DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Larson promoting late model race, bringing back the Prelude? Macedo, Rahmer get 410 wins | Daily 3-1-2022
Coming up we look back on the dirt racing weekend, plus have news from Kyle Larson and Hunt the Front. Let's go!
Today is Tuesday, March 1st, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
Apologies for there being no Monday show, I came back from the California NASCAR weekend with no voice, and I'm still not quite 100% today, but we'll power on through. First up, we'll talk a little bit about the weekend's racing before jumping into a few news items.
First, the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series was rained out, but we did get a little 410 racing that happened out in California and in Central Pennsylvania. On Saturday out in California at the Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford, it was Carson Macedo who took the victory in the 30 lap feature over Kerry Madsen and Shane Golobic. With the Outlaws off, Macedo went home to run a third entry for Tarlton Racing. Macedo battled with Madsen through about half way, before pulling away in the end. It was Madsen's first race in the Toyota powered Roth 83, and that new pairing looked very strong. This wasn't a World of Outlaws field, but still some solid competition. We'll see how Madsen fares when the Outlaws head west in the coming weeks. I did see some complaints about the surface from Dominic Scelzi afterwards. His gripe was the track was too narrow and they couldn't get any passing done all night. They have made a bunch of improvements to Hanford, and that combined with some chilly temperatures probably played a role. As a fan though, I didn't feel like the racing was bad to watch. I do wonder sometimes what these guys hope to accomplish by complaining on social media. No promoter or track prep guy wants to see bad racing. This is clearly an inexact science that doesn't always go to plan, and it seems like some drivers and fans think you can just snap your fingers and fix a race track. Earlier in the night, Shane Golobic won the 360 sprint car feature, charging all the way from ninth.
In Pennsylvania, the Icebreaker at Lincoln was moved to Sunday to take advantage of a little more favorable weather conditions. Freddie Rahmer started second, took the lead from Aaron Bollinger on lap 11, and held off Brent Marks in the closing laps to take the win in the opener. Marks, Anthony Macri, Danny Dietrich, and Jordan Givler completed the top five. Nice start to the year for Rahmer, who is chasing a third straight track title. Some other nationally known drivers that were in attendance getting some laps included Buddy Kofoid in Bernie Stuebgen's Indy Race Parts 71, and All Star regular Justin Peck. Kofoid ended up eighth, while Peck had engine issues and finished 19th. The weekly schedule at Lincoln continues this coming Saturday.
The Short Track Super Series had their first Elite Series event over the weekend at Cherokee Speedway. The Elite Series is a collection of high paying races inside of the normal championships the Short Track Super Series runs each season that is new for 2022. On Saturday night it was Ryan Godown surviving the 50 lapper to bag the $25,000 payout. The track didn't look like it took rubber, but we had a bunch of flat tires late in the going, and I'm guessing there was just more wear on those right rears then the teams were expecting. Cherokee isn't a normal stop for these cars, so they probably don't have great notes on the surface. Guys like Matt Sheppard and Anthony Perrego, among others, were victims of flats. Godown had a spirited battle with Larry Wight before coming out on top. The Elite Series for the modifieds continues March 10th through 12th at Georgetown for another $25k to win main event.
If you're following along with the Xtreme DIRTcar Series this season, the winter late model series, not the new non-wing stuff, we had a change atop the points standings over the weekend. Ross Bailes entered Lavonia with the lead, but leaves 16 points behind Ben Watkins. Bailes didn't have a bad weekend, finishing eighth on Friday and fourth on Saturday, but Watkins was just better. He was third Friday and second Saturday. Carson Ferguson was also in the mix before the weekend, but is now 40 points back after getting involved in a crash Saturday and ending up with a DNF. Cody Overton was the Friday winner, dominated the race. On Saturday, we had drama after the checkered when race winner Brent Dixon came up 20lbs light at the scales and was DQ'd. That promoted Kenny Collins to the $5000 victory. Later in the month we'll get a conclusion to this series for the year with stops at Lake View Motor Speedway and two nights as a co-sanction with the Outlaws at Cherokee. It feels like this is coming down to Watkins vs. Bailes.
Before we close out today, I wanted to touch on a couple of news items from recent days. Back on Friday it was announced that Kyle Larson has partnered with Michael Rigsby and FloRacing to promote a super late model show at Volunteer Speedway in Tennessee in advance of the NASCAR dirt weekend at Bristol. Larson is hoping to draw some Cup drivers to Bulls Gap to get some laps on Thursday before they roll the Cup cars out on Sunday to get dirty. Larson continues to expand his business interests outside of the drivers seat with this race joining his already in progress co-promotion of Silver Dollar Speeday out in California. 2022 is the first year of the partnership between Yung Money, Brad Sweet, and Colby Copeland operating the facility in Chico. Larson and Flo keep getting tighter as well, with Flo already sponsoring Larson's racing efforts on dirt, between the Rumley late model, his midget, and the Paul Silva owned 57 sprint car. FloRacing replaced the deal Larson had with Lucas and MAVTV. In the story posted by the Associated Press, Larson also mentioned his hope to resurrect the Prelude to the Dream at Eldora, which was a super late model race that featured NASCAR stars that happened from 2005 to 2012. Larson hopes to add it to the schedule for 2023.
And finally today, if you're a fan of Hunt the Front, keep on eye on Joseph Joiner this season. He'll still race the family's number 10 Capital car plenty in 2022, but he's got a new deal to run 25 or 30 races for Mississippi car owner Leon Henderson. In a story by Robert Holman at Dirt on Dirt, it was revealed that Joiner will pilot the Henderson car in some major events, including the Show Me 100 and Prairie Dirt Classic. Joiner was one of a handful of drivers to appear in a Henderson car last season, with Henderson himself, David Breazeale, Randy Weaver, and Ryan Crane being the others. Joiner said the Hunt the Front car will still run big events like the Bristol Dirt Nationals and the Million and World at Eldora. And don't fret if you're a follower, I'm sure the Hunt the Front cameras will be all over Joiner when he runs for Henderson.
The only thing on the streaming schedule today is FloRacing 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 Monday. 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!