DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Everything is bad, and it's all FloRacing's fault... At least, that's the line we're getting
Kyle Larson put on a show last night at Tyler County, we'll point out some of the racing to come this weekend, and another track promoter provides insight and some complaints about the streaming model. Let's go!
It's Friday, September 30th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
If you didn't watch the Hillbilly Hundred last night from Tyler County for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, I would definitely recommend going back and checking that one out. The results sheet says today that Kyle Larson led all 100 laps to score his second career series win, but it was an absolute masterclass of a performance. He started outside front row and spent the entire race trying to keep his competition at bay through lap traffic that came into play on something like lap six. They were in it early and often, and Larson had Brandon Sheppard right on him for most of the laps, with guys like Garrett Alberson also in the mix. There were many times where the Rocket house car was even with or maybe even slightly ahead of the Rumley six, but Larson kept battling. It's one of the skills that I think Larson is able to easily take from car type to car type, is that ability to work through traffic. It's a nice mix of aggressive moves and good decision making, and he needed all of it last night to earn the victory. In victory lane afterwards, even Larson admitted that the guys behind him were probably a little faster. Sheppard and Alberson ended up second and third. In the Lucas points battle, Sheppard did make up 20 on McCreadie, but the gap is still 160 and that feels more and more like it's too big to overcome. Hat tip to Josh Richards last night, he started 10th and ended up fifth. It was the first time we'd seen Richards in the top five in a national touring late model race since Sharon Speedway with the Outlaws in May. Hopefully this means that Boom Briggs owned team is headed in the right direction. So no racing for Lucas tonight as the show at Raceway 7 was cancelled. They are scheduled to go to Pennsylvania on Saturday for the Pittsburgher. Keep an eye on the forecast though, as the remnants from Hurricane Ian will affect a lot of the eastern United States over the next few days.
Also in action last night were the ASCS sprint cars for the first of three nights at I-30 Speedway. The Short Track Nationals actually start tonight officially, but last night's ASCS Mid South region show still drew what will be the entire field of cars. Last night more than 70 were checked in. The feature was dominated by Aaron Reutzel who battled early on with Wayne Johnson, but got away at the end. Sam Hafertepe Jr. and Jordan Mallett joined him on the podium. Tonight's show will feature twin main events with the top two finishers in each transferring into Saturday's main event that pays $15,000 to win. Remember this is the final race weekend ever at I-30 with the facility set to be sold to Copart. If you can't be there, you can watch live on FloRacing.
A lot of racing in the east has already been cancelled or lost for the weekend, but we will still have plenty to check out. I think we are good to go for tonight at Williams Grove for the National Open, but I think Saturday's big show is in serious jeopardy. The Outlaws' championship battle is down to Brad Sweet and David Gravel, and this would normally be a weekend where someone like Gravel could have made up ground on Sweet, but with what we've see from the Big Cat recently, I don't think that's a given. Central PA was always a tough place for Sweet, especially Williams Grove, but we can't really say that anymore. The NAPA 49 was in victory lane at the most recent stop at the Grove, with Sweet leading the final three laps and outdueling Danny Dietrich, Sheldon Haudenschild, and Donny Schatz. We know Gravel can get around the Grove just fine, but this could actually be a weekend where Sweet could add to his points lead and really start to put this thing away. Other recent Outlaw winners at the Grove include Lance Dewease, Brent Marks, and Carson Macedo. All three of those could be solid win picks tonight. I also think there's a decent chance we see Kyle Larson tonight. Tyler County is about four and a half hours from Williams Grove, and Larson isn't needed at Talladega until tomorrow. We are still watching that 15 race top ten streak for Jacob Allen, and there is a good chance it gets extended tonight. Allen was ninth in the previous race at the Grove back in July. You can watch the Outlaw weekend live on DIRTVision.
The USAC National Sprint Cars have two races this weekend, with the Friday night show at Terre Haute now moved to Kokomo, and Lawrenceburg on tap for Saturday. Brady Bacon is still trying to close the gap to Justin Grant for the championship, but neither driver seems to have a big advantage tonight at Kokomo. Bacon has a better average finish over the last few years there, but Grant did pick up a prelim night win during Smackdown not long ago. As for Lawrenceburg, the average finish edge goes to Bacon, and we've seen the Macho Man win twice there over the past five races. Also, I would not forget about Kevin Thomas Jr. this weekend. Three wins in the past six races mean he's got a lot of confidence in that team and that car right now. Both USAC nights will be live on Flo.
Elsewhere around the country we've got POWRi Midgets at Sweet Springs, the Sprint Car Challenge Tour is at Silver Dollar if you're a California fan, and the Comp Cams late models at Greenville for the Gumbo Nationals. So plenty of action to check out, drop me a comment let me know where you're headed, what you'll be watching, and win picks for the weekend.
Before we close out today, I want to point you to a video that got shared in the comments on yesterday's show from John. In it, Perris Auto Speedway announcer Scott Daloisio interviews track promoter Dan Kazarian, and there are some interesting things to take away. Perris is currently in a fight against a construction project that they feel will harm the fairgrounds, so Kazarian has been out in the public a lot lately. If you want more details on that construction project, go find my Daily show from September 6th. In the interview they talk about the construction, but also about streaming and promoting issues, which was of interest to me, especially with what we've talked about lately and heard about a lot lately from promoters. At this moment in time, I do not envy FloRacing and Michael Rigsby, because it seems like they are the ones top of mind and easy to blame for the issues these tracks are facing right now. Kazarian is asked about streaming around the 4 minute 30 mark in the interview and he wastes no time saying he isn't a fan of Flo. He says their front gate revenue is down 37% this season and seems to be insinuating that streaming is to blame. He then though, goes on to say that with gas prices above $6 a gallon in California, that people aren't going to come to the track. So on one hand he's mad at streaming, but then blames gas prices. He does reveal that Flo pays him $1000 a night, which we then find out is good for about 33 tickets. Which is about what I've heard from other tracks. And then later, Daloisio mentions they guess that two to three hundred people a night are staying home to watch the races on streaming, versus come to the tracks. And that number is based on text messages that he gets from people that want shoutouts during the broadcasts. Kazarian then says that following the Oval Nationals, something needs to change, either some sort of revenue share with FloRacing and USAC, or it all needs to go away. I'm curious after hearing them talk what the expectation is for the revenue share. If $1000 is 33 tickets, that's $30 bucks a ticket. Are they thinking that the streaming services should pay them $30 times the 300 they are guessing are staying home? That's $9000. Should it really be on the streamers to make the tracks whole for losses they have at the front gates? It's an interesting though experiment to go deep on this issue and really think about the revenue pie, what the model is or could be, and who exactly owns the racing. Does the series own the racing? Does the track? We can also throw the racers in here, because there have been no lack of complaints from their side, especially at the highest levels, for wanting more money as well. Bigger paying races, more tow money, and more guarantees. And there is clearly no right answer here, as we've seen these same problems exist across sports, from labor stoppages and lockouts, and renegotiations based on TV contracts, etc. NASCAR is about to go through all of this with their charter holders as they work on a new TV deal for the future. I'm guessing when PRI rolls around in December, there could be a lot of heated conversations behind closed doors about the future of a lot of these deals. We'll then start to find out who really has the power in these cases and who can exert influence for change, or no change. I'll put a link to that video in the description below if you want to watch it for yourself.
As you might expect, the streaming schedule is plenty busy over the next few days. If you're track or event gets rained out, there will be plenty of other shows to watch over the weekend. You can see that full daily streaming schedule over at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
That's it for the show today, enjoy the dirt racing weekend. Please hit that like button, and subscribe to the show if you don't already.
Thanks everybody for tuning in, I'll see you tomorrow for more DIRTRACKR Daily!