DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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USAC Sprint Car tire testing situation gets messier, teams not racing at Lawrenceburg | Daily 4-1-2022
Coming up we've got updates on the messy tire situation with USAC, plus we look ahead to the dirt racing weekend. Let's go!
Today is Friday, April 1st, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
The USAC National Sprint Cars are set to get back to action this weekend at Lawrenceburg Speedway, but the focus over the last 24 hours, and really past two weeks, has not been on the racing. It was exactly two weeks ago that we were talking Xtreme Series penalties for Justin Grant and Chase Stockon following the Volusia tire situation. It was about one week ago that we then were talking potential USAC penalties for tire alterations at Ocala, but that USAC was seeking further analysis. On Wednesday night, USAC officials began informing teams of their final decision regarding the penalties, and yesterday they released their findings in a public statement. I'm not going to read the full statement, as it's pretty lengthy, you can find it on usacracing.com, but here's basically where we are. At the Ocala weekend, USAC took tire samples from four teams, and in original testing all failed. The results came into question though because of the nature in which the tires failed the testing. USAC says they all failed in quote "an identical manner." That led them to seek out additional testing and analysis, which they did through the use of two additional testing facilities. Those samples failed for a second time at the original lab, but came back clean at the two additional labs. Following this second round of testing, USAC told the additional labs to look for the specific trait that was showing up in the failed tests at the original lab, and again, both of these other labs could not find the issue and deemed the samples clean. USAC said in the statement they also used a quote "third-party executive professional compounder from one of the world's largest tire manufacturers" unquote to review all the results, and this third party concurred that the samples were indeed clean. As such, USAC will not be levying any penalties for this matter and all teams can participate at Lawrenceburg this weekend. The series has also scheduled a meeting on Monday for team owners to go over the results to assure transparency.
So based on the statements from the series, that's where we are with the known, publicly available facts. Now, I am not in a position to go re-litigate the results of the testing. USAC felt there were irregularities, and they did some measure of due diligence to try and get a resolution. Good for them, and it's good that they at the very least released public statements to inform of the situation. I also think it's a good thing that they are planning an owner's meeting to share the results. But outside of all of that, this situation has created a really big mess. As a sidenote, it is my understanding that USAC is not upholding the Xtreme penalties for Grant and Stockon, and that those drivers are eligible to race this weekend at Lawrenceburg. In the past we've seen these two bodies work together in these cases, but now we have a clear divergence. I've been digging through the social media reaction to all of this, I've exchanged messages with mulitple parties on the subject, and it's clear that some very real damage has been done to the relationship between the series and a lot of the teams and drivers. It feels like there has maybe been some mistrust bubbling under the surface, and this situation has brought all of that to the forefront. In the hours since USAC's statement became public, we've had at least three teams publicly confirm they will not be competing with USAC this weekend, and one will not do so for the foreseeable future. Keith Kunz tweeted yesterday that they will not be entering their sprint car in future USAC races, where they had initially planned to compete all season, mostly with Buddy Kofoid behind the wheel. The team will continue on the midget side with their fleet of cars however. Also, Amati Racing and driver Shance Cockrum will not be at Lawrenceburg because of the decision, instead choosing to race at Lincoln Park on Saturday night. And Team Arizona with driver Jake Swanson has also made the decision to pull out of the weekend. They will also be at Lincoln Park on Saturday night. Swanson and Team AZ were a full time runner with USAC last season, including picking up a win at Perris late in 2021. So this isn't just some angry social media posts about a decision from a sanctioning body. These are three teams that feel so strongly about the lack of penalties, that they are choosing to either not race or race elsewhere. And none of these teams are even involved in the actual process. Regardless of whether you believe USAC did or didn't do the right thing, that's a serious message being sent by these teams and drivers. As someone who has worked at a sanctioning body in the past, I understand how difficult it is for officials in these instances of potential cheating in competition. I would tend to defer to that side of things, because the racers often have their own motives in mind when they attack these decisions, and the series isn't winning any popularity contests by enforcing their rules. But this situation is clearly messy, and even if nothing nefarious has actually happened, the perception is out there that things aren't fair for all. This is not good. I personally do not have a dog in this fight, and I've heard enough on both sides of the situation to only understand it's a mess no matter how you slice it, and not make a judgement either way. I'm not one to typically believe in conspiracy theories, so count me as suspicious of any rumored back door dealings. With the addition of the non-wing series from World Racing Group, I figured at some point in the future we'd reach a time where teams might have to make a real decision about which side they were going to race with full time. Maybe a few years down the line, when Xtreme really found it's footing, we'd get to this. I did not expect it to happen a month into this first year. This feels like an inflection point for non-wing racing in this country, and we could very possibly look back in several years at this couple of weeks and say that's what changed everything.
Emerson Axsom leads the USAC sprint car points over Justin Grant headed into Saturday's race at Lawrenceburg. Recent winners at the Burg include Kevin Thomas Jr., Logan Seavey, Brady Bacon, and CJ Leary. You can watch the racing live on Saturday on FloRacing.
On the flip side, the Xtreme Series was supposed to have their midget debut this weekend at Farmer City for the Illini 100 weekend, but both nights of midgets and World of Outlaws late model racing have been cancelled because of poor weather. The Xtreme Midgets will try again on May 23rd at Millbridge. The World of Outlaws late models are back April 22nd and 23rd at Atomic Speedway in Ohio. I'll be curious to see if this cancellation means we'll see any of these teams head elsewhere to race. There is obviously Bristol going on, plus Comp Cams late models at Ark-La-Tex and I-30. There is $10,000 on the line with the Renegades of Dirt at Natural Bridge, there are supers for $5k at Florence, plus plenty of other weekly racing. We'll see.
Speaking of Bristol, the super late models are back tonight and tomorrow for two more $50,000 to win shows, plus an additional $100 grand to the event champion. We know Kyle Larson is joining the field that already included Chris Madden and Chris Ferguson who won last week, plus Jonathan Davenport, Jimmy Owens, Tim McCreadie, Scott Bloomquist, Brandon Overton, Devin Moran, and others. Davenport currently leads the events points with a pair of fourth place finishes last weekend. The cars did get a chance to practice last night, although it looks like there weren't a lot of takers. Mike Marlar led the session according to Race Monitor with a lap of 15.618. Davenport, Kyle Bronson, Overton, and Joseph Joiner completed the top five. Even with the big, fast track, we did see plenty of passing last weekend, although both winners started up front. So between qualifying and heat races, it will be vital to make moves to get a good starting position for the feature. The weather looks like it should cooperate the next two days, so if you're nearby, head out the track. If you want to watch from your couch, XR+ has the live streams.
If you're looking for winged sprint car racing this weekend, you've got quite a few different options. First, the World of Outlaws are at Lawton Speedway tonight in Oklahoma, and Devil's Bowl Speedway in Texas on Saturday. With some other shows cancelled, including the IRA and MOWA opener, and the debut of the POWRi 410 series, I think we'll have decent car counts for both nights, as it sounds like some extra guys are headed that way to race with the Outlaws. Following Brad Sweet's win at Vado on Tuesday night, he leads the points standings by 32 over David Gravel, with Carson Macedo, Sheldon Haudenschild, and Donny Schatz completing the top five. Macedo was a winner at Lawton last year, and Daryn Pittman won there in 2020, which if I'm remembering correctly, was Pittman's last win with the Outlaws. Pittman will have a chance to repeat, as he's filling in for Kasey Kahne in the KKR 9. At Devil's Bowl, Logan Schuchart has won three straight races there, and that team needs a pick-me-up after their early season struggles. So this is a good time for the Texas track to come around on the schedule that hosted the Outlaws' debut back in 1978. The dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula favors Brad Sweet at Lawton, and I'll agree. That team is hot right now. The formula also likes Sweet at Devil's Bowl, even with Schuchart's recent past success there. I'm gonna go with Donny Schatz at Devil's Bowl. He hasn't finished outside the top five there since 2017, and I think he and that team will be better now that they are out of California. Both Outlaw nights will be live on DIRTVision.
Out west we are getting the first race of the NARC 410 season at Stockton in California on Saturday. Dominic Scelzi will open his title defense against a talented group of California regulars that includes DJ Netto, Tim Kaeding, Bud Kaeding, Mtichell Faccinto, Willie Croft, Justin Sanders and others. We'll also see Kerry Madsen in the second Roth entry, and good luck to fellow YouTuber Tanner Holmes, who is towing south this weekend to run Friday night in the 360 show at Ocean, before joining NARC on Saturday. We also get the regular slate of Central Pennsylvania shows at Williams Grove, Lincoln, and Port Royal. So lots of different options to get your dirt racing fix over the next few days.If you aren't headed to the track, there are 14 shows on the streaming schedule today, with nearly 50 on tap for the full weekend. So plenty of dirt racing to watch if you aren't headed out to the track. That includes the Bristol Dirt Nationals on XR+, two World of Outlaws sprint car nights, the USAC sprint cars at Lawrenceburg, NARC 410s at Stockton, Comp Cams late models, plus a ton of local and regional racing. To see the full daily streaming schedule through the weekend, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
Before we shut it down for the week, a few things. First, I'm not a journalist, and I'm not pretending to be one or trying to be one. You won't see me really break news on this show, and I'm not out here trying to get sources and track down leads, and all that stuff. I know some view me as quote unquote media, but I don't like labels, and I don't care about any of that. I just want to turn on my microphone and talk dirt racing because I think it's fun. I've been in the community for nearly a decade at this point, and I know a lot of people around the sport. But understand that I'm doing this from a position of as much neutrality as I can muster. I'm not going to carry the water or sling company lines for anyone, and I don't owe anyone in the community anything. I'm going to say what I want to say, and know that I have dealt with some folks upset with things I've said on these shows in the past. I don't need free pit passes, or free merch. I pay full price for all the streaming services, including DIRTVision, which I spent a lot of time building at one point. If you see me wearing dirt racing hats or shirts, I bought them. I pay my mortgage on money made outside of dirt racing, so I'm not doing this to curry favor or in hopes of getting hired somewhere. Full disclosure, and I've mentioned this before, I do have an affiliate deal with FloRacing, so if you buy through my link, I make a little money at no extra cost to you, but that just helps cover some of my web hosting costs, and they don't have any influence over what I say because of that deal. I'm certainly a fan of a lot of drivers, I've had interactions with many through the years of doing this show and Open Red, I know some personally, but that won't stop me from saying what I think. If that makes people mad at me, well I guess that sucks. I'm not going to go out of my way to do hot takes or be overly critical either though. If that's what you want, there are plenty of other places to find that stuff. I say all of this because I want you guys to know where I stand and where I'm coming from.
That's it for the show today, have a good Friday and a good weekend. 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!