DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Why do late model chassis matter, but sprint car chassis don't? | Daily 2-15-2023

On the show today, why do we care about dirt late model chassis, but not sprint car chassis? We've also got Tuesday results, and a sprint car series has lost their title sponsor. Let's go!

It's Wednesday, February 15th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

Through these opening weeks of the season, we've been talking a lot about who's winning and who isn't in which dirt late model chassis. Longhorn started 14-0, then Rocket went six straight, but Longhorn struck back on Tuesday. I've had a bunch of people try and come at me over the whole thing, which is hilarious, given I've just been sharing stats and facts, and not making predictions, or saying one is better than the other. But through all of this, and I've had people mention this before, why do we seem to care so much about dirt late model chassis when we couldn't care less about the same thing with sprint cars. The only time you hear about Maxim, or XXX, or J&J, or GF1, or Eagle, or whoever is when a driver mentions them post race in an interview. And I'd go so far as to say that you probably couldn't name the chassis manufacturers from the top 10 teams in the Outlaw points a year ago. Unlike late model racing with Rocket or MastersBilt, there is no Maxim house car, or J&J race team. But the reason behind why we care on one side, and not the other is something I don't know the answer to. I don't know if it's some sort of historic thing, where chassis were always a bigger deal when the fenders were on. I don't know if it's because engineering seems to be a much bigger deal in late model racing, then it is in sprint car racing. Or maybe if it's because the media that covers dirt late model racing has made the chassis a story. I don't know. Drop me a comment, let me know your thoughts on this. Also, should I start the sprint car chassis wars with this YouTube channel? We could start tracking some stats, and start some more fights. Let me know.

At Volusia last night, we were treated to another night of super entertaining races. In the USAC sprint car feature, it was a battle of the young guns out front, with Daison Pursley and Emerson Axsom fighting it out for the win. Pursley led from the pole, but Axsom was after him past half way. The two swapped the lead in lap traffic, but Pursley was eventually able to get away for the $10,000 win. Axsom settled for second with CJ Leary third. Pursley will compete all season in 2023 with KO Motorsports, and compete for the championship and rookie of the year award. KO actually brought a trio of cars south, with Chase Stockon and Jason McDougal in the other cars. Definitely good to see two young, hyper talented guys battling for the win, and Pursley's recovery from that midget crash continues to be nothing short of miraculous. A win on Monday and a fifth last night locked down the big gator trophy for Jake Swanson. Today, the non-wing competitors will go across the state to Bubba Raceway Park for a practice night, and then the season opens officially on Thursday for the Winter Dirt Games.

In the night's late model feature, Bobby Pierce and Tim McCreadie led the field to green from the front row and those two battled for much of the main event. Brandon Overton was also in the mix, but he shredded a right rear tire late while running second. After the caution for Overton, Hudson O'Neal got the high side rolling, and nearly got to the lead, but McCreadie's guys signaled him to protect the top, and he was able to hold O'Neal off. The Rocket one jumped the cushion in turn four coming to the white, and that allowed McCreadie to get away, and Pierce to snag second, with O'Neal settling for third. Kyle Larson also joined the late model fun last night, he ended up 13th after transferring in through a B-Main and starting the feature from 20th. There were definitely a few guys that were down the order last night who were a bit surprising, including Chris Madden in 11th, Dennis Erb Jr. in 17th, and guys like Devin Moran, Jimmy Owens, and Mark Whitener who missed the feature completely. Tonight at Volusia is one more DIRTcar sanctioned late model night, and the big block modifieds of the Super DIRTcar Series take the place of the USAC sprint cars.

Over at East Bay with the All Stars, it was the same thing, just a different day. Big movers, tight battles, Tyler Courtney and Justin Peck wheel to wheel, and another Sunshine victory. Peck had to work a little bit harder, rolling off from ninth, but inside ten to go, the war was on. Peck actually ended up leading a few times, but Courtney kept nosing in front at the line, and was credited with leading all 30 laps. Peck and the Buch 13 again were disappointed with second, but I hope this is a sign of things to come this season with the series. A knock down, drag out slugfest between Peck and Sunshine for the title is something I'm all in for. Buddy Kofoid was also fast again, but bowed out late with what appeared to be maybe suspension damage. Anthony Macri joined the podium as well, charging from 11th, and Zeb Wise was the biggest mover on the night, going 21st to fourth. So no more All Stars until the points opener in April, but I'd assume we'll see a lot of these guys at other shows in the coming weeks. East Bay has 360 sprint car action later this week, which some of these guys will stick around for, there is also USCS next week at Southern Raceway. We've also got the Icebreaker at Lincoln in 10 days, and the Outlaws will be back at Volusia on March fifth.

Back on Monday the ASCS showed off a little bit of rebranding, including a new logo, which looks great. Black and sort of a maroon color, very clean. The series has transitioned over the past year from being owned by Emmett Hahm to now Terry Mattox, and we've seen quite a few changes to it. Unfortunately though, this new logo appears to show us that Lucas Oil has dropped off as the title sponsor of this series. They are still in the website footer, included with other series sponsors, but all other mentions of Lucas Oil have been removed, including in things like hashtags. Back on January 17th, I did a daily show spotlighting changes in sponsorship deals between Lucas and NOS Energy Drink, and I talked about Lucas pulling back from a lot of their existing partnerships. And clearly this move with ASCS shows they continue to pare down their involvement. Other series to lose Lucas Oil sponsorships recently include the Comp Cams Super Dirt Series and the Empire Super Sprints. The oil and chemical company does continue to own and sponsor the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, and recently doubled down on their involvement with the NHRA however. We are still about a month away from the ASCS National Tour kicking off their 2023 season at Devil's Bowl Speedway in Texas.

In dirt racing podcast land this week, Winged Nation has David Gravel, Terry McCarl, and Brad Sweet. LoudPedal has Richie Murray from USAC, the Dirt Nerds have Trey Jacobs, Forward Bite has Mike Gault and Colt Smith, Quicktime has Jade Avedisian, Dirt Tracks and Rib Racks has Jerry Hoffman, Hoogie's Garage has Dave Lunstra and Blair Nattress, and there are new episodes of the Dirt Reporters, Passing Points down under, All Gas No Brakes, and Dirt Track Confessions. To see all the shows, all the episodes, head over to dirtrackr.com/podcasts.

Three shows on today's streaming schedule, with DIRTcar Nationals continuing on DIRTVision along with DIRTVision Now, there is also FloRacing 24/7. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.

Have a good Wednesday out there, so you guys tomorrow!