DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Chili Bowl comms sweep turns up issues, Kyle Larson attempting wild dirt racing double | Daily 1-10-2024
Kyle Larson is planning a dirt double this week, and we'll talk through his chances of pulling it off. Plus more on the Chili Bowl cracking down on communication and technology, including some guys busted, and more. Let's go!
It's Wednesday, January 10th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
We'll start today's show off with the surprising news from yesterday that Kyle Larson has decided to attempt this year's Chili Bowl, even in the midst of also running the Wild West Shootout. After Monday night's win by Tanner Carrick, team owner Keith Kunz told FloRacing that he got a text from Larson congratulating him on the win, and asking for a return phone call when he had a free moment. Once on the phone, Larson asked Kunz if he had any spare cars in Tulsa, because he wanted to try and race. A few short hours later, a deal was done, and Larson will attempt a pretty crazy double. Kunz brought a complete extra car to the expo for Tanner Carrick to run the race of champions on Monday, but that didn't end up happening. So one of Larson's seats is en route to Tulsa, and it will be swapped into that car along with some fresh graphics to add on Yung Money's sponsors in Flo and Hendrick Cars. Kunz did mention that there was some sort of approval process for the whole thing, which I imagine involved Chevy okaying Larson to drive a Toyota-branded midget. Larson will slot into the Thursday night prelim, which is an off night from late model action at the Wild West Shootout. He'll be up against Spencer Bayston, Ricky Thornton Jr., Brady Bacon, and Tanner Thorson that night for one of two lock-in spots. It definitely feels like a gettable prelim night for Larson. Here's where things could get tight though for his schedule. If he's able to get into a feature spot, or maybe a B after Thursday, Larson's plan is to race at Vado on Saturday night, finish that program, then hop on a plane and go straight to Tulsa to climb back in the midget for the big show. It's not uncommon at this point for things to get going in Tulsa well after midnight on Saturday, but time will be a factor. The flight from the Las Cruces/El Paso area to Tulsa will probably be under two hours, but they have to go across a time zone, so Larson will lose an hour. That means to make it to Tulsa by midnight, he'd have to be out of Vado by nine at the latest. Which seems doable based on the way things have gone at the Wild West Shootout through the first two nights. The late model features were getting done by my count around 10PM eastern, which is eight local. If Larson has trouble though on Thursday and doesn't finish towards the front of the prelim feature, all of this probably goes out the window. Either way, we'll get the two-time winner back in Tulsa for Thursday at least, plus he'll be at all remaining days of the Wild West Shootout. Let's hope now that FloRacing goes hard on the content side with this and brings us a mini doc on the whole day Saturday.
Jumping back to yesterday's show where we talked about Chili Bowl officials doing a sweep for smart devices and raceceivers right before Monday's feature, we got some more details yesterday from head guy Matt Ward. Flo's Brandon Paul talked to the Chili Bowl's director of operations, and he revealed that the Monday sweep was done very secretively, with even the infield officials not aware that it was going to happen. They continued the procedure last night before the feature again, and Ward said they will continue doing so all week. In that quick interview, Ward was also asked if they found any of the scanner devices to be suspect, and he said they indeed did. Several of the devices were the two channel type, and two specifically were loaded with quote "oddball frequences." So that seems to point towards the officials' concerns over illegal comms being confirmed. We'll see if this is a rule and a process that gets integrated elsewhere into dirt racing.
As for last night's Chili Bowl action, another good night of racing. We had drama after the B-mains about who got the final transfer spot in B 2, when Darin Naida and Blake Bower tangled on the white flag lap, taking themselves out of contention. Riley Kreisel was originally given the spot, but after a lengthy review, CJ Sarna was elevated to the feature start. Plenty of bent feelings over that one. The night's big mover was Zach Daum, who had issues in the qualifier and DNF'd the Bondio 47X. He then went 11th to the win in B number two, and 18th to ninth in the feature. Out front, it was all Buddy Kofoid. He was clearly the best car in the building on Tuesday, and led all 30 feature laps from the pole to pick up a locked in spot. Solid day for Buddy, announce a full time World of Outlaws run in the morning, lock into the Chili Bowl feature at night. He was followed to the line by Hank Davis, who has now locked in two straight years after his prelim night win a year ago. Drivers headed to a Saturday B-Main include Chase McDermand, David Gravel, Kameron Key, Thomas Meseraull, Landon Brooks, and Kevin Thomas Jr. It was a tough night for our guy Tanner Holmes, who looked to be on his way to a feature transfer spot in a B, but ended up with broken front suspension and he went for a tumble. He'll be starting deep on Saturday. And if you remember to back before Christmas, we interviewed George Loux for a conversations episode. He was a C-Main winner last night, before finishing 12th in a B. Not bad for a 305 sprint car racer who had never previously driven a midget. The schedule for today in Tulsa is the same as it was yesterday. 4PM central hot laps, with racing at five. Tonight's field includes Sammy Swindell, Briggs Danner, Mitchel Moles, Corey Day, Blake Hahn, Jake Swanson, Tyler Courtney, Brent Crews, Jade Avedisian, and Daison Pursley.
At Vado Speedway Park tonight, the Wild West Shootout continues with the third of six race programs. Cade Dillard and Bobby Pierce won the first two super late model features, and tonight is another $10,000 to win show. Should be a similar field to what we've already seen, and I would expect the same guys to be fast. Pierce, Mike Marlar, Kyle Larson. Tyler Erb has shown a bunch of pace as well through the early couple of nights, and Dillard has two top fives. The six race win bonus is officially off the table, but the five and four race bonuses are still in play, although I think they are probably not likely to be paid out. You can double box the racing tonight, as both the Wild West Shootout and Chili Bowl are live on FloRacing.
If you want some other dirt racing audio this week, there are some shows and episodes to check out. Hoogie's Garage has Van May and Josh Holt, Turn 2 Terribles have Troy Wagaman Jr., Getting up to Speed has Chase Raudman, and there are new episodes of The Dirt Reporters, Dirt Tracks and Rib Racks, Dirt Track Confessions, and TJSlideways' Open Wheel Spectacular. You can find all of these shows, episodes, and more over at dirtrackr.com/podcasts.
One other content note, Jeremy Elliott is working on ramping up his Sprint Car Unlimited YouTube channel and is doing some daily content, with plans for some other shows coming up. Make sure to check him out for more sprint car videos.
That's it for the show today. Stop by the streaming schedule at dirtrackr.com to see all your viewing options this week, and don't forget to subscribe to our email newsletter, The Slider. I've got a new piece coming soon there with some late model stuff from Spence Smithback.
Hope you guys have a great Wednesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!