DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Zemco Racing isn't closing it's doors just yet... | Daily 2-28-2023
Coming up, the future is a little clearer for Zemco Racing, plus could we see Brandon Overton actually full time this season with a late model national tour, and maybe we don't need to stream every race. Let's go!
It's Tuesday, February 28th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
Way back on December 6th, I kicked off a Daily show with the news that Zemco Racing, the iconic Central Pennsylvania sprint car team, might be closing up shop. The day before, driver Logan Wagner had tweeted quote "In response to the questions surrounding the return of Zemco Racing in 2023 - We find ourselves in a state of limbo with uncertainty ahead. Regardless of return or retirement, John and Peewee’s dedication to this sport for over 35+ years is unmatched. #RESPECT" unquote. Wagner has been the driver of the Zemco one for several seasons, and racked up five track championships at Port Royal, and a ton of races along the way, including the 2021 Tuscarora 50 at Port. Since then, we've heard absolutely nothing about the future for the team, or what Wagner might do, but yesterday afternoon we got some clarity. Zemco posted on social media they will be celebrating their 35th year of sprint car competition in 2023, and that the goal is to race at Port Royal during their season opener, which just happens to be this coming Sunday. The track is hosting an afternoon test and tune on Saturday, with a full program of 410 sprint cars and late models on the slate for Sunday. Along with the bit from Zemco, they also shared that Logan Wagner will return, with a tweet saying for quote "a limited schedule in 2023." No other details were posted, and we've heard or seen nothing publicly from Wagner about the deal. So I'd assume that means if Wagner is going for a sixth straight title at Port, that he would need some combination of rides, including the Zemco 1, and whatever else he is able to put together. It is great to know that the car is back, but it's clear that no matter how many races they run this season, and into the future, the end is still near for the team owned by John and Peewee. I know there are a bunch of PA folks in my audience, drop me a comment and let me know what driver comes to mind when you think about or see the Zemco ride. There have been so many big names to drive it, including Danny Lasoski, Stevie Smith, Billy Puacuh, Jeff Shepard, Kevin Gobrecht, I'm curious your thoughts.
Over to late models, through this opening part of the season, including Speedweeks, any time we've talked about points and full timers, I've been leaving out Brandon Overton. He currently sits third in the Lucas standings behind Ricky Thornton Jr. and Hudson O'Neal and had a solid start down south, including a couple of wins. I've been leaving him out though, because we've seen him high in the Lucas points after Speedweeks before and he didn't stay on with the series, plus, the last I'd heard he had not declared with the series as a full timer. But there apparently continues to be some speculation that he might stick around for a full run. Back during the All-Tech weekend, the topic was mentioned on the FloRacing Drive Home with Ben Shelton and Michael Rigsby, with Shelton saying he wouldn't stay out, and Rigsby thinking that he might. And yesterday, the topic came up again in an article at dirtondirt.com, with Kevin Kovac talking about Overton possibly being in the Lucas final four come Eldora. There was a note in there about the schedule on Overton's website, and sure enough, every Lucas race through the first playoff cutoff race at Wheatland on May 27th, that's the Show Me 100 weekend, is there. No Lucas races are on it after that, but this very much could be a wait and see situation. If Overton is high enough to continue, they could add the rest of the races and try and push for a series title. We talked last week about Jonathan Davenport's past history at Eldora, and the only other driver who matches or exceeds Davenport's recent stats there is Overton. A quick side note about Overton's 2023 schedule, he does have the complete slate of races on his site for both the XR Super Series and the FloRacing Night in America Series. Could we see Overton go from running no series, to running three in a season? That would be a big shift for the Wells team. Definitely something to keep an eye on as the late model season continues. Overton could end up being a Lucas title spoiler in all of this. If you want to see him this weekend, Overton is planning on the Spring Nationals show at Swainsboro on Friday, racing with the Outlaws at Smoky Mountain on Saturday, and down to Cherokee for March Madness on Sunday. That Sunday show will draw a bunch of other guys too, like Chris Madden, Mike Marlar and Jimmy Owens.
Before we close out today, I wanted to double back just a little bit to a bunch of the streaming stuff we've been talking about. As a lot of these smaller series and different race tracks end up away from the bigger streamers like FloRacing, I'll be curious to see if this will turn out to be any sort of revenue generator for these tracks. I'm not convinced that a lot of them have the capability or know-how to really leverage these streaming deals, especially when you hear words like data or marketing. There are benefits to be had, even by streaming races for free on something like YouTube, but when places don't effectively sell their grandstand tickets or even have clean bathrooms, forgive me for thinking they don't know how to use and leverage technology properly. And I'm honestly not blaming them for it, they have bigger fish to fry, some of them just barely surviving from season to season. But I feel like we are about to see the gap widen across the sport, where the big series and marquee tracks will gain from all of this, and the others will fall further behind. I messaged some yesterday with a friend that runs a race track, and he brought up the idea that maybe some racing doesn't need to be streamed at all. And my initial thought was to push back on him, but he may have a point. Clearly there will always be a streaming market for the Outlaws or Lucas or the big events. But it will be increasingly difficult to find success for Friday and Saturday night weekly shows, especially when the full benefit of having those races available can't be realized by understaffed race tracks. I think looking at streaming like it's a ticket or a pit pass is the wrong way to go about it, especially when it comes to pricing. The toothpaste is already out of the tube, and it's going to be tough to convince a decent amount of buyers to spend several hundred percentage points more on your racing versus what they can get with the big guys. Dirt racing is already a niche sport, but as you continue to niche down to certain weekly tracks and divisions, the market becomes increasingly smaller or maybe even near zero. There will be examples that buck this idea, especially depending on geography, but for some tracks, maybe streaming just isn't for them.
It looks like the streaming schedule is the same as yesterday with IMCA action at North Florida through Speed Sport, plus DIRTVision Now and FloRacing 24/7. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
Have a good Tuesday out there, we'll see you guys tomorrow!