DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Pair of stolen dirt racing street stocks found buried in Florida | Daily 10-4-2022

So, you won't believe this. This guy actually stole race cars and then buried them. I've got photos and the story today and more. Let's go!

It's Tuesday, October 4th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

So, I got sent this story yesterday morning and it did trickle around the interwebs a little yesterday, so you may have seen it already. But I wanted to share it anyway, just because of how insane it is. This car on the screen belongs to Jeff Stalnaker Jr., who is from Florida and has been racing around the southeast a long time. Recently, this car has been driven by Ivedent Lloyd in appearances at All-Tech Raceway. Last week, Stalnaker parked his enclosed trailer with the two street stocks in it with Hurricane Ian approaching. Their area of Ocala was not hit hard by the storm, but when the returned to the shop, they found the trailer had been stolen. JA Ackley's Outside Groove reported on the story last Friday, but here's where things get weird. Stalnaker had offered a $5000 reward for the trailer, but ended up turning himself into a detective and tracking down his race cars on his own. Apparently the alledged thief stole the trailer not realizing there were race cars inside, and decided to dispose of the trailer's contents in a strange way. Using an excavator, the thief dug a massive hole, put both cars and all the parts inside, and covered it up. Somehow, they were able to find the hole and recover everything, but as the photos show, there isn't much left that is useable. The cars and their roll cages have been destroyed and a lot of the parts are water logged and mangled. The thief has been arrested and is being held without bond on several counts, including grand theft auto. Stalnaker told Ackley that he isn't sure when he'll race again, but that it's been a humbling experience having so many reach out to him asking if they can help. If you want to see more photos, go search Jeff Stalnaker Jr. on Facebook. Definitely a crazy story with a very bittersweet ending.

Around the country, two big weeks of racing get underway tonight. The first we'll talk about is Super Dirt Week. Up at the dirt covered Oswego Speedway in New York, Racing's Biggest Party is actually already underway. Pro Stocks, 358 modifieds, sportsman modifieds, and big block modifieds will race all week, with main events on Saturday and Sunday. Campers have been moving in since Sunday, and tech inspection for all divisions opened at the track yesterday. The first racing of the week is on tap for tonight, with Weedsport Speedway hosting the kickoff which includes the 358s, sportsman, and pro stocks. Mat Williamson is the defending winner of the 200 lapper for the big blocks, Stewart Friesen won the sportsman 150 a year ago, while Zach Sobotka and Chad Jeseo won the sportsman and pro stock main events. Cars will get on track at Oswego on Wednesday, with action continuing every day through Sunday, including practices, qualifying, heats and mains. You can watch tonight's kick off racing from Weedsport live on DIRTVision.

Also this week is the USRA Nationals at Lucas Oil Speedway in Missouri. Through Saturday night, all USRA divisions, including the modifieds, stock cars, B-Mods, hobby stocks, late models, factory stocks, tuners and more will compete. If you want more information, head over to usraracing.com. If you want to watch live, you can do that over at racindirt.com.

It's been a while since we did a lap through the analytics section at dirtrackr.com and just shared some different insights, so I've got a few for you today. We mentioned yesterday that Jacob Allen's top ten streak is now 16 races. Of all the major dirt racing series, this is currently the longest active streak. Another note of interest for the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series is around where feature winners start. In 2021 and 2020 we had more winners from second than we did from the pole, but that trend has been reversed in 2022. So far this season, 22 winners have come from the pole, with just 13 from second. Whatever advantage those outside front row starters had the previous couple of seasons now seems to have been neutralized. With the two national late model series in Lucas and the Outlaws, the guy that has the most wins and the most laps led with both series is actually not a full time driver. Jonathan Davenport has obviously had an incredible season, and it's wild that he tops both categories with both series while only running select races. On the Outlaw side, he is joined by Dennis Erb Jr. at the top of the wins list for 2022. If we take a look at the USAC National Sprint Car Series, Justin Grant is in control of the championship fight right now over Brady Bacon and the difference between the two is how well JG has done passing cars come feature time. Bacon is starting better on average in features by more than half a position over Grant, but JG leads the series in feature plus/minus at plus 84. Grant is starting features around a half position worse than he was a year ago, but he's finishing about seventh tenths of a position better. Through 34 races in 2022, Grant has started outside the top ten 11 times, and he's converted 10 of those to top ten finishes and four to top five finishes. It's not difficult to see why he's leading the championship with five races left. If you want to check out more stats and analysis, head over to dirtrackr.com/analytics. And you can go deeper with a subscription to DIRTRACKR Plus for $4.99 a month. That's less than the cost of an egg mcmuffin meal at McDonalds, and for that small amount you'll get almost 30 additional stat categories and tools that aren't available anywhere else. If you are participating in things like Dirt Draft or the various pools, this is perfect for your research.

Moving on, this is your final iRacing World of Outlaws Late Model Series update of the season. Don't worry though, the sprint car pro series starts up on November 28th, so we'll be back then for more on cartoon racing. If you want to participate in the sprint car pro series, I believe the qualifying events start next Monday the tenth. Carquest Auto Parts has signed on as the title sponsor for that series. Alright, on to last night. Evan Seay officially clinched the championship last week, but after the last lap shenanigans with Kendal Tucker at Volusia, Seay was suspended for the finale by series officials. So no final win, no grand coronation. Pretty wild to have your series champion on the sidelines for the final race. In the final feature event of the year, the battle for the win came down to a fight between the two Dylans, Dylan Wilson and Dylan Yeager. The two traded slide jobs lap after lap down the stretch, and at the end it was Dylan Yeager who got ahead through the final corner and snagged the win. I was a little surprised that Dylan Wilson didn't try and do more to block the move, because the same passes had played out for several laps before. Blake Matjoulis rounded out the podium after starting dead last in the field. In the fight for relegation, James Edens and Jesse Wall grabbed the final two locked in spots for the next season of racing, while Drew Hopkins and Justin Norwood are out and will have to go back through the qualification process. It was definitely a crazy season with Evan Seay dominating, and then having to sit out the finale because of that penalty.

There are five shows on today's streaming schedule. DIRTVision has the first night of Super Dirt Week from Weedsport Speedway and outlaw karts from Millbridge. FloRacing has modifieds and the Patriot Sprint Tour from Utica-Rome plus Flo 24/7. And RacinDirt has the first night of the USRA Nationals from Wheatland. 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 Tuesday. 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!