DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Resilient Hunt the Front managing through first year of super late model series | Daily 6-27-2023
Running a racing series is no cake walk, and I've got a famous example to share with you today. Plus we'll talk PA Speedweek, World of Outlaws Late Models, Summer Nationals, and more. Let's go!
It's Tuesday, June 27th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
A couple of housekeeping notes off the top today. We are getting ever closer to the goal of 25,000 YouTube subscribers by the end of 2023, and we recently went over 19,000. If you aren't yet subscribed, hit that button either on YouTube, or wherever you listen. That's a free way to help out the channel, and it will make sure you don't miss any future episodes. Also, I mentioned last week that I was working on starting a new email newsletter to feature fun content from some other writers and creators, and the first edition of that will go out probably tomorrow. If you want to be included on that email list, you can sign up at dirtrackr.com/newsletter, or click the link below in the video description. That email list currently has around 1600 subscribers, and I figured we were well past due in doing something cool for those folks. If you want to contribute to a future edition, shoot me a DM or email. Alright...
Looking around dirt racing as a whole, with so many different series running and available, it might appear as though running a traveling series couldn't be that difficult. But let me assure you, it most definitely is. And if you want an example of that, let me point you to the new Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series. From the guys who brought you the wildly successful YouTube channel, came a new, regional super late model series this year. Southern race tracks and some very solid cash up for grabs all season, but it has been anything but easy. Just a few days ago, they announced some changes to their schedule for this upcoming weekend. They were originally headed for I-75 Raceway and North Georgia Speedway, but now they have pivoted to a Saturday co-sanction at Senoia with the Ultimate series, to go along with a Sunday stop at Duck River. But the two shows at I-75 and North Georgia aren't off because of weather. The North Georgia show got cancelled because it conflicts with a local festival, and officially I-75 is off because of quote "undisclosed personal reasons for the track owners" unquote. There are rumors about the future of I-75 and possibly a sale of the facility, and an upcoming obstacle course race that was supposed to be at I-75 for a series called Terrain Race has also been cancelled. When you are trying to put a schedule together, these are the types of things you just can't foresee. And to go even further, this isn't the first time this happened to the Hunt the Front guys this year. The original July 1st date which has now been changed twice, was originally slated for Boyd's Speedway, but that track announced back in April they were shutting down amid a sale to a local construction company. So that's three weird cancellations on top of the usual smattering of weather related issues they've had at places like All-Tech, Magnolia, and Senoia. They had to suspend a driver and his dad recently for a confrontation involving series officials and the dad trying to tear down a series banner, and they had a sizeable delay at Whynot when the timing loop went haywire. But this is the type of stuff you sign up for when you decide to start a series, and keeping all the balls in the air is no simple feat. Here's to hoping things go a little smoother for the Hunt the Front guys for the rest of the year.
Up in Pennsylvania, Speedweek gets back going again tonight at Grandview with a $10,000 to win show. The Monday race at Lincoln was rained out, and they've moved it to Thursday which was originally an open date. With two races complete and two wins to his credit, Anthony Macri is the Speedweek points leader over Justin Peck, Danny Dietrich, Tanner Thorson, and Freddie Rahmer. Brent Marks, Lucas Wolfe, and Devon Borden all finished 20th or worse on Sunday at BAPS, and they have work to do for the rest of the week to try and run down Macri. Rico Abreu was the Grandview winner a year ago during Speedweek, but I wouldn't expect him to make any stops this season. He tweeted a few days ago that he's headed for Cedar Lake after the Huset's weekend. I'd say that Macri is probably the favorite for tonight, but I'll be curious to see what Tanner Thorson does. He ran well at Grandview last season, and he's been solid so far. I also like Justin Peck's chances to grab some wins this week as well. The streaming situation for Speedweek is always a bit messy, with multiple services involved. Tonight's show is live over on Sprintcarunlimited.tv.
After having Monday night off, the World of Outlaws Late Model teams are right back at it tonight as their midwest swing continues. They've already been to 81 Speedway and Off Road Speedway, and up next tonight is Mason City Motor Speedway in Iowa. The busy stretch continues tomorrow at Red River Valley, Friday at River Cities, and Saturday at I-94. We talked about this yesterday on the Daily, but the championship got tight over the weekend, with Chris Madden leading Bobby Pierce right now by just four points, and Nick Hoffman is only six back. And really, if you go down to Brandon Sheppard, only 90 points separate the top seven. Tonight's trip to Mason City will be the first for the Outlaws since 2016. Shane Clanton led all 50 laps that night and is seeking his first Outlaw victory since Williams Grove, back in August of 2022. He's coming off a podium on Sunday at Off Road. I've talked about Bobby Pierce's success so far this year, and he's on a run of 16 top tens in 17 races, including four wins. But I'm also really impressed with what Nick Hoffman has done this year during his first full run at a late model season. 14 straight top nine finishes right now, third in the standings, a win, and only three races all season outside the top ten. That's the type of consistency you don't normally see from rookie drivers, but obviously Hoffman isn't a typical rookie. Tonight's card at Mason City also includes USRA B-Mods and Hobby Stocks and if you can't get there, you can watch live on DIRTVision.
Summer Nationals week three gets rolling tonight after the teams had Monday off to regroup after week two. The tracks on tap for the next six days include Springfield, Adams County, Benton, Paducah, Clarksville, and Lake Cumberland. Brian Shirley and Jason Feger have won the first two mini championships, so we'll see who we get for week three. We've had six different late model winners so far, with Brian Shirley leading the way with three victories. Bobby Pierce and Jason Feger have two each, and Billy Moyer Jr., Ashton Winger, and Stormy Scott have all grabbed one as well. On the modified side, we've had five different winners in eight races, with multi-time series champion Mike Harrison topping the win column right now with three. Allen Weisser has two, and Michael Long, Tyler Nicely, and Austen Becerra all have one each. Kyle Steffens currently leads Nicely in the standings. The modified championship is still running like it has in the past where only a driver's certain number of finishes count towards the title, and this year it's 12 races. That's why we see drivers come and go depending on the night and track being run. I'd think by the time it's over, the championship will come down to guys like Harrison, Nicely, Weisser, probably Mike McKinney, and Steffens. Looking at who we could see racing tonight with the late models, Dirt on Dirt says expected entrants include guys like Frank Heckenast Jr, Billy Moyer and Billy Moyer Jr., Ashton Winger, Drake Troutman, Mason Oberkramer, and more. Don't forget, all of these Summer Nationals shows can be watched live on DIRTVision. You can double box this one tonight with the World of Outlaws Late Models.
That's it for today. I'm headed over to sit in again on Winged Nation with Steve Post, so check that out around noon eastern, or on replay. Make sure to also check out the streaming schedule today over at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
Hope you guys have a good Tuesday out there, we'll see you right back here tomorrow.