DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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TRD boss reveals plans for 410 engine public sales | Daily 5-16-2023

Brandon Sheppard and crew have got their arms around the Longhorn Chassis and it was evident on Monday night at Farmer City. We'll talk about that plus an impressive night for Gordy Gundaker, Flo series and High Limit tonight, and an update on the TRD sprint car engine program. Let's go!

It's Tuesday, May 16th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

Two weeks ago, after a very strong weekend in MARS competition, we talked about it possibly being a pivotal moment in Brandon Sheppard's season. It was clearly taking some time for him to adjust to the Longhorn Chassis and his new team situation away from the Rocket house car. But that weekend where he picked up two second place finishes and a win seemed like a turning point, even if it wasn't against Outlaw or Lucas competition. Since then though, the encouraging signs have continued, and last night Sheppard finally hit big. Leading into last night's Lucas win at Farmer City, Sheppard won a split field prelim at Mississippi Thunder and I think would have been a serious contender for the $50,000. He was eighth at Spoon River and second at Lincoln in Flo series competition last week, and went 10th to third at Fairbury on Saturday. Qualifying and heat races for Farmer City happened back on Friday night before the rest of the program was pushed back because of rain, and Sheppard did start last night in a bit of a hole. He was 14th at the green flag, but was good right away moving through the field. He was to second before half way, and slipped by race long leader Gordy Gundaker on lap 47 for the top spot. He was basically unchallenged from there, bagging the $25,000 Lucas score, and his first series victory since Port Royal last August, and his first win with either national tour since an Outlaw victory at 81 Speedway last October. Monday's show was not a soft, regional field, but 41 serious teams and most of the best guys in the business. And it wasn't a front row start on a single groove race track. This looks to me like those guys have a pretty good handle on this Longhorn and I think it bodes well for the rest of his season, especially as he tries to run down Chris Madden and Kyle Bronson at the top of the Outlaw standings. I'd also be remiss if I didn't talk about an incredible run for Gordy Gundaker. He started second, took the lead from Jimmy Owens at the start, and although he didn't get the victory, he did lead the first 46 laps, and held on to finish second. It was by far the best we've seen from Gundaker in a big time super late model show. He had not previously led any laps in a national series race, but he looked solid out front. And this came on the heels of an 18th to eighth run on Saturday at Fairbury. We'll see if this translates into more success for him going forward. As for the Lucas standings, Hudson O'Neal is back in the lead despite losing a right rear tire early in the event. He was able to drive back through the field to a top five finish. Brandon Overton was fast early, but ended up 16th. Tim McCreadie had another tough night, making contact with Jimmy Owens and losing a left rear tire. He finished 13th. It was also another finish outside the top ten for Jonathan Davenport. Behind Sheppard and Gundaker out front, Brian Shirley went 18th to third, and Ricky Thornton Jr. 21st to fourth to earn the night's hard charger award. The Lucas season stays rolling this week with a Friday trip to 300 Raceway and a Saturday stop at 34 Raceway. Before that though, the FloRacing Night in America Series takes center stage tonight and tomorrow with races at Marshalltown and Davenport. With both of these races being $23,000 to win and $1000 to start, you have to assume that a lot of guys that ran last night and will run later this week will be in attendance for these shows. Mike Marlar currently leads Hudson O'Neal in the Flo standings. One year ago, O'Neal outdueled Ryan Gustin, Sheppard, and Marlar to score the victory at Marshalltown. Hot laps are scheduled for 6:30 tonight and you can watch live on FloRacing if you can't get there.

If you're a sprint car fan, the High Limit series is back in action tonight for big cash at Wayne County Speedway in Ohio. $32,000 to win, Sheldon Haudenschild is racing, and there is a $3000 bounty on him as well. We should be right in the neighborhood of 60 sprint cars, which I believe would make this the biggest sprint car field of the season so far. Besides the big group of High Limit full timers, we've got Ricky Stenhouse Jr. back, Jake Swanson in the Alex Bowman 55, James McFadden and the Roth 83, Buddy Kofoid in the Indy Race Parts 71, Parker Price Miller still in the Rudeen 26, and a whole bunch of Ohio regulars like Cap Henry, Brandon Spithaler, Zeth Sabo, Cale Thomas, and others. With just two races complete, Kyle Larson and Tyler Courtney lead the points standings in a tie, with Anthony Macri one point back in third. The entire top ten is only separated by 30 points, so lots of movement is possible. Sheldon has the last Outlaw win at Wayne County, from back in 2020. In All Star competition, Justin Peck and Hunter Schuerenberg were winners there in 2022, and Kyle Larson has a win there in 2021. So far this season in FAST series action, Tyler Street and Henry Malcuit have Wayne County victories. As for High Limit wins, we've had just three total series races, and no repeats yet. Kofoid, Gio Scelzi, and Macri scored those wins, and if I was a betting man, I'd say we'll get a fourth different winner tonight. Sheldon's season could use a shot in the arm, with five Outlaw finishes outside the top ten in his past seven races. A win would be a boost, and you know he'll be up on the wheel in front of the home crowd. I think Larson will be tough, Rico has been fast everywhere, and if you want a darkhorse, look at Cale Thomas. His past two All Star races there were finishes of sixth and second. No support divisions on the card tonight, and hot laps are scheduled for 5:45. FloRacing will have the live stream.

One other sprint car note for you today, this one in regards to the Toyota engine program. Over the weekend in NARC competition at Hanford, both James McFadden and Buddy Kofoid piloted Toyota powered sprint cars. McFadden has been running the TRD steam all season as part of the engine's development, and will continue doing so. TRD's technical director Andy Graves tweeted about it back on Friday and in the replies he was asked about the engines. He did reveal in his response that TRD 410 engines will be for sale to the public quote "by the end of this year" unquote. Both Speedway and Rider have been involved and building the TRD engines, and you'd assume they will be the two distributors when sales become public. Once they are available for purchase, it will be interesting to see who goes that direction and tries them out. The Fords aren't really available yet, and everything else out there is based on the same Chevy platform that has been around forever.

Alright, that's it for the show today. Make sure to check out the streaming schedule over at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight. Also, decals should be back in stock either tonight or tomorrow, and I know I owe a few of you some of those. I also only have three DIRTRACKR logo hats left from this most recent restock. So don't miss out if you want one. You can get merch over at shop.dirtrackr.com.

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