DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Dirt racing team changes keep coming quick! News from Mike Marlar, Aaron Reutzel, TMez, more | Daily 11-1-2023
Mike Marlar's new deal, plus updates on Aaron Reutzel and TMez, and why car owners don't really owe anyone a damn thing. Let's go!
It's Wednesday, November 1st, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
Every day this week we've talked about teams and drivers making changes around dirt racing, and today will be no different because that's just what we do now. And it's that time of the year. I've got a few updates on situations we've already discussed this week plus some newly announced moves. We'll start first with the late model news that dropped yesterday. In a not shocking announcement, Skyline Motorsports announced their new partnership with driver Mike Marlar. In recent days he'd left longtime car owner Ronnie Delk, and beginning this week at World Finals and into 2024, Marlar will team up with the Bruenings and Skyline. This has been floating around for several weeks, and we were really just waiting on the announcement to become official. This means the end of the partnership for Shane Clanton and Capital Race Cars with Skyline. Clanton will finish out the season though at World Finals. According to Dirt on Dirt, Marlar will keep his now red 157 Longhorns at his own shop in Tennessee, while the Bruening's equipment will continue to be housed in Iowa. Bruening had switched to Longhorn Chassis from Capitals over the summer, and rumors had been floating around for a while about the future of the Capital/Skyline deal. Bruening didn't run a national tour full time this season, while Clanton went the distance with the Outlaws. He'll end the season though down in 10th in the standings with just 15 top tens in 34 races. No word yet on future plans for Clanton, or what Skyline's schedule could look like for next season.
As for some of the situations we've already talked about... We've documented Cory Eliason's situation this week, going from the Crouch 11 to the Ridge and Sons eight car. And I mentioned yesterday that I'd heard that current Ridge driver Aaron Reutzel wants to travel less next season. It would appear as though Ridge is getting ready to split their operation, running both a larger national schedule with one team and driver, and something more regional with Reutzel. The organization shared on social media yesterday that driver Austin Miller, who has run a 360 for Ridge, will climb out of the seat and focus on running a new team for Reutzel next year. That's very much in line with what I've heard, and the team has made some changes on the business side to help with funding and sponsorship as they look to expand. A-A-ron had 13 total wins this season, including six in 410 competition, and seven with the 360. His 410 victories came at Knoxville during weekly action, he won an IRA show at 34 Raceway, had a victory with the All Stars at Lake Ozark, and a POWRi 410 win at Lee County.
The departure of Thomas Meseraull from RMS Racing has also created quite a lot of social media buzz in the last day or so since the announcmenet. Not all of it is very good. But never fear TMez fans, he's going to be just fine. If you watch his YouTube channel, you know they've been building a new midget for the last few weeks, and the plan is to head west with that car now that it's complete. The car is powered by the Engler Ford that they've been developing this season, and the frame was built by Jon Farrell of Farrell Frameworks. They are calling this one the MF-1 and they did shake it down over the weekend. Farrell is big in the micro sprint world if you aren't aware, and usually has a big presence at the Tulsa Shootout. Those final seven USAC nights will give TMez, Engler, and Farrell the chance to work out any bugs before the Chili Bowl.
Witnessing all of these changes in recent weeks, and seeing some of the reaction to the TMez deal, I think it's important to remember one key thing here. These team owners don't really owe anyone, anything, especially the ones who are footing the bills completely. And that includes an explanation for their decision making. It would be great if owners were willing to share their thought processes, but under no circumstances are they obligated to do so. I know some don't like the "mutual parting of ways" explanations we often get, but that's just code for "hey, this wasn't working, so it's time to make a change." It was just about a month ago where I did a daily show talking about the lack of actual contracts in dirt racing, and how most of these deals are just a handshake. When that's the case, it's not going to be hard to move on from a driver if the owner decides it's time. And you know what, that's totally fine. We all know of those owners that seem to go through drivers like water, and while it sucks for guys to lose a deal so easily and maybe not a great way to build a cohesive, consistent team, that's their choice. It's similar to the Brandon Overton situation during the Lucas chase cutoff. Their switch out of nowhere to a Team Zero car seemed inexplicable, and it was a decision I would not have made. And I said as much. But Wells Motorsports doesn't need to come out and explain why they did it. They are free to run their team as they see fit. We can certainly talk about it, and Monday Morning quarterback them, but they are the ones writing the checks and putting the team out there.
Back to the Chili Bowl, we are still about two and a half months away from midgets indoors in Tulsa, but the first ride announcements are already coming out. POWRi micro champion Kale Drake will make his Tulsa debut with Keith Kunz Motorsports in January. The team will also field a car for him at Turkey Night at Ventura to get him some laps in advance of indoor season. Also, Trifecta Motorsports, which fielded the 7U midget all season for Kyle Jones and then Zach Daum, is bringing three cars to the Chili Bowl. Chase McDermand will drive the 7U, NASCAR driver Carson Hocevar will be in the 77U, and California racer Michael Faccinto will drive the 5U. There will certainly be plenty more Chili Bowl announcements in the coming weeks, especially since the entry process is officially open as of today. The entry form can be found over at chilibowl.com.
At Cherokee Speedway last night, the track hosted their Prelude to the Finals event with super late models and 410 sprint cars. Not a huge field with 12 late models and 17 sprint cars, but there was some quality in the pit area. I thought the late model field would have been a bit bigger, but it seems clear teams were saving equipment for Charlotte. This event doesn't seem like a terrible idea for Cherokee, but maybe a bit of a tough sell to do it the night before Charlotte starts. Daulton Wilson won the late model feature over Donald McIntosh and Drake Troutman, while Jonathan Davenport was there but didn't start the main event. Tyler Courtney picked up the sprint car win over Zane DeVault and Hunter Schuerenberg after early leader Anthony Macri had an engine go south. Tim Estenson had a nasty crash with Cap Henry and actually ended up leaving the ballpark down the backstretch. He was okay, but the car was not. A lot of these teams will be at Charlotte starting today for World Finals.
Looking around the other dirt racing podcasts this week, Winged Nation has Kyle Reinhardt and Sammy Swindell. Passing Points has Jade Avedisian, Hoogie's Garage has Shane Carson, and there are new episodes of The Dirt Reporters from Dirt on Dirt, the Dirt Nerds, Dirt Tracks and Rib Racks, Dirt Track Confessions, Dirt Track Weekly, and the Turn 2 Terribles. To see all the shows and episodes, head over to dirtrackr.com.podcasts.
That's it for the Daily today, make sure to stop by dirtrackr.com to see the streaming schedule and most recent news from around the sport.
Hope you have a great Wednesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow.