DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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How does a dirt track raising purses turn into bad news and social media hate? | Daily 3-7-2023

David Gravel won again, but I'm not ready to call him the championship favorite yet, plus an update on Kraig Kinser, another driver flips to Keith Kunz, and why are people mad at Port Royal's purse news? Let's go!

It's Tuesday, March 7th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

At Volusia last night, David Gravel kept up the pace we've seen from him through these opening weeks in Florida. He started second, grabbed the lead by the backstretch, and never looked back all night, leading all 30 laps en route to his third win in five World of Outlaws races. If we throw in the two All Star nights from DIRTcar Nationals, Gravel's seven finishes to start the year are 3rd, 10th, 1st, 1st, 12th, 2nd, and 1st. The 10th was on a night where they admittedly were trying some stuff, and the 12th was from Sunday when they get into that incident with Carson Macedo and Jacob Allen and had to finish the race with a damaged car. Gravel even said last night in victory lane that the pinched headers on the car Sunday hurt that engine, and they ended up having to swap it out after qualifying last night. That engine must have still been running pretty good though, because Gravel missed getting quick time by just one thousandth of a second behind Donny Schatz. He also admitted that spinning the tires in the dash on the start and ultimately finishing second to Jacob Allen was probably a good thing, because the top was going to be the correct lane for the initial start. Behind the winner, Carson Macedo and pole sitter Jacob Allen rounded out the podium. Looking at the World of Outlaws standings, Gravel is headed to Port Royal with a 20 point advantage over Logan Schuchart, with Macedo just another four points back in third. There is no doubt that Gravel is off to a hellacious start so far, but I'm going to remain skeptical on his championship chances until he's able to really continue this type of pace over a much longer stretch. We left Florida and went to California a year ago with everyone talking championship for him, and then it didn't happen. Brad Sweet ended up with his worst average finish of his four championship years, only scored five wins, and still had enough to beat Gravel at season's end. I think he's one of the most talented drivers to ever race a sprint car, but he needs to take a step forward in consistency if he's ever going to really contend for an Outlaw title.

One other Outlaw note from the past two nights of racing is the absence of Kraig Kinser. This basically confirms he won't be around with the series all season, even after signing up back at Volusia to do so. Like we talked about though back with the Asll Stars at East Bay, with Kraig rolling in there to race, it was clear his full time run with the Outlaws was probably over. I would guess we'll see him go full pick and choose this season, with a mixture of events. I wouldn't be surprised to see him sign on as an All Star full timer to grab some benefits over there, and then fill in races in between. Hopefully this will be a chance for him to step back and regroup and get his program in a better place going forward.

Over the weekend, during their drivers' meeting on Sunday, Port Royal Speedway in Pennsylvania announced they were upping their weekly purses for 2023. Sprint cars are $5000 to win, $500 to start, and $200 tow money available for teams that don't make the feature. Their weekly late models will get $4000 to win, $400 to start, and the same $200 tow money deal. Sounds like a nice bump from the track that continues to make strides and work towards being a premier facility around the country. But the reaction to the news has been an interesting example of the current state of our collective mental spaces. The track announced a purse bump, that won't also come with a ticket price bump, but there are somehow complaints and some social media hate anyway. We can't even be happy about good news anymore. As a sidenote, I saw a tweet this morning where someone was complaining to Port that this weekend's Outlaw show will cost $30 a ticket for GA, which is $10 higher than the weekly price. On what planet though, does a race fan expect a track to be able to offer the same ticket price for the sport's biggest traveling series as they do for a weekly race? This is why we can't have nice things. The announcement from Port has also drummed up even more posts from folks unhappy with the situation at various tracks in Ohio. That social media conversation seems to constantly be ebbing and flowing. I will say though, that it's important to understand that just because one track has the ability to make a move like this, it doesn't mean all tracks can. It might seem on the surface that this is an apples to apples comparison, but it really isn't. But an interesting example of how good news turns into this growing spiderweb of anger and complaints over other stuff.

The Xtreme Outlaw midgets open their 2023 season this weekend indoors at Du Quoin and Keith Kunz Motorsports has rounded out their lineup for the event. Taylor Reimer and Mariah Ede are back, and joining them is Jade Avedisian. We talked not long ago about Jade flipping from Chad Boat to Keith Kunz for 2023. We also know that young Gavin Miller is going to tackle a full midget season across the various series for KKM. And yesterday it was released that Mitchel Moles will also join the team for the weekend in the Curb Records sponsored 68. Moles ran the full USAC schedule a season ago driving for Chad Boat as well. I don't know if this is a ride for just this weekend, or if we'll see Moles running more often with KKM this season. Moles is already set to tackle the full USAC sprint car slate with Reinbold Underwood. Along with the Moles announcement, it looks like KKM has a new chassis as well, what they are calling their Lynk Chassis. Kunz had been running his own Bullet for many years, with Spike Chassis taking over the building of them. I'm not aware of if KKM is building these new chassis in house again, or if someone like Spike is handling the fabrication. The Xtreme season starts Friday.

The wet open to the California dirt racing season continues, and Kings Speedway in Hanford has already put the kibosh on their sprint car show for the weekend. They were supposed to have 410 sprint cars, 360s, 305s and IMCA stock cars on Saturday for the Dave Helm Memorial, but they are now looking at future date options to move it. The forecast for later this week in that area shows rain from Thursday through Saturday. Marysville is planning on running on Saturday still, and they did race this past weekend with Tanner Carrick grabbing the victory. Looking around at schedules, Placerville has a test and tune day slated for this weekend and Bakersfield is running. Hanford, Tulare, Ocean, and Chico have races scheduled for the coming weeks.

Three items on the streaming schedule today. Devil's Bowl has IMCA racing that will be on Speed Sport, there is also 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.