DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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The story of cut purses, cancelled shows, and a lot of angry drivers and fans | Daily 11-8-2022

Things went big sideways over the weekend at Atomic Speedway and we've got details, plus Kyle Larson really isn't racing the Chili Bowl. Let's go!

It's Tuesday, November 8th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

Before we get into the show today, I wanted to take a quick moment to say thank you. We went over 10,000 YouTube subscribers last night, which is absolutely incredible. Early in 2022 I thought there was a chance we could get here before the year was out, but the growth of the channel the last two months has been big, and we got here with still nearly two months left in the year. We should also cross over two million total video views by the end of the year as well. Just to give you an idea of the growth, in 2021 this channel did 433,000 total views, and with still something like seven or eight weeks left in 2022, we are well over 1.3 million. I don't know how big this thing can get, but I'm going to keep pushing and busting my ass every day to bring you guys fresh episodes and cool dirt racing content. Remember that this show can be watched on YouTube, or you can listen in podcast form at all your favorite podcast places like Apple, Google, Spotify and more. I've also got dirtrackr.com, and you can follow DIRTRACKR across social media on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. As an added bonus, I've knocked 30% off all merch at shop.dirtrackr.com for the next day or two. Use the code TENTHOUSAND at checkout. Shipping is already free, and I'll cover sales tax. Alrighty, let's get into today's episode.

If you tuned in yesterday, I alluded at the end of the episode to the problems over the weekend at Atomic Speedway in Ohio, and I wanted to dive into the story today. The Renegades of Dirt Series took over the race track for what was supposed to be a four day show. This was a track rental, so the track got a fee to use the facility, and the event organizers were in complete control. This is not an uncommon deal type across the sport, and one that gets used by some high profile series and events. The four days of racing were supposed to feature late models, modifieds, and sport mods, and the purses were pretty hefty. According to the event promotion, Friday and Sunday's modified races were $15,000 to win, and Saturday's late model race was $14,000 to win. Unfortunately though, all four days were not completed, and that amount of money did not end up getting paid out. The Thursday and Friday races did happen, but things did not run smoothly, with some racers still not having been paid. And by Saturday, the entire weekend started to fall apart. During the drivers meeting, it was announced that the late model purse was being cut and the winner's share was going from $14,000 down to $4000. They also announced the cancellation of the entire day Sunday, which included a $15,000 to win modified race. Some teams decided to load up and leave, while others stuck it out. Eventually though, the speedway management took over the rest of the Saturday show and paid out the purse to all divisions when it became clear that money was going to yet again be a problem for the organizers. I talked with both track owner Charlie Vest and Atomic's race director Dave Andrews about the situation, and unfortunately it seems as though Robbie Cyrus and the Renegades of Dirt made some serious mistakes and things got away from them. It sounds like the hope was that the promise of a big purse would draw both competitors to the back gate and fans to the front gate, and it became apparent pretty quickly during the weekend that that didn't happen. The promoters needed the gate proceeds to cover the purse, and when the numbers didn't add up, things went sideways quick. Charlie eventually stepped in to guarantee the racers a payout on Saturday, but there are a lot of angry and upset people over the whole weekend. This was the perfect example of when race promoting goes bad, and some big missteps occured along the way. There was not nearly enough actual marketing and promotion that happened to try and draw fans and competitors. A bunch of organic Facebook posts don't count as a marketing plan. Also, I'm not sure how you go into an event advertising a purse you can't afford to pay unless certain conditions are met. It just seems like a massive risk to take for a November show in Ohio. It's a shame because Cyrus and his series have now probably been damaged beyond repair in the community, and Charlie and the track were left trying to pick up the pieces and took a beating themselves in the process. Charlie did tell me that he'll make changes to these types of agreements in the future so as to avoid blowups like this. Even with all this madness over the previous few days, the future is bright for Atomic with Charlie in charge. If you want to hear more from him, go find my past conversations episode where he was a guest. I personally like his approach, and he's got some good ideas for the facility. For example, he's currently got a deal worked out for one of the Atomic track champions to get an ARCA test at Daytona in the future. You hear me say all the time how difficult it is to promote races and run tracks and series, and it's often tough to have success even when things go completely right. Mistakes of this magnitude though will never go unpunished.

Jumping over to some news from yesterday. The Wild West Shootout, which is the late model event at Vado Speedway Park coming up in January, has been releasing some names of drivers we will see there coming up early next year. Expected entrants right now include guys like Bobby Pierce, Brandon Sheppard, Mike Marlar, Tyler Erb, and Earl Pearson Jr. The name that got released yesterday was Kyle Larson, and that is notable because the dates directly conflict with the Chili Bowl. If you might remember back to July, Larson came out publicly and said he would not compete at the Chili Bowl until the purses were raised, and he seems to be set on following through on that. At the time, he told Racing America's Matt Weaver quote "I'm just at the point where I want to see the purse grow a lot. So, for the time being, and unless that happens, I won't be running it this year and I know there are a lot of racers that feel the same way" unquote. That then led to event owner Emmett Hahn telling Weaver that he quote "will not be backed into a corner." In the months since, nothing has come out about any changes to the Chili Bowl purse structure, not that we expected it to be changed after Hahn's comments, so Larson has made other plans. The six nights of the Wild West Shootout do offer the opportunity to make a lot more money for someone like Larson, with five of the nights paying $10,000 to win and $600 to start, and the finale being $25,000 to win and $1000 to start. There are also bonuses available for multiple wins, plus a small points payout for the week. So with Larson now out, the question will be if he draws anyone else away with him. And the timing of the Larson news is interesting, with Chili Bowl entries set to open tomorrow. We got the first look at early entries on November 30th last year, so we should start getting a picture of who's in and who's out in the next few weeks.

If you want to watch some dirt racing tonight, the Short Track Super Series begins their Cajun Swing with a stop at Rocket Raceway Park in Texas. These races are not part of the larger series championships, but some nice cash is available through the week. According to a release from the series, the car counts should be pretty strong. Expect names like Andy Bachetti, Matt Sheppard, Erick Rudolph, Ryan Godown, and more. Tonight's race is $4000 to win with limited modifieds and factory stocks also on the card. Adult tickets are $20 if you are headed that way, or you can watch it live on FloRacing.

There are two shows on today's streaming schedule, both of them happening over on FloRacing. The Short Track Super Series begins their Cajun Swing at Rocket Raceway Park, and there is Flo 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 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!