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Ridiculous brawls mar Tulsa Shootout | Daily 1-2-2023

On this first show of 2023, we'll talk Tulsa Shootout, including Saturday winners, the ridiculous behavior at the top of the ramp, and what exactly the differences are between the various classes. Let's go!

It's Monday, January 2nd, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

The Tulsa Shootout wrapped up on Saturday night and we have six drivers who added Golden Drillers to their trophy shelves. We'll get to them in just a minute, but I got asked over the weekend to explain the different classes that run during the event. I probably should have done this last week, so apologies for that. But at the Shootout, you have six different classes of cars racing, They are winged and non wing outlaw, winged A class, stock non-wing, restricted A class, and junior sprints. Winged outlaw is kind of the main class. They always run as the finale and you get 55 laps. They must weight a minimum of 775 lbs, they run engines that can't be any larger than 640ccs, no power adders, and you have to be at least 12 years old. The only difference between winged outlaw and non-wing outlaw is obviously the addition of wings, that look like small sprint car wings. Winged A Class runs the NOW600 Series rules. Again must be at least 12 years old to race. They have a 750lb minimum weight, you have to run a stock 600cc engine, the wings are a little different in their allowed configuration, and no cockpit adjusters are allowed. That refers to things like the knobs for shock adjustments. Stock non-wing is basically the same as winged A class, just sans the wings. 600cc stock engines, no cockpit adjusters, 750lb minimum weight. Restricted A Class is sort of an in between division to graduate to from junior sprints, and before some of the bigger divisions. Restricted A Class is only for drivers eight to 16. They do run wings, and a stock 600cc engine. They have a 700lb minimum weight rule, but they do run a restrictor plate on the engine. Also, no cockpit adjusters here. And junior sprints are for the young kids, with drivers from six to 12 allowed to compete. Minimum weight of 400 lbs, they run a top wing, and they run Briggs & Stratton World Formula engines. So there you go, a run down on the different classes and how they compare.

Something I don't understand about the Shootout is how high emotions seem to run. We saw not one, but two pretty sizeable brawls break out at the top of the ramp through the weekend. We talked last week about the one that started with Blake Scott and Nick Howard, and then Saturday there was one after the final winged outlaw B-Main. On the final lap of that race, Jett Hays sailed it off into turn three and wiped out Cody Key for the final transfer spot. From there, everyone in the building and watching at home knew what was coming. It dissolved pretty quickly, but there was pushing and shoving, and maybe a few punches thrown. Hays was DQ'd for the crap move, and Austin Wood ended up getting the final transfer spot. I understand Key being upset with getting taken out. It was about as blatant as it gets. But what exactly are the stakes here? Even if he gets that transfer, he still has to come through the LCQ to even have a shot at a back starting spot in the feature. Neither Jake Nail, or Austin Wood who got the transfers in that B got high enough in the LCQ to make the feature. You aren't going to win a driller from that far back, and there is very little money on the line. So what is everyone so mad about? It is literally a tinder box of emotion just waiting to boil over, and literally for no damn reason. Two years ago, we saw one of the greatest alphabet runs in history in that building come to an end when Jason McDougal got spun by Ryan Bernal in a Saturday D-Main, and we saw no brawl. It's insane that people think this is okay behavior, when it reality it's embarassing for them and a black eye for the sport. If you can't handle yourself and your emotions at these events, then don't bother showing up.

As for the races themselves... Mattix McBride bagged the driller in junior sprints. He won a fun one over Blayden Graham and Miken Iverson. In restricted A class, it was all Jack Thomas out front. Colby Sokol couldn't find a way by in lap traffic late in that one, and said afterwards he was going to race Thomas clean and not use the bumper. Gavan Boschele started on the pole of the stock non-wing feature, and was out front for a lot of the laps. Jace Park got the high side rolling late though and was able to take the lead on lap 26. A caution with three to go for an engine going south on Cannon McIntosh's car reracked the field, and on the restart Boschele was able to roll the bottom and take back the top spot. It was the first driller for Boschele, and a return to victory lane inside the expo for Kevin Swindell, who owns Boschele's car. Swindell is obviously a four time winner of the Chili Bowl. In outlaw non-wing, pole sitter Jason McDougal led early, but just a few laps in it was California's TJ Smith who took the lead. He was basically unchallenged the rest of the way in a feature that was pretty bottom dominant. Smith got away on a late restart to earn his first career driller. The winged A-class main event went to Jake Hagopian for the second straight year. He started on the pole and survived a couple of late restarts to earn the win over Ricky Thornton Jr. and Emerson Axsom. RTJ was really impressive all week, and we'll see him back in the building next week for the Chili Bowl. And in the weekend's final race, we had a good battle through half way between TJ Smith and Emerson Axsom, with both leading laps. Axsom though was able to take control on lap 31, and he got away when Smith and Brent Crews got to battling for second. The win in the non-stop feature was the third career driller for Axsom.

If you were curious about Kyle Busch and his son Brexton, they battled all week long at the Shootout. Kyle was out in C mains in both outlaw winged and non-wing, and Brexton missed a feature transfer by two spots in junior sprints. Still a cool deal to see Kyle getting outside his comfort zone with an event like this. One other takeaway for you from the weekend, I was yet again impressed by Clinton Boyles in the FloRacing booth. He's so knowledgeable about the cars and the racing, and really adds to the broadcasts. When he's done as a driver and a crew guy, he has a serious future I think doing gigs like this. So now the expo goes quiet this week as we await the Chili Bowl. Teams start loading in on Saturday, with Sunday now the schedule practice day. We'll get the full two rounds of hot laps, and then Monday is the first of five prelim nights. If you need a FloRacing subscription to tune into the Chili Bowl next week, click the Flo link below, or any of the FloRacing links at dirtrackr.com. That gets you access to the racing, and helps me out in the process.

Down under, it seems as though the American drivers just keep on winning sprint car races. Just this morning Tyler Courtney bagged the win at Perth Motorplex over Cory Eliason and Matt Egel. At Premier Speedway, Jamie Veal won the Victorian Sprintcar title. Carson Macedo earned a victory at Eastern Creek. Eliason did win over the weekend at Bunbury, and Jock Goodyear had a win at Premier a day ago. You can watch a bunch of these shows on Clay-Per-View, and FloRacing has a few things as well, including racing at Western Springs in New Zealand.

I do have one set of shop photos to share with you today. These are from Chuck Brooking. Chuck and his son Jayden race Outlaw karts in Pennsylvania, and are located really close to Linda's Speedway and the famous Moose's LZ Bar and Grill. Chuck says they compete with the PA Wings series, and have also traveled to places like Millbridge and the Outlaw Kart Nationals in Wisconsin and Iowa. You can find them across social media by searching for Brooking Motorsports and Jayden Brooking. If you want to share your racing operation on the show, feel free to DM your photos to me, or email them to info@dirtrackr.com.

There are three items on today's streaming schedule. DIRTVision has the iRacing World of Outlaws Sprint Cars at Fairbury and DIRTVision Now. There is also 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 tomorrow for more DIRTRACKR Daily.