DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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That time I tried to create a rivalry between Lucas and the World of Outlaws | Daily 3-2-2023

The story today of the time I tried to start a rivalry between two national dirt late model tours, plus news from Cole Macedo, the ASCS and more. Let's go!

It's Thursday, March 2nd, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

I'm going to start today's show off with story time. If you aren't aware, I worked for World Racing Group from 2013 to 2020. I got hired to do website stuff, and ended up doing all sorts of other things as well, like social media, podcasting, photography and other various shenanigans. Some of my work, even three years later, is still a part of the WRG landscape, like the DIRTcar points system. On the social media front though, I feel like we really pushed things forward for both the company and industry, and I'm still proud of what we accomplished. We pushed boundaries often, and by we I mean myself, my brother Aaron who was a PR guy, video guy Ross, and others. And sometimes pushing those boundaries ran us afoul with people in our own building, and folks elsewhere. One of the things I always wanted to do was create a real rivalry between the World of Outlaws and Lucas. There have been a lot of instances where the two series have tried to pretend like the other doesn't exist, and I always thought it would be way more fun to accept each other and play off of each other. Think about like Outlaws vs. Posse on the sprint car side, but instead with late models and Lucas. Quit with the charade, and really embrace the fact that drivers are going to race on both sides and regularly, and use it to have fun and create stories. I don't think the boss people agreed with me, but as I have been known to do at various points in my life, I went ahead on my own trying anyway. I remember one specific instance where I think it was Mike Marlar, was a full timer with the Outlaws, but was pictured in the Lucas Twitter header photo. I used the Outlaw late model Twitter account to point this out in a snarky way, and the Lucas social folks were quick to make a change, and not respond to my tweet. And this was one of many instances, another being when me and Ross posted the video of Josh Richards' head Photoshopped into a scene from Old School when he left Rocket and went Lucas racing with Best. I heard through the grapevine that the people at Lucas didn't appreciate my approach and were not going to play along, and I eventually quit trying. And to be honest, I'm pretty sure the Outlaw officials weren't thrilled about it either. I probably went about it the wrong way, but I think my idea was correct, and I'm telling you all of this to make a point. If you want people to buy into what you are doing in racing, you've got to give them a reason to. Drive to Survive for F1 on Netflix has been huge because it's allowed people to buy in, see the drama, and watch the story. The Knoxville Nationals are huge because it's a week long festival of sprint car racing that pays a crap ton to win, and they built it into the biggest event in dirt racing. Eldora has become almost mythical because of their commitment to big events and the legend of Earl Baltes. We are at a point where it can't just be about a big to-win amount. A lot of shows pay $50,000 to the winner. Why is yours different? I'm going to talk in a little bit about the USMTS and the lack of coverage that continues to exist around it. But if you don't care enough about your drivers to cover them, why should I? As we are critical about the promotion of the sport, and race tracks making poor decisions, this is an area that lacks across the entire industry. Give me a reason to care. Tell me the story. Who should I be watching and why. A 30 second highlight reel of crashes and a guy with a deep voice yelling at me does not count as marketing and promotion anymore. The old school and get off my lawn crowd can rail against this idea all they want, but it doesnt change the fact that the fan base is getting older and new fans aren't coming with your old ways of thinking. Don't tell me your track isn't Eldora, and that your Friday night shows aren't the Knoxville Nationals. Instead, work towards making your track the Eldora of your area or state. Take cues from the big events and other sports to find ways to make your Friday night shows feel bigger and make the drivers into heroes. We are at a time where we need boundaries pushed, creative thinking, and innovation. Not shouting at the rain and heads in the sand. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk today.

Before we move on, we have crossed three million total views on the channel, which is incredible. I shared on Twitter last night that it took 29 months to get the first million, five and half months for the second, and like three months for the third. The growth continues to be huge, so thank you guys for that. We are approaching 15,000 subscribers, so if you don't already, hit that button. It helps out the channel and ensures you won't miss future episodes.

On to some news items and other happenings.

One of the young sprint car drivers on his way up right now I think folks should be paying attention to is Cole Macedo. His name has come up plenty on this show before, and his schedule is expanding this season as Tarlton will take their operation on the road for a much larger national slate. Macedo had planned on filling other gaps in his schedule with the Ray Brooks 18 in Ohio, which he'd driven in recent seasons, but a while back that team decided to close up shop and liquidate everything. Since then though, Macedo has picked up other rides to fill the time. He'll run something like nine races for Home Pro Racing around Ohio, sharing that ride with Ryan Ruhl and Blake Hahn. Hahn will get 10 shows, with Ruhl in for the rest. Macedo won in this car during the 360 action a few weeks ago at East Bay. And just yesterday we found out that Rich Farmer will field his 29 car for Macedo with support from the Linders and Ray Brooks. Cole has won plenty around Ohio and should be a factor this season in these rides. And with Tarlton, having Drew Warner on the wrenches, I think that pairing could make some noise on the national scene.

And since I mentioned Blake Hahn here, we know he isn't planning on defending his ASCS championship this year, but I did want to mention ASCS full timers. The series has shared that Matt Covington and Brandon Anderson will chase the title in 2023, and I'm sure the list will grow in the coming days as we approach their first weekend of the season. Covington is a guy that could win this title, especially if he can return to the form he had in 2021, where he picked up four wins and had an average finish of 7.3. That first race weekend of the season is coming up March 17th and 18th at Devil's Bowl.

The 2023 season for the USMTS Modifieds was supposed to get underway tonight at Rocket Raceway Park in Texas, but weather has thrown them a curveball. So Thursday and Friday at Rocket are off, Saturday will go on as planned, and they've added a show for Sunday. Also on the card for the weekend are USRA stock cars, limited mods, factory stocks, and eco-mods. The Saturday race is $10,000 to win and Sunday is $5000 to win. As for the championship, things should be a little more wide open this season with defending champion Dustin Sorensen not running full time. He's taken over the 28 late model from Jimmy Mars and will not run full time. We'll still see him from time to time, but not at every race. From there, I'm not sure what the plans are for the rest of the full time field, as there is no coverage anywhere, not even from the series itself. It's funny as I sit here working on today's show, I talked about this series one year ago, almost to the day. I did a video on March 3rd, 2022 where I dove into the modifieds and wondered why people didn't pay more attention here. And a year later, nothing has really changed. The series will again pay nice money, they have a regular streaming deal on a smaller provider, but continue to get little coverage anywhere else. And it seems like they are okay with the status quo. Like I said a moment ago, I have no idea who's even running full time. The USMTS had 16 drivers attempt all 38 shows a year ago, so I'd assume we'd be in that neighborhood again. Making guesses based on last season, with Sorensen out, that would make way for guys like Tanner Mullens, Terry Phillips, Dereck Ramirez, and Rodney Sanders. Ramirez won the title in 2021, and Sanders has four to his credit. The other two in Mullens and Phillips are looking for their first. Looking at MyRacePass right now, they've got 22 cars pre-entered, but the field will end up being much bigger than that. Names on that list include YouTuber Chase Holland, regular UMP competitor Will Krup, Jake O'Neil who won a bunch of races a year ago, and others. Side note here, if you haven't checked out Chase Holland, I did add his channel to the channel section at youtube.com/dirtrackr. He's built up a very nice following for his career. If you want to check out the action this weekend, Rocket is located about a hundred miles north and east of Dallas. I'm sure they'd love to see you there, or you can watch live over on RacinDirt.

Three shows on today's streaming schedule. FloRacing has Superstocks from Huntly down under and Flo 24/7. There is also DIRTVision Now. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.

Have a good Thursday out there, we'll see you guys tomorrow!