DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Sprint car chassis builder for Larson, Rico, others shutting down | Daily 3-31-2023
A sprint car chassis builder is closing shop, and it will affect some serious customers. Details on that, plus the dirt racing weekend ahead, and possibly Devin Moran back in a sprint car. Let's go!
It's Friday, March 31st, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
We'll start your Friday off with a little bit of bad news that will affect some of sprint car racing's biggest stars. I haven't seen this actually put out publicly yet, but I did have several folks forward me this post from Speedway Motors. They announced within the last day or so that effective immediately, they are shutting down the EMi segment of their business. If you aren't aware, EMi is Eagle Motorsports, which builds Eagle chassis for both winged and non-sprint cars and micro sprints. The EMi business also included the brands Schnee, Henchcraft, and Stallard. The builder moved to Lincoln, Nebraska back in 2012 to be under the Speedway banner, and several big time drivers at this moment pilot Eagle cars. Guys like Kyle Larson driving for Paul Silva, Rico Abreu, Ryan Timms, Chase Randall, and Logan Wagner with Zemco will all have to figure something out for the future. The letter from Speedway says they will continue to have quote "parts and components available" but no longer sell the chassis. How this will affect these teams going forward, I'm not really sure. Bent and broken chassis can often be fixed, but eventually you'd think these guys will have to look elsewhere for new pieces. Much of sprint car racing is an arms race, with teams buying new parts and pieces all the time in search of better, lighter, and faster. It will be interesting to see how any sort of transition might affect these drivers and their performances. Will any of these teams try and make changes soon, or do they try and hold onto their Eagles for as long as possible. We'll see. We talked not all that long ago about how talking about sprint car chassis isn't really a thing, but a lot of drivers and teams have been pretty damn loyal to certain builders. Thinking obviously here about Silva and Eagle, Schatz and J&J, and Maxim and Kinser. Definitely something to watch for as sprint car racing continues to ramp up for 2023.
One other sprint car news item for you today. I mentioned earlier this week that this weekend's Super DIRTcar Series races at Atomic Speedway have been cancelled, but they are again trying to sell 1000 tickets for a weekend pop-up race. If they are able to get across that number and have the show, late model racer Devin Moran will make his 410 sprint car debut. He tweeted about it last night, and it appears as though he'll jump in the seat of John Shewbrooks' A79 machine. Moran had previously tested this car, but this would be his first attempt at an actual race. Lots of people on social media wondering if this might be a prep situation for Moran to get some seat time in advance of the Million at Eldora later this year. If you want to grab some of the presale tickets for Atomic, you can find links on their social media accounts.
Before we move on, last call for shirt and hat orders with a free decal. If you order a DIRTRACKR shirt or hat by the weekend, I'll throw a free logo decal in with your shipment. I sell those decals usually for $5. Order anytime with free shipping in the US at shop.dirtrackr.com.
Looking ahead to the weekend, we are keeping an eye on some weather situations, but we should get some racing around the country, and down under. Things look good to go for the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars at Devils Bowl in Texas, and Johnny Gibson tweeted last night he's thinks we could see the biggest car count for this track in over 20 years. This show a year ago drew 32, so clearly Johnny thinks we'll be well beyond that. Tonight's race pays $10,000 to win, and Saturday is $20,000 to win. According to the series, Saturday's race will be the first of 18 shows this year that will pay $20k to win or more. David Gravel enters the weekend as the points leader over Carson Macedo, Brad Sweet, Logan Schuchart, and Buddy Kofoid. Brent Marks was the winner at Devils Bowl in 2022, while Logan Schuchart had won three in a row before that. Certain drivers seem to shine on 1/2 mile tracks, and this could be a decent chance for Gravel to extend his points lead. He handled business at Volusia winning three of five, and he led the series in average finish on 1/2 mile tracks a year ago. Sweet and his KKR 49 are rolling though, with three straight top two finishes, including the win last weekend at Magnolia. Macedo's top ten streak is still alive as well, sitting right now at 14 races.
On the non-wing side of things, we were supposed to get the USAC National Sprint Cars at Lawrenceburg on Saturday, but as of this morning, that race has been postponed because of weather. They do plan on trying again next Saturday, April 8th. So non-wing fans will have to wait just a little bit longer.
We'll also be keeping an eye on Central PA's weather over the next few days. Selinsgrove has already cancelled for tonight, and Williams Grove, Lincoln, and Port Royal are all scheduled, but watching the skies. Lincoln and Port have raced already this year, but the Grove hasn't run yet.
If you are down under, or are a fan of racing down under, both Premier Speedway and Perth Motorplex, among others are in action as well. So don't sleep on those shows. They can be watched on Clay Per View if you aren't down that way.
On the late model side of things, no Lucas or Outlaws this weekend, but we do have other races, like the Spring Nationals in Alabama and the MLRA at Wheatland. These MLRA shows will feel like a national tour race though, as a lot of big names are going to be in action there, including Brandon Sheppard, Bobby Pierce, Ricky Thornton Jr., Jonathan Davenport and others. Friday is $5k to win and Saturday is $10k. Both of those will be live on Flo if you are too far away to go. The Spring Nationals shows will draw the southern favorites like Ross Bailes, Carson Ferguson, Joseph Joiner, Wil Herrington and more. Tonight is Buckshot Speedway and Saturday is at East Alabama. There are also other super and crate shows planned for Cochran, the Bristol dirt, and more.
At Ark-La-Tex Speedway last night, Cade Dillard kicked off the USMTS weekend with the $3000 win. He started third, was leading by lap eight, and drove on to his 20th career series victory. I believe it was his first USMTS win since way back in 2017 as his career has shifted towards late models. Jim Chisholm and Dereck Ramirez completed the podium. They had 59 cars last night, so things will remain tough for the next two shows. Jason Hughes did take over the points lead last night from Terry Phillips, who came home 16th after starting 24th. Tonight's show is $5000 to win and Saturday is $10,000 to win.
Drop me a comment today, let me know where you're headed, what you'll be watching, and your weekend win picks. Hopefully mother nature plays a little bit nicer this weekend than she has in recent days and weeks.
Looking at the weekend streaming schedule, there will be plenty of options across the services. Weather is still an issue in some places, so keep an eye on that, but DIRTVision, FloRacing, Speed Sport, RacinDirt, Clay Per View, and others have stuff going on. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
Have a good weekend out there, we'll see you guys back here on Monday.