DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Donny Schatz not happy about slow start to 2023 | Daily 3-23-2023

It's been a tough start to 2023 for Donny Schatz, and the ten time champ isn't happy about it. We'll talk about that, plus what exactly you get as a sprint car full timer from two series, and more. Let's go!

It's Thursday, March 23rd, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

I wanted to start today off with a couple of interesting social media posts from the All Stars and ASCS. Both series are nearing the starts of their season, and are looking to complete their rosters of full time competitors. The All Star group right now looks to be eight with the addition last week of Seeling and JJ Hickle. And the current ASCS 360 field I think is 10 right now. The ASCS National Tour lost their opening weekend at Devil's Bowl to weather, so they will try again on March 31st. And the All Star points season opens in a few weeks at Attica. So still some time for teams to decide what they want to do. We saw yesterday both Kevin Nouse with the All Stars and the ASCS post one sheeters with their list of benefits for the upcoming season, with the hopes that maybe some other teams would make the move. The All Star pitch is as follows: a nice point fund, with the champion getting $80,000, and everyone down to tenth getting at least five figures. All competitors get supplemental accident insurance, plus a tow money package that will be north of $20,000. New members get four pit passes per event plus $300, while returners get four pit passes and $325. The top five A-main finishing full timers get an additional $100 on top of the purse money. The All Stars don't technically have a cost for membership, but you must put down a refundable deposit that will get returned based on minimum attendance requirements. They also have very light restrictions on where members can race outside of the series, with guys able to run a ton of Outlaw shows, plus the entire High Limit schedule if they so choose. If you have watched this show in the past, we've talked about this package before, but nice to see it all laid out in one place. If a team is looking to go out on the road, it would definitely be something to strongly consider. As for the ASCS, I don't think I had seen their full package before. Their champion gets $50,000, with again everyone down to tenth guaranteed five figures. Drivers must compete in 95% of the schedule and be in good standing to make that money. A membership is $200 for the year, and each paid member does get additional insurance. Drivers get a free pit pass, and membership carries a max $30 pit pass per event, except the Knoxville Nationals and Short Track Nationals. Full timers get $300 tow money per night, which will end up around $13,000 for the year. Another solid benefit package for sprint car teams, obviously the ASCS is 360 racing, and owner Terry Mattox has worked to reduce the schedule footprint some to make it more affordable. As we talk about money, finances, revenue, streaming, etc, it's nice to have this information out there so we can better understand the full picture for teams. It's definitely a good thing and I applaud both series for being transparent about what they are offering. Hopefully it will mean more teams choosing to go out full time in 2023.

A couple of weeks ago we did a Q&A episode and I got asked about Donny Schatz's World of Outlaws title chances for this season. At the time, I wasn't super hopeful, given some of their struggles in recent years and the ramp up in the competition level with the Outlaws right now. Schatz was better during the second Volusia weekend versus the first, but this past Saturday at Lincoln was not what you'd expect from that 15 bunch. They were the victims of a poor draw and a detoriating track in qualifying, and were never able to dig out of the hole. Schatz used a provisional and finished 20th on the night. And with drivers talking about the new tire unhooking the car a bit, I figured this would be a chance for guys like Schatz to really shine through, but not so much. They have also apparently been going through engines like water. An average finish of near twelve so far, and in six races, it's already the third time he's finished outside the top ten this season. In a piece posted to FloRacing yesterday, Kyle McFadden had some quotes from Schatz about the situation. He mentioned they lost five engines at Volusia, which is absolutely crazy, and it's tough to focus on car setup when your guys are constantly swapping out horsepower. Schatz also made it pretty clear that he's not happy with how things are going, saying quote "My job is to drive the car and do what I can, give feedback. Some days I'm giving feedback and they look the other way on it. At some point, that's got to change" unquote. That's a pretty searing indictment from the ten time champion on what's going on inside that team. You thought maybe after they won the final two races of 2022 at Charlotte, they'd come out hot, but the mechanical woes slowed their progress at Volusia. And headed to Talladega and Magnolia this weekend, Schatz is already 92 points behind Gravel, way down in ninth position. It's not a great place they find themselves in while they both try and sort out the engine issues and find the right balance with this new tire. Kudos to Kyle McFadden for his reporting there. We'll talk more about the Outlaw weekend on tomorrow's show.

If you were hoping for some super late model racing this weekend, your options are continuning to dwindle. We'd already lost the XR weekend at Bulls Gap, and now the Thaw Brawl at Davenport has been postponed. This one was going to look like a big national tour show with Jonathan Davenport and Bobby Pierce, and Brandon Sheppard and Ricky Thornton Jr. and others inbound, but not anymore. Percipitation chances and cold temperatures are in the forecase, and organizers are now looking at other date options to try and reschedule. Looking at the rest of the weekend late model schedule there is still maybe some hope for Central PA, with ULMS shows on tap for Williams Grove and Port Royal. Florence Speedway in Kentucky will also try this Saturday with a $5000 to win show. So hopefully we'll get something in somewhere.

Following his World of Outlaws win at Lincoln over the weekend, Rico Abreu has made a return to YouTube. Yesterday he posted a day in the life video, which was his first upload to YouTube in almost three years. The piece follows him through a day at the shop doing merch stuff, making content, Ricky Warner and the boys are in there, and of course the dogs. I'll link to it in the description below if you want to check it out, and I've added Rico's channel to the channels tab on this YouTube page if you want to subscribe there. That channels page at youtube.com/dirtrackr is a good place to start if you're looking for other dirt racing videos to check out. There are now 33 channels listed there, so plenty of content to discover.

The USMTS modifieds are back in action this weekend for the King of America at Humboldt Speedway in Kansas. Tonight through Saturday night you'll get the USMTS challengers plus B-Mods. The three USMTS features pay $3000, $5000, and $12,000 to win. Tom Berry Jr. and Jake Timm took the opening weekend victories a few weeks ago at Rocket Raceway Park, and Timm is the current points leader. The track was open last night for practice, but timing and scoring info wasn't shared anywhere, and I don't know the full list of who participated. The pre-entry list over at MyRacePass shows 26 cars right now, but it will be much larger than that when they get rolling later today. Just to give you an idea of how much that list will swell, the opening night at Rocket had 87 entries. Jake O'Neil is the defending King of America winner. Tickets for today are $25, grandstands open at five, and racing starts at six local. If you can't get there, RacinDirt has live coverage all weekend.

A much better looking streaming schedule is on tap for the next 24 hours. RacinDirt has the opening night of the King of America from Humboldt for the USMTS modifieds, there is racing down under on Flo and Clay Per View, plus FloRacing 24/7 and DIRTVision Now. To see the full daily streaming schedule for yourself, with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.

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