DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Rocket makes driver hire official, plus a track trying to stop you from hitting infield tires | Daily 3-19-2024

Coming up, Rocket Racing makes their driver hire official, and we'll look at what this means for the Lucas season. Plus details on one track that will warn drivers in a bit of a different way before they hit those awful infield tires, and big news for the Daily show. Let's go!

It's Tuesday, March 19th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

Today is a big day for the show friends! DIRTRACKR has partnered with Kubota Genuine Parts as the new presenting sponsor of the Daily show. Yes, that Kubota, known for their orange farm and construction equipment. They offer a wide range of tractors and machinery, as well as genuine parts for dirt racing enthusiasts. They have made it convenient to order those genuine parts online through participating dealers for delivery, or you can pick them up from any one of the 1000 Kubota dealers. Additionally, if you own any Kubota equipment, the myKubota app provides users with tools to manage their equipment effectively. This partnership has sparked excitement as Kubota ventures into dirt racing, aligning with the passion shared by dirt motorsports fans, staff, and competitors. Whether you use your Kubota to put food on your family's table, or to enhance your ability to shape your property; protect your investment by using Kubota Genuine Parts. Stay tuned for more updates on Kubota's plans and involvement in the dirt racing community!

Before we move on, I hope you guys will join me today in celebrating this moment in the history of DIRTRACKR and the Daily show. This partnership with Kubota is a big deal for me and this project that I started back in 2019, and I've been bouncing off the walls while waiting to share the news with you. Without the support of everyone that tunes in regularly, and the incredible growth, none of this would be possible. My commitment to bringing you the best dirt racing info each day won't change, and there are exciting times and plenty of cool things ahead. Thank you for watching and the support, it is very much appreciated.

Alright, in the ongoing saga of the Rocket Racing house car, Tim McCreadie's appointment as the new driver was officially made official yesterday by the team. It's been clear for a few days already this move was coming, but now, thanks to a release yesterday, it's 1000% confirmed by Mark Richards and Rocket. And obviously this move is coming in the wake of the departure of Hudson O'Neal from the team. The swap to McCreadie was signaled late last week, when TMac departed the Paylor Motorsports 39 car. Starting this weekend at Atomic and Brownstown, TMac is in the Rocket 1 and will begin his attempt to try and climb into the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship fight. Like I mentioned earlier this week, McCreadie is ninth in the standings right now, 215 points behind leader Ricky Thornton Jr., and 90 back of Daulton Wilson for that fourth and final chase spot. Brandon Sheppard sits fifth right now in the Lucas standings, but I don't see any reason why he won't stick with his commitment to run the World of Outlaws, so that's at least one competitor who won't stand in McCreadie's way. At the moment, the other names mixed in include Devin Moran, Jimmy Owens, and Mike Marlar. Based on what we know right now, I'd say that RTJ and Jonathan Davenport have probably the best odds to lock down two of those spots. I do think we need to see more out of Wilson before we can call him a chase contender. Obviously Big Perm has been strong to start the season, but he'll have to continue maintaining that consistency to stay in the fight. And while we know what Hudson O'Neal is capable of, until his ride situation is settled, his status is a question mark. So RTJ and JD in, next in line probably Moran, and then that final spot could be a fight between McCreadie, Wilson, Marlar, and O'Neal. If O'Neal though is able to secure a big time ride with the proper support, I'd probably elevate his chances back up a bit. He does at the moment have a 120 point cushion over Wilson in fourth, which gives him some leeway as he works on what's next. I don't have any good information right now about what Huddy's plans are, but he did say he will be racing this coming weekend, and he posted to social media on Sunday that he was getting fitted for new seats, so he's clearly got something lined up. The Buckeye Spring 50 at Atomic Speedway is Friday, and the Indiana Icebreaker at Brownstown is Saturday.

If you guys missed it from Sunday, I sent a new edition of The Slider, which is our free email newsletter. Spence Smithback took a look at the current state of 360 sprint car racing around the country in the aftermath of the World Racing Group deal to buy the ASCS, to try and understand if 360 racing is really dying or not. You can read that piece over at dirtrackr.com/theslider. You can also sign up free to get articles like that sent right to your inbox. If you would like to reach a few thousand dirt racing fans with your writing, I'm also looking for new submissions as well. Reach out to me via email or social media DMs for info.

Around the sport of dirt racing, I feel like one aspect of dirt tracks that is constantly being debated is what to do about the inside line through the corners. Obviously we need some way to keep racers from cutting corners, but what exactly is the answer can be a point of contention. For some places it's the dreaded tractor tires. They are big enough and heavy enough to be a deterrent, but aren't permanent, and will move if hit hard enough so as to not completely destroy a race car. Plenty of front suspension and body panels though have been the victim of getting just a bit too close to them. At other tracks, it's an inside concrete wall, like at Eldora, or you get the berm like we see at the Chili Bowl. Walls obviously hurt when you hit them, and sometimes berms can become launchpads. My point here is that all of these methods have pros and cons. One track in Minnesota though, is trying a bit of a hybrid approach to start the 2024 season. They had a berm, but they got rid of it because it was supposedly causing drainage issues. Now, they are bringing back the tractor tires, with one other addition. They've installed these little blue sticks that will give drivers an extra warning, and they pop back up when they are hit. So if you are hitting the blue sticks, just know that the tires aren't much further away. This is all happening at Granite City Motor Park, which is an hour northwest of the twin cities. Besides regular weekly racing, Granite City is also hosting the WISSOTA Late Model Challenge Series, plus the USMTS this season. I have no idea if this will work better than the other options, but kudos to them for trying something a bit different. Hat tip to Charles for pointing this out to me.

Before we close out today, some quick Gio Scelzi notes. He left Cotton Bowl this past weekend as the World of Outlaws championship leader after seven races. It's still incredibly early, but I like what I'm seeing so far from him. Top tens in every race completed, and top fives in six of seven. His average finish is fourth, he's led laps in two of the past four races, and won for the first time since Beaver Dam last June. I talked to his brother Dominic in the offseason on an episode of Conversations, and Dom said he thought Gio cou0d contend for the championship, and it's clear things are headed in a good direction. I think a bunch of people thought David Gravel might be able to walk away with the title this season, but Gio looks like he's ready for the fight. Throw in Donny Schatz and Logan Schuchart, plus Carson Macedon on the rebound, and this could be a lot closer than maybe we thought.

That's it for the show today. You can find updated dirt racing news at dirtrackr.com, and the streaming schedule at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight. Don't forget as well to check out the analytics section that is now how to more than 1850 races worth of dirt racing stats and information.

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