights down south the rain. Last night and tonight are not for points, but still a good opportunity for a lot of these guys to get on track. We ended up having more cars than I thought we would, with the count sitting at 40 for the night. A lot of these guys will stick around the rest of the week for the 360 sprint car nights for East Bay's Winter Nationals. The field did include two Sam McGhee cars, with both Kerry Madsen and Parker Price Miller racing. PPM is still in the midst of cancer treatments, but did get a chance to race. He ended up eighth after driving back through the field from early issues. Tim Shaffer was in attendance in the Grove 28, and according to Mike Leone, Shaffer will run the All Stars full time this season. Another solid addition to that field. In the night's program, Alex Bowman went quick time on the night in his Ally 55, not bad for his first ever start with the All Stars. My win pick for the night, Aaron Reutzel, had engine issues and was a scratch from the pole of the B-Main. Remember they are working on that Toyota 410 engine, and nights like last night are going to happen from time to time when working through issues. Unfortunate for that team. In the feature, Gio Scelzi and Kerry Madsen led the field to green, with Madsen to the lead at the start. He was able to hold the field at bay for most of the first half, but after a restart, Tyler Courtney got a big run on the high side and slipped past Madsen to lead lap 15. And that was it out front. Sunshine led the rest of the way to grab the win over Madsen, Scelzi, Brent Marks, and Justin Peck. It was Sunshine's first series win since August 26th of 2021. He was the series champion last year, but struggled down the stretch. This was a nice way to kick off their All Star season, even without points. We also saw Tanner Thorson last night, he finished ninth. Bowman ended up 13th, Kevin Thomas Jr. was 14th, and Chris Windom was basically non-existent after qualifying. This opening southern stretch for the All Stars closes out tonight at East Bay, before the series goes quiet until April. You can watch live tonight on FloRacing.

For the debut of the Xtreme Outlaw Series last night at Volusia, they ended up with an impressive car count, with 37 guys on hand to race. Kudos to Casey Shuman for working the phones and getting that many teams to try out the series for the first time. It was fun to see non-wing cars at Volusia, not something that's happened in a really long time. I think I heard only a few drivers in the field have any sort of experience at Volusia, with guys like CJ Leary having been there before in winged competition. But none of these guys have ever raced on the track without the wing. In terms of the fan experience on DIRTVision, we had Rob Klepper and Johnny Gibson on the call, which was an interesting mashup. Gibson being known for his Outlaw exploits, and Klepper having spent a ton of time in the non-wing world. I doubt we'll see Gibson a ton more later in the season, but it sounds like Klepper will be the voice of the series going forward. Not a bad pickup for DIRTVision, as Klepper is so knowledgeable about the drivers and cars. And for those of you wondering about last year's USAC announcer Tony LaPorta, he's also doing work for World Racing Group, so we haven't seen the last of him yet either. On the night there was obviously a ton of talk about firsts and history, especially in interviews and in the commentary. Some drivers seemed to play along, while others were more non-chalant about it. I can certainly understand both sides of that one, with the series wanting to hype everything up, while for some drivers it was just another race. In the night's feature, Carson Short started on the pole and led the opening lap, but from there it was all CJ Leary. He made a strong move on the outside of turn four to lead lap two, and that was about all she wrote. Leary went the distance for the $5000 victory. Justin Grant ended up second, Short third, Chase Stockon fourth, and quick timer Robert Ballou completed the top five. One driver we probably won't see racing tonight is Brady Bacon. Dennis Gile had driveline issues part way through the race and slowed suddenly. Bacon had no where to go and tumbled pretty big in turn one. It sounds like they bent the frame, and will skip Tuesday to be ready for the USAC sprint car opener coming up this weekend over in Ocala. Obviously he's chasing a third consecutive series championship over there. It was a fun night though, definitely something different, and hopefully they are able to build it up. Maybe a little competition from WRG will push USAC to continue making changes and get better. I had someone ask recently about reasons behind the non-wing exodus, and I think it comes down a lot to opportunities. There is a lot of racing to be done with a wing on, and guys can make quite a bit more money. If more of those opportunities were available on the non-wing side, you might not see so many guys leave. But it's a hard problem. You can't just throw around the cash without fan and sponsor support, because that's a recipe to go out of business quickly. At least in the beginning, WRG is trying to play nice with USAC and POWRi in this space, but if you are part of those organizations, you have to see the writing on the wall. They are going to want to expand this racing, especially if they are able to get buy-in from the fans and competitors. And an organization like WRG, with their marketing partners and the power of DIRTVision, will have the backing necessary to make it work. Definitely something to keep an eye on into the future. The Xtreme Outlaw Series is back tonight at Volusia for another $10,000 to win show. Drop me a comment if you watched last night and let me know your thoughts on the series, the format, and the future.

Also at Volusia last night we got the first night of late model action with a $7000 to win show under the DIRTcar sanction. As expected, a nice field of 47 cars were in the pits. In the feature, it was all Ricky Thornton Jr. in the 30 lapper. He started on the outside of the front row, and led every lap in a non-stop race. It was Thornton's first career win at DIRTcar Nationals, and a nice continuation of his Speedweeks. Through the opening 12 Lucas nights he had four top fives and nine top tens, and should easily be in the top five in the standings on that side once the season shakes out. Behind RTJ, Chris Madden finished second, Devin Moran was third, Brandon Overton fourth, and Dale McDowell completed the top five. We talked about Overton on the show yesterday and his lack of wins at East Bay, and I thought we might see him break through last night. He sat on the pole, but never really challenged the 20RT, and just slowly faded back through the 30 laps. We'll see if that Wells team is able to tune on that car the get it better for the rest of the week, and do what they couldn't do at East Bay, and that's get a victory. Devin Moran showed yet again he's going to be one to deal with this season, and Dale McDowell was fast again off his opening night win at Volusia a few weeks ago with the Outlaws. Tonight is another $7000 to win show for the late models, with plenty more racing to come this week.

The other series that was on track last night was the Super DIRTcar Series big block modifieds. No actual racing, but they did get three practice sessions, with north of 40 cars participating. Demetrious Drellos ended up with the quick time on the night at 17.290. The big blocks have their first full program starting tonight, and they will be in action each night now through Saturday. So tonight we get the sprint cars again, plus late models and big blocks. And then starting tomorrow, it will be World of Outlaws late models and the big blocks through the weekend.

There are three shows on the streaming schedule today. It's the same as yesterday with DIRTVision having another night of DIRTcar Nationals from Volusia, and FloRacing showing the All Stars from East Bay 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, 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!