DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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It's been a VERY busy last 24 hours in sprint car racing | Daily 12-5-2023
The sprint car announcements keep coming in hot, and today we'll run through everything from the past 24 hours, plus more sprint car world staff moves, and a hint about the future of what team ownership will look like with High Limit. Let's go!
It's Tuesday, December 5th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
When I opened my notes file for today's show following the Tuesday daily, it was completely blank. But getting rolling this morning, so much happened on Tuesday through the day, that I'm actually going to end up pushing some stuff to Wednesday. We've got driver and team announcements, some staff updates, and plenty more to dive into. Over in the DIRTRACKR merch shop, the hoodies are still available, but sizes are getting limited. I'm down to just a few left, and only in 2X and 3X sizes. I am out of larges and XLs. If you want one, now is the time as they will not be restocked. You can also grab a DIRTRACKR logo rope hat, stickers and more. Check out the full line over at shop.dirtrackr.com.
We'll start first today with the next two announced High Limit full time drivers. And the first one came as no surprise. Zeb Wise and the Rudeen 26 join Brad Sweet, Jacob Allen, and Kasey Kahne as the now four confirmed series regulars. This was no surprise, as team owner Kevin Rudeen turned his Skagit Outlaw weekend to High Limit, and his Rayce Rudeen Foundation race goes from All Star to High Limit. Zeb was the 2023 All Star champion, and grabbed his first ever Outlaw win late in the year at Port Royal. Going up against this group of drivers will be a step up in competition for him, but it's a good move for his career advancement. I'm a big fan of Zeb and I think if they can keep that Ford engine dialed in, these guys will be in the mix for plenty of race wins in 2024. Zeb and the 26 team took a huge step forward this past season, and it was clear they had hit on a good combination. And just this morning, High Limit announced team number five with Cory Eliason signing on with Ridge and Sons Racing. So that's really two announcements. Eliason full time to the Ridge eight, and their move to High Limit. Aaron Reutzel will continue with Ridge as well, focusing on Knoxville weekly and other midwest events, while Eliason becomes their main traveling driver. Eliason ran with the eight team late in 2023 after departing the Crouch Motorsports 11. He's no stranger to a traveling series either, having previously been an All Star while racing with Rudeen. Eliason has two career Outlaw wins, and 10 career All Star victories on his resume. Eliason's team will continue to be led by veteran crew chief Tyler Swank. I would expect the series to continue announcing drivers through the rest of the week. With what I've heard floating around about High Limit, they should easily get to ten full time teams, and they could push past that to maybe 12 with some of the other names I've heard that are considering it. High Limit is approaching the relationship between the series and the full timers different than World Racing Group is with the Outlaws. Besides the ability to race outside the series more easily on off-days, this series-team setup will be the other major departure from how the Outlaws do things. I've looked through a bunch of the High Limit documentation, and I'll be curious to see how the industry reacts to it. It clearly seems to be a draw for these teams that are signing up early, but I have a lot of questions, and so will fans I think once it becomes public. I'm not going to out the full plan here, as I don't want to steal their thunder, but know there is more to come on this front.
Where co-series owner Kyle Larson fits into the mix next season got just a little clearer yesterday with the newest High Limit Room show from FloRacing. Talking to Brad Sweet and Dillon Welch, Larson confirmed his plans to run all 11 midweek shows in 2024. He'll be back to defend his championship there. As for where else you could see him, he said he thinks something like 20 to 22 races spread throughout the year. Obviously his other racing commitments will keep him away from a lot of the schedule, but I would put money on the High Limit social accounts or public email address getting complaints at some point about people going to a race expecting to see Larson and him not being there. If you are planning on attending a series race in 2024, I would make sure to pay attention to their social channels for Larson updates. Especially if it's a weekend race, because there will be good chances he won't be there. This is my attempt now to help the High Limit replies and comments and warn fans in advance.
As for the staffing stuff I alluded to on yesterday's show, we've now got the third defection for a World of Outlaws employee to High Limit. Joining PR guy Brian Walker and race director Mike Hess, High Limit has also grabbed the Outlaws' timing and scoring official Anthony Corini. Anthony had been on tour with the Outlaws for seven seasons, first as the PR guy, and then later shifting to the scoring role under Eloy Gutierrez. Knowing Anthony and having worked with him, this one surprised me a bit, but it makes sense on several levels, with him getting to continue working with some friends and the ability to travel a bit less. WRG has posted the scoring official job already, and are actively seeking Anthony's replacement if you are interested. But by the sound of it, this won't be the last Outlaw staffer to make the switch. I'm not sure when it will become public, but High Limit will be filling a key role with this fourth World of Outlaws hire. And I've heard that WRG already has the replacement ready for this fourth person who's leaving. I guess if you are trying to staff a sprint car series with employees who are ready to go, what better way to do so then to raid the incumbent and your main opponent. WRG will definitely have some holes to fill, but one thing they've done pretty well over the years is find and cultivate talent across the organization. I would not expect them to skip a beat with these losses.
Just like with High Limit, we've added more full time World of Outlaws drivers as well. Earlier in the day yesterday we got the official confirmation from the series that Bill Rose will return, making him the sixth confirmed full timer. And then very late last night came word on the new Sides Motorsports driver. Moving on from Robbie Price, the Sides 7S will be back full time in 2024 with the Outlaws, with young driver Landon Crawley in the seat. The 15 year old Crawley made his 410 debut in October at Tri-State Speedway in Oklahoma in POWRi competition. During the second night, he ended up sixth against a solid field of 410 veterans. This will obviously be a massive step up for Landon to full time World of Outlaws membership, but it won't be his first time on a tour. He ran the full season with ASCS in 2022, finishing eighth in the standings as a rookie. On a pick and choose schedule in 2023, Crawley had two 360 wins, one in local competition at Riverside, and a USCS victory at Magnolia. Landon is the son of sprint car veteran Tim Crawley, who just recently retired from driving. Tim was a multi-time ASCS national champion, and had something like 50 career series wins. He also appeared plenty over the years with the Outlaws and All Stars. So the addition of Rose and Crawley takes the Outlaws to seven, and all indications are they should be to at least ten by Volusia. There is clearly some opportunity here for another few teams to get involved, especially with the bump in purse and tow money for the season. The departure of Brad Sweet, and some of the other moves have created a few spots with the Outlaws I think.
Alright, we're going to call it there for today's Daily. Tomorrow's show is already full of stuff to talk about, and I'm sure there will be more announcements today. I do want to hit on the Hunt the Front and Maverick schedules, JJ Hickle's new ride, some Flo late model series stuff and more. Also, I got an interesting late model invite for later today, so keep an eye on the DIRTRACKR channels. Hopefully I'll have some cool photos and video to share this evening.
Hope you guys have a great Tuesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow.