DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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A sprint car team makes their tour choice, World of Outlaws pump late model cash | Daily 11-16-2023
Another team commits full time to a sprint car series, we've got even more High Limit and Outlaw schedule hints, plus the Outlaw late models add more cash for teams, and a lot more today. Let's go!
It's Thursday, November 16th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
As of this morning, we have our second confirmed full time World of Outlaws sprint car team for 2024. Joining David Gravel, who announced last week, is Brock Zearfoss and his family owned 3Z. 2023 was the third year on tour for Zearfoss, with the Pennsylvania driver ending up ninth in the final standings. It was a tough year though for the 3Z, as that team didn't match their 2022 results, where they had a win and 20 top tens. This season, no laps led, and a step back in most of the major stat categories. As we've talked about with the other cars that struggled this past season, you have to wonder if maybe the new sprint car tires affected these guys as well. Zearfoss told the Outlaws' PR guy Alex Nieten they are keeping much of their operation the same with crew chief Todd Berkheimer and crew guy Ron Helmick returning, but said they are working towards improving their engine program for next season. As we dive into this one a bit, if Zearfoss was going to remain out with a series, the Outlaws seem to make the most sense for him. One of his sponsors is the Milton Hershey school, which also has a deal in place with the Outlaws and WRG. Zearfoss and his team were involved in some of those activations with Milton Hershey, and you have think that will continue. So at this point, just one confirmed High Limit team with Brad Sweet and the KKR 49, and now two Outlaw teams with Gravel and Zearfoss. I don't think we'll see a whole ton of announcements until the official schedules are released. That will obviously give those still deciding a better picture of what they will be up against in 2024, and then choices can be made.
On that schedule front, we are still waiting on those releases, but more hints and clues are out there for other sprint car dates. I had a commenter on my show yesterday say that the Bakersfield announcer said during their USAC midget show this week that they would have an Outlaw show next year. With no Silver Dollar, and no Skagit, the Outlaws will need other tracks for their west coast trip, and Bakersfield has been on the Outlaw slate before. So that will be something to keep an eye on. On the High Limit side, we talked yesterday about future dates at Utica Rome and Fonda, and it looks like a trip to I-70 in Missouri is possible for 2024 as well. I-70 hosted the All Stars and the POWRi 410 winged series in 2023, and the World of Outlaws back in 2021. High Limit would bring national tour racing to I-70, which is a kickass facility that deserves to have big shows. We'll see what other schedule bits we can dig up in advance of them being released officially.
One other note here. We know the High Limit series is still looking for an announcer setup for 2024, and we had already mentioned it won't be Blake Anderson, and likely not Tony Bokhoven. Blake announced via social media yesterday he's relocating west to join Kevin Rudeen's organization, working on things at Skagit Speedway, with Rudeen Racing, and the other Rudeen companies. I would imagine though we will still see Blake on the mic from time to time throughout the dirt racing season.
Before we move on, if you like what I do here, make sure to hit that like button on these videos and subscribe to the channel. That tells YouTube that these are good shows, and it helps make sure you don't miss any future episodes of the Daily. We are obviously no where near done when it comes to news for this offseason, so subscribing and tuning in will keep you informed on everything that's going on. These shows are also available in podcast form on all the major platforms, and I'm also considering putting full daily episodes on Facebook again. I used to do that in the beginning, but stopped because it didn't seem like anyone was tuning in over there. Let me know if that's something you'd like me to do as I try and find ways to add more cool stuff to the DIRTRACKR Facebook page. Moving on...
We talked yesterday on the show about full time national touring late model teams, but there is still a lot to learn on that side as well. Neither schedule is out currently, and we don't know about point funds and with Lucas specifically, how they will handle the championship chase for year two. Just a little bit ago though as I write this, the World of Outlaws announced their point fund and bonus program for 2024 which will see a significant increase. The top six positions in the final standings will all get a bump from the 2023 payout, with next year's champion getting $175,000. That's up from $150k this year. Also, the monthly Winner's Circle program payouts also jumped from $2500 a month to $3000 a month. Teams get those payouts for being full time members to help offset their costs of being on the road. All of this is of course in addition to any nightly purse money available. Through the point fund and bonus program, the Outlaws will pay out a series record $1.3 million total to their series regulars.
Also on the Outlaw late model front, yesterday I sent out a new issue of The Slider with a piece about the 2023 Outlaw season from Spence Smithback. If you don't subscribe to the newsletter, you can find that piece over at dirtrackr.com/theslider. I've got another issue in the hopper as well, about winged sprint car racing in Indiana. That should come out maybe Saturday. You can subscribe to The Slider for free.
Things are starting to quiet down around the country as we get into this offseason, but there is still some dirt racing to check out this weekend. We've talked about the USAC midget west coast swing. They've got the Hangtown 100 at Placerville Friday and Saturday. Kyle Larson will supposedly be joining USAC for that one. There is also sprint car racing down under at Perth Motorplex and Premier Speedway. If you want fenders on, we've got a South Carolina double-header with the Palmetto State 50 on Saturday at Lancaster. That one is $10,000 to win. And Sunday is the Blue Gray 100 at Cherokee, which is $20,000 to win. You've also got the Hunt the Front sanctioned Gobbler at Duck River on Saturday for $10,000 to win.
As we get ready to shut it down for the week, I've got one more piece of content to point you towards today. FloRacing did an hour long documentary piece about the Eldora Million, and they released it last night. I'm assuming you have to be a Flo subscriber to watch, but if you are, it's definitely worth your time. It's a little fluffy at times, as you might expect, but there is also a ton of great behind the scenes footage from the two day event. One of my favorite moments is they captured a lot of what happened on Wednesday night when Tyler Courtney effectively missed the scales after his heat race. He was allowed to be pushed backwards to roll across them, but folks weren't happy about it, including David Gravel's crew chief Cody Jacobs. He had an exchange with Tony Stewart about it, and we also get to hear Tony's comments to Courtney in the aftermath. Great capture from the Flo camera folks. There is adult language in the video, so keep that in mind if you are going to watch with the kiddos. But honestly, I'm here for it, because it shows what the sport is really like. Hat tip to Flo and their staff for another great piece.
That's it for the show today, make sure to stop by dirtrackr.com and see the streaming schedule for your weekend viewing options.
Hope you guys have a great Thursday out there, we'll see you back here on Sunday.