DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Is it time to rethink the early season dirt late model schedule? | Daily 3-29-2023

Coming up, do the late model national tours need to rethink their early season schedules? We'll talk about that, plus early weekend cancellations and more. Let's go!

It's Wednesday, March 29th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

As you will hear about shortly, the World of Outlaws Late Model Series is cancelled this weekend. And because of it, we won't see them again until April 20th. Similarly, the Lucas late models cancelled about two weeks ago at Atomic and Brownstown, and they aren't back until April 21st. Obviously mother nature has played a role in all of this, but it makes me wonder about the way the schedules are put together for the two national tours. Since East Bay wrapped, we are going on seven weeks without a Lucas show, and we're approaching six without an Outlaw race. Had it not been for Chris Madden and Brandon Overton getting into it at Cherokee, and Ashton Winger and GR Smith raging at Southern, there would have been next to nothing to talk about around super late model racing over the past month and a half. And I'm thinking today that maybe Lucas and the Outlaws need to rethink how they lay out their schedules to start these seasons. I know that Speedweeks continues to expand, and in 2023 it started on January 19th and ran basically a full month encompassing Lucas in Florida and Georgia and the two Outlaw weeks at Volusia. But you start out with all of this momentum with the Wild West Shootout, straight to Florida, and then racing sometimes every night for several weeks. And now we've had nothing for going on two months. There is no way this can be good for business. You don't really see anything like this anywhere else in sports or entertainment. Usuall once a season gets rolling, it doesn't stop, except maybe for a week or two here and there. These tours seize control of the dirt racing conversation right at the start of the year, and at this point with just a few days left in April, you start to forget where things even stand. I do this every single day because of this show and my website, and I had to go back and look to see who's leading points and who's done what so far in 2023. If that's true for me, then it's definitely true for everyone else. And when you look at things in recent history, 2023 isn't an anomaly. This has happened plenty of times before for varying lengths of time. And I don't know what the specific answer is here, if maybe we need to look at shifting some of these Florida and Georgia races back a few weeks to fill the void and let there actually be a full offseason. Or if series need to quit trying to schedule March races in Ohio and Indiana and Illinois, and instead look to some other regions where the weather might be more apt to play along in the spring. But eight or nine weeks without major super late model racing can't be good for anyone involved, the teams, the tracks, or the series. It's almost like this time has become the defacto offseason, except nobody can plan anything else because maybe a race might happen and you need to be nearby with your trailer ready to go. When we do finally get rolling again, I'm going to have to do a full on get back up to speed show on both series so we can all remember where the hell things left off. If you do want some late model action coming up this weekend, there is regional racing with the Spring Nationals, MLRA, Southern All Stars and some other tracks and series on the schedule. We'll talk about some of that later this week.

Before we move on, if you want to grab a DIRTRACKR shirt or hat this week, I'll throw in a free logo decal with your order. No coupon codes or anything are necessary, I'll just do it. Click the link below in the description, or visit shop.dirtrackr.com.

We already have cancellations for the weekend rolling in, and the first few shows to be dropped are big ones. Atomic Speedway has cancelled this weekend's Super DIRTcar Series shows on Friday and Saturday because of wet weather and cold temps. The big blocks of the Super DIRTcar Series will try again on April 15th at Can-Am Speedway. It makes sense to cancel this one early, as all of those teams are coming from pretty far away. As a response, Atomic is trying again to do their presale for a pop up event on Saturday, and possibly Sunday if a rain date is needed. If they can get to 1000 presales, just like last week, they will run the event. You can see ticket purchase details on their social media channels.

Also, like I mentioned earlier, the World of Outlaws Late Model Series has cancelled the Illini 100 weekend at Farmer City Raceway. Rain, thunderstorms, and wind are the culprit here. This one was also going to include the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets. The late models will be back on April 20th at 411 Motor Speedway, while the midgets race again April 14th and 15th at Pevely. If you had tickets to the Illini, your account will be credited, or you can reach out to the Outlaws for a refund. More details are available over at worldofoutlaws.com.

And this weekend's ASCS sprint car opener at Jackson Motor Speedway has been cancelled. So that's twice now their season opener has been pushed back. The National Tour will try again April 7th and 8th at Super Bee Speedway. They will add a race at Jackson on April 20th as part of a new three race stretch through the mid-south that includes Texarkana and Boothill. I don't know what Terry Mattox did to the racing gods, but I don't know that a series has had as much bad luck in the past year and half as the ASCS has.

Finally today, check out Mountain Creek Speedway here in North Carolina. This little 1/6th mile track hosts outlaw karts, micros, and flat karts and they've got the place in great shape for their first races of the season coming up this weekend. This track is located not far from Mooresville, and I tweeted this morning that it looks like this is what happens when your wife goes on a girls trip and you and the boys get an idea for the back 40. It's almost got like Field of Dreams vibes. Just a neat little race track tucked into the trees, no grandstands, just a place to go racing.

Around the other shows this week, Winged Nation has Brad Sweet, Ricky Warner, and Brock Zearfoss. Passing Points has Justin Sanders, Dirt Tracks and Rib Racks has Adyn Schmidt and Chet Williams, All Gas No Brakes has episodes with Bucky Doren, Brayton Laster, and Dewayne Keith. Hoogie's Garage has Dustin Kruse and Jade Avedisian, and Dunewich on Dirt has Sean Vardell. There are also new episodes of The Dirt Reporters, the Dirt Nerds, and Dirt Track Confessions. To see the full list of shows and episodes, jump over to dirtrackr.com/podcasts.

Three things again on the streaming schedule today. Millbridge is back tonight with micros after getting rained out on Tuesday night. That one is 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, we'll see you guys back here tomorrow.