DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Sprint cars get their shot at the Eldora Million, will Outlaw teams be allowed to race? | Daily 12-15-2022

Eldora is bringing the Million back, but this time for sprint cars. We'll get into that, plus news from Daison Pursley, and DIRTRACKR is sponsoring a race car. Let's go!

It's Thursday, December 15th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

The big dirt racing news items just keep on coming, and we'll get into the Eldora Million here shortly. But first, today's episode is sponsored by MSP Mounts. If you want to capture video from your race car or ATV, you'll need some way to mount your GoPros, and MSP provides the perfect solution. Made by racers, for racers, their action camera mounts are tough, versatile, and easy to handle. They fit roll bars and tubing from 3/4" thick to 2" thick, can be mounted and unmounted with no tools in just a few seconds, and can be used for all sorts of race cars. I know some of you out there have started tuning into Thomas Meseraull's TMezTV channel on YouTube, which he's doing a great job with. He's using some of these mounts from MSP for his onboard footage. So if they can survive TMez, I'm sure they'll be great for whatever you use them for. MSP Mounts are made by sprint car racer Dan McCarron, and he's had customers put these things on sprint cars, late models, modifieds, midgets, 600 micros, side by sides and more. And when you're ready to grab one or a few, he's helping out my viewers and listeners with a coupon code. Head over to mspmounts.com to order, and use code "DIRTRACKR" at checkout for 10% off. That's D I R T R A C K R for 10% off your order at mspmounts.com. Thanks again to Dan and MSP for their support of my show.

We'll start first with the big news from Wednesday, Eldora Speedway is bringing back the Eldora Million for 2023, but instead of it being a late model show, this time the sprint car guys will have a chance to race for that big prize. We already knew the Kings Royal dates, as they were part of the Outlaw schedule, but we figured something was up with that Wednesday and Thursday before the Kings Royal, and after the Doty. Eldora had them marked as races, but they were not on either the Outlaw or All Star schedule. In the days and weeks since those schedules were released, there have been all kinds of rumors about what those two days were going to be or not be. Could they be part of another sanction, like maybe High Limit, what would it pay, etc. But now we know for sure. Those two nights will run as unsanctioned events, with a format similar to what we've seen for some of the big late model races at Eldora. Wednesday night will feature split fields, and two $12,000 to win and $1000 to start main events. That will then help setup action for Thursday's absolutely huge feature that will pay $1,002,023 to win. Second will get $100 grand, third $50k, and the race will pay $6000 to start. After that, Kings Royal festivities will start on Friday. As they are unsanctioned, both nights will be streamed live on FloRacing, which is the regular broadcast partner for Eldora and the All Stars, both owned by Tony Stewart. So big kudos to Tony and Eldora for making this happen, and I'm sure big support from Flo. The two Kings Royal nights will then move over to DIRTVision, with the Outlaw sanction. And where the World of Outlaws drivers fit into all of this is now the big question. Since these nights are unsanctioned, are they allowed to race, are they not. It was a common topic of discussion on social media last night, with some very interesting opinions. I don't have any inside information on this, but here's what I think. First, the Outlaw drivers will absolutely be there to compete. I think it would be madness if they were not, and if, by some incredibly small chance, the Outlaws decided to bar their teams from racing, you would probably see a driver and team revolt and several drop off the series. I don't think there is any way Brian Carter and the Outlaws draw that line in the sand. But, and just as a thought experiment and counterpoint, consider this. If the Outlaws did decide to bar their teams from racing, it would be a significant risk for those teams to then fall off the series. Yes, the race pays a million to win, but the pay drops off significantly from there. A top five team with the Outlaws would be giving up at least $113,000 in points money and potentially as much as $350,000, and that doesn't include tow money. So unless you win, it would actually end up being a losing proposition. Plus, it would save World Racing Group maybe like half a million dollars that they wouldn't have to pay out in points fund money. Something a friend brought up to me, and something to think about. But if we look at how this new contract works, with the easing of the restrictions via the new platinum agreement, the new rules say, and I'm reading from the release verbatim here quote "contracted full-time World of Outlaws drivers or teams will now be able to race four non-World of Outlaws nights without restrictions as long as they are outside of 48 hours or a 100-mile radius on either side of a scheduled event" unquote. So by that line, these nights would technically not be allowed, as they are not outside of that 48 hour or 100 mile radius. But there is a huge but here. First, Eldora is a WRG aligned track. Sprint car nights on the Outlaw schedule, DIRTcar sanctioned, a long standing business relationship. From there, even under the previous, more restrictive platinum agreement, there were exceptions and drivers were able to race elsewhere with permission. The All Star nights at Volusia are an example. So is the Capitani Classic and Front Row Challenge before Knoxville. Plenty of Outlaw teams have run Knoxville weekly when there are rainouts. We've seen Carson Macedo in Californa, the Shark guys in PA, etc, etc. So there is precedent for this happening. And if you want some Eldora specific precedent, look no further than the Governors Reign event at Eldora in 2020, that was actually All Star sanctioned. The Outlaw teams were there, and David Gravel won. So, going out on a limb here, I think yes, the Outlaw teams will be in attendance, and no, I don't think these two nights will count towards their four freebees. As sprint car fans, we want this race to be about the best, and that means the full time Outlaw teams competing. Anything less feels unacceptable. As with the late model event in 2022, I really hope the fanbase supports both Eldora and FloRacing for these two nights. It's a huge risk to take on a purse like this, and if we want things to continue growing, then events like this need as much love as they can get. Drop a comment, let me know your thoughts on this show and what it means for the future of sprint car racing.

One news item for you today, this one from non-wing racing. Daison Pursley is set to take on the full USAC Sprint Car schedule in 2023 with KO Motorsports as a teammate to Chase Stockon. This will be a step up for Pursley who returned to USAC midget competition this past season with Keith Kunz after that devastating crash at Arizona Speedway in 2021 that left him with a spinal cord injury. Apparently Pursley was going to run scattered sprint car shows in 2022 with KO, but that plan got put on hold after the crash. Pursley is a past USAC midget winner, and appeared twice in sprint car competition with KKM in 2022, at both Circle City and Haubstadt. It's incredible that Pursley has come this far in just a year since the crash, and obviously we hope nothing but the best for him as he moves up. Certainly plenty of talent and capable of winning. There was nothing in the release about future midget racing or his relationship with KKM. We know he's running the Chili Bowl for KKM, but we'll have to see if he continues running those races as well.

Alright, I know some of you have seen the news already. I've had some YouTube comments about it, and some other messages on social media. I wanted to wait to talk about it until it was official and public, but DIRTRACKR is sponsoring a car headed to the Chili Bowl. Fellow YouTube creator and sprint car driver Tanner Holmes is partnering up with Chad Boat to make his first appearance at the event coming up here in a few weeks, and I wanted to support him. If you checked out his video yesterday, he shared his paint scheme, and the DIRTRACKR logo is there on the side panels. Me and Tanner are from the same part of southern Oregon, and it's super cool that he's getting this opportunity with a team like Boat's. Tanner has done a ton of winning in an Outlaw kart, and has been really impressive in some big shows with the sprint car. I'm excited to see what he can do in the expo, and it will be great to have DIRTRACKR represented. I've done a few very small event sponsorships in the past, but this is the first time the DIRTRACKR logo will be on a big time car like this. As this project grows, I want to continue finding ways to support the community, and I hope this is the first of many chances we get to support racers. If you tune in regularly, have bought merch, are a channel member, or use DIRTRACKR Plus, you have contributed to this deal, so I hope you'll feel a small bit of ownership for this. If you want to check out Tanner's paint scheme, I'll link to the video below in the description. We'll definitely have plenty to cheer for next month.

Tomorrow on the show, we'll again have a lot to talk about. We should get the rest of the High Limit schedule today, there is some late model news coming out that may actually be posted by the time this show goes live, and I want to react to the Brad Sweet/David Gravel livestream from last night. There was again some good stuff that came out of Gravel's show, and I have some thoughts. So don't sleep on the Friday episode.

Just FloRacing 24/7 and DIRTVision Now on the daily streaming schedule for today. Things will stay pretty quiet here for the next few weeks, except for a handful of events. Once we get towards Tulsa Shootout and into January, racing will start to pick back up again. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.

Alright, that's it for the show today. Have a good Thursday. We'll be back here tomorrow for more DIRTRACKR Daily.