DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Chili Bowl seeking new partners, media deal; Some dirt racing fans hate fun | Daily 4-7-2023

Big changes are coming to the Chili Bowl for 2024 and we'll talk about them, plus what's happening around the country this weekend, and some people just hate fun. Let's go!

It's Friday, April 7th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

We'll kick today off with the late model show at Volunteer Speedway. Kyle Larson and Jonathan Davenport went slider for slider through the 50 lapper, with Larson eventually coming out on top. Hell of a race, and Volunteer was the perfect place for it. The banking there provides some great racing, and absolutely massive slide jobs. By the end, Larson was missing the right rear quarter, about a third of the spoiler, and last lap contact with Kyle Busch flattened his left rear tire. But he held on to win his own race. Dale McDowell got to second late, with Davenport settling for third. It looked like the place was absolutely packed, they had 44 cars, and the fans both in the stands and at home were treated to a good one. And as we've seen him do so many times before, Jack Cofer mentioned that Larson stuck around and hung out with fans well into the night. Both Kyle Busch and Chase Briscoe needed provisionals to start the main event, with Busch ending up 16th and Briscoe finishing 18th. I did see some comments complaining about those two guys getting passes into the main event, and to those people I'm curious if you hate fun. Of course they were going to be in the feature. And every driver and team in the pit area knew it, and showed up anyway. This was a special event put on by Kyle Larson, there's no way he wasn't going to put them in. This was not the Dream or the World, or a pivotal show with a major touring series. This was a Thursday night special event meant to provide entertainment for fans in the area and for streaming. I don't understand why some folks have to take the fun out of absolutely everything. Looking ahead to the rest of the weekend, a lot of these teams had planned on running Wythe and Tazewell with the Spring Nationals, but both of those shows were lost to weather. It's going to be a very wet weekend in the south, so those teams will probably have to look towards the future for their next races. The Hunt the Front opener down at All-Tech pays $20,000 to win tonight, and I'd bet some guys will try and beat feet down there to race. We already knew names like Tim McCreadie and Shane Clanton were going to join the fun, and it sounds like we could also see Ricky Thornton Jr., Mike Marlar, Max Blair and Boom Briggs, and more.

The other shows we've lost to weather coming up are the two All Star races at Attica. They will try again to get those in next week, April 14th and 15th, although the move does put that Saturday show directly up against Fremont. It will definitely mean some of the Ohio teams will have to make a choice.

So with the All Stars off, those teams will now scatter elsewhere with plenty of other sprint car options in play. The World of Outlaws are at US 36 Raceway tonight and 81 Speedway tomorrow, and all systems should be go. David Gravel enters the weekend with a 26 point advantage over Brad Sweet, with Carson Macedo, Buddy Kofoid, and Logan Schuchart the rest of the top five. The most recent winner at US36 was Sheldon Haudenschild back in 2020, while Donny Schatz has won the only previous stop at 81, back in 2017. Both of those guys need good runs this weekend, as both have started slow through the opening 10 race nights. Each is outside the top five in the standings, already triple digits behind points leader Gravel. And neither was able to crack the top ten a week ago at Devil's Bowl. With as good as those top three have been, Schatz and Sheldon cannot afford many more nights like they've had. The car counts should again be decent, and we know names like Brian Brown, Buddy Kofoid, Ayrton Gennetten, Tyler Courtney, and Rico Abreu are headed out to challenge the Outlaws. If you aren't nearby, both nights will be live on DIRTVision.

Other sprint car options for the weekend include the IRA at 34 Raceway, and that one should draw quite a few cars. We should also get a full slate of 410 shows this weekend in Central Pennsylvania, with the Grove, Lincoln, and Port Royal all on tap and the weather finally looking up. And out in California, the NARC 410 competitors will get to open their season on Saturday night at Hanford. All the California heavy hitters will be there for that one, including defending champ Dominic Scelzi, plus Justin Sanders, DJ Netto, Corey Day, Shane Golobic, my guy Tanner Holmes, and many more.

If you're looking for other shows this weekend, the USAC sprint cars are back in action on Saturday at Lawrenceburg. This one was supposed to happen last weekend, but got rained out. Brady Bacon leads the points standings over CJ Leary and Justin Grant coming out of Florida, and the weather should place nice. Early season winners down south included Jake Swanson, Daison Pursley, Brady Bacon and Kyle Cummins. Cummins was the lone winner at the Burg a season ago. That one will be live on Flo if you can't make it out.

Also Saturday, the Short Track Super Series is headed for the Orange County Fair Speeday for the first Elite Series show of 2023. $12,000 to win and $1000 to start should draw plenty of challengers. Names like Anthony Perrego, Alex Yankowski, Jimmy Phelps, Mike Mahaney, Andy Bachetti, Mat Williamson, Max McLaughlin, Matt Sheppard, and plenty more are expected. There is practice tonight, with racing starting at 6:30 PM eastern tomorrow. That one will be live on Flo as well if you can't get there.

Finally today, things will look different at the Chili Bowl for 2024. Sports Business Journal's Adam Stern tweeted last night that the event was seeking out new title sponsorship after it's deal with Lucas Oil has expired. The deal with Lucas included sponsorship of both the Chili Bowl and the Tulsa Shootout, plus TV coverage on MAV, and the rights to trackside signage. All of that now is up for grabs, with the event also exploring a new TV package for Saturday night's primetime racing. I had heard after the event that things between the Chili Bowl officials, Lucas, and FloRacing had gotten interesting around the rights and entitlements, and with all the changes we've seen with motorsports sponsorships at Lucas, this isn't all that surprising. The new management there, including the promotion of Morgan Lucas, has resulted in a lot of moves that we've previously documented. The Chili Bowl confirmed all of this in a press release that was dropped this morning. I would guess that there will be plenty of sponsorship suitors, but I'll be curious to see how the media rights play out. It's a very unique event that draws attention, but will any big players be willing to get involved? We'll see.

It's our first real heavy weekend of the season across the streaming services. More tracks are opening as we get into April, and we are currently in the 60s for streaming shows coming up. All the big players are involved, including Flo, DIRTVision and more, and there is plenty of racing to check out. To see the full daily streaming schedule through the weekend, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.

Have a good weekend out there, we'll see you guys back here tomorrow.