DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Still several unresolved dirt late model situations for 2023 | Daily 11-18-2022
Today we'll take a quick lap through the late model silly season pool, talk Hangtown 100 night one, what to watch this weekend, and more. Let's go!
It's Friday, November 18th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
I'm going to start you guys off today with just a quick gripe. We're all friends here, so I feel like I can share this. I don't like the use of the word grassroots when it comes to motorsports. I never have and I never will. It feels reductive to me and almost disrespectful. When it comes to dirt racing and pavement racing, I much prefer short track racing as a more all encompassing term. The word grassroots really means like basic, or fundamental, but how are we going to sit here and call Jonathan Davenport, or Matt Sheppard, or Brad Sweet grassroots racers. There's no way that word represents them. You won't ever see or hear me use that word when it comes to dirt racing and dirt racers. Thanks for coming to my TED talk today.
The Hangtown 100 is off and rolling and it was Tanner Carrick who picked up on the opening night win on Thursday. He led all but the opening lap, and drove off to the victory, which was the 134th total USAC National Midget win for Keith Kunz Motorsports. That 134 number is significant because it makes KKM the winningest team in series history, topping car owner Steve Lewis. Behind Carrick, New Zealand's Michael Pickens ended up second after leading the opening lap from the pole. That's now two starts in California and two second place finishes. Points leader Buddy Kofoid rounded out the night's podium, though he wasn't able to extend his championship advantage because the night only paid show up points. That was good for Justin Grant, who flipped early, and was the beneficiary of some work area heroics to get that 2J machine back in the race. A small army of crew guys got a new front end fitted on Grant's car and ripped off the left side nerf bars in time to get him going before the race restarted. He ended up 14th. With 49 cars on the property, it was going to be a tough feature to make, and just like earlier in the week, we had some big names miss the show. That list included past series champion Tyler Courtney, plus Ryan Timms, Brenham Crouch, Chance Crum, Kaylee Bryson, Corey Day, and Ryan Bernal. The series return for Tanner Thorson was going pretty well until late in the feature when he was involved in an incident and finished 16th. One other thing I noticed from last night's coverage on FloRacing, are we not getting replays during features of incidents? I feel like this is something I've dismissed lately thinking it was just me, but I don't know that we are getting them. If any Flo people are watching, maybe let me know what's up? Looking ahead, tonight is another prelim night, with Saturday the big show that pays $20,000 to win and an additional $12,000 for the points champion. If you can't get to Placerville, watch both nights live on Flo.
Watching Michael Pickens the last few nights, combined with his Xtreme midget win earlier this season made me wonder about his winged sprint car exploits. He seems like a guy that could have some success in a winged car over here, but all I can seem to find is a few King of the West starts from 2014. He'd definitely be a guy to consider if you were a winged owner looking for a guy to take a chance on. I also didn't realize that he nearly had a whole ass pavement career after just missing out on the Roush Driver X program back in 2005. I ended up down that rabbit hole this morning trying to find the episodes to see if I could watch them, but no such luck.
Back on Tuesday this week we talked about changes coming in 2023 for Jonathan Davenport and Bobby Pierce. Wednesday we went through what has been a quiet sprint car silly season. So today, we'll briefly touch on what else is potentially out there in the late model world for possible changes. With Double Down Motorsports hiring Devin Moran, we know that the Tye Twarog owned team is still without a driver for 2023. As they did with Moran, don't expect that car to run a national tour, and it might be a while before we have a resolution on that one. Josh Richards is without a seat for next season after leaving the Boom Briggs team, and I've seen it floated that this could maybe be a landing spot for him. Richards just needs some luck to go his way after a brutal 2022 season across the board. I have also heard rumors about Jimmy Owens and Ramirez possibly shutting down, but nothing so far in any official capacity. Remember that team owner Leon Ramirez passed away earlier this year. It won't help those rumors that Cory Fostvedt just jumped ship over to Davenport and Double L. And I got asked this week about the possibility of Brandon Sheppard and his new partnership with Scott Riggs switching from Rocket Chassis to Longhorns. There are definitely some internet rumors about that one, but again, nothing of any real substance. I'm not saying it's not possible or not true, because it absolutely could be. But I think I'll wait to see BShepp actually roll a Longhorn out of his trailer somewhere. We are still about two and a half weeks away from the PRI Show, and the picture should continue to get clearer and clearer as that approaches.
If you want some other racing to check out this weekend, don't forget about the Blue Gray 100 at Cherokee Speedway, the Hunt the Front Southern Showcase at Deep South, and the Reutimann down at Volusia. At Deep South Speedway in Alabama, Hunt the Front is promoting their second ever late model race with a two night show that starts tonight. $5000 to win Friday, and then more than $20,000 to win on Saturday. Deep South Speedway hasn't hosted late models in two years, but they will have a solid field to watch. Names like Brandon Overton, Spencer Hughes, Payton Freeman, Camaron Marlar, and Rusty Schlenk are set to join the Hunt the Front guys. If you want to hear more about the event and how it came to be, go find my Conversations episode with Joshua Joiner from back in August.
At Cherokee in South Carolina, the Blue Gray 100 is going down on Sunday for $12,000 to win. Joining super late models on the card are 602 late models, pure stocks, thunder bombers, and extreme 4s. The interwebs tell me that we'll see Kyle Strickler, Chris Ferguson, Ross Bailes, Zack Mitchell, and Chris Madden there among others. Both the Hunt the Front Show and the Blue Gray 100 will be live on FloRacing.
And down at Volusia Speedway Park in Florida, the Reutimann Memorial will feature appearances from both Buzzie and David Reutimann, and NASCAR driver Justin Haley. Nick Hoffman won this event last year, but is still on the sidelines recovering from that highway incident a while back. You can watch this one live over on DIRTVision.
Don't forget that new hats are available over at shop.dirtrackr.com. Two snapback trucker options that are curved bill. If you decided to get one, thank you in advance.
Nine items on the streaming schedule today, and more to come this weekend, so if you need a dirt racing fix, still plenty of things to get into. Shows are coming up on DIRTVision, FloRacing, Speed Sport, Racing America and Clay-Per-View. 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 weekend friends! 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!