DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Sprint car schedules, possible changes at CJB, Ian Madsen retires | Daily 11-5-2023
The World of Outlaws seasons are complete, and we'll talk today about World Finals, Spencer Bayston's future, sprint car schedule hints, Ian Madsen's retirement, and a lot more. Let's go!
It's Sunday, November 5th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
A bunch of stuff to get into today, especially around World Finals. Several news items to talk about, plus results and champions. I know there are always complaints every year about Charlotte, and how it races, and the dust, but man if you are a dirt racing fan, it's a really good event. You won't find that group of racers together on the same track at any point during the season, and if you haven't been before I'd highly recommend it. They keep the days packed with events, they've got a busy midway with displays and merch trailers, they do the stage with interviews, it's really just a four day festival of dirt racing. Definitely pack some goggles or safety glasses, because the dust isn't great, but if you can look past that, it's hard to find many faults with World Finals. The Dirt Track at Charlotte is a top notch facility, and you can really have any number of different experiences. You can sit in the massive grandstands, you can wander the pits for hours, or you can bring a folding chair and sit on the hill in turn four. The place was packed with fans all week, and for all the complaining, the competitors really show up. 50 plus sprint cars, 40 plus big block modifieds, and what 75 late models. Great fields for what are usually the sole headlining division on any regular night. And I'd be curious to know how much business gets done on the grounds at Charlotte every year, because a lot of the industry's main players, whether it's parts people, or track promoters, or sponsors, or whoever show up. Wandering around you see all sorts of people huddled around in conversation through the day.
As for the racing, there were some sketchy moments through the week. We saw Zeb Wise's big crash back on Thursday where the throttle was hung wide open as he continued to tumble around. Austin McCarl and Devon Borden had wild rides as well. There were some curious decisions, like not hot lapping before sprint car heat races on Thursday, I know some in the sprint car pits weren't happy about it. But overall, I thought we saw some pretty good racing.
On the late model side, Ricky Thornton Jr. won two of three features, including a 10th to the win charge last night. He's now up to 38 total wins on the season, and he's not done just yet. Mike Marlar won the opener back on Thursday to kick off the Skyline deal, and was fast all weekend. There's no reason to believe he'll slow down headed into 2024. Bobby Pierce was crowned champion, which was really just a formality for the week. He ended the season with 14 wins in 38 races, and 32 top tens. The final margin back to Chris Madden was 112 points. Brandon Sheppard, Kyle Bronson, and Nick Hoffman completed the top five in the standings. And after all the shenanigans last week with Bobby's video and calling me out for saying he wouldn't make it the full season, I did go grab a hat and a championship shirt from his merch trailer, and tracked him down for a quick photo. That was a fun subplot for me the past few days, and I have no problem with getting called out. Other guys who looked good were Madden and Dale McDowell, while some heavy hitters had a disappointing week. Jonathan Davenport's best finish of the three nights was an 11th, BShepp looked to be missing some pace as well after the big Eldora win, and Brandon Overton was outside the top 15 the final two nights after starting on the Thursday pole and finishing third. A lot of these late model teams will stick around the south this week, with the Flo series finale coming up Friday and Saturday at Senoia in Georgia.
With the sprint cars, three different weekend winners, including David Gravel, Brent Marks, and Brad Sweet winning in a walk off last night. I know some hoped the championship would come down to the wire, but as hard as the narrative was pushed, this thing was never really in doubt and hasn't been for a while. Sweet gets number five, and now rides off to go full time with his High Limit series next year. It's kind of a wild situation that a guy that has won five straight titles, clearly at the peak of his powers, will now walk away to do something else. It's not hard to imagine a universe where Brad could go on a Donny Schatz or Steve Kinser type run and win several more here. But his future lies elsewhere now. Other guys with strong weekends included Tyler Courtney with three top fives, Rico Abreu who led laps in two of three features, and Brent Marks with the win and two top tens. Those who struggled included Anthony Macri, who was never a factor. Donny Schatz needed a provisional Friday, and only had one weekend top ten, and Spencer Bayston had a very quiet weekend with a best finish of 11th. Bayston ends 2023 with 10 finishes of 11th or worse in his final 14 starts. As we await the rest of the sprint car silly season to shake out, Bayston could be one that's on a hot seat there with CJB Motorsports. He did not take a step forward in performance from year one to year two out with the Outlaws, and there have been rumblings about a change. It's also not often a good sign when a guy is selling his merch trailer at season's end. CJB could be on the market for a new driver, and they are one of the rumored Outlaw teams looking at a flip to High Limit for next year.
As for Outlaw and High Limit news, I would expect the schedules here very soon. I've heard the High Limit calendar is basically complete, while Johnny Gibson mentioned at one point at World Finals that the Outlaw slate will include at least four $100,000 to win races next season and should be dropped soon. You'd expect that list of $100k races to include the Knoxville Nationals, Kings Royal, and High Bank Nationals at Huset's. What the fourth will be though, I'm not sure. I saw some wondering if maybe the National Open will be bumped up from $75k. Both series making west coast trips seems all but announced at this point as well.
The Super DIRTcar Series closed out their season with Matt Sheppard winning two of three World Finals features and clinching his 10th career series championship. Tim Fuller was the other main event winner. Mat Williamson ended up second with Jimmy Phelps, Mike Mahaney, and Tim Sears Jr. rounding out the top five. Sheppard should again win all four major northeast modified championships, between the SDS and STSS divisions.
I myself did spend time at World Finals all four days. I appreciate everyone who stopped me to say they like what I'm doing with these shows. I'm going to keep pushing for better as we move forward. I did do some content things, like taking some photos which you'll see in the future, but I really used the time at the track to have a bunch of conversations. Nice to see some people I hadn't seen in a while, and thanks to everyone who made some time for me.
Besides World Finals, we also had some racing out west this weekend. The 360 Sprint Car Challenge Tour year ended with Justin Sanders in victory lane and Justyn Cox crowned series champion Saturday at Stockton. Also at Stockton, Buddy Kofoid drove the Roth 83 to the NARC 410 victory, with Corey Day clinching the NARC title for the first time in his young career. Day is obviously a star on the rise, and I think we'll see a lot more from Kofoid in 2024.
At Cocopah with the USAC CRA sprint cars, Daison Pursley swept the weekend driving for Team AZ. Those CRA nights looked about like USAC national shows with guys like Pursley, KTJ, CJ Leary, Justin Grant, and others making the trip. Just one CRA show remains this year, coming up November 11th at Perris. Brody Roa is on his way to the CRA championship.
Before we close out today, happy trails to sprint car driver Ian Madsen. He announced last week his retirement from competition saying quote "It is with great sadness that today after 20 years, I am announcing my retirement from sprint car racing. This was not an easy decision. Perhaps the most difficult of my life" unquote. Madsen was the 2018 Outlaw rookie of the year, has four career Outlaw wins, and was a multi-time track champion at Knoxville. But things have been difficult in recent seasons, bouncing around to different rides, and dealing with some injuries. Here's to a successful next chapter for the Australian driver.
That's it for the show today. Hope you have a great Sunday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow.