DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Kyle Larson, Brad Sweet, FloRacing announce new sprint car series | Daily 7-13-2022
Big news today with Kyle Larson and Brad Sweet announcing a new sprint car series coming in 2023. We've got details, plus we'll talk Brad Doty Classic, a health update for Scott Bloomquist and more. Roll the intro!
It's Wednesday, July 13th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
I've got a bunch of stuff for you around Attica last night to get to, but let's start with the news of the day. Just a little bit ago, Kyle Larson and Brad Sweet announced a new sprint car series coming in 2023. They are calling this the High Limit Sprint Car Series, with the plan being to race 12 times next year, midweek shows, and races paying as much as $50,000 to win. Two of those payouts are expected, with the others paying $23 grand to win, and a points fund of over $100,000 available. As you might have guessed, this is a partnership with FloRacing and you can look at this as the sprint car version of the FloRacing Night in America late model series. It was literally only a matter of time until a series like this popped up, as a lot of drivers on the sprint car side have been lobbying Michael Rigsby to make something happen after what we've seen from them with the late models. And with their recent forays in to promoting, not surprised it's Brad and Kyle doing this. There seems to be a lot still to come in terms of announcements, and there will be plenty of questions going forward about how you fit another 12 shows into an already insanely busy yearly 410 sprint car schedule, when you are talking about the World of Outlaws, All Stars, MOWA and POWRi, the IRA, plus weekly stuff in Pennsylvania, Ohio, the midwest, and California. We've seen this on the late model side of things this year, where drivers and teams are forced to choose between series and events, and it's really splintered things. And the problem for sprint car racing, is there are way more super late models in this country than there are 410 sprint cars. So will we start to see diminished car counts for some of these races? Only time will tell. You will also have the issue of World Racing Group and the restrictions placed on full time Outlaw drivers. Brad Sweet could very well be a co-promoter of this deal, and yet not allowed to race in the events if he remains an Outlaw regular. Remember that the platinum agreement that teams sign when you run with the World of Outlaws restricts those teams from racing elsewhere without prior approval from the series. So things could maybe get messy here. Sweet told Matt Weaver that he does intend on running these events and is hoping to work out a deal with WRG. Again, I'll believe it when I see it. The new High Limit Series will hold a special kick off event at Lincoln Park Speedway on August 16th this year, with the winner taking home $22,022. Larson will be in attendance for that race, and it will be live on Flo. You can find details on the series at highlimitracing.com and on social media channels @HighLimitRacing.
Now, let's get into the Brad Doty Classic from last night. In case you were wondering, which you probably weren't because you're an educated dirt racing fan, Kyle Larson is still incredible behind the wheel of a sprint car. At Attica last night for the Brad Doty Classic, Larson took over the lead from brother in law Brad Sweet on lap 13 after starting fourth, held off a pretty furious challenge from Donny Schatz late, and picked up the victory. I did choose Larson for the win on yesterday's show, which brings me to 35 correct win picks in 150 races this season. I'm pretty close to 25%, the prediction formula though, not so much. While Larson did start off the sprint car season a tad slow at Volusia in February, a track he admittedly hasn't been great at. And he didn't win during Pennsylvania Speedweek, don't let any of that, or anyone else's comments sway you from believing that he can still win any night out, and is probably not done yet winning this week. He bagged $25 grand last week at Lernerville in his lone All Star start this year, and since finishing 17th at Volusia on February 12th, has Outlaw results of 3rd, 1st, 7th, 2nd, 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 1st. He's run less than a third of the total World of Outlaws shows this year, 11 of 36 to be exact, and only Carson Macedo, Sheldon Haudenschild, and Brad Sweet have led more laps than he has. Need more numbers to prove that he's still incredible in a sprint car? His last 11 appearances with the All Stars have all been top tens, in that stretch he was on the podium eight times, led laps in six races, and won five times. Things might not be going quite to plan on the pavement side over at Hendrick, but Yung Money could be filling his pockets with some more World of Outlaws cash this week, with four nights at Eldora starting tonight. Following that late battle with Schatz last night, Larson took the opportunity in victory lane to chide his open wheel brethren over on the midget side, saying that they need to take notes from Donny because he races so clean. The community continues to be down on the midget drivers and the racing we've seen from them lately, and Larson is just the latest to make comments publicly. It's a topic we've obviously covered on this show as well. I certainly agree that Donny is maybe the cleanest racer ever, but I also think that especially lately, it's maybe hurt him a bit as the guys around him have gotten better and more aggressive. I also had a comment from Benny asking about more comments from DIRTVision's Chase Raudman about possible new future Outlaw teams. Raudman hasn't named them, but I think we can make some educated guesses about what's possible for the future. The two easy ones right off the bat are Tyler Courtney and Rico Abreu. This move to winged competition for Sunshine has been on a natural progression towards full time Outlaw competition, and a second year as a champion with the All Stars should set them up very well for the future. We also know that Rico hiring Ricky Warner was done with an eye on full time Outlaw competition. From there, I think things get a little murkier and other teams and drivers would be making much bigger leaps if they went full time Outlaw racing. I'm thinking guys like Justin Peck, Parker Price Miller with the McGhee 11, Zeb now in the Rudeen car, maybe someone like Anthony Macri, or a Gio Scelzi with KCP. You've got drivers and teams in each case with varying levels of success with the Outlaws, and varying levels of support in terms of funding. Like I think the Rudeen car could easily be a full time Outlaw team, but coming off this situation with Eliason, would they really move to the World of Outlaws for 2023? I'm not so sure. Same with KCP. They've been a full time team in the past, but they've had crew chief issues haven't always been super strong.
Jumping back to last night though, it was a nice primer for the rest of the week at Eldora. Larson, Schatz, Sweet were your podium, and the KKR 49 team did extend that points lead just a bit. 94 separates the top five, with Sheldon Haudenschild 56 out, and Macedo and Gravel tied for third at 64 back. For the Jokers Wild tonight, there are a number of drivers to keep an eye on. Schuchart, Macedo, Larson, Courtney, Sheldon, and Brent Marks all bagged feature wins at Eldora last year, and all would be good choices for tonight. The dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula is going Schatz again, and I'm gonna go Larson again. I'm going hot hand, the formula likes Schatz's past performance in Rossburg. The show tonight will be live on DIRTVision.
And speaking of the analytics section, I made a quick update last night for some laps led stuff. When you look at an individual driver page, in the feature results module, races marked with a triangle are ones in which that driver led laps. Just a nice, easy little visualization. I've also added a new stat to those pages, races with laps led. It's available for all races, and the individual years, and is a premium stat available with a DIRTRACKR Plus subscription.
Before we move on to other racing from last night, a quick note about the MAVTV Plus and FloRacing deal. Streams were supposed to be simulcast on both platforms through July 27th, but that changed abruptly yesterday with the announcement that yesterday was the last day for that deal. So now, going forward, all MAVTV Plus content is only available on FloRacing. Existing MAVTV Plus subscribers will be whatever was left on their current deals refunded. If that includes you, check your email for details.
At Stuart International Speedway last night, the Fever Heat 100 concluded for the XR Super Series. We had a great early battle out front between Jimmy Owens, Bobby Pierce and Jonathan Davenport, with Chris Madden getting in the mix as well, and he took control just past half way. The track did take rubber after that and it was all Smoky down the stretch. He bagged his fifth XR win of 2022 and another $20,000 was added to his winnings for the year. Pierce and Davenport completed the podium. It's a shame the surface went rubber down, because the racing early on in the feature was awesome. The XR Super Series is back August 8th and 9th at Gondik Law for two more $20,000 to win races.
One driver who was in the field this week at Stuart that we might not see a lot of going forward is Scott Bloomquist. According to Dirt on Dirt's Kevin Kovac, Bloomer is having health issues again and dealing with pain and numbness in his right leg and foot. He told Kovac he'd be seeking more treatment after racing last night and that it could mean another extended absence from racing. It's a bad deal for Bloomer, because he had shown some signs of improvement this year, but remains winless in the late model since 2020. Hopefully he can get things squared away and be back sooner rather than later.
The USAC Midgets opened Mid-America Midget Week last night at Red Dirt Raceway, and it was Ryan Timms who went to victory lane, driving for Keith Kunz. It was Timms' second career series win, but this was the first time in a KKM ride. He won at Placerville late in 2021 driving in a Chad Boat owned entry. Most of the feature saw the competitors right around the bottom, and Timms slipped by early leader Thomas Meseraull on lap 13 and led the rest of the distance. Justin Grant finished second with TMez third. Points leader Buddy Kofoid hard charged from 18th to 5th. The series moves to Solomon Valley tonight, the prediction formula likes Kofoid, I'm going Grant. You can watch live over on FloRacing.
With the USMTS last night, Jim Chisholm picked up his first ever series victory at Mason City, leading all but six laps and topping Terry Phillips and Darron Fuqua. The 19 year old Chisholm is a two time USRA National B-Mod champion and made the step up to full blown modifieds this season. The UMSTS guys get today off before they begin a three night stretch at Ogilvie starting tomorrow.
If you're a Super DIRTcar Series fan, the Tuesday night show at Big Diamond was postponed, so they will try again today to get in the 75 lap, $7500 to win race. The action will be live on DIRTVision.
On the dirt racing podcast front, Forward Bite has Randle Chupp, Track Talk has Justin St. Louis, and there are new episodes of the Dirt Reporters, the Dirt Nerds, Dirt Tracks and Rib Racks, and All Gas No Brakes. To see the full list of shows and episodes, head over to dirtrackr.com/podcasts.
Before we talk streaming schedule, a quick shoutout to Kim and Bruce for the recent Super Thanks on YouTube. Your support means a lot, and I appreciate you guys watching on the regular.
It's another pretty solid day across the streaming services with nine shows today. DIRTVision has the Jokers Wild from Eldora, the Summer Nationals, the Super DIRTcar Series from Big Diamond, and micros from Millbridge. FloRacing has the USAC midgets at Solomon Valley, USAC east coast sprint cars at Action Track USA and Flo 24/7. There is also local and regional action on Speed Sport. 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 Wednesday. 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!