DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Struggles for Outlaw contenders, Tragedy at Lawrenceburg | Daily 4-10-2023
On the show today, rare issues for Outlaw contenders, Rico stays rolling, RTJ Hunts the Front, and tragedy with USAC. Let's go!
It's Monday, April 10th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
Happy National Sprint Car day, it is 410. And we've definitely got plenty of sprint car stuff to talk about today. Before we dive in, the show has a new partner and I'm excited for this one. He was a World of Outlaws winner over the weekend, and today's he's hooking you guys up with a nice discount code on his merch. Head over to shoprico.com to pick up all the greatest apparel for Rico Abreu. He's got the new Through the Years shirts and hoodies that show off a bunch of his past race cars, plus the new Invader and neon gear. And if you like a deal, all the Rowdy stuff is on sale right now, that includes shirts, stickers, coozies, and more. When you checkout over at shoprico.com, make sure you use code "Invader24" at checkout to get 24% off your purchase. That's code "Invader24" at shoprico.com. I really appreciate Rico's support of what I'm doing.
With the Outlaws, David Gravel entered the weekend as the points leader, where he's basically been all season to this point, but leaving the weekend things have shuffled somewhat. Issues for Gravel on Friday night promoted Brad Sweet to the top, and then problems for the Big Cat Saturday have left Carson Macedo as the guy they are all chasing. Friday night at US36 Raceway it was Sheldon Haudenschild who went to victory lane after a wild battle that also involved Macedo and Gravel. The Haud line was very much on display, and this really felt like the first time this season we've seen the Sheldon we've grown accustomed to in recent seasons. Big moves, battling out front, some mistakes, but ultimately getting a win. Things did align well for the 17 group, as they'd won this race the last time it was run in 2020, and 3/8 mile tracks really are Sheldon's bread and butter. In his career, 13 of his 32 Outlaw wins have come on this size track, which is over 40%. Behind the win, Macedo and Sweet took podiums, which boosted them in the standings after Gravel had a crash and DNF'd. It was a very rare mistake from Gravel, who had issues all alone. It was his worst finish since a 20th at Huset's way back in June of last year. It was 52 races between DNFs. I also wanted to give a hat tip to Brock Zearfoss. He grabbed his first Outlaw top five since Weedsport in July of 2022.
At 81 Speedway on Saturday, Rico Abreu led flag to flag for his second Outlaw score of the season. Johnny Gibson started talking about the track taking rubber in three and four around half way, but I thought the racing stayed pretty solid through the finish. Macedo tried to make something happen against Rico late, but the 24 was able to defend. The way Ricky Warner has got that 24 rolling right now, I think Rico is going to be a big problem wherever he shows up this season, whether it's with the Outlaws, All Stars, High Limit or anywhere else. If Rico was running full time, his average finish right now would be good enough for him to be fourth in the standings. Macedo leaves the weekend as the points leader thanks to two second place finishes and issues for both Gravel and Sweet. The 49 started 11th on Saturday, had a flat and a spin, went to the back, and ended up 14th. Macedo is the only driver to finish in the top ten in all 12 races so far, and his streak has been pushed to 18 straight. Further down the order, it was another forgettable weekend for Donny Schatz and the TSR 15. Weekend finishes of 11th and 13th mean Donny has now gone four straight races without a top ten result. It's the longest such streak since he went five straight races outside the top ten in the spring of 2021. He continues to lose ground to the front runners. Later this week, the Outlaws are at Pevely for two nights.
With the All Stars having to push back their opener because of rain, we saw a bunch of guys scatter to other shows around the country. Some raced with the Outlaws, others the IRA, and some guys went to Central Pennsylvania. I was honestly a little surprised Justin Peck went all the way to Kansas and Missouri with the Outlaws, as he seemed like a prime candidate to snipe some wins around PA with all three tracks racing.
Friday at the Grove Danny Dietrich was out of contention early after he hit the turn four inside guardrail coming to the green and flattened his left front tire. That race turned into a battle between Anthony Macri and Freddie Rahmer with things getting a touch spicy late. There was definitely some contact in there, and those two racing allowed Zeb Wise to get into the fight. Macri actually led at the white flag, but the lapper of Scotty Thiel slowed his progress down the backstretch and Zeb slipped by to score the victory. Macri and Rahmer rounded out the podium. I know there have been some internal changes at Rudeen, and this could be a good sign for those guys. Zeb hasn't traditionally run well at the Grove, so a win there is big, and he backed it up Saturday with a podium at Port Royal. And that Port show was interesting, because you don't often see Lance Dewease outdueled, especially by a young guy like Devon Borden.
At Lincoln Speedway Saturday night, Kyle Moody charged up from eighth to bag his first win at the track since 2019. Chase Dietz and Billy Dietrich rounded out that podium.
The IRA sprint cars opened their season with two shows at 34 Raceway. Friday night it was Hunter Schuerenberg beating Parker Price Miller back to the line for the victory. Afterwards, PPM was upset at Sawyer Phillips for slowing in front of him late, and the move definitely slowed PPM's progress, but I don't think it specifically cost PPM the win. Schuerenberg ripped the top in three and four on that final lap and had a big head of steam. On Saturday, we had drama in the feature, and afterwards. Contact between leader Bill Balog and Chase Randall sent the North Pole Nightmare tumbling, and he was not happy about it. Randall went on to the win, but Balog met him in victory lane to show his displeasure. Officials had to restrain him. It wasn't over there though, as Randall was later found to be light at the scales, handing the win to Austin McCarl. Do not sleep on this IRA races this season.
And out in California, Corey Day topped Justin Sanders in the NARC season opener at Hanford. Good show out there, and then afterwards, several guys knocked the wings off and ran again for 15 more laps. Ryan Bernal topped Day in that one.
Down at All-Tech this weekend, the new Hunt the Front series got rolling with a $20,000 to win show at All-Tech. They had 40 cars for that one, and it was very national team heavy with names like Ricky Thornton Jr., Shane Clanton, Mike Marlar, Devin Moran, Brandon Overton, and Tim McCreadie in attendance. Ashton Winger and Joseph Joiner led the field to green with Joiner out front early. Clanton also led a bunch of laps, but it was 14th starting RTJ who drove through the field to score the $20 grand. Clanton and Marlar completed the podium. Kudos to the Hunt the Front guys for switching that schedule up and running the big money race on Friday with weather looming for Saturday.
At Brownstown on Saturday night in the return of the Northern Allstars late models, seventh starting Bobby Pierce picked up the $6000 victory over Nick Hoffman and Spencer Hughes. The super late model schedule picks up significantly this week with $100 grand on the line at Bulls Gap with XR, plus a bunch of other regional racing on tap.
In weekend modified action, Matt Sheppard scored the $12,000 Elite Series victory at Orange County Fair Speedway with the Short Track Super Series. It looked like Jimmy Horton's engine was laying down late in that one, and the battle came down to Larry Wight and Sheppard at the end. The Short Track Super Series goes quiet now for about a month, with the next race scheduled for May 9th.
Finally today, we had tragedy strike over the weekend with USAC. Ohio driver Justin Owen died after a qualifying crash during the USAC National Sprint Car event at Lawrenceburg Speedway. Owen was the track champion at Lawrenceburg in 2022 and had made just two previous national series starts, both at the Burg. The 26 year old driver grew up just 20 minutes from the race track where he competed regularly. USAC ended up cancelling the remainder of the event. It's another chilling reminder of how dangerous this sport still is and how cruel it can be. The need for added improvement of safety with the cars and race tracks remains ever present, and I hope everyone involved will continue to keep pushing in these areas. Thoughts today are with Justin's family and friends as they deal with his loss.
Hope you guys have a good and safe Monday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow.