DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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High Limit schedule well beyond All Star tradition, how much does a weekly IMCA dirt track make? | Daily 11-21-2023

High Limit adds a traditional late model stronghold to it's sprint car slate for 2024, plus why this won't just be the All Star schedule tweaked. We'll also talk USAC midgets at Merced, the Xtreme Outlaw schedule, and just how much money a weekly IMCA track could make you. Let's go!

It's Tuesday, November 21st, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

When I put these shows together five days a week, I do a ton of research each day, usually multiple hours to try and bring you the best possible picture of what's going on in dirt racing. I watch a ton of racing action, but that's not enough to understand everything that's happening. Which is why I built DIRTRACKR's analytics section. It's got race results and stat breakdowns for all the top national series and special events, and at this moment is across 1800 races worth of data. And if you want access to every tool and number I use for these shows, grab a subscription to DIRTRACKR Plus. $4.99 a month, or $49.99 a year. The year subscription gets you two months free effectively. And you can cancel any time very easily. Signing up gets you access to the Plus Dashboard which has added stat tools and visualizations. Unlock more than 25 extra features, including exclusive insights not found anywhere else. Whether you're a race fan, member of the media, or work for a series or track, DIRTRACKR Plus is the perfect resource for current dirt racing data to elevate your knowledge. Both World of Outlaws series, all three USAC National divisions, the Chili Bowl, High Limit, Lucas and a lot more. See everything Plus has to offer and sign up for a subscription over at dirtrackr.com/getplus.

More sprint car dates continue to leak out, yesterday we talked about High Limit adding a date at Butler Motor Speedway in Michigan, and today we know that High Limit will head to Missouri in late June. Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland put out their full 2024 schedule, and High Limit is there on June 28th and June 29th. With the connection between the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, the Lucas Oil Company, and FloRacing, this one feels like a no-brainer. It is not one of those companion shows with the late models however. The Lucas Show-Me 100 weekend is in May, and the Diamond Nationals are later in July. The schedule at Wheatland also includes multiple MLRA dates, their usual weekly program, plus the USMTS modifieds, ASCS sprint cars, and POWRi 410 sprint cars. If you look at the past year's All Star schedule, this wasn't a track that was part of that, so another example of High Limit expanding outward. Lucas Oil Speedway did host 410 winged racing in 2023 with the POWRi series, but a major tour like the Outlaws hasn't been there since 2008. As we start to learn more and more about the 2024 High Limit schedule, I think it's important to note here that this isn't just going to be the All Star schedule with a few tweaks. There will be some similarities, especially because of the bigger shows, but this thing appears to be very clearly all High Limit. Yes, it will start the season in Florida and Georgia, then probably take a break until the spring. But a trip out west, multiple races in Texas, races in the midwest and northeast, all point to a very different look and feel. It definitely seems like they are taking parts and pieces from the All Stars, but really building this thing from the ground up.

The USAC midget season is still going on out west, but the other national midget series already has their schedule out for 2024. The Xtreme Outlaw Midgets released their slate of races yesterday. 30 shows at 22 different race tracks from March through October. All $4000 or $5000 to win features with plenty of new tracks coming up. They'll start indoors at Du Quoin, and end at Jacksonville, which is a change from 2023. Along the way, Appalachian Speedweek is back with the trip through Pennsylvania, and couple of weekends as a support series for the two main World of Outlaws series. Zach Daum was the inaugural champion back in 2022, while Jade Avedisian won the title this season. With Jade's future shifting towards pavement, a third different champion is possible for 2024. As was the case this season with the expanded Xtreme schedule, they again have been working with USAC so as to avoid scheduling against each other. That would allow a team to potentially run both series full time, which not many took advantage of this season outside of Jade and I think Cannon McIntosh. But the opportunity would still exist, and it means a lot possible midget races to be at. You can view the full Xtreme schedule over at xtremeoutlawseries.com.

If you've got a spare $2 million lying around and are in the market for a dirt track, I've got one for you to check out today. Junction Motor Speedway in Nebraska is on the market and a check for $2 milly gets you a 3/8 mile race track, seating for 4000 of your closest friends, and nearly 80 acres. The track is located about an hour west of Lincoln, and it sits about six miles south of I-80. It was built in 2003, and had been home to weekly IMCA action. In recent years, the biggest shows to come through were the Malvern Bank late models and the Nebraska 360 sprint cars, but it had previously hosted the MLRA, the ASCS, POWRi midgets, USMTS, and several trips by the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars. Donny Schatz won the final Outlaw show there in 2016. In recent years, local businessman and track owner Delmar Friesen has faced deteriorating health, and the facility was closed for the entire 2022 season. It reopened for 2023 after Delmar started feeling better, but recently at the track's end of season banquet, he announced he was retiring and that there'd be no 2024 season unless the track was sold in time. Nearly 80 years old, Friesen told Outside Groove back in late 2022 that he does all the track prep himself. Looking around the real estate photos, it's a very solid facility. Big fronstretch grandstands, a nice concessions building, bathrooms, space for camping and hookups, and acreage to expand or grow crops. And the track is racey, it's got a little banking, and looking at highlights from Schatz's last win, the Outlaws put on a fun show, racing from top to bottom, and plenty fast. The real estate listing also gives us some insight into the money that can be made at a facility like this. I'm assuming these are yearly estimates, but the 28+ acres of cropland can make $20,000 worth of income, and the track itself is estimated to generate about $425,000 worth of income. They had 15 races on the schedule for 2023 from May through August, and had two rainouts. If someone wanted a more up-to-date facility, that had a solid weekly program, the ability to host big tours, and not far from a few solid metro areas, Junction would be high on that list. Hopefully they are able to find a buyer to continue it's operation.

Out in California tonight, the USAC National Midgets are back to racing after having Monday off following the Hangtown 100 at Placerville. Two nights at Merced Speedway are coming up, and a couple of solid finishes should pretty easily wrap up the championship for points leader Logan Seavey. Four straight podiums, plus 19 straight top tens at the moment have pushed him well clear of Justin Grant. On the driver pages over at dirtrackr.com/analytics, I use these little triangle icons to show races where a driver led laps. And when you look at Seavey's USAC midget page, there are a lot of triangles over the last several months. It's an easy indicator that things have gone really well for a driver. Similar to what we might find on Ricky Thornton Jr's page with Lucas. I've got the past six Merced shows in the database, and we've had five different winners over that stretch, including most recently Buddy Kofoid, plus Carson Macedo, Justin Grant, Tanner Thorson, and Thomas Meseraull. Kofoid is defintely one to keep an eye on tonight, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Spencer Bayston run well also. Joining the USAC midgets on the card tonight are IMCA sport mods and hobby stocks. You can watch this one live on FloRacing.

That's it for the show today, make sure to stop by dirtrackr.com to check out all the latest dirt racing news, plus see the streaming schedule.

Hope you guys have a great Tuesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow.