DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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No, you didn't just bust Larson and Rumley. Let me explain... | Daily 4-11-2023

The High Limit series gets rolling tonight, and I've got everything you need to know, plus some weekend schedule updates, and I'm going to ruin a conspiracy theory. Let's go!

It's Tuesday, April 11th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

I wanted to kick things off today by talking for just a minute about this video going around of Kyle Larson's car from Bulls Gap. There have been multiple mentions of this in my comments section, I've been emailed this video, and it's been tweeted at me. If you haven't seen it, this was from last Thursday night. Larson, in the Kevin Rumley owned six car, pulls out onto the track and parks right in front of one of the FloRacing speed cameras. After a few seconds, you suddenly see the right front of the car move higher in the air. It seems as though some folks thought they had just seen something secret, or special, or that maybe they caught Rumley doing something sneaky. But I hate to disappoint everyone, this was just some shock movement in the car. If you watch really closely, as the car stops, that right front is already moving, and it just gets into a position where it releases all the way, and it's made more apparent because of the way things are setup in the left rear of the car. I'm no shock or dirt late model expert, and my terminology is probably incorrect, but this is not uncommon. Shocks can be made to do all sorts of crazy looking stuff depending on valving and how they are set up, and we used to have to deal with it a lot for pit stops in my NASCAR career. Depending on the track you were at, you might have shocks that wouldn't release at all, and keep the tires sucked up in the fender wells. You might have shocks that droppped the tires out really slowly, and I've seen them drop out slowly to a point, then release really quickly. It certainly made hitting lugnuts, and getting tires in and out challenging at times. If you've watched any super speedway races in the past decade, you have probably seen a tire changer struggling to get a right front tire off, and sometimes almost standing on the wheel to get it to drop out. That's because of the shocks. Shocks are a huge part of attaining grip for race cars, and some series have gotten to the point where they are policed pretty heavily. In the Cup Series now, the shocks are basically a spec piece with just a few adjustments available to teams. So, sorry to bust up the conspiracy theories, but nothing really special was going on. Don't forget too, Kevin Rumley is one of the smartest guys out there when it comes to shocks and how to make them work best for dirt late models. If you want to hear more from Rumley, check out the interview I did with him back in February. I'll link to it in the video description below.

Looking towards tonight, there is something for both sprint car fans and late model fans. First, High Limit kicks off their first ever championship season with the opener at Lakeside Speedway near Kansas City. $50,000 to win, $2000 to start, and their projected entry list shows 56 cars as of yesterday. That includes the 26 full timers they announced before, and a whole bunch of other competitors. The list does include nine full time World of Outlaws drivers, so this would be the first of their four freebies, or eight freebies depending on their plans. Those nine are Logan Schuchart, David Gravel, Spencer Bayston, Kasey Kahne, Donny Schatz, Sheldon Haudenschild, Gio Scelzi, Carson Macedo, and Brad Sweet. We'll also see names like Cole Macedo, Zeb Wise, Austin McCarl, Brady Bacon and more. The weather looks like it will be really nice, so no issues there. And this race tonight is sort of the band getting back together from the Larson Marks Racing days, as Shane Stewart and Justin Marks are promoting tonight's race in Kyle Larson's series. Looking at some race results, the past six Outlaw winners at Lakeside were James McFadden, Gio Scelzi, Shane Stewart, Donny Schatz, Daryn Pittman, and Brian Brown. Of that group, only Gio, Schatz, and Brownie are racing tonight. A year ago, the best 1/2 mile racers with the Outlaws were David Gravel who led in average finish, and Brent Marks had the most 1/2 mile wins. Through just a few half mile shows this season, Gravel has been the guy in both of those stat categories. So big cash on the line, lots of cars coming to race, and good weather. Now the question is will fans support this series at the track. Even with help from Flo, I do think that the future success of High Limit will depend on how well they can promote these races and draw fans to the grandstands. This deal is clearly made for streaming, but getting butts in the seats on Tuesday nights will be vital, especially with the payouts they are offering. If you can't get there, watch live tonight on FloRacing.

Across the country in Tennessee, XR's new Workin' Man Series for late models gets started tonight at Volunteer Speedway. We saw an absolute banger their last week with Larson's show, and I wouldn't expect much different this week. Tonight is $10,000 to win and it leads into the $100,000 to win show coming up this weekend. The payout tonight also includes open trailer bonuses, highest finishing non-open motor bonus, plus cash for hard chargers, heat race winners, longest tow and more. This is the first of 17 races on this new Workin Man schedule. It looks like right now they could be in the mid 20's for car count, with more possible. And the field is a mix of local and regional guys, plus big names like Ricky Thornton Jr., Mike Marlar, Tanner English, Chris Madden, Devin Moran, and more. This will definitely be a chance for guys to get some track time ahead of the big money show coming up on Saturday. Hot laps are scheduled for tonight at 6:15 PM, and if you can't get there, XR Plus will have live streaming coverage.

Looking towards the weekend, we've already had some cancellations and schedule changes. First, the Super DIRTcar Series has cancelled this weekend's event at Can-Am Speedway in New York. The track is too wet and it won't be in raceable condition in time. Both the track and the series are trying to find a reschedule date. The Super DIRTcar Series returns to action on April 23rd at Bridgeport Speedway.

The other schedule change I've seen for the weekend is in Ohio. Last weekend the All Star points season opener at Attica was pushed back because of rain, but it created a conflict this weekend with Fremont. In response, Fremont has decided to push their season opener back a week to April 22nd. They also discussed racing on Sunday according to their social post, but decided to just wait another week. I know it sucks for Fremont, but kudos to them for making this move. Splitting the cars and the fans for that area would have hurt both tracks, as these two facilities are only about 30 miles apart. This type of cooperation isn't seen in a lot of other parts of the country, so I think it's important to note when it does happen.

It's a solid day across the streaming services with five things coming up. FloRacing has the High Limit sprint cars from Lakeside plus Flo 24/7. XR Plus has the Workin Man late models from Volunteer, and DIRTVision has outlaw karts from Millbridge plus DIRTVision Now. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.

Hope you guys have a good Tuesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow.