DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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The story of going viral on a Tuesday, plus All Stars reveal full timers | Daily 4-5-2023

The All Stars reveal their final roster, more High Limit updates, and I guess maybe we should talk about Lernerville. Let's go!

It's Wednesday, April 5th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

Coming up Friday the All Stars will kick off their points season at Attica and they released their full 10 team list of championship chasers this morning. We already knew about eight of these, and there were two additions in recent days. So here's the full rundown. Tyler Courtney is back to defend his championship and try and go three straight. He'll be challenged by Hunter Schuerenberg, Zeb Wise, Chris Windom who's moved to Lane Racing, Parker Price Miller in the McCandless 29, rookie Conner Morrell, JJ Hickle in the Seeling 97, Scotty Thiel with Premier, and the two new additions are Tim Shaffer back in the Bryan Grove 45 and Zeth Sabo in the Jay Kiser 23. Looking through the list, Sunshine will be the odds on favorite to win the title, but there are some interesting possibilities for challengers. Schuerenberg took a step forward last season, winning four times, and I could see that team making more gains this season. They've been out racing a lot already in 2023, and that heavy schedule will continue. I also like Zeb to continue improving, and hopefully he can settle in at Rudeen and start finding some consistency. We know he's talented and can win, and hopefully Rudeen can become the contender we've bee expecting them to be for several seasons now. I also like PPM with the All Stars, a couple of wins a year ago, and the McCandless team should have all the tools necessary for him to contend. My one maybe dark horse here is JJ Hickle. They won't contend for the championship, but I think that pairing could surprise some people this season. I would not be shocked if they snagged a win or two. It's been a rough start weather wise for Attica, so hopefully mother nature plays nice this weekend. We'll see the All Stars Friday and Saturday.

I talked yesterday on the show about the big 25 car High Limit full time list, and I've got just a little bit of an update today. I wasn't sure yesterday if teams had to put any sort of deposit down to sign on, and I found out yesterday they did, and it was $1000. Just like with the All Stars, that money is returned to teams upon completion of the season. With the All Stars I believe the policy is it's refunded with something like 90% of the races completed. With High Limit, the check won't be deposited unless teams quote "breach the agreement" which means they don't run the full schedule. The first High Limit show is next Tuesday night at Lakeside for $50,000 to win, and it sounds like the series is expecting somewhere around 50 cars.

The first season for the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series gets going this weekend down at All-Tech in Florida. They did make a schedule change though for the two night program. Friday was supposed to be $5000 to win with Saturday being $20,000 to win, but there are rain chances for Saturday, so they will run the $20 grand to win race on Friday now. Don't sleep on this one, as it sounds like they'll have some serious contenders on hand. Shane Clanton and Tim McCreadie are headed south, and the full time field includes names like Payton Freeman, Wil Herrington, Billy Moyer Jr., Josh Putnam, and John Henderson. You can find more details for Hunt the Front's tour at htfseries.com.

Alright, with news and notes for today done, let's talk about what happened yesterday on social media with Lernerville Speedway. I'm sure plenty of you witnessed what played out through the afternoon on Tuesday, but if you missed it, here are the Cliff's Notes. I had multiple industry friends send me a Facebook post about Lernerville's policies for the upcoming season regarding video and photo capturing at the track. The post said no video was allowed to be recorded by anyone, and extra personnel had been hired to help enforce the policy. Also, credentialed photographers would be required to dump their entire memory cards at the end of the night. The post was not on the track's page, but posted by someone purporting to work for Lernerville's streaming service. I screenshotted the post and shared it on Twitter around 1:30PM. Later, the post disappeared along with the entire account, and shortly after 3PM, the track posted to their social channels that the account was fake and quote "there is no such new policy in place." So apparently we were duped by this fake account and very specific haux, and everyone can move on with their day. But the story didn't actually end there. Whether or not the post and the Facebook account were fake, the policies shared are actually pretty close to what's in place at Lernerville. The photo policy does require shooters to submit images to the track, which is listed on their website. That's not super uncommon, although some photographers don't like it. But the video policy is true, and there are signs posted at the track in the seating areas saying that no recording is allowed. And these signs don't appear to have been placed in the stands until late in 2022. Photos don't show them in September, and they weren't there for the Firecracker, but they are there in images starting in October. The verbiage in the signs is pretty clear and specific, but the track says it's just for live streaming. I'll leave it up for you to decide on that one. So again, if the original post was an elaborate hoax, that's fine, but the policies are real. And the policies are the issue here, not a supposed fake social media post. I'm sure the track folks didn't like all the attention they got yesterday, which I certainly aided in, and I doubt I'd be welcomed with open arms if I showed up. But this is just another example of short sighted promoters. Fun side note, someone else who claims online to be affiliated with the track did DM me to delete my original post because of the heat the track was taking. At the end of the day though, these tracks are private businesses, and they can enact whatever policies they like. If you think a few cell phone videos are hurting your bank account, by all means shut it down. Just don't be surprised when you get called out for doing so. I personally continue to not understand the old school, head in the sand mentality that permeates so much of the sport. Lernerville is a classic race track, that's put on some incredible shows through the years, has a robust weekly program, and honestly could be a top level facility in the country. When I worked at WRG, the track was owned by the company, and I spent time working on Lernerville projects. But there are issues present, and ones that won't be fixed by archaic rules for track goers. And I promise, I'm not seeking out these issues and conflicts with race tracks, although I'm sure it appears that way. I just want things to be better than they are.

If you want to check out some other dirt racing content this week, Winged Nation has Terry Gray, Lucas Wolfe and James McFadden. Open Red has a new episode with JJR tire guy Nate Repetz, Passing Points has Lachlan Caunt, the Dirt Nerds have Devin Shiels and Ryan Missler, Quicktime has Daison Pursley, Dirt Tracks and Rib Racks has Eli Wilhelmus, All Gas No Brakes has Kaden Reynolds, Dallon Murty, and others. Hoogie's Garage has Chuck Swenson, Sye Lynch, and Liam Letzsch, Dunewich on Dirt has Anthony Sanders, and there are new episodes of the Dirt Reporters and Dirt Track Confessions. To see the full list of shows and episodes, head over to dirtrackr.com/podcasts.

Nothing on the streaming schedule today except FloRacing 24/7 and DIRTVision Now. 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 back here tomorrow.