DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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World of Outlaws teams trade schedule freedom for championship, guaranteed benefits | Daily 10-6-2022
The Flo late models are racing tonight, GR Smith has a new driver, so does the Lane sprint car, we'll also talk Super Dirt Week, and some more Outlaw vs. High Limit stuff. Let's go!
It's Thursday, October 6th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
Before we get this shindig started, just a few things from the reaction to yesterday's show about the Outlaws and High Limit. First, nobody is stopping any sprint car driver from racing anywhere. If you wanted to, you could run the entire Outlaw schedule, the entire High Limit schedule, and any other races you wanted to with zero restrictions. Yes, the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series limits their full timers on extra races, but they sign a contract for extra benefits in return. If they don't sign the contract, they can do whatever they want, whenever they want. Second, I had several people bring up the $6000 to win shows the Outlaws used to have, and yes there were races that paid $6000 to win, but those shows haven't been on the calendar in two years. I get that a midweek $22,000 to win race is more appealing for the bank account than a $10,000 to win show is, no question. Down the order though, the High Limit purse that was going to be paid out at Wayne County is almost exactly the same as a standard Outlaw show. Also, I had a few people mention that if the Outlaws are allowed to run the High Limit stuff, that it sort of just helps the rich get richer, and that is definitely true to a point. The Outlaw guys plus Kyle Larson will take a lot of that money home with them, versus it being available to other drivers and teams. Definitely some food for thought there. If concessions are not made between the series and the full time drivers, I do think it's possible we see a few drop off, but I don't believe we'll see a mass exodus. At minimum, an Outlaw team will be guaranteed about $75,000 just in bonus money and the tow money, and 12th in points is $30,000. So if a team is going to go pick and choose, they'd have to make up about $100,000 on the low end, and potentially a lot more depending on their status and where they finish in the standings. It's definitely doable, and you don't need to run a series to make good money, but if you don't go that direction, you've got to win. According to sprintcarratings.com, only five of the top ten in winnings this season aren't full timers with a series. They are Brent Marks, Anthony Macri, Danny Dietrich, Kyle Larson, and Gio Scelzi. Marks tops the list right now at about $600,000, but as Jeremy Elliott pointed out, Marks won a lot of that in just two wins at Eldora, which you can't bank on for the future. The guaranteed cash for the Outlaw and All Star guys would move a lot of them up this list if it was added in. Alright, moving on.
The FloRacing Night in America Late Model Series is back tonight at Tri-County Racetrack here in North Carolina. Three scheduled races remain in 2022, but Michael Rigsby did elude to possibly adding another show before the season is out. After tonight, they've got October 11th at 411 Motor Speedway, and then Senoia Raceway on November 12th. Right now, Brandon Sheppard leads Bobby Pierce and Tyler Erb in the championship standings. Pierce has won two in a row with the Flo Series, and we know that after last week they were down to their last car and last engine, but the Smooth Operator is expected to race tonight, even with a big weekend coming at Fairbury. The FALS Frenzy is paying $5000 to win Friday and $15,000 to win Saturday and is MARS sanctioned. Sheppard is in a pretty strong position to come out on top for this title, but if Pierce can continue his winning ways, it could get tight in the final weeks. Besides Pierce and Sheppard, we should also see Jonathan Davenport tonight, as well as Brandon Overton, Ricky Thornton Jr., Mike Marlar, Hudson O'Neal and others. Tonight's race is again $22 grand to win and $1000 to start, and the show also includes 602 late models, street stocks, modifieds, and front wheel drives. Grandstands open at 4PM with hot laps at 6:15. If you aren't headed for Brasstown, watch live on FloRacing.
And since we are talking about late models, we started yesterday's show off with the news that Max Blair and Viper Motorports were splitting following World Finals, and late yesterday we got the news of another move. GR Smith and Team 22 are bringing in Georgia driver Payton Freeman for the 2023 season. Freeman is moving over from his family owned team that has campaigned both Capital and Rocket chassis this season. After winning the Southern All Stars title in 2021, Freeman ran the full Summer Nationals this year, finishing second in the points to Bobby Pierce. We've seen Freeman just once this season with Lucas, a 25th place finish at Tri-City in July. Over the past few years, he's also made 10 Outlaw starts, with a best finish of 11th, which he did twice, once at Smoky Mountain on September 2nd, and again at Boyd's a few weeks ago. This isn't as surprising move from Freeman, as I'd heard rumors he was in pursuit of other rides. The release says that Freeman and Team 22 will compete full time with a national touring series, which means Lucas or the Outlaws, but they will make another announcement about the direction they choose to go. This season, that team had initially campaigned a car for Ashton Winger as a rookie with Lucas, but the two sides parted earlier this summer after 30 races together. Winger had three top fives and 13 top tens in those 30 races, with a best finish of second at East Bay back in February.
If you want some sprint car racing tonight, the Brian Montieth Classic is set for Lincoln Speedway. 410 sprint cars for $7000 to win and we should get a pretty nice field. Obviously the Central PA regulars will be out in force, but you can also add Brian Brown, Buddy Kofoid, and Scotty Thiel to the mix. Might be a few others as well. The Outlaws are at Port Royal this weekend, and the All Stars are at Fremont, so there are plenty of cars not far away. As for the Lincoln track championship, Freddie Rahmer has things well in hand with just two races left. Chase Dietz and Dylan Norris will not catch him. Grandstands open at 5 today with racing at 7. If you can't be there, watch live on FloRacing.
In some sprint car driver news this morning, the Lane Racing 4 car will have a new driver coming up at Fremont for the final All Star weekend of 2022. The team parted ways with driver Cap Henry before the 4-Crown at Eldora, and Sye Lynch drove the car that weekend in the Outlaw and All Star shows. Jacob Hord and Ohio Dirt broke the news this morning that Lane is teaming up with Jay Kiser for the two nights, with driver Chris Andrews in the car and Jay crew chiefing. Andrews is a regular participant at Fremont and Attica, and has top five runs at both this season. He led laps at Fremont with the All Stars back in June before finishing sixth, and most recently was 10th with the series at Limaland on June 17th. The All Star weekend starts tomorrow night.
Wednesday up at Super DIRT Week featured the first rounds of practice at Oswego, plus racing last night at Brewerton. During the afternoon yesterday, Mat Williamson set fast laps in both the big block and 358 modifieds. Money Mat is the defending Super DIRT Week winner in the big block. Zach Sobotka led sportsman practice, and Jay Casey was fastest in pro stock hot laps. Both Williamson and Sobotka praised the Oswego dirt surface, with Williamson saying it was quote "really good" and Sobotka mentioning that it is smoother than last year. Williamson also said he hopes it stays together all week and that it doesn't take rubber on Sunday. Grandstands open today at Oswego at noon, with the first on track action scheduled for 2PM. There are two more practice sessions today, and then time trials will start for the pro stocks and 358s. Later tonight we'll also get the past champions race, pro stock heats, and 358 heats. You can also watch all day long over on DIRTVision.
At Brewerton last night for the Hurricane Harvey 75 program, Williamson and Sobotka kept the speed rolling from earlier in the day. Williamson started 11th and caught leader Max McLaughlin inside ten to go. He then went unchallenged over the final few laps to earn his 28th total win of the season. McLaughlin and Tim Sears Jr. completed the podium. In the sportsman main event, Sobotka went ninth to the lead in 10 laps and drove on to his first victory of the season at Brewerton. With the satellite events now done for the week, all of the focus will be on Oswego through Sunday.
One schedule note for you today. This weekend's Xtreme Outlaw Sprint Car shows at Atomic Speedway in Ohio have been cancelled because of impending freezing temperatures. If you bought tickets in advance, contact the race track for details. This first season of non-wing sprint cars under the WRG banner will now conclude on October 28th and 29th at Devil's Bowl Speedway in Texas. Shane Cockrum currently leads Alex Bright and Jake Swanson in the race for the Xtreme Outlaw Sprint Car championship.
There are seven shows on today's slate of streaming events. DIRTVision has Thursday from Super DIRT Week, FloRacing has the Flo late models from Tri-County, 410s at Lincoln, and Flo 24/7. RacinDirt has day three of the USRA Nationals, Dirt Track Digest has racing from Mohawk, and there are weekly divisions at I-80 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. 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!