DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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With Chris Windom in with High Limit, who still hasn't chosen a sprint car series? | Daily 12-12-2023

The High Limit field grows again, and we'll talk through the list of possible teams who are still not committed for 2024. Plus a look at full timers for the World of Outlaws late model and USAC sprint car series, news from Scott Bloomquist, and more. Let's go!

It's Tuesday, December 12th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

After taking Sunday off for announcements, High Limit was right back to it on Monday, adding their 11th full time team for 2024. Joining Brad Sweet, Jacob Allen, Kasey Kahne, Rico Abreu, Cory Eliason, Brenham Crouch, Corey Day, Zeb Wise, Justin Peck, and Spencer Bayston will be Chris Windom and the Vermeer 55 team. You might remember from a few weeks ago Vermeer announced they had signed Windom and the NOS Energy Drink sponsorship for next year. Windom was a full time All Star competitor each of the past two seasons, going out in 2022 for his rookie run with Hayward Motorsports, and then spending 2023 with Lane Racing. He's still seeking that first big winged sprint car victory, but had 13 top fives and 38 top tens the past two seasons on tour. He's very accomplished on the non-wing side, having won all three USAC national titles in his career. As for Vermeer, a national schedule will be a step up for them, but we know they are capable of winning. They had victories in 2023 with both Hunter Schuerenberg and Kerry Madsen, led by crew chief Clinton Boyles. So with 11 now committed to High Limit, and eight set for the Outlaws, the question becomes who's left. Tyler Courtney and the Clauson Marshall 7BC are in the mix, with all signs pointing towards a move to High Limit. There are also lots of rumblings about Brent Marks going High Limit as well. That would take them to 13. Not that anything isn't possible, but I don't think I'd expect Anthony Macri to commit to a series. A lot of signs pointing towards another pick and choose run for those guys. Some other possible pickups for High Limit include Parker Price Miller, and whoever ends up driving the Crouch 11. So that's 15, with still a few other names out there. On the Outlaw side, I'd expect at least one Roth car to go full time World of Outlaws, and we are still waiting on a choice for the JJR 41 and Carson Macedo. I'm a bit surprised they haven't chosen publicly yet, but if they flip to High Limit, that would be a significant loss for the Outlaw side. Looking a little further, some other names I've seen floated include Brian Brown, Ryan Timms, and Bill Balog. Brownie is a notorious pick and chooser, but I've heard he has inquired about High Limit membership. I haven't heard anythong about Timms, we know he ran the full USAC midget schedule in 2023. He's a question mark. And I wouldn't expect Bill Balog to choose a series. I've got an upcoming piece for The Slider where he talks about his 2024 plans. Any other team down the All Star order from last year would require a significant step up. Looking at teams like Grove, Seeling, McCandless, Sye Lynch, the Marc Dailey cars, etc. If recent history is any indication, I would expect more announcements either right before or right after I post today's Daily show. That seems to be the norm these days.

I talked yesterday on the show about DIRTRACKR hoodies, and they are now officially sold out. Thanks to everyone who grabbed one. With Christmas fast approaching, and shipping dates getting tight, I've gone ahead and just marked down everything left in stock over at shop.dirtrackr.com. Remaining logo t-shirts are $15, all stickers are a dollar cheaper, and the logo rope hats are $7 cheaper, down to $22.99. Order soon to guarantee delivery by Christmas. I'll ship orders just as fast as they come in.

Doubling back to some late model driver choices. The World of Outlaws Late Model Series added a few names during the PRI Show this past weekend. Both will join the 2024 rookie class that already included Max McLaughlin, Dustin Sorensen, and Tristan Chamberlain. First, Cody Overton is set to replace Ryan Gustin in the Tri-Star Motorsports seat. Gustin announced a while back that he was partnering with Todd Cooney for the future. Cody is the younger brother of Brandon Overton, who is obviously one of the best in the country in a super. In 2023, Cody had a number of victories in crate and steel block competition, while running a few national shows here and there, and competing with the Spring and Southern Nationals. Also joining the rookie group for next season is Georgia driver Parker Martin. Martin actually attempted to be an Outlaw full timer back in 2021 as a 16 year old, but a tough start to the year had the team off the tour by the spring. Martin spent most of his 2023 season running crates and supers around the southeast, running 43 races with four top fives and 12 top tens. We are just a little more than a month away from the start of the Outlaw season at Volusia in January, but series director Steve Francis looks like he's putting together a big field yet again.

If you're a Scott Bloomquist fan, he's going to try and be back in the seat of a race car sooner rather than later. He had initially planned on getting shoulder surgery and returing later into 2024, but he told FloRacing's Kyle McFadden at the PRI Show that he's pushing that surgery back. He said he won't be ready for speedweeks down south, but could start his season with XR late in February at the newly renamed Ultimate Motorsports Park in North Carolina. A schedule of races around his base in Tennessee, along with crown jewels is his hope for the year.

Another series who announced a bunch of full time drivers at PRI was the USAC National Sprint Cars. We already knew about plans for Kyle Cummins, Jake Swanson, Daison Pursley, and Jadon Rogers, and the field continues to get filled out. After Cummins departed the Rock Steady 3R for a new team with Jerry Petty, that team has signed Kevin Thomas Jr. for a full season run in 2024. KTJ wasn't a full timer this past season, but still ran 30 shows. He has 39 career national sprint car wins, and can definitely compete for championships when things are right. On the flip side of a veteran guy like KTJ is Trey Osborne. Trey, who stands six feet eight inches tall, will run full time with both the sprint cars and Silver Crown Series in 2024. He'll split the sprint car season between his own 6 car and the Baldwin-Fox 5, while driving the BCR Group 81 in Silver Crown. Osborne made six national sprint car starts in 2023, and had local wins at Paragon and Gas City. Another rookie for 2024 will be Joey Amantea. He goes full time in his family owned car after spending a few seasons racing non-wing 360s with the USAC East Coast Series. He had national 410 top tens in 2023 at Lawrenceburg and Kokomo. Some names who will be back for next season include Carson Garrett with the BGE Dougherty team. He'll again be paired up with veteran and 2019 champion CJ Leary. And Justin Grant will have the same program for next season, running sprint cars for TOPP, midgets for RMS, and Silver Crown for Hemelgarn. The 2024 USAC sprint car season starts down in Florida next February.

That's it for the Daily show today. I mentioned The Slider earlier, and if you want to subscribe free to get those emails, head over to dirtrackr.com/theslider. Yesterday it was a piece on the Texas sprint car schedule from Len Hayward. I've also got fresh stuff coming from Jordan Wilman, Pat Sullivan, and Earnhardt Jaworski. So lots of good stuff coming soon to your email inbox.

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