DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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When teams signal, drivers win, but fans lose | Daily 5-12-2023

On this Friday show we are talking the theft we suffered last night at Lincoln, plus what you need to know for the dirt racing weekend. Let's go!

It's Friday, May 12th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

There was a decent chance we were on our way to a kickass finish to last night's FloRacing Night in America show at Lincoln Speedway, but as happens a few times a year, we were robbed. And who robbed us? Those damn signal guys. You know who I'm talking about. At a lot of late model and modified shows, you'll see them scattered around the track in various places, wearing brightly colored and reflective gear like they're working second shift laying fresh asphalt on I-80. Sometimes it's just hand signals, other times it's with neon sticks that remind you of Luke vs. Darth in The Empire Strikes Back. They let their drivers know gaps to competitors, which lanes are the best, and whatever else they can relay. And last night at Lincoln, with Brandon Sheppard reeling him in quick, Hudson O'Neal suddenly jumped from the bottom to the top late in the feature and ended any chance of a tight battle to the end. O'Neal certainly didn't make that decision on his own, and plenty of folks noticed, including Kyle Larson, who was watching from afar and tweeting about it. In terms of the competition, it was clearly the right move for the Rocket one, and it ended up in a $23,000 payday and another victory. It's certainly not illegal to signal or send messages to the drivers, although even if it was it would be hard to police. Those guys did what they had to do to protect a win, but in the end it was those of us who were watching that were the losers. BShepp going to war with his old team for a big check in his home state of Illinois was about to be one hell of a story, but instead O'Neal prevailed and BShepp will have to try again on another night. It was fun though to watch Sheppard try and make something happen, even after O'Neal went to the cushion. He was absolutely driving the wheels off that B5, so you know it wasn't from lack of effort. The Flo series part of Illinois Speedweek is now over, and when racing shifts to Farmer City tonight and Fairbury on Saturday, the racing will be Lucas sanctioned. Mike Marlar maintains the Flo series points lead headed to Marshalltown next week. And speaking of Marlar, I don't know what's going on between him and Ricky Thornton Jr., but they got together again last night. One week ago, the two tangled at Atomic, with RTJ going around and having to drive back through the field. He certainly wasn't happy about it. And last night, the 20RT had charged towards the top five from 18th, but on the final lap again got together with the 157 and went around. Marlar v. RTJ was not on my dirt late model bingo card for 2023. If you want to check out these Lucas races this weekend, keep an eye on the weather and social media. There are some scattered rain chances over the next few days, but it doesn't appear to be a complete washout, so hopefully they can get lucky. Farmer City and Fairbury have been the site of plenty of bangers in the past, and with how things went the past few nights, some more great racing could be on tap. The full Lucas weekend will be live on FloRacing if you can't get there.

If you want some more late model racing this weekend, the Hunt the Front series is back in action with two shows at Magnolia Motor Speedway. Tonight is $5000 to win and Saturday is $10,000 to win. That one will feature guys like Shane Clanton, Ashton Winger, Joseph Joiner, Billy Moyer Jr., Wil Herrington, Payton Freeman and more. Herrington is the current series points leader with just one race complete. You can find more info at htfseries.com.

Before we talk weekend sprint car racing, I am down to the final few DIRTRACKR logo hats in this most recent batch. Also, the coupon code for 50% off a shirt with a hat purchase ends tonight at midnight eastern, so today is your last chance to take advantage. That coupon code is "HAT23" at checkout. You can order hats, shirts, and decals over at shop.dirtrackr.com.

In big time sprint car racing, I've got a trio of series for you to get into this weekend. First, the World of Outlaws make their first trip of the season to Williams Grove. They tried to race there back in March but were foiled by the weather. Brad Sweet enters the weekend on top of the standings with Carson Macedo and David Gravel in close pursuit. Macedo needs a good run to bounce back from back-to-back finishes outside the top ten at Eldora and Lincoln. I think the Outlaw guys could have a tough couple of nights though, because the Posse has been much improved over the past year. At the Grove in 2022, Lance Dewease won three of five races, Brent Marks had a win, and Brad Sweet had the lone Outlaw victory in July. Dewease, Marks, and Anthony Macri will no doubt be in the mix for wins. The Morgan Cup is on the line and right now it's in the possession of the Grove. Tonight should be good to go, although there are rain chances for Saturday. If you can't get there, watch it live on DIRTVision.

A couple of states away, the All Stars will be at the tight confines of Jacksonville Speedway tonight in Illinois. With Brent Marks in PA, Tyler Courtney will be in line to take over the points lead. His bid for a third straight title was made easier this week with Parker Price Miller departing his ride with McCandless. PPM was third in the standings but now gives that up. Also, as I write this we don't know what the status is for Zeb Wise. He was involved in that nasty crash at Eldora last week and posted to Twitter that he had a concussion. There have been no other updates this week, so we'll have to wait and see if the Rudeen 26 is in attendance. That makes Hunter Schuerenberg the next closest championship contender to Sunshine, but he enters the weekend 44 points back all the way down in seventh. This will be the first trip to Jacksonville for the All Stars since 1994. After tonight, Wilmot, Wisconsin is on tap for Saturday, and Courtney and Cory Eliason have recent victories there. Both nights will be live on FloRacing.

If you're an ASCS fan, you'll have to wait yet again to see them race. Their two races this weekend at Electric City and Moberly have been washed out. They'll try again at Londale May 19th and 20th.

One part of the country that won't have to worry about weather is California. The upcoming Peter Murphy Classic at Hanford for the NARC 410 competitors will be ready to roll tonight and tomorrow. Saturday's show is $11,000 to win, and 360 sprint cars are also on the card. Corey Day currently leads Justin Sanders, Dominic Scelzi, Chase Johnson and Justyn Cox in the NARC standings, but as we talked about this week, Buddy Kofoid and James McFadden will be in attendance in Roth cars to try and steal the money from the regulars. If you can't stay up that late, make sure to catch these replays the next day over on Flo. I'd bet we'll see some good racing.

That's it for the show today. Make sure you guys check out the streaming schedule at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight. Also, thanks to all of you who subscribe to the channel, we went across 17,000 total yesterday. If you don't already subscribe, what are you waiting for? It's free!

Hope you guys have a good weekend out there, we'll see you back here on Monday.