DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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A top late model team chooses a series, which sprint car guys are headed to Australia? | Daily 12-22-2023

Brandon Sheppard and the Longhorn Factory Team choose their series for 2024, plus High Limit picks up some event co-sanctions, Chili Bowl entries grow again, and which US sprint car drivers to watch down under this winter. Let's go!

It's Friday, December 22nd, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

A little bonus show for you today. I thought we might get some news on this Friday, and we did, so let's talk about it.

Before we do though...

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.

Yesterday on the Daily we talked about the World of Outlaws Late Model field growing to 12 with the addition of Brian Shirley, and just this morning, the field grew again. And I think this is a big pickup for director Steve Francis, even if it's a car returning. Brandon Sheppard, and his Sheppard Riggs Racing B5 will be back on tour with the Outlaws full time in 2024 to chase the championship. BShepp ended 2023 third in the standings behind Bobby Pierce and Chris Madden, with a couple of wins, 18 top fives, and 26 top tens. It wasn't the domination we've seen in the past from Sheppard, and he was never really in the title fight, but that was going to be expected as he struck back out on his own, and transitioned from Rockets to Longhorns, along with a number of other different components. He picked up plenty of big wins along the way though, including the Silver Dollar Nationals, the Quad Cities 150, the Dirt Track World Championship, and most recently the Gateway Dirt Nationals. The team got better as the year went on, and now for next season they'll have the added support that goes along with being the Longhorn Factory Team, which is what we are calling it now instead of house car. I think this is a big deal for the Outlaws, because I don't know if the main Longhorn backed team has ever raced on this side before. It's usually been a Lucas car, including most recently with Tim McCreadie. You guys can certainly correct me in the comments if I'm wrong. Sheppard and the team choosing to stay keeps the Outlaw field strong, and shows that the changes WRG has made to this series in recent years continue to be attractive. This team clearly is in a good place headed into next season, and the B5 will be led by veteran crew chief Randall Edwards. With Bobby Pierce set to return as well, I think there is a very good chance we are seeing an Illinois battle at the top of the series all year. Stay tuned over the weekend, as I got a chance to speak to Brandon Sheppard about all of this, and I'll share that interview maybe tomorrow or Sunday on the YouTube channel and podcast feed. So with Shepp in, the Outlaws are at 13, which also includes Brian Shirley, Bobby Pierce, Ryan Gustin, Todd Cooney, Nick Hoffman, Max McLaughlin, Tristan Chamberlain, Cody Overton, Dustin Sorensen, Cade Dillard, Dustin Walker, and Parker Martin.

In some schedule news from Thursday, the POWRi winged 410 series released their 2024 schedule. 30 races at 12 race tracks covering Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, and Oklahoma. They'll run from May 3rd at Lakeside, til November 2nd at Lake Ozark. What stands out to me about this schedule is the eight co-sanctioned shows with the High Limit sprint cars. Their opening weekend at Lakeside is in conjunction with High Limit, as are weekends and events at I-70, Lake Ozark, and Lucas Oil Speedway. These co-sanctions will probably help High Limit draw a few extra cars for those races, and once the season starts, this will be a focus for both national series. Can we continue to have nice fields with two series in operation, while also bringing the fans in through the gates. Co-sanctions haven't been used by the Outlaws much in recent years, but they can be a tool to help bolster attendance. You can see that full POWRi schedule over at powri.com.

With still a few weeks to go, the Chili Bowl entry list has swelled to 350 as of yesterday. Recent additions include 2022 event winner Tanner Thorson, past prelim night winner Cannon McIntosh (who will be back in a Keith Kunz entry), Max McLaughlin, Chase Stockon, Thomas Meseraull, and Silver Crown ace Kody Swanson. If you are a regular around here, you already knew that Rico Abreu won't be one of the drivers in Tulsa, and he shared a nice social media post yesterday about his absence. He's instead racing down under this year with the sprint car, but posted a photo of himself with Emmett Hahn and talked about how he's going to miss seeing the fans and all his friends inside the building. Rico's Australia schedule starts next week at Perth Motorplex. You can see the full Chili Bowl entry list over at chilibowl.com.

Speaking of Australia, I did want to run through a bunch of the main sprint car guys who are racing down there this season. Some are already there, or have already been there, including Joel Myers Jr. and Logan Seavey. Some others to watch for include James McFadden, Brad Sweet, Brock Zearfoss, Cory Eliason, Kalib Henry, Chase Randall, Sheldon Haudenschild, Carson Macedo, Aaron Reutzel, and Justin Peck. Unlike last year, it doesn't sound like any of these guys had the travel issues that popped up in 2022. For most of the big names, their Aussie seasons will start in the coming days after Christmas, and then continue well into January. Things culminate at Premier Speedway January 19th through the 21st for the Grand Annual Sprint Car Classic, which we will talk about more as it gets closer. If you want to keep up with what's happening in Australia, Clay Per View is the streaming service to keep an eye on, and it's part of the schedule over at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight. I'd also recommend checking out Toby Bellbowen's Sprint Car Hub on YouTube and Facebook. On his Facebook page, he's actually done a nice job putting together the schedules for all the US drivers, so you can see those now at facebook.com/sprintcarhub. Toby will have videos covering a lot of the action as well on his YouTube channel, so go throw him a subscribe and tell him DIRTRACKR sent you.

Alright, that's it for the show this week. Even though we'll be deep into Christmas Sunday and Monday, there is plenty more content to come. I've got three interviews recorded and ready to go through next week, and there will be some other fun stuff on the channel as well. So don't go anywhere. If news breaks, don't forget you can always keep up with everything over at dirtrackr.com.

Hope you guys have a great Friday out there and a fun holiday weekend, and we'll see you back here soon!