DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Josh Richards ends dirt late model career at 34 with little fanfare | Daily 12-26-2022
Coming up on this Monday, Josh Richards has quietly retired from dirt late model racing, High Limit has more official full timers than the Outlaws, and more. Let's go!
It's Monday, December 26th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
The dirt late model picture for 2023 got a little clearer back on Friday evening with the announcement that Josh Richards will not return to full time racing, instead choosing to pursue other opportunities. I was a little surprised at the timing of this one, because the release didn't hit until nearly 8PM eastern time on Friday, which was the Friday before Christmas Eve. Felt a little news dumpy to me. Richards is a four time World of Outlaws champion, bagging titles in 2009, 2010, 2013, and 2016. He was also the Lucas champion in 2017. Between the two national tours, Richards racked up 111 wins, with 78 on the Outlaw side and 33 on the Lucas side. He's second all time with the Outlaws, now behind Brandon Sheppard, and seventh all time with Lucas. The bulk of his success, especially on the Outlaw side, came with the Rocket house car, which is owned by his father Mark. But that pairing dissolved late in 2016, with the shocking news that they would split for 2017. Richards then went Lucas racing with Best Peformance and Brandon Sheppard ended up in the Rocket car. With all of that success though, it's been a tough go of it lately for the driver they called Kid Rocket. 2022 was marred by crazy incidents, like the camper fire early in the year, and the dirt clod to the face at Eldora, and Richards ended up missing time and finishing a disappointing sixth in the Outlaw standings. He had returned to the World of Outlaws driving for Boom Briggs after Clint Bowyer Racing very quietly dissolved after 2021. I, and I think others, had hoped this was a chance for Josh to sort of stabilize his situation and get going in the right direction again. But it wasn't to be. His last national tour wins came in 2021, when he scored with the Outlaws at Bristol, and with Lucas at East Bay and Wheatland in May. Richards was without a ride for the 2023 season, as team owner Boom Briggs had announced back in October that Max Blair would be in his second car for the following year after Blair split with Viper Motorsports. It's a shame to see someone hang it up at just 34 years old, especially with the longevity that late model drivers often enjoy, but Richards will be a sure fire hall of famer with all he did in his career between the championships and the wins. According to Dirt on Dirt, only Scott Bloomquist has more wins on tour with the Outlaws and Lucas than does Richards. Richards even attempted at one point to parlay his dirt late model success into racing in NASCAR. From 2009 to 2012, he made 36 stock car starts across the East Series, ARCA, and the NASCAR Truck and what is now the Xfinity Series. His best truck series finish was a 13th at Talladega in 2011 driving for Kyle Busch, and in 14 Xfinity starts in 2012, his best finish was 16th at Daytona driving for Archie St. Hilaire. In the relese posted to joshrichards.com, he did say that he'd be open to select races in the future if the right opportunity presented itself. Happy Trails to Josh Richards.
Also back on Friday we found out that Buddy Kofoid and Crouch Motorsports are planning a full run with the High Limit Sprint Car Series next season. Except for the first event at Tulare which is non-points, the CMS 11 will be in attendance at all 11 shows. Kofoid joins Kyle Larson and Rico Abreu in publicly announcing they'll chase the entire series. So besides those three with High Limit, we also know officially that Scotty Thiel is going All Star racing with Premier Motorsports. And we know that Noah Gass and James McFadden are returning to the World of Outlaws for 2023. So still plenty to decide across the sprint car series as teams weigh their options for 2023.
And right now, a lot of sprint car drivers are down under getting in some extra seat time this winter. Just this morning, Tyler Courtney picked up the win at Perth Motorplex during Speed Week. He topped Cory Eliason and Brock Zearfoss. Cole Macedo was also a winner in Tasmania.
With still about two weeks left to go before Chili Bowl, the entry list has climbed to 355 cars, and late last night the event released the first draft of the split out prelim night lineups. The updated list includes Rico Abreu in the KKM 24 and Daison Pursley now with Reinbold Underwood. It appears as though Keith Kunz is not replacing Pursley's entry, as they still sit at 14, with the addition of Rico. Looking at the prelim night fields, Monday has Chase Briscoe, Gavan Boschele, Cannon McIntosh, Shane Golobic, Zeb Wise, Alex Bowman, Ryan Timms, our guy Tanner Holmes, Jerry Coons Jr., and Chris Windom. Tuesday features Michael Pickens, Spencer Bayston, Daison Pursley, Tim McCreadie, Zach Daum, Kaylee Bryson, Buddy Kofoid, and Jonathan Beason. Wednesday's got Sammy Swindell, Justin Peck, Corey Day, Parker Price Miller, TMez, Rico, Jake Swanson, Blake Hahn, and Mitchel Moles. The Thursday field has JJ Yeley, Kevin Thomas Jr., Emerson Axsom, Brady Bacon, Casey Shuman, Joe B. Miller, CJ Leary, Damion Gardner, Tanner Thorson, and Tanner Carrick. And Friday is highlighted by Justin Grant, Daryn Pittman, Briggs Danner, Ricky Thornton Jr., Logan Seavey, Kyle Cummins, Shane Cottle, and Hunter Schuerenberg. If you want to see the full list and the prelim nights, head over to chilibowl.com.
So we've been sharing some shop photos this offseason as drivers and teams get their equipment prepared for 2023 and back on Friday I had a series of emails from Chuck Roan Jr. Chuck owns a sprint car team in Pennsylvania that is currently campaigning a 305 Racesaver for driver Dustin Prettyleaf. They run at Clinton County a lot, and Chuck himself raced 410s up until 2009. He shared some photos of their shop and their car, but also of their sim rig. And this sim rig is insane. Chuck said they built it in 2020 when iRacing took off during covid. It's a cut down Maxim Chassis that is a full motion rig. It's got triple monitors, side doors that close you in for maximum immersion, and it's all fully adjustable. He shared a YouTube video with me from when they were testing it, and the video I think had 400 something views when I saw it, and thanks to some love from Dale Jr. on Twitter, we've got the video close to 3000 views in just a few days. I'll link the video below in the description if you want to watch. If you are interested in owning this thing, Chuck is open to selling it. Go find Roan Racing, R O A N, on Facebook for details. If you want to share your dirt racing shop photos with me, DM me on social media, or email me at info@dirtrackr.com.
I know this week between Christmas and New Years is a little strange, often quiet, but I'm still planning on a full week of shows. The Tulsa Shootout starts later in the week, and I've got a few other topics I want to hit on, so stay tuned.
Four items on the streaming schedule today. Clay Per View has sprint cars from Simpson Speedway, DIRTVision has the iRacing World of Outlaws and DIRTVision Now, and there is FloRacing 24/7. 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. Thanks everyone for tuning in. We'll be back here on Monday for more DIRTRACKR Daily.