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Qualifying and horsepower will be at key at the $75k National Open at Williams Grove | Daily 10-21-2022
The $75,000 National Open is tomorrow, and to win, you'll need big balls and big power. We'll talk about that, plus Trophy Cup and what's ahead this weekend. Let's go!
It's Friday, October 21st, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
The National Open is at Williams Grove tomorrow, after it was rescheduled from October 1st because of rain. We talked earlier in the week about the tight points battle between Brad Sweet and David Gravel, so if you want the numbers, jump back to the Monday show. The weather for Saturday looks really nice, but things should cool off when the sun goes down. And cool temperatures mean speeds will be up and qualifying will be at a premium. And that's really what I want to talk about today in advance of the Outlaws and Posse racing for the $75,000 tomorrow night. It's always important to qualify well with the Outlaws because heats are lined straight up by those time trials. But with extra money up for grabs and passing not always the easiest thing to do at the Grove, qualifying towards the front will be vital for the eventual winner. In the past five National Opens, the winners have qualified in the top three overall or in their group in three of them. In 2019, Brent Marks was P15, but had a very good 5th to 2nd run in his heat race to make a dash. Same with Donny Schatz in 2020. Qualified P9, but went 5th to 1st. Those big moves aren't a given though in Grove heats. A few weeks ago in the National Open Friday show, the top two in each heat started first or second, except for one, Carson Macedo, who went third to second. So I'm not sure I'd expect any big charges in heat races tomorrow night. So that takes us back to qualifying. If we look at the best qualifiers at the Grove over the previous 30 Outlaw races there, three names are at the top. They are David Gravel, Lance Dewease, and Donny Schatz. Gravel is also the top qualifier with the Outlaws over the past six seasons, with an average time trial spot of 6.67. That will definitely make him towards the top of possible win picks tomorrow. Dewease is in there as well, he won the last Outlaw race at the Grove, and two of the previous three. The Grove has such a unique layout, with long straightaways and tight corners, that your car has to both be really fast, but also able to turn on a dime. This isn't just flat footing your way around a big, wide open half mile. This is big balls and big power down the straights, and faith and good handling through the corners. One other area we can look at is how drivers have done on half mile tracks this season. Gravel leads all drivers in 1/2 mile average finish, while Brent Marks has the most half mile wins. And he's the other one to watch tomorrow night. Marks was quick time in group B a few weeks ago, won his heat, but started fifth because of a not so great dash. He then ended up 27th after that wild flip out of the ballpark in turn four. Don't let that fool you though. He's the top money earner this season in a sprint car, he's a past winner of this event, and one that will have to be reckoned with. Championship aside, tomorrow night will be the classic Outlaws vs. Posse showdown, and the winner takes home one of the biggest sprint car checks of the year. If you aren't headed for the Grove, watch it live on DIRTVision.
A quick Williams Grove sidenote, way back in 2017, while I was hosting the Open Red podcast with Ross Wece, we had Greg Hodnett on the show. Episode 46 I believe. He got into a very detailed description of what it takes to go fast around the Grove, and I clipped out that audio and shared it today with some of my photos. If you want to hear that piece, I'll put the link to the YouTube video in the description below.
The World of Outlaws Late Models are headed to the midwest starting tonight, with stops coming up at Humboldt and 81 in Kansas, and US36 in Missouri. Humboldt is a fresh stop, while the series hasn't been to 81 since 2017, and US36 since 2009. Including World Finals, six race nights remain with Dennis Erb Jr. leading Tanner English right now by 98 points. 98 points is about 49 spots, over six nights, means English needs to be Erb by more than eight positions a night. Not impossible, but pretty improbable I think. I don't really know what we'll see in terms of car counts, but hopefully the midwest guys will show up. Lucas is done, MARS is done, the MLRA is done, so there isn't a lot of competition in the area. One thing I did want to call out here is the announcer situation. With the loss of Rick Eshelman, we've obviously got a massive hole to fill in the announcer's booth. This weekend, Ruben Mireles and Ben Shelton will be on the mic to call the action. Ruben is the Summer Nationals PA guy, and has previously been a pit reporter for the series. Ben Shelton was the Outlaw announcer when I first started at WRG back in 2013. For World Finals, Bret Emrick will return to the announcers' booth, and be joined by fellow Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer James Essex. All guys that knew Rick well, worked with Rick, and this will be a nice tribute to end the season. All three late model nights will also be streamed over on DIRTVision.
At Trophy Cup last night, 86 cars ended up signing in for racing, which was quite a few less than the 100 plus that were on the initial entry list, but again, not surprising after what we talked about yesterday. Because of other races, some guys that were going to appear, just couldn't. Ryan Timms ended up dominating the feature from the pole, which was aided by the track taking rubber not too far into the main event. Tyler Courtney, Kyle Hirst, Shane Golobic, and Carson Macedo completed the top five. Hirst is the high point man after night number one. They will line them up and do it all over again tonight, with the only difference being groups and orders are reversed. After tonight, Saturday lineups will be set via the points, with drivers keeping their highest point total of the two programs. If you were wondering about Carson Macedo last night, yes he did race a Tarlton entry, but he is not sticking around. He's on a plane today headed back to Pennsylvania and he'll be at the National Open at Williams Grove on Saturday. He was not the only Outlaw driver that was possibly going to run Trophy Cup before the Natty Open was postponed. No real issues getting approval for this event for the platinum members, since it's a 360 show and Tulare is an Outlaw track. If you can't get to Tulare this weekend, Trophy Cup can be streamed via pay-per-view over on The Cushion.
Also in action last night were non-wing micros at Port City Raceway for the first of two split-field prelim nights for the Keith Kunz Motorsports Giveback Classic. Seventh starting Steven Snyder Jr. took the lead from polesitter Daison Pursley inside ten to go and drove off to the opening night victory. Frank Flud, Cannon McIntosh, and Jake Nail completed the top five. Snyder is the defending event winner and will be in a good spot come Saturday to repeat. A fresh group will race tonight, and then Saturday's show will settle things for either $15,000, or a KKM ride at the Chili Bowl plus $7500. You can watch the KKM Giveback Classic all weekend over on FloRacing.
Looking around the country, there are a few other notable races to mention. First, I have to talk about Bedford, because several of you were in my comments yesterday reminding me about the weekend. The Keystone Cup is at Bedford Fairgrounds in Pennsylvania tonight and tomorrow. The event features a $22,000 to win main event for super late models on Saturday night. You'll also get semi lates, pure stocks, 4-cylinders, late model sportsman, and modifieds. This one will be on FloRacing and supposedly you'll see names like Garrett Smith, Chris Ferguson, Mason Zeigler, Rick Eckert, Gregg Satterlee, Matt Cosner and others.
Ahead of the National Open, BAPS Motor Speedway has 410 sprint cars, late models, and extreme stocks tonight. The sprint car show is $6000 to win and names like Kasey Kahne, Gio Scelzi, Kyle Reinhardt, Justin Peck and others will join the Posse in the field. This one will be streamed over at sprintcarunlimited.tv. $26.99 if you want to tune in.
At the Orange County Fair Speedway in New York tonight, the Short Track Super Series north region comes to a close for 2022. 50 laps for $10,000 to win, and this one will be the first championship coronation for Matt Sheppard. He's got a 121 point lead over Mat Williamson entering the show, and this one is over before it even starts. It should be a strong field of modifieds, and this one will be live on FloRacing as well.
And it's not technically dirt racing, but the Silver Crown Series closes out their year on Saturday at IRP. Logan Seavey enters with just a three point advantage over Kody Swanson for the title. The edge based on past performances is definitely on Swanson's side, but Seavey has had some strong runs on pavement. The slate at IRP also includes the 500 Sprint Car Tour and pavement midgets. If you are nearby, this would be a fun one to check out. It will also be streamed over on Flo.
We are definitely starting to slow down for dirt races around the country. Looking at right around 40 streaming shows for the next few days. Still plenty to watch, but not quite the massive selection we get during the summer months. You can find the full daily streaming schedule through the weekend 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!