DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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When was Brandon Overton's last win?! Plus, when size DOESN'T matter in dirt racing | Daily 8-3-2023
Sometimes in dirt racing, smaller engines are better than big ones. We'll talk about that, plus Brandon Overton's quiet dirt late model season, Tim Shaffer's new old ride, and more. Let's go!
It's Thursday, August 3rd, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
It was just a few days ago that we learned that The Steel City Outlaw Tim Shaffer had left his full time All Star ride in the Grove 45, and yesterday we found out that what was once old is now new again. Shaffer is returning to the seat of the Demyan-Rudzik 49X after that team recently parted ways with driver Cale Thomas. Shaffer drove the 49X from 2016 to 2019 on a full time basis, and then made scattered starts in 2020 as well. Since then he had bounced around different rides, before settling with Grove this year. In 38 appearances so far in 2023 between the Outlaws, All Stars, and High Limit, Shaffer has one victory, five top fives, and 11 top tens. His win came with the All Stars at Atomic back on June 15th. No word yet on where we'll see this pairing coming up, but you have to think the Knoxville Nationals are in their sights, even if neither side is on the entry list currently.
Two big race weekends get rolling tonight between the USA Nationals at Cedar Lake and the 360 Nationals at Knoxville. At Cedar Lake, the late model competitors will run $6000 to win prelim shows tonight and tomorrow, scoring points to setup Saturday's $50,000 to win main event. I believe I saw that these first two nights are also full Outlaw points nights, so guys can't afford to have off-days for the championship. Jonathan Davenport has won the USA Nationals two straight years, and he'll be back racing after some time off. All the main guys will be at Cedar Lake this weekend, including the Outlaw regulars, plus Ricky Thornton Jr., Hudson O'Neal, past Cedar Lake winner Mike Marlar and more. One name you won't see though, is Brandon Overton. The Wells Motorsports driver won this race in 2020 and finished second in 2021, but he's off this weekend, and will return to the seat on Monday at Gondik Law with the XR Super Series. Overton hasn't won any feature since beating the Outlaws at Talladega way back in April for $50 grand. He ran the Prairie Dirt Classic this past weekend with Kevin Rumley, but they had issues and missed the Saturday night main event. In the Lucas standings, Overton has slipped to fourth, and is very much in danger of falling outside that all important final four. Looking at his numbers, especially with Lucas, he's not having a bad season. 27 top tens in 36 races, and an average finish of 7.88. But he hasn't seen Lucas victory lane since January with two scores at Golden Isles. He has led laps though recently, including in prelim features at Muskingum County and Deer Creek, and at Wheatland during the Diamond Nationals. His other wins have come with DIRTcar at Volusia, and the Spring Nationals. Again, not a bad season, but he has been completely overshadowed by guys like RTJ, O'Neal, and Pierce, and it doesn't seem all that long ago that he was one of the top two or three guys in dirt late model racing. We've seen Davenport bounce back from earlier struggles this year, and Overton is a guy that could strike anywhere, he's just been a little more quiet than I think we've come to expect from him. If you aren't near Cedar Lake, you can watch tonight live on DIRTVision.
At Knoxville today, we'll get the first of two split field prelim nights for the 360 Nationals. We'll have north of 50 cars race each of the next two nights, and points are the name of the game. Every time drivers hit the track they are earning points and Saturday will be lined straight up by those points. The prelim features are $3000 to win. Tonight's field includes guys like Rico Abreu, Sam Hafertepe, Chase Randall, Ryan Timms, Aaron Reutzel, Ayrton Gennetten, Tanner Holmes, Justin Peck, Blake Hahn, Justin Henderson, and many more. With only 24 feature starters, the racing should be intense all weekend. If you aren't going and want to watch on DIRTVision, you'll either need the yearly pass or buy the pay per view. The monthly DIRTVision plans don't include either the 410 or 360 Nationals. This has been the case for multiple years now, but some are surprised by it every time we roll around to Knoxville.
Up at Brockville last night, the Super DIRTcar Series closed out their three race Canada swing. Erick Rudolph and Mike Mahaney were winners at Autodrome Drummond, and last night it was the hall of famer Tim Fuller striking for the second time this season. He got by Tim Sears Jr. with 25 to go, and led the rest of the way for his 34th career series win. Fuller hadn't won a Super DIRTcar Series race since 2021, but now in the span of a few weeks has won twice. He mentioned in his victory lane interview that he was running the small block engine which he felt like gave him the advantage over the big block runners. It is my understanding though, that the full time SDS guys aren't really allowed to use the small blocks in series races. Interesting to hear that from Fuller, but it makes sense, especially on smaller tracks. It helps those guys control wheel spin and I'm assuming it gives them probably some more options to move weight around with the chassis. Across the landscape of dirt racing, there are always rumors and talk of traction control, but these teams can effectively get similar effects by doing what Fuller did and running a smaller engine, or de-tuning the engines they are required to run, which is common in late models and sprint cars. The Super DIRTcar Series is back in a few weeks for a three night run between Brewerton, Fulton, and Land of Legends starting on August 14th.
One other series note for you. Following the Tuesday show at Drummond, series full timer Mathieu Desjardins parted ways with the number 37 St-So team. Through nine features, Desjardins had a best finish of 14th and was well down the order in the championship standings. In overall modified competition, Desjardins has made 35 starts this season, and remains winless. He did pick up an SDS win at World Finals in 2022. No word on plans for either side.
If you want some modified racing of a different type tonight, the USMTS is back in action this weekend. They race tonight at I-70 for $5000 to win, before they head to Lakeside on Friday and Lucas Oil Speedway on Saturday. Rodney Sanders won this race a year ago, and tonight could be a good chance for him to extend his championship advantage over Jason Hughes. If you haven't checked out I-70 there in Missouri, I'd definitely recommend doing so. It's a really nice facility located just about 40 miles from the dead middle of downtown Kansas City. Tonight's card at I-70 also includes USRA stock cars and B-Mods. If you can't get there, watch it live on RacinDirt.
That's it for today. Make sure to hit up that streaming schedule and check out all the other cool stuff at dirtrackr.com.
Hope you guys have a good Thursday out there, we'll see you right back here tomorrow.