DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Not raced on in 20 years, can this dirt track be revived? | Daily 10-26-2022
A dirt track back from the dead? We'll talk about the newest plans from XR to revive another race track, plus a new ride for CJ Leary and some weekend schedule changes. Let's go!
It's Wednesday, October 26th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
In terms of driver and team moves, the USAC world has been pretty quiet so far as we get closer to the end of the season. But that changed yesterday with an announcement for CJ Leary. Starting next season, Leary is joining BGE/Dougherty Motorsports for a full USAC National Sprint Car season. He'll be joined in a second team car all season by Carson Garrett. BGE/Dougherty had campaigned cars for Kevin Thomas Jr. this summer, picking up three wins. I'm not sure where that deal went sideways though. KTJ scored those victories at Kokomo, Circle City, and Gas City. He could have also won at Haubstadt, but had issues late. He then went Eldora for 4-Crown and finished 9th. The next week, KTJ flipped out of his heat race back at Kokomo and wasn't in the semi or main event that night. The following day at Lawrenceburg, Thomas was in attendance, but not in the BGE/Dougherty car. He was instead behind the wheel of the Michael Dutcher owned machine and ended up 18th after starting 15th. KTJ is expected to head west with Dutcher as well. I looked around a bit to see if there were details on the split with KTJ, but couldn't find anything. As for Leary, he's run the past couple of seasons for Bill Michael in the 77M, and has had some success. Five wins, 21 top fives and 34 top tens in 43 races a year ago, and three wins, 16 top fives and 26 top tens in 34 starts in 2022. Leary currently finds himself third in the national standings behind Justin Grant and Brady Bacon. Carson Garrett has made 21 USAC National Sprint Car appearances over the past two years with a best finish of 11th that came back on September 17th at Haubstadt. This new two car team will debut at Bubba Raceway Park for Winter Dirt Games next February.
We've got a few news items for you today from XR. First, after being involved with the return of racing to North Wilkesboro, the Racetrack Revival project will now turn it's attention towards Pennsboro Speedway in West Virginia. The facility is located a little more than two and a half hours south and west of Pittsburgh, right off the Northwestern Turnpike. The half mile dirt track has not been in operation since 2002, and will definitely need some serious work to bring racing back. Older race fans will remember this track as the home of the Hillbilly 100 and the Dirt Track World Championship. A smaller track was built several years ago in the infield which has been used for karting shows I believe. The track is egg shaped, with one end's corners a much tighter radius than the others. I saw someone compare it to Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala in terms of shape. At the present time, you can see where the old half mile previously existed if you check out Google maps, but there doesn't appear to be any grandstands, fencing, walls or usuable buildings, like for concessions and restrooms. There's also a creek that runs right through the track, and I think that will present some unique challenges in terms of safety, drainage, and any track reconfiguration. Because of the scope of the project, they are not working towards a 2023 return, but instead a 2024 return. Which makes sense after taking a look at some of the images. The reaction seems to be mostly positive, but I have seen a few negative comments. With XR being involved, that makes you think super late models, and the track, at least in it's currentish form, looks like it might be a tad narrow. But that might be one of the things they will address as they work to bring racing back. World of Outlaws announcer Johnny Gibson also tweeted out his thoughts, saying quote "Went to Pennsboro 3 times (Dirt Track World Championship, All Star Sprint/LM double header, and the $25K to win sprint car race that at the time was the highest paying sprint car race in the world). By far the worst track/facility I've ever attended. The rest aren't even close" unquote. Strong words there from Johnny. The location doesn't look terrible, and there is definitely some potential here, but it will need a significant investment of money and time to get this place back into racing shape. This is definitely something we'll keep an eye on going forward over the next year. Hopefully XR brings us along for the ride as they begin work.
Also, XR had planned two weeks of dirt late model racing at the Dirt Track at Las Vegas in January and February. They were calling these events the Silver State Super Speedweeks, but yesterday they posted on their Facebook page that the speedweeks have been cancelled. The announcement said quote "due to increased travel/fuel cost and potential tire availability concerns the Silver State Speedweeks set for January 17-21, 2023 and February 21-25, 2023 have been cancelled" unquote. XR and the XR Super Series still have the Duel in the Desert at Las Vegas coming up November 10th through the 12th, with two of those nights paying $20 grand to win and the finale paying $40 grand. They will also be at All-Tech in Florida December 2nd and 3rd for the Sunshine State 50. Those nights are $20 and $40 grand to win as well. We'll see coming up what XR has planned for their 2023 schedule.
A couple of other schedule notes for you today. This weekend's finale for the Xtreme Outlaw sprint cars at Devil's Bowl has been postponed. They've had heavy rain and more is coming this weekend. The post says an update on the finale will be announced at a later time. Hopefully they are able to reschedule this one, because the rumors about the future of Devil's Bowl are not good. There is nothing definitive out there about the track's status, but there are rumors a sale is possible or has happened. It would definitely suck to lose the home of the original World of Outlaws race from 1978.
Also, if you're a late model fan, this weekend's National 100 at East Alabama has been moved up 24 hours. The weekend will now close out Saturday, instead of Sunday. The National 100 features a $30,000 to win super late model feature, plus racing for limited late models, and 604 and 602 late models.
If you are in the market for other dirt racing audio this week, Winged Nation has Lance Dewease and Shane Golobic. LoudPedal has Shane Cockrum, Passing Points has Seth Bergman, Forward Bite has Josh Richeson, Dirt Tracks and Rib Racks has Gary Fitzpatrick, and there are new episodes of The Dirt Reporters, the Dirt Nerds, QuickTime, and All Gas, No Brakes. To see the full list of shows and episodes, head over to dirtrackr.com/podcasts.
There are two shows on the streaming services today. DIRTVision has weekly micro action from Millbridge Speedway, and there is FloRacing 24/7. 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 Wednesday. 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!