DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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More SHOCKING sprint car driver changes | Daily 7-24-2023
The wild summer of sprint car driver changes continued over the weekend with another bombshell. We've got the details, plus we'll run through weekend results, and I've got a WTF moment for you. Let's go!
It's Monday, July 24th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
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Alright, let's get rolling. When was the last time we had a season like this with sprint car ride changes? I feel like every time we think things have settled after a big bombshell, the world just hits us again. And over the weekend it was the news that Don Kreitz and his famous 69K team in Pennsylvania had ousted driver Lance Dewease. They finished 13th on Friday at Williams Grove against the Outlaws, and were 19th Saturday, and Dewease got the call Sunday morning that he was out. This pairing started in 2016, and in something close to 300 races had 71 victories together, including some big ones like the Tusky 50 and National Open. That's right around 1/4 of the races they entered, they won. But something was different this season, and Kreitz decided to make a change. He told FloRacing's Kyle McFadden quote "This is not Lance's fault. This is on me" unquote. He went on to say that they've struggled with the new tires and they couldn't figure out how to get Lance comfortable. And he felt like it wasn't getting any better. And looking at the numbers, he's probably right. 27 races this season have led to three wins and 15 top tens, but no wins since May 28th at the Bob Weikert at Port. No wins during Speedweek, followed by two finishes outside the top ten against the Outlaws at the Grove. A year ago, they had 10 wins and 35 top tens in 41 races, with an average finish of about 6.4. This season, Dewease's average finish has ballooned to 12.8, which wasn't aided by four tough days at Eldora as a fill in with the 39M following the departure of Anthony Macri. Whatever the reason, tires or something else, things have fallen off pretty significantly from where this team has been used to performing. So now Dewease is left to try and put the rest of his season together, and said he's working on a few things, but he understands it won't be easy on short notice. And Kreitz doesn't have a specific plan to replace Dewease in the immediate future. In McFadden's piece he said they will see who contacts them in the coming days about the ride and go from there. Kreitz does expect though that whoever they decide to go with must perform right out of the gate. Looking around the country at who could potentially be available, that list might be small. It'll be interesting to see who they end up going with, whether it's a single driver or by committee.
And beyond the Dewease/Kreitz news, that wasn't the only sprint car ride change of the weekend. Going back to Saturday, Shark Racing announced on social media before the Summer Nationals finale at the Grove that Jacob Allen was stepping away from the 1A machine and that Landon Myers was going to pilot the car for the second night. The statement released from Jacob said quote "I have decided to take some time off of racing to focus on myself and my family. Thank you to all my family, friends and fans for your support" unquote. Jacob finished 24th on Friday night, was 16th Wednesday at BAPS, and was having another down season overall. After the 2021 campaign, there were rumors that maybe Jacob would step back from the Outlaw grind, but 2022 was a big step in the right direction. Five wins, 38 top tens, and the best average finish of his career. But through 42 races this year, he had regressed again. Top tens in just a third of his starts, no wins, and an average finish of about 14th. He had three straight top tens including a third between Huset's and Cedar Lake, but was on a stretch of six straight shows without a top ten, including a B-Main exit in the Kings Royal. He was solid during the Million though, finishing 7th in his prelim, and 15th in the big show. There was nothing said about the future of the 1A, if they will stay on the road with Myers, or if the car is being shelved. The next races on the Outlaw schedule are two races at Weedsport coming up Friday and Saturday.
Looking at the whole picture so far in 2023, we've seen Buddy Kofoid in four different sprint cars. Parker Price Miller has driven three. Hunter Schuerenberg in four I believe. Kerry Madsen has made moves, Shane Stewart and Daryn Pittman have come out of retirements, Cory Eliason got the Crouch deal, Anthony Macri quit his family car and his now filling in for Tyler Courtney and driving the Indy Race Parts 71. Justin Sanders is replacing Macri in the 39M, Lance Dewease is out, Jacob Allen is sitting, and it's only July 24th. And to be fair, this isn't even everything that's happened. Two of these moves felt like they came out of nowhere with Macri and Dewease, and there are probably more to come. I think looking around the country there are a few guys that are probably on hot seats, and the game of musical chairs isn't over. I alluded last week to unrest in the sprint car world, and to be fair, all of these silly season changes aren't even what I was referring to. If the last couple of weeks are any sign, the rest of this year could stay wild. Buckle up.
With all of that out of the way, let's run through some of the racing this weekend. Up at Huset's, Brandon Sheppard picked up a big victory on Saturday night, leading all 80 laps of the Silver Dollar Nationals. This could be a good sign for Shepp head to the Prairie Dirt Classic this coming week. He was fast at Fairbury earlier this season with Lucas and this will be a big momentum boost. The Outlaw points leader, Bobby Pierce, also had a good night going eighth to second. In the Lucas chase standings, Jonathan Davenport continued his move forward, grabbing third place with Brandon Overton finishing way down in 22nd. That's brought Tim McCreadie closer as well, and he now only trails Overton by 25 points for that final locked in spot. Lucas is back in a few weeks for the North/South 100.
The Outlaw nights at Williams Grove were split by Logan Schuchart and Rico Abreu. Schuchart was the beneficiary of a mud packed wheel on the final lap for Brad Sweet. The Big Cat said afterward that it was vibrating so bad he could barely see. Schuchart beat him back to the line in a drag race. Saturday night, Rico went flag to flag for the win over David Gravel and Brent Marks. Headed to Weedsport this weekend, Sweet and Gravel are tied at the top of the championship, with Carson Macedo trailing by 44 points.
The All Stars are in the midst of a midwest swing, and this championship battle continues to stay interesting. After three nights at 34, Spoon River, and Red Hill, Zeb Wise is now leading the driver champoinship, and the owner title has closed up. Zeb won Friday at 34, was second at Spoon River, and third at Red Hill, while Anthony Macri went 14th, ninth, and fifth in the CMR 7BC. We'll have to wait until the official standings come out, but what was an 86 point lead has probably been halved going to Benton on Wednesday. Hat tip to Bill Balog for back-to-back victories Saturday and Sunday.
For the USAC National Sprint Cars, Indiana Sprint Week is off and rolling with the first three shows in the books. Justin Grant won Friday at Gas City and last night at Lawrenceburg. CJ Leary bounced back from a nasty Friday crash to win Saturday at Kokomo. Gas City and Kokomo had really nice car counts, 58 the first night, and 54 the second. There have been some nasty crashes too. Mitchel Moles had a scary one at Kokomo, and last night at Lawrenceburg was rough for Alex Bright and Robert Ballou. Bright had a frightening first lap crash where he tumbled big time down the frontstretch. It was a tense few minutes waiting for word on his condition, and he was taken out on a stretcher. He did wave to the crowd as he was loaded up. He tweeted around 1AM eastern that he has lung contusions and a broken wrist and is beat and and bruised. I know that sounds not great, but honestly it's pretty good news after what we witnessed last night. Ballou also had a nasty digger later in the show, but he climbed out on his own. It's not been a great year so far at the Burg. Indiana Sprint Week shifts to Circle City tonight with Brady Bacon leading both the national and sprint week championships.
And with the Xtreme Midgets, Zach Daum grabbed his third straight series win Friday at Doe Run, sneaking by Jade Avedisian with just a few laps to go. Jade bounced back on Saturday though at Southern Illinois to earn her second win of the year, and fourth career victory with Xtreme. She topped Daum and Taylor Reimer in that one. Cannon McIntosh maintains the championship lead over Jade and Gavin Miller headed to Ohio this week.
If you want some dirt late model racing tonight, the XR Super Series begins a two day show at Off Road Speedway. Tonight is a pair of $5000 to win shows, and then tomorrow is $100,000 to win. Expect a lot of the top teams that were at Huset's over the weekend to make the trip. You can watch it live on XR Plus.
And finally today, your WTF moment of the weekend happened at Limaland in Ohio. NRA and GLSS competitor Devon Dobie took to his Facebook account on Friday to complain about track conditions there, which has been a recent theme at Lima. About an hour later, as he was lining up for his heat race, the track attempted to make him start at the tail for his comments, and when he didn't comply with officials, he parked his car on the frontstretch, got out, and showed his displeasure with the call. He was black flagged and kicked out of the track. I think I had ten people send me the details on all of this, and clearly the track and it's management have gotten themselves a reputation. Moral of the story, if the penalty for complaining about the track on social media is you start at the tail of the heat, just get the last place guy to do it. He's already there anyway.
That's it for today's Daily, you can check today's streaming schedule over at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.
Hope you guys have a good Monday out there, we'll see you right back here tomorrow.