DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
Dirt racing news, results, discussion, analytics. Sprint cars, late models, modifieds, you name it. From national series, to top local shows. Brought to you five days a week. Email the show at info@dirtrackr.com.
Eldora confiscates drivers' watches ahead of Dirt Late Model Dream | Daily 6-12-2023
Dirt late model racers cheating with Apple Watches? We'll talk about that today and more from the Dirt Late Model Dream, plus a scary crash for Carson Macedo, and what else you need to know from a busy weekend of dirt racing. Let's go!
It's Monday, June 12th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
A quick request before we get started. If you don't already, make sure to subscribe to this show wherever you watch or listen. It's free and doing so will make sure you don't miss any future episodes. We are trying to get to 25,000 YouTube subscribers by year's end. We just went over 18K, and I think we can do it. Alright...
Saturday night at Eldora, Jonathan Davenport showed yet again that he's not only one of the best to ever wheel a dirt late model, but also that he's incredible at the Ohio track. Although he'd technically won a Dream before, in 2015 when Scott Bloomquist came up light at the scales afterwards, this was a race that he felt like he hadn't won before because of the circumstances. In the 29th running of the Dirt Late Model Dream though, Davenport started sixth, made his way forward in the early part of the feature, and took the lead on lap 30 after Mason Zeigler and Bobby Pierce took their turns out front. From there, Davenport was able to stay out front, survive the rubber, and hold off a charging Chris Madden at the end to score $129,000. In his past 18 feature starts at Eldora, in both big shows and prelims, Davenport now has seven wins, 15 top fives, 17 top tens, and average finish of fourth. Madden settled for second yet again, with Bobby Pierce ending up third. Zeigler faded to fifth at the end after leading the first 25 laps. The track taking rubber near half way was definitely a downer on the night, although there was still some passing after the surface started to latch down. There was no lack of criticism floating around social media as things started to go sideways. With as good as Madden was in the closing stages, you have to wonder if he would have been a serious threat for the win had the track stayed together. The one big driver missing from the Dream feature was Brandon Overton. Overton had a rough Friday, crashing in his heat race and exiting the night sixth in a B, and things didn't go better on Saturday. While running towards the front in heat two, Joseph Joiner caught the turn one wall and Overton had no where to go. The damage to both cars was enough to see both loaded up and done for the night. It was a tough ending to a week that hadn't gone super great for Overton. The other interesting storyline from Saturday that I'm a bit surprised didn't get more talk was race officials confiscating drivers' watches in advance of the Dream feature and issuing everyone new radios. We knew about it all thanks to a tweet from Michael Rigsby, and this came on the heels of the track banning signaling sticks, and limiting the areas where crew members could even stand during on track action to try and further limit communication. It's clear that race officials were worried about crews sending messages to drivers via smart watches, and there being funny business with Raceceivers. In the absence of being able to effectively signal using sticks or hands, there had been chatter about smartwatches and even wireless headphones connected to cell phones or other radios being used to give information. And this isn't the first time something like this has happened at Eldora. It wasn't that long ago that drivers were all forced to unhook their tachs, and rumors of traction control continue to permeate both big time dirt late model racing and sprint car racing. It's a crazy example of the lengths that teams will go to to find advantages and how difficult the tech process will always be. These situations are always silly to me too, because of the reactions when officials make these moves. Folks piss and moan about drivers dominating and fairness, and then get mad when rules are put in place to try and govern and even the playing field. You literally cannot have it both ways.
Looking ahead, more big cash is on the line tonight with the XR Super Series at Kokomo with $100,000 going to the winner. That one should draw quite a few cars, including all of the big names. And the Summer Nationals get rolling on Wednesday.
At Knoxville over the weekend, the World of Outlaws came through for two nights of racing, with Brian Brown pretty much dominating on Friday. He picked up his first Outlaw win since this same event one year ago. He topped Rico Abreu and Brad Sweet in that one. Brownie was fast again on Saturday night, ending up second to David Gravel who led flag-to-flag. Behind the top two, Garet Williamson earned his first career Outlaw podium finish after starting fourth. Obviously the big topic of conversation from the two nights though was the brutal crash for Carson Macedo in that Saturday feature. The JJR 41 was running second when the crash happened on lap 14. Something in the front end clearly broke and Macedo was just along for the ride. The car hit the wall in between three and four at an awkward angle and at a high rate of speed. It then went tumbling, before landing rightside up and bursting into flames. It was several minutes before we knew that Macedo had emerged from the car and was helped to an awaiting ambulance. As others have talked about, Macedo was unconscious for a period after the crash and that's why he didn't immediately try and get out. Safety crews were on the scene immediately, and although we couldn't see it on the DIRTVision broadcast, we know now that Brad Sweet, Gio Scelzi, and Spencer Bayston all got out of their cars to try and get Macedo out. Big props to those guys for wading into the situation to try and help, especially with fire. When the race later resumed, Gio Scelzi had to switch into a different firesuit because of the extinguisher that was sprayed everywhere. Macedo was transported to a local hospital, but was released after just a short stay. I've been told he does have some minor burns, but no serious injuries. So that's great news, especially after such a frightening crash. This is yet another example we've seen too often lately of these scary incidents, and clearly safety needs to continue to be improved upon. Hopefully all involved will take a good hard look at this and try and learn, especially with the implemantation of the newly mandated fire bottles. The World of Outlaws head to Beaver Dam this week for two nights, and Brad Sweet is the points leader over Gravel and Macedo.
Elsewhere, we had two kickass finishes with the All Stars to open Ohio Sprint Speedweek. On Friday at Attica, Tyler Courtney led at the white flag, but Zeb Wise ripped the top in three and four and beat Sunshine back to the checkered. It was Zeb's second win of the year, and he's been really good since a tough start at Volusia. In his past 15 starts, he has 14 top tens, two wins, and seven top fives. These guys look like the toughest challenger so far for Sunshine and Clauson Marshall. Saturday night at Fremont, it looked like Cap Henry was going to go green-to-checkered but Danny Dietrich had other ideas. He got to second with four to go and was after Henry for the win. Like the night before, Henry led at the white flag, but not at the checkered. Dietrich dipped low out of turn four and somehow found enough grip to take the win by 0.054 of a second over Henry. Courtney and Wise followed them to the line. I sure hope this intensity continues all week. Sunday's race at Wayne County was rained out, but they will try again tonight.
The Sunday Kokomo race for Indiana Midget Week was also lost to rain, so that stretch of races has come to a close with Logan Seavey being crowned Midget Week champion. The Friday win at Bloomington went to Gavin Miller who took advantage when his teammate Jade Avedisian jumped the turn two cushion on lap 15. Miller led the rest of the way, topping Justin Grant and Seavey. It was Miller's first ever USAC national midget win. Saturday night at Lawrenceburg, Ryan Timms battled with Jake Andreotti early, and then had to hold back mulitple slider attempts from Logan Seavey to earn his fourth career series victory. It was his first top five finish since the season opener back at Belleville on May 19th. With Buddy Kofoid bowing out to go run Ohio Sprint Speedweek, Seavey was crowned midget week champion with five top fives in six nights, including the win at Gas City. He's also taken the season long championship lead over Justin Grant and Jacob Denney headed into a midwest swing coming up in July.
Other weekend open wheel winners included Colby Copeland with the Sprint Car Challenge Tour at Petaluma, Jeff Halligan won Saturday at Port Royal, Freddie Rahmer was a 410 winner at Lincoln, Blake Nimee and Bill Balog were IRA winners, and Riley Goodno topped Ayrton Gennetten and Corey Day on Sunday at Huset's.
Other weekend late model winners included Ethan Dotson with the Comp Cams series, Jadon Frame won a topless show at Duck River, and Jason Covert, Michael Norris, and Gregg Satterlee were Appalachian Mountain Speedweek winners at Clinton County, Port Royal, and Hagerstown.
There is some dirt racing going on today, so make sure to stop by dirtrackr.com/watchtonight to see today's streaming schedule.
Hope you guys have a good Monday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow.