DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Kyle Larson talks international expansion of sprint car racing | Daily 12-20-2022
International sprint car racing in places like Europe? The possibility was brought up this week by Kyle Larson. We'll talk about it, plus some late model news items, and our first round of shop photos. Let's go!
It's Tuesday, December 20th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
Before we get into a bunch of good stuff, today's show is sponsored by MSP Mounts. If you tune in regularly, you've heard me talk before about these awesome action camera mounts. These were developed by sprint car racer Dan McCarron and they are perfect for whatever you race. Indoor season is upon us, so if you are headed to Tulsa, or racing your kart indoors in places like California or the midwest, make sure to grab one or a few of these for your GoPros or other camera setups. FloRacing uses them. Swindell SpeedLab, Thomas Meseraull. And they all like them because they are super solid, very adjustable, and easy to put on and take off your car. No tools needed. You could literally order one, take it out of the package, and be filming in minutes. They fit bars from 3/4" thick to 2 inches and can capture any angle you can dream up. As part of his support of DIRTRACKR Daily, Dan is offering my viewers and listeners a nice discount on any orders. Money off is always good, especially in this day and age. When you checkout over at mspmounts.com, make sure to use code DIRTRACKR for 10% off. That's D I R T R A C K R at checkout for 10% off at mspmounts.com. If you want to check out MSP Mounts on social media, make sure to find them on Facebook and Twitter @MSPMounts.
Just yesterday, the LoudPedal podcast from FloRacing released their 100th episode. Congrats to Tyler Burnett and Dillon Welch on that milestone. And I know they had a done a bunch previously as Rip the Fence with MRN. They had Kyle Larson on as their guest, and I think this is the first time we've heard publicly from Kyle since the High Limit schedule was released. I wanted to react to a few things today on the show, because there were some interesting tidbits in there. First, Dillon Welch will be the High Limit series main announcer. He called the race at Lincoln Park back last summer, and will continue those duties in 2023. They asked Larson about the changes to the Outlaw platinum agreement, and he was complimentary of the move, saying it was nice of Carter to allow some freedom, and said it was a small step forward. I was actually a bit surprised by his positive comments on it. I kind of figured we'd get a similar line about it as we've gotten from some of the other drivers. Kyle obviously comes from a different place though, as he's going to race where and when he wants anyway. He did say his plan is to run the full slate of 12 races, which is what I expected. He did say his NASCAR commitments might change that a bit, but as of right now, he's gonna run the whole thing. They asked about Brad Sweet also, and Kyle said he's still weighing everything, which is not a surprise. What I thought was super interesting, was their question about their future plans and hopes for High Limit and the sport, and Larson mentioned seeing sprint cars race more internationally, and he specifically mentioned Europe. Outside of the US and down under, sprint cars aren't a thing anywhere else, but there are dirt tracks in Europe. If you know about Tom Harris, who we've seen run sprint cars and midgets here in the US, he runs F1 stock cars in the UK and places like Holland. They sorta look like a modified with a wing on top. So there are potentially venues. It would be a massive undertaking to get cars and equipment over there, but I like that they are thinking bigger, even if it never happens. Some other interesting stuff from Larson, were his thoughts about guys like Brent Marks and Anthony Macri, who made a bunch of money with pick and choose schedules. He said he'd like to see them full time with a big series, because he wants the best to be competing against each other regularly. Larson also got into more detail about his plans to not race the Chili Bowl, and he and Tyler hinted at an upcoming documentary series from FloRacing that features Larson and his racing exploits. I had heard rumors that this was in the works, and I think this was maybe the first time we've heard it confirmed publicly. That will definitely be something to tune into when it debuts. If you want to watch the full episode and interview with Larson, it's available in the "Shows" section of FloRacing. I'll also try and link to it in the video description.
In some dirt late model news from yesterday, Austin Kirkpatrick is teaming up with GR Smith and Team 22 for next season. He'll run a similar looking car to Payton Freeman, with the number two on the door. No mention of a schedule, but Kirkpatrick will be able to use the partnership to continue developing his own AK Racecars chassis, and he will also be providing engineering support to Payton Freeman's World of Outlaws rookie run.
Also, if you were curious, here is Brandon Overton's paint scheme for the 2023 season. This showed up on the Wells Motorsports Facebook page yesterday. Definitely a bit of a different look with the addition of the red on the sides. Hat tip to Jack Cofer on Twitter for sharing this one.
Word on the street is there might be some more big late model news later this afternoon. Should provide some interesting clarity for 2023. We'll definitely talk about it on the show tomorrow after it becomes public.
One other note for you, Ross Wece, who was my co-host on Open Red and video guy for World Racing Group, has been working on preserving Rick Eshelman's announcing note cards. He's got them all digitized, and if you want to check them out, head over to wecespieces.com. The PDF he's created is massive, something like 237 pages of notes and information that Eshelman had compiled in his career. Neat racing history project.
I asked on the show yesterday for you guys to share some shop photos of your racing operations, and I've got a few to share already. First up is late model racer Wil Herrington's shop in Hawkinsville, Georgia. These are thanks to Chase Shaffer who does marketing for JCM Motorsports. We saw Wil a ton around the southeast in 2022, and he made late season starts with the Flo Series at Senoia, and he was at the Dome for the Gateway Dirt Nationals. Chase says their car will look pretty similar in 2023, with just the white deck change. They are planning to start the year with Speedweeks in Georgia and Florida, and figure it out from there. My next photos are from the Max Blair shop and his new paint scheme getting ready for the World of Outlaws season teaming with Boom Briggs. These come thanks to @TuckerDrums on Twitter who is a sponsor of the team. Good looking wrap for Blair in this new partnership, and I like his shop with all the checks and trophies. We'll see the Outlaws in action at Volusia here in almost exactly a month. And my last photos are from Drake Hartzell, who is from Illinois. He races RC cars on dirt in the region, and has spent time as a crew member for Billy Moyer Jr., and his dad Jeff Hartzell was a dirt late model racer. Love the shop photo. Cars on stands. Banners on the wall. Tools, and some WD40 on the table. Thanks to everyone who sent these in. If you want to share your racing operation, DM me on social media, or shoot me an email at info@dirtrackr.com.
Last night at the newly added Lincoln Speedway, the iRacing World of Outlaws were in action for round number four. We again had some guys we normally see in features find themselves in B Mains, with Braden Eyler, Blake Matjoulis, Logan Rumsey and others on the outside looking in. Things were pretty nasty early on, definitely some dirty sliders that wiped some guys out. For the feature, it was Timothy Smith on the pole, and he looked like maybe he was going to run away with it. But inside ten to go we ended up with a three car battle out front, with Kenny Miller eventually coming out on top. On the final lap, Smith got into the rear of points leader Alex Bergeron, also collecting James Edens, and three of the top four were wiped out. Miller drove on to the win, which was his first ever with the series, and Kendal Tucker and Clayton Tilley stole podium finishes. Bergeron ended up 12th, Smith 13th, and Edens 14th. With Lincoln being so new, I thought maybe it could be an outlier on the schedule, and it played out that way last night. So even with the trouble, Bergeron maintains the points lead headed to Pevely next Monday night. His 47 point lead is now 31, with Tyler Schell moving up to second. You can tune into the iRacing World of Outlaws Sprint Cars Monday nights at 9PM ET for free on DIRTVision and YouTube.
It's a quiet day on the streaming schedule, just FloRacing 24/7 and DIRTVision Now playing today. 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 Monday. We'll be back here tomorrow for more DIRTRACKR Daily.