DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Rico's winter plans, a tough sprint car decision, and cheating eh? | Daily 9-20-2023

$50,000 at Lernerville, or $60,000 at Port Royal. That's the decision facing some sprint car teams in the coming weeks. We'll talk about that, plus a big name driver possibly missing the Chili Bowl, and accusations of traction control in Canadian sprint car racing. Let's go!

It's Wednesday, September 20th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

Before we get started, if you like what I do here, make sure to hit that subscribe button. As I write this, we are at 22,828 subscribers, and I'm wondering if we can get to 23K by tomorrow. We need just 172 of you to hit the button. For the month of July, we were well across 140,000 unique viewers on the YouTube channel, so that means just 16% of you are subscribed. If you are on the fence about subscribing, I'd love to know your thoughts on why, so leave me a comment. Alright, let's get into it.

I've had a few messages about this first topic, so I wanted to run through everything today. The Tuscarora 50 being rained out and rescheduled for Thursday, October 5th has created an interesting decision for a few of the World of Outlaws teams. That October 5th date is the Thursday before the Outlaw weekend at Port that runs Friday and Saturday, the sixth and seventh. Because of the limits placed on the Outlaw full timers, if any of them want to run, they'd have to use one of their four freebies. I've been saying eight as well, but as of this moment, nobody has gone over the initial four. It's an interesting decision, because next Tuesday, September 26th, is the $50,000 to win High Limit show at Lernerville. And I think a bunch of the teams were saving their final freebie for that event, but we know of at least one team that's decided to switch from Lernerville to Port Royal instead. Tanner Holmes posted just a few days ago to social media that the Shark Racing 1T, which was the 1A with Jacob Allen, is racing Port instead of Lernerville. Holmes falls under the restrictions because of the car, and that team has one race left. Jacob Allen used two on the Eldora Million, and Holmes was at the High Limit show at Huset's. So that's one driver for Port. And unless they decide to go into the second, eight race tier and lose some bonus money, we also won't see Gio Scelzi, Sheldon Haudenschild, and Robbie Price at either Lernerville or Port. They have all used their four race allotment. Scelzi did Lakeside and Eagle with High Limit, plus the Million. Sheldon was Lakeside and Wayne County High Limit, plus the Million. And Robbie Price did Eagle and Huset's High Limit and the Million. That leaves nine teams who need to decide, who all have one freebie left. I say nine and not ten, because Bill Rose hasn't used any of his freebies, so he could in theory do both. We are going to assume Brad Sweet is headed for Lernerville. It's his series and the last big pay day, so choosing Port would be a shock. So the eight with a choice to make are David Gravel, Carson Macedo, Logan Schuchart, Donny Schatz, Spencer Bayston, Brock Zearfoss, James McFadden, and Noah Gass. Bayston and Schatz have won Outlaw shows at Port before, and a case could be made for them to switch. And Logan Schuchart and Brock Zearfoss are from Central PA, so they could switch as well. Although I could see Schuchart doing Lernerville instead, even with the other Shark car doing Port. The 1S hasn't had great results at Port in recent years. I also think Zearfoss and Gass could use their final free pass on a different race, maybe something with a potentially smaller car count where they could maximize their results. When all of this came to light before the 2023 season started, I thought we'd get to a point in the year where at least a team or two would fall off the Outlaw tour to chase money elsewhere, but that never materialized. Everyone has stayed signed on, even the Roth 83 with McFadden that lost out because of the tire test situation. And with only 14 races left now, it wouldn't make any sense to drop off at this point. We'll keep an eye on social media to see if there are any other announcements, and we'll find out for sure next Tuesday when the haulers roll into Lernerville who exactly has made what decision.

Another interesting open wheel development to come in the last few days is the realization that Rico Abreu won't be at the Chili Bowl in 2024. He shared on Sunday that he'd be heading to Australia in December, and a schedule posted by Walkapedia shows Rico running at Perth Motorplex December 26th, 28th, January 2nd, and January 13th. He'll also be at Bunbury on January 1st and 6th. The Chili Bowl starts January 7th for practice, then runs from the eight through the 13th. And that means Chili Bowl Saturday conflicts with that Perth date for the finale of USA vs. Western Australia Speedweek. Rico is a two time Chili Bowl winner, and the last time he wasn't in Tulsa in January was 2010. So this will end a 13 year streak. This comes on the heels of Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell not running the event in 2023, and there is no indication they will race in 2024 either. Larson instead chose to race the Rumley late model at the Wild West Shootout, and Bell's bosses at Joe Gibbs Racing have put the kibosh on any dirt racing in his near future. Even though you probably won't see him at the Chili Bowl, Rico will be back in a midget this coming weekend at Eldora during 4-Crown. He's slated to drive Tanner Thorson's #24 on both Friday and Saturday.

A couple of other notes for you today. 411 Motor Speedway has cancelled their upcoming FloRacing Night in America series event due to quote "logistical reasons." In a release, track owner Mitch McCarter said their family business and farm are keeping them tied up right now, and that they didn't have the time to prepare for the event. With 411 off, that leaves four race nights left for the Flo series. They are at Tyler County on September 27th, Tri-County on October 12th, and Senoia November 10th and 11th.

Also, there is an interesting situation going on right now up at Ohsweken Speedway in Canada. Over the weekend, Mike Bowman picked up the $30,000 Northern Sprint Car Nationals, but in the aftermath, he's been protested by Hills Racing Team, with driver Sam Hafertepe Jr. Hafertepe finished second in the event, and the complaint has been lodged over Bowman's magneto and ignition box. They are being sent to the manufacturer for inspection, along with those from Hafertepe's 15. When we get into things like magnetos and ignition boxes, we are talking about potential illegal traction control. Traction control systems often are in place to detect rapid changes in RPMs, which are equated to wheelspin, and the ignition settings are changed on the fly to equate for those rises in RPM. In this specific case, the track and it's officials are expecting a resolution by September 29th after the parts and pieces are shipped and properly inspected. Bowman is in his first full season of 360 competition, and has won an incredible 14 times between the 360 and crate sprint car. In recent weeks, he's won over $60,000 from victories at Ohsweken.

In dirt racing podcast land this week, Winged Nation has Freddie Rahmer, Ryan Timms, and Zeb Wise. Open Red has Tanner Holmes, Dirt Tracks and Rib Racks has AJ Bender, Dunewich on Dirt has Johnny Petrozelle, and Non Wing Worldwide has Shane Carson. There are also new episodes of LoudPedal, The Dirt Reporters, The Dirt Nerds, Dirt Track Confessions, and Dirt Track Weekly. To find a full list of these shows and recent episodes, head over to dirtrackr.com/podcasts.

That's it for today. You can see today's streaming schedule over at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight and you can get some DIRTRACKR apparel at shop.dirtrackr.com.

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