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.
Who in the hell is running the Hell Tour? | Daily 6-14-2022
Coming up we've got results from Monday, driver news from California, what's happening tonight, and we wonder just who the hell is running the Hell Tour. Let's go!
Today is Tuesday, June 14th, two thousand and twenty two. Welcome into DIRTRACKR Daily. I'm Justin Fiedler.
We now have four races complete for the All Star Circuit of Champions during Ohio Sprint Speedweek, and we've had four different winners following Justin Peck's score on Monday night at Wayne County. If you watched last night, it sort of felt like everything that could delay the program happened at various times through the night. It was a really hot day, and the ambulance had to be called out a few times, there were issues with the lights, and all of this happened while the event was trying to get finished up quickly as rain was inbound. Cory Eliason started on the pole of the feature, and that team desperately needed to grab a good finish, which they ultimately did, leading 14 laps and finishing fifth. It was only their fifth top five of the season, and it's been 20 races since the Rudeen 26 was in victory lane. They are trying to climb out of a massive hole in the All Star standings. Peck got by Eliason on lap 15, and was unchallenged the rest of the way, picking up his third win of the season. Cale Thomas was second, which was his best series finish in almost four years. Points leader Tyler Courtney rounded out the podium. With five nights of speedweek still to come, Cap Henry's consistency sees him atop the weeklong standings. He has finishes of 4th, 4th, 2nd, and 6th. Peck, Courtney, Dietrich and Wise trail. In the season long championship, Sunshine and Peck continue to separate themselves from the rest of the field, with Peck trailing now by 48. Both me and the dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula remained cold last night. It had Courtney, I had Henry. It's been 10 days since we had a correct win pick. Over on Twitter though, I did correctly call Zeb Wise to go quick time, so I should get at least partial credit for the assignment on that one. Cap Henry already has a win at Sharon this season, while Spencer Bayston, Danny Dietrich and Justin Peck were winners there in 2021. The prediction formula is again going Courtney for tonight, but I'm going off the rails and saying that Danny Dietrich becomes the first repeat winner of the week. His last four All Star races at Sharon have been a 4th, a win, a 7th, and a 5th. Following tonight, the All Stars continue the busy stretch with stops at Atomic, Waynesfield, Limaland, and Portsmouth.
Out in Kansas last night the XR Super Series took on the Belleville Highbanks for $20,000 to win and it was all Jonathan Davenport out front. Coming off the million dollar win at Eldora just a few days ago, Superman set quick time, won his heat race, and led all 20 laps of the main event. Chris Madden and Chase Junghans joined him on the podium. It was JD's second XR win of the year, to go along with his Florida Dirt Nationals win from April. The event did only draw 21 cars and after some issues last night, the track and XR have made the decision to run tonight's $40,000 to win race on the 1/4 mile track, instead of the big half mile. The race will be 50 laps. With so many teams coming off four days at Eldora, this tow all the way to Kansas was going to be difficult for a lot of teams, especially with the current state of parts, tires, and fuel prices. There is plenty of quality though in the field, with JD, Madden, Strickler, Fergie, Jimmy Owens, Bloomer and others there to compete. Tonight's racing will be completely different moving over to the 1/4 mile, so it should be a 50 lap slugfest.
Elsewhere tonight, if you want more late model racing, the Summer Nationals kicks off it's 2022 season at Kanakee County Speedway. 32 races in six weeks with a possible champions check of $39,000 on the line. Tonight's feature pays $5000 to win for the late models and $1500 to win for the modifieds. After tonight, we've got Peoria, Davenport and Tri-City up next. Bobby Pierce and Nick Hoffman are the two defending series champions, and it sounds like Hoffman is back to defend in his modified. On the late model side though, I have absolutely no idea who will be competing for the championship. With so much other racing happening this season and big payouts available, this could be a light year for Summer Nationals full timers. I've seen possibly Payton Freeman, and there was talk of Cody Overton maybe running the whole thing, but outside of that I'm not sure, and there is nothing in the way of information from the series. Looking at tonight, we should see names like Ryan Unzicker, Brian Shirley, Pierce, McKay Wenger, and Tanner English. With the World of Outlaws quiet for another 10 days, we could get some Dennis Erb Jr. sightings as well. I feel like nightly car counts shouldn't be a big issue, as enough locals will come through to keep things filled up. But I don't know how many will go the whole distance for the next six weeks. It's something we'll just have to keep an eye on as the summer rolls along. Don't forget you can watch all of these races live over on DIRTVision.
If you're an open wheel fan, Eastern Storm starts tonight for USAC. Over the next six nights we get sprint cars at Grandview, Bridgeport, Selinsgrove, Williams Grove, Port Royal, and Bloomsburg Fair. There are also Silver Crown cars at Port Royal on Saturday. One year ago, Robert Ballou was the mini series champion, and he also bagged a victory at Bridgeport. Justin Grant won twice and Kevin Thomas Jr. was the other winner. The sprint cars have only had eight races so far in 2022, so this week could potentially almost double the amount of completed features. JG currently leads Emerson Axsom by only five points in the season long standings, with Ballou, Brady Bacon, and CJ Leary completing the top five. With so much racing coming up though, these standings could change early and often. The prediction formula likes Ballou tonight, and it's easy to see why. He hasn't finished worse than third in his last five starts, and has two wins. I'm going to go Bacon though. He won at Grandview last year and is coming off that Xtreme Outlaw win at Lake Ozark. All of these USAC shows can be watched live on FloRacing.
The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series announced yesterday that the previously postponed race at Tri-City Speedway has now been cancelled outright after officials could not find a suitable replacement date. If you had tickets, you will get a refund on your account, or you can request a refund by July 13th. For more info, head over to worldofoutlaws.com.
Out in California, we had a sprint car team and driver part ways following the Friday night shows at Ocean Speedway. Joel Myers Jr. and Vertullo Motorsports are no longer paired, and Myers tweeted they will continue to race their family car at various events going forward. Myers was 14th in the NARC show at Ocean in the 83V, but did not run the series on Saturday at Placerville. He did finish on the podium in the Sprint Car Challenge Tour though at the Bradway. Through this opening stretch of the season, Myers was a top ten runner in the NARC standings, and recently had 7th place finishes at Southern Oregon Speedway and Thunderbowl Raceway. No word on who might be the next in the seat at Vertullo. Even with this bump in the road, the future is still very bright for Myers. He's still only 15 years old, and I think has a ton of talent.
It's a busy Tuesday across the streaming services with eight shows going on tonight. The Belleville Dirt Nationals conclude on XR+, FloRacing has the All Stars and USAC sprint cars, DIRTVision has Summer Nationals plus weekly racing at Jackson Motorplex and Millbridge, and Dirt Track Digest has action from New Egypt. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
Don't forget that I'm taking the next two days off, so no Daily show on Wednesday or Thursday. We'll be back on Friday.
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!