DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Full Throttle or Overload? Discussing dirt racing's packed schedule | Daily 9-19-2023

Some think there are too many dirt races. But is shrinking the schedule really possible, or feasible? Or fair? We'll dive in today. Let's go!

It's Tuesday, September 19th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

We are back at it today after a few days off. Hope you guys didn't miss me too much. If you placed an apparel order over the weekend, those got shipped out yesterday, so you should have them very soon. If you haven't had a chance to get one yet, there are two new logo snapback hat options over at shop.dirtrackr.com. Gray hat, black logo, and multicam camo hat, white logo are ready to ship. You can also snag a shirt, sticker, or koozie with your order. As is always the case, US shipping is free for all orders of $20 or more. If you get something, the support is much appreciated.

Over the weekend, Jonathan Davenport had some pointed comments after a big crash during one of the prelim nights at the Late Model Knoxville Nationals. To the Always Race Day guys he referred to Knoxville as a quote "dump" and in the aftermath had the internet up in arms. He has since walked back those comments, but was clearly frustrated with a situation that happened at a race track he views as one that has been difficult for him in the past. Although he did win this event a year ago. He later told FloRacing and Dirt on Dirt's Derek Kessinger that Knoxville is a great facility, but he thinks they could do more to make it racier for the late models. Maybe that's true, and while I understand the reaction to Davenport's dump comment, I was actually more interested in some of the other things he had to say to Suave in that FloRacing video. There seems to be a growing sentiment both inside the industry, and outside, that maybe there are just too many races on the calendar each year. It's something Davenport talked about, and a topic Jeremy Elliott recently explored in regard to Central Pennsylvania and some of their recent scheduling conflicts. When asked about the competitiveness of some of the more local and regional guys, Davenport suggested that the national series in Lucas and the Outlaws, scale back from 50 plus races, to maybe 30, and that would allow teams to both take some weekends off, and race in more local shows to help boost that product. And Jeremy's suggestion was that the area tracks in Central PA all get together to create one master schedule, with fewer races overall and less times when races overlap. The idea being that you split the fans and the race teams much less often, and it would hopefully boost everyone. We've heard similar comments from other racers, especially those that run big time sprint car or late model series. They want to race less often, but for more money. It's all great in theory, but in reality there are too many competing interests, too many egos, and what is being suggested will likely never happen voluntarily. If the schedule shrinks, it will be because of the market pressuring the system, and series and tracks closing, instead of everyone working together to do it in advance. Tracks and series and race teams only generate revenue when there are events. So how do you convince any of these parties to participate less in hopes that it will create more on the other side? Especially when there are no guarantees. The racers certainly won't do it, so why should the tracks and series. Take Davenport for example. He thinks Lucas should run fewer events, but the series scaling back won't stop him from racing 80 plus times a season. He's already competed 85 nights this year, with the vast majority being with a major series and not those local shows he talked about. He's raced twice with the MLRA, once with Comp Cams, and had nine unsanctioned races on his schedule. But six of those were the Wild West Shootout, one was Kyle Larson's race at Bulls Gap, and the other two were the Thaw Brawl at Davenport. And in 2022, when he wasn't full time with a series, he still raced 81 times. On the sprint car side, look at the World of Outlaws teams. They have actively campaigned for years for fewer events, and more packed into weekends, and the series has obliged. We haven't had a season with 80 plus races since 2017, and there are far fewer midweek shows, with much more prize money in the pipeline. But that hasn't stopped the formation of the midweek High Limit series and outrage over teams not being allowed to run more than four or eight races away from the series. In a completely open situation, at least a few of the Outlaw teams would end up running something like 73 Outlaw nights, plus an additional 11 High Limit races, and potentially more. They'd easily be approaching 90 races plus. I'm not sure how that jives as doing less, and I don't know how you talk facilities into smaller schedules on the flip side. As a track owner or promoter, if you think you can make even a small profit on an event, how do you keep your facility quiet on a weekend in favor of the greater good. Some of these places are hanging on by a thread, and while you can certainly lose money by being open, you absolutely cannot make money by being closed. I do believe there is a case to be made that we are oversaturated, I just don't know how you decide who scales back.

And to further complicate this a bit more, do we have a different set of rules for bigger shows and traveling series, versus actual weekly racing for hobby competitors? Because the sport is clearly both as a whole. But if a track makes money on the special event to then afford the weekly payouts, is that a smart business move? Does it make sense to keep the bigger shows and national touring schedules the same or similar, while simultaneously scaling back the local action? The true foundation of the sport is built on those who work Monday through Friday to afford to race on Friday and Saturday nights. These don't really seem like questions that can be answered by the singular quote unquote industry, or even really a region, but more on a case by case basis. I think until contraction is really forced on the sport by lack of interest and actual dollars lost, then leading to closures, you won't see the schedule shrink.

The iRacing World of Outlaws Late Model season ended last night with the final race at Charlotte. Things went just about as bad as they could have for championship leader Evan Seay, who got wiped out by Chase Barbara on lap 15. He was done for the night and left to wait and watch how the championship got decided. Thankfully for him though, his teammate in Blake Matjoulis went the distance for the victory, and that gave Seay the $10,000 title by just a single point. Logan Rumsey finished second in the race and second in the standings. He needed to win the race, and he'd get the championship, but ultimately came up just one spot short. Hat tip to Nathan Waddell, who is a regular watcher of this show. He sat on the pole last night and was fast early before getting involved in that incident with Seay and Barbara. Not the result he wanted, but he was fast. Next up for virtual racing, the sprint car series gets rolling in November.

Alright, that's it for the show today. Quiet streaming schedule, but you can check it out over at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight if you are interested.

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