DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Promoters, Fair Board at odds over Terre Haute Action Track | Daily 9-22-2022

The problems at Terre Haute go beyond one race and streaming complaints, we've got details on that today. Plus we'll talk a cryptic job post from Clauson Marshall, tonight's racing, and more. Let's go!

It's Thursday, September 22nd, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

So we talked about the Terre Haute Action Track on yesterday's show following the announcement that the upcoming USAC sprint car event there was being moved to Kokomo. I said that I wasn't sure whether this move was tied to promoter Scott Ronk's issues with NOS Energy Drink and FloRacing, or if this was a sign of bigger issues for the track. Since I posted yesterday's episode though, the picture has become much more clear thanks to a piece from Joe Buckles in the Tribune-Star, which is the newspaper that covers Terre Haute. In the article, Buckles says that there have been issues all summer long between Ronk and Bernie Stuebgen, who are promoting the track, and the Vigo County Fair Board. Ronk apparently spent a quarter of a million dollars on upgrades, which included removal of the old concrete wall. But at a point in June, law enforcement had to get involved to help settle a disturbance between the two sides. One member of the fair board says he thinks they can work things out, while Bernie isn't so sure. The deal for the promoters was to operate the track for three years, with the board getting $5000 per event. Whether that actually comes to fruition or not, we'll just have to wait and see. Buckles says the fair board is split on whether the track is providing value, and some would like to see racing stop. After what started out as a very promising year, things have turned sour at Terre Haute and in a hurry. The track has been hosting races since 1952, and in a year where we continue to lose more tracks, it would be a shame to see the half mile facility go away. I was critical of Ronk back in May for his tweets regarding streaming and NOS Energy Drink, but for his sake I hope things work out. It would be a nasty pill to swallow a $250,000 loss after less than a season operating the track. If you want to see the full article, head over to tribstar.com.

Alright, I mentioned at the end of yesterday's show that I was off to grab the first round of DIRTRACKR hats, and they are now in hand and available over at shop.dirtrackr.com. There are two options, both snapbacks. The one I'm wearing is gray and has the DIRTRACKR logo on the side, and what I'm calling "the driver" on the front. It's a seated sprint car driver silhouette. The other is a black New Era 9Fifty with the DIRTRACKR logo on the front. Both options are $35, and that price includes taxes and shipping. So what you see is what you pay. As an added bonus, if you want to grab a t-shirt, I've added a coupon code to get a discount. Use the code "hat" at checkout to get 20% off a DIRTRACKR shirt with your order. I've been sending t-shirt orders in poly bags, but I went ahead a sprung for some boxes to ship the hats in. I'm a hat guy, and it would piss me off to order a hat and have it show up crushed in a bag, so the boxes will keep the hats nice in transit. Thanks to all of you who have grabbed some gear to this point, and to those that will in the future. The support is very much appreciated. If you aren't interested in the merch, that's cool too. Thanks for tuning in regularly. Alright, back to the dirt racing stuff.

Tyler Courtney has obviously had a ton of success the last few years transitioning to winged sprint car competition. He grabbed a Kings Royal victory, and is set to wrap up his second straight All Star title. There have been plenty of rumors about the future of that CMR team and Courtney, with a lot of signs pointing to full time World of Outlaws competition. A bit of a cryptic tweet from the team yesterday has only added fuel to the World of Outlaws fire. They are looking to add some more employees, and the tweet says quote "As we continue to spread our wings, Clauson Marshall Racing is now looking to fill positions" unquote. The graphic says they are looking for individuals who want to compete at the quote "highest level in sprint car racing" unquote. It would make sense that the team and Sunshine are preparing for an Outlaw run, but there is also Emerson Axsom in the mix here as well. Axsom has run some winged stuff this season for CMR, and it's possible we could see him continue to ramp his winged schedule as well. Looks like a lot of good stuff to come for CMR.

The tightening points battle for the USAC National Sprint Car Series is headed for Gas City I-69 Speedway tonight and the James Dean Classic. Justin Grant is trying to win his first championship, but a tough night at Circle City last week has defending champion Brady Bacon now just 63 points out. And with nine races still to go, Bacon has plenty of time to catch JG. The sprint cars have already been to Gas City once this season, back in July during Indiana Sprint Week. Robert Ballou and Justin Grant swapped the lead multiple times that night, but it was Shane Cottle who stole the win, leading just the final lap. Things look good for Grant tonight though, as he does have a recent win at Gas City, and of the drivers with multiple starts there in recent seasons, he has the best average finish. As for Bacon, repeating what he did in 2021 was going to be tough, picking up 41 top tens in 43 races and having an average finish of 4.25. He's not nearly on that pace this season, but still has four wins and an average finish of 5.87. He'll need to keep grabbing podiums and top fives down the stretch to keep the pressure on Grant. Another driver to mention here is CJ Leary. He has ten straight top ten finishes, and hasn't finished worse than seventh since, actually, he was 21st at Gas City back during Sprint Week. He's been the hottest driver over the past five race and ten race stretches. Leary is third in the standings right now, and still has an outside chance at the title. And if he doesn't hit the wall late on Saturday at Haubstadt, we could have been talking about three wins in four races for Kevin Thomas Jr. KTJ has that BGE Dougherty machine locked in right now, so he could be a strong bet as well. The dirtrackr.com analytics prediction formula actually likes Kyle Cummins tonight, but I'm going Grant.

On the USAC midget side tonight at Gas City, Justin Grant had been trying to keep pace with Buddy Kofoid for that championship, but JG has lost ground in recent weeks as Kofoid has been really good. Nine wins total for the year, and three of the last four have pushed Buddy's lead to 132 points. There are still 12 nights remaining, but things are looking good for Buddy to repeat his championship success. Looking at Gas City specifically, Buddy owns the most recent win there, back in June of 2021. Cannon McIntosh was a winner in 2020. The formula likes Buddy tonight, and I'll go with the hot hand as well. If you can't get to Gas City, you can watch live on FloRacing.

At Texas Motor Speedway tonight, C. Bell's Micro Mania gets underway. The event is being put on by Christopher Bell and the track and features multiple days of outlaw non-wing micro sprint racing. Bell came up through the micro ranks, and you can see him often on Wednesday nights at Millbridge running these cars. He's also a regular in them at the Tulsa Shootout. The field for this event is huge, and at last check they were over 130 entries for the program that runs through Saturday night. As you might expect, if you pay attention to the micro scene, you'll recognize a lot of names on the list, including guys like Trey Marcham, Frank Flud, Brent Crews, Daniel Robinson, Gavan Boschele, and JJ Loss. But this event will also have a heavy NASCAR presence with names like Daniel Hemric, Bell, Kyle Busch, John Hunter Nemecheck, Sheldon Creed, and Brett Moffitt all expected to race as well. NASCAR is at Texas this weekend, so it will be a short walk across the parking lot from the big track to watch these guys run. Some pretty serious cash is up for grabs on Saturday with the potential to win $20,000. It looks like with so many cars they are doing split fields the next two nights to help setup Saturday's action. If you aren't nearby and can't get to Texas Motor Speedway, all three nights will be streamed live over on DIRTVision.

There are eight shows on the streaming schedule today. That includes Christopher Bell's Micro Mania at Texas Motor Speedway, the USAC National Sprint Cars on FloRacing, modifieds on RacinDirt, and regional action over 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 Thursday.

Thanks everybody for tuning in, I'll see you tomorrow for more DIRTRACKR Daily!