JW: Well, let’s dive into your story, Talin! Can you walk us through your history with POWRi? What first drew you to the organization? How did your involvement develop into what you are doing today with the series: Series Director Of Open Wheel?
 
TT: I was promoting races before I got involved with POWRi. I was racing micro races at the time also. Kenny Brown and POWRi reached out and asked if I would be interested in getting involved with them. I started helping them out with promoting races while I was still racing. A few years back, at the end of one of my last seasons of racing, I got hurt while racing a midget. Kenny and I sat down and he asked if I wanted to go this route with them and work full-time. It’s been two years now. I first helped out with 10 to 15 races on the promoting side of the business, which then snowballed me into getting involved with the 410s and going the series director route. It’s been great up to this point to be as involved as I have been with POWRi and got the opportunity to help with a major regional series that is growing in 410 sprint car racing.
 
JW: POWRi has played a significant role in shaping regional sprint car racing; especially, over the past couple of years in the Mid-West. How have you seen this area of the sport grow and develop under POWRi’s banner?
 
TT: The 410 deal has really taken off under the POWRi banner thanks to Kenny [Brown] starting it back in 2020. There have been a lot of changes going on in the series over the last three to four years, from the schedule, involvement from different tracks, increasing car count at shows, and new promoters getting involved. Missouri wasn’t looked at as a strong 410 area in the country a few years back, while now we can average around 30 to 40 cars show up for a 410 show on a consistent basis. We are growing throughout the Mid-West area; including the Oklahoma and Texas region which we want to keep our focus on as well. As a series, we want to keep pushing 410 racing throughout the Mid-West.
 
JW: The 2025 POWRi season is right around the corner! Can you share some insight into the new features, updates, or changes that the competitors will be looking forward too; per, the release POWRi shared a month back?
 
TT: We set this deal up with our package for at least 16 drives. That’s where ‘The Elite 16’ came from. We keep rolling out those names out until we kick off the start of our season in Texas at the end of February. As we speak today, half of our line-up has been announced. The other half will be announced in the coming weeks before the end of January. Our goal is to build up the old point fund that is based on the original ASCS point fund which is $50,000 to win. Using that as a measure for our business model as we continue to expand and become more profitable as a series. Not trying to re-create the wheel, but build up a regional series to make it beneficial for everyone involved. We want sustainability for our teams and drivers in the Mid-West region where they want to come out, compete, and follow our entire schedule. We will keep working on our incentives between tow money, pit passes, bonus money, and any other additional perks that we can give our teams and drivers. This is all a part of our five-year pipeline. Let’s see where we can take this from this year onward.
 
JW: Some big news that came out around your organization is that FAST on Dirt & BOSS Sprints join the POWRi Banner! So many questions to ask here… How did this entire process come about? What are the benefits of these two series being a part of the POWRi brand?
 
TT: It comes down to collaboration. Between FAST and BOSS, both our big supporters of what we are doing with POWRi and the long-term goal that we have around becoming the top regional sprint car series in the country. The FAST deal came about with Kevin Newton as he is a big supporter of ours. With him bringing Honest Abe Roofing on board as a major part of our ‘Elite 16’ program for this year, we can’t thank him enough for seeing what we are aiming to achieve. Aaron Fry has been a big supporter of what we are trying to achieve here as well. It makes it a lot easier having both series under the POWRi banner. This allows us to work together on scheduling and cross-promoting events; especially, the it comes to bridging the gap between Ohio and Missouri. It also gives us more collaboration by having partners on board who want to see regional sprint car racing grow. The more we can work with people and other series like FAST & BOSS, it will help us with the goals that POWRi has for the future of the sport. Partnerships like this are massive milestones for us.
 
JW: Brad Sweet made waves this offseason throughout the Mid-West by announcing the revival of the All Stars. How do you see this impacting your series and other regional sprint car circuits across the country; particularly, in the Mid-West where other series tried to fill the void this past season?
 
TT: The All Stars don’t have a big effect on us. They are mainly focused on the Ohio area for the most part. They spend time traveling and racing out in areas like New York that aren’t in our areas of focus at the moment. As far as the FAST & All-Star deal, they co-existed in the past and I’m sure they will be able to co-exist in the future. There are a lot of sprint cars and sprint car racing in Ohio, so the way I see it, the more we support these series, the better it is for the whole sport. For now, as we continue to expand, we want to focus on our racing to be as competitive as possible by attracting the best talent out there who want to race regionally. We have a lot to offer our competitors and with our goal to be the best regional sprint car series in the country, there is no doubt that the extra competition will help us improve our product as a series.
 
JW: Let’s talk about World Racing Group for a minute… With WRG coming in early in 2024 and acquiring ASCS and pushing them forward since their purchase. What are your thoughts on how this will influence the regional sprint car scene?
 
TT: It will be interesting to watch. We have a good relationship with their team. They are really strong in the Oklahoma and Texas area, but we have crossover with some of their drivers who race a mix between 360s and 410s. Obviously, their focus is on 360 racing, but who knows what other events and directions ASCS decides to go in. We all have to give credit to WRG for the amount of resources they put into sprint car racing. I know people who work with ASCS that do an excellent job with the series and it will be interesting to see what their plans are for this year and where they push ASCS in the future. None of us can complain that having WRG get involved with regional racing isn’t a positive sign for the entire sport.
 
JW: What is your vision for regional sprint car racing in the coming years? How do you see a series like POWRi helping bridge the gap between local-level and national-level competition, when it comes to the regional development of drivers, teams, and promoters?
 
TT: The more we can build up these regional events, the better it is for all of us. Some of these regional teams don’t have the funds to race on a national level, but they can show up and be competitive when High Limit or the Outlaws come to town. That’s a big thanks to competitive regional racing. It’s cool to see regional races on occasion, really step up in those big moments at major events against national level competition and hold their own. There are a lot of teams that need regional racing to develop their programs and without that gap getting focus, you won’t have many teams at all be able to make that leap to the national level or at least be competitive. You want to see local races make the jump to regional, then make the jump to national if they want. But if you don’t have a level where local talent can make the jump up or national talent that wants to scale back their opportunity, you have a massive hole for competition level. That’s what makes regional sprint car racing so important and that's where we [POWRi] want to be!
 
JW: Looking ahead, not just to 2025 that we have discussed at length already, but over the next five years, where do you see POWRi headed? What are some of the key milestones or goals that you and the team are aiming to achieve for the longevity of the series?
 
TT: The biggest thing is focusing on our key events that we have. Continue to make them bigger. Raising the bar when it comes to purses for events and end-of-year pay for our full-time competitors. Expand our footprint in other parts of the country such as in Oklahoma and Texas that don’t see a lot of 410 racing outside of when the Outlaws come through. Fill in some areas with 410 races that don’t have a ton of events on the list. Ultimately, we want to be the number regional sprint car racing series in the country, and to do that, you have to be willing to expand in other areas in your region. We also want to be able to make new stars that come out of our series, such as when you saw Sunshine [Tyler Courtney] and Zeb Wise come out of the All-Stars a couple of years back. Help craft young and emerging talent before they go off on a national tour. We want to keep looking at improving every area of our series and seeing where we can take it.