DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

Dirt racing news, results, discussion, analytics. Sprint cars, late models, modifieds, you name it. From national series, to top local shows. Brought to you five days a week. Email the show at info@dirtrackr.com.

Manipulated dirt late model bodies in the crosshairs | Daily 1-22-2024

Have dirt late model bodies gone too far with aerodynamics? We'll show you some photos today and talk about the situation, plus an update on the future of Pennsboro Speedway in West Virginia. Let's go!

It's Monday, January 22nd, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

Over the weekend at Volusia, I'm sure you may have seen photos floating around, and heard the chatter about the body on Devin Moran's dirt late model. It's caused quite a stir, and calls from some to finally crack down on the aerodynamics on these cars. Moran obviously had a strong weekend, winning Friday, and leading laps Saturday before eventually finishing third. He was quickest in qualifying in his group both days, but he wasn't the fastest all weekend, with Bobby Pierce taking the track record Friday. And there were others very closely in the neighborhood on lap times. And I think it's important to point out too that he didn't dominate. There were lots of other cars that led laps, and Hudson O'Neal won the Saturday feature. This chatter all got started before Volusia even happened. Early last week, there was a test at Golden Isles that saw quite a few big teams participate, and photographer Chris Anderson was there. Of the photos he captured and shared was this one of Moran's Double Down Motorsports machine. I saw the photo last Tuesday when @wearcatchfence shared it to Twitter. Obviously the car is incredibly twisted to maximize aero, and this very much reminds me of the NASCAR Cup cars we had in the early to mid-2000s. They call those cars now the twisted sisters, and this follows the same ideas. With those Cup cars, when they went into the corner and got into yaw, you wanted as much air on the nose and on the right rear for downforce. So the noses were shifted to the right, the spoiler would peak out from around the greenhouse, and the right side was curved as much as the rules allowed. Back then, Cup cars had to fit individual body templates, and every one passed inspection. What the body hangers figured out, was you could manipulate the body as whole, while keeping the templates fitting, because the templates themselves didn't fit together. Individual areas could be moved and shifted, while still meeting specs. Eventually NASCAR went to the claw to reign this in, which was a full car template that was dropped down on top. All of the individual templates were incorporated into one, so smaller areas had to meet, as did the larger body as a whole. And these days, body checks are done with the hawk-eye camera system that uses computers to scan everything. Teams are given effectively what looks like a heat map of where their bodies are and where they are close to or out of spec. No more physical templates. And these dirt late models are using a lot of those same concepts. Everything just looks even more out of whack, because yaw in NASCAR was a few degrees on corner entry, not completely sideways like a late model is. Twisted noses, shifted rooflines, and spoilers way out to the right all keep maximum air on the car through the corner for maximum grip. It's not a magic bullet, as these cars are too complex for that, but clearly it matters. Moran's car is an extreme illustration of this, but all of the big time cars have gone this direction. Here's a photo of Gordy Gundaker's car that I took at World Finals last November. And just like with those old Cup cars, Moran's car was clearly legal via this current set of unified dirt late model rules. He passed the World of Outlaws tech all weekend. You can't really blame the teams for this, as the entire reason they exist is to try and find speed within the rules. They are going to do what they can with the resources afforded to them, and as we've talked about before, these teams are their own worst enemies in that way. It's why costs have gotten ridiculous. The knock against all of this, is that it clearly costs money and time to figure this stuff out, which not every team can replicate. And there is concern that the dirty air created by these bodies is making the racing worse. Just like we talked about last week with the sprint cars and wicker bill reductions, dirty air mean less downforce on the nose of the trailing car, and less grip to try and get a pass done. It didn't seem to hurt the racing at Volusia, but some will point to other races in the past. The Hunt the Front guys talked about this over the weekend, you can find their conversation on their podcast channel on YouTube. Joseph Joiner mentioned Eldora as a place where he experienced that dirty air. He said his car was pretty good by itself, but he struggled in traffic. As for what can be done about this, the only solution seems to be some sort of full body template. Like the claw we saw with NASCAR, or the Hunt the Front guys talked about Tyler Erb saying they needed a drive through template, where if the car touched anywhere, you couldn't race. That would straighten things up a bit, and hopefully prevent some of the dirty air. I'm certainly not an aerodynamicist, but that's what NASCAR did, and it seems to the sentiment here as well. Overall, we are at an interesting moment in dirt late model racing, as these bodies aren't the only issue. There are also some things happening with shock rules that have some in the industry not happy. I'm trying to gather more information on that at the moment for a future episode. If you are somebody who has knowledge about this current shock stuff, feel free to DM me on social media, or send an email to info@dirtrackr.com. As is always the case with this stuff, the teams are usually a step or two ahead of the enforcement, and if it isn't one area, it will be another. Feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts on the current dirt late model bodies.

One news item for you today before we close out. Barry Braun and XR have been in the process of trying to get Pennsboro Speedway in West Virginia back open for this season. Their original plan was to construct a quarter mile race track, using part of the original half mile, and work had already started on the reconfiguration. But last Wednesday, they put out a release announcing that racing would return to the half mile, with plans changing. Braun said initially permitting and construction expenses kept them from working to bring back the half mile. But recently they were able to quote "get some good news on permits, soil insurance, and the most important factor, the people" unquote. So with the support of the local county, they are pushing back the opening date from April 20th this year, to Memorial Day weekend, needing the additional time to get work done. There are no lack of problems to overcome on this property, including creeks running through the track, a lack of infrastructure, and what used to be a very narrow racing surface. That initial race weekend towards the end of May, will feature ULMS late models, with sprint cars scheduled for July, and the XR Super Series set for late October. You can see more details over at pennsborospeedway.com.

That's it for the daily show today. Don't forget, I'm running a $10 t-shirt sale over at shop.dirtrackr.com. Just smalls and mediums are left, but you have two options between the logo shirts. I am down to just three late model stickers in stock as well. If you've ordered in recent days, your purchases have already been shipped and should be to you soon. And make sure to stop by dirtrackr.com for the latest news and the streaming schedule.

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