DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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The racing was good, but I want more from High Limit | Daily 4-12-2023

High Limit is here, and we'll get into what was good and what was not so good from the opening night of racing. Let's go!

It's Wednesday, April 12th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

The High Limit Sprint Car Series is officially off and running for 2023 with last night's season opener at Lakeside Speedway in the books. I want to look today at the event from two different sides. We'll talk about the racing for sure, but I also want to get into the event itself.

Starting first with the action on track. I thought it was a really good night of racing. Lakeside was in good shape, we had multiple racing lines by the feature, and you know it was probably a good night for passing when the hard charger goes 22nd to second. Gio Scelzi started ninth on the night, was able to work his way to the front, with a little help from the choose cone, and when Rico Abreu had a flat tire late while leading, Gio was in the right spot to capitalize. He charged away on a late restart after a caution was thrown right before he was going to take the checkered. He scored the $50,000 win, which is easily the biggest of his career. I certainly did not have Gio high on my list of win chances last night, as he hasn't had a super great start to his rookie season with the Outlaws, and he had just a single 1/2 mile top ten this season through nine starts at Volusia and Devil's Bowl. But the KCP 18 was fast last night. Of the differing format things the High Limit series has in place, the dice roll did not come into affect last night, as both Tyler Courtney and Donny Schatz refused the chance to slide backwards for more possible cash. It feels like that dice roll deal might not come into play often all season. The bit that definitely had an effect though was the choose cone. Gio was able to move forward a few different times thanks to lane choices, and Macedo mentioned post race it helped him as well. It mixed things up for those restarts, and the very quick strategy choices will add a nice wrinkle all season. Behind the win, Macedo went 22nd to second after having damage in his heat race and needing to transfer in through the B-Main, and Courtney finished third after starting on the pole and leading early. The guy who looked like he was going to win yet again this season was Rico Abreu, who was driving away with five to go, but a flat tire ended his chance at the victory. That 24 car is going to win a bunch of races this season. It was also a bummer that Austin McCarl had problems in the final laps, as he was fast as well and even challenged Gio for the lead at one point. Brent Marks was surprisingly quiet last night. He needed a B-Main transfer as well and then was out early with what sounded like engine issues. Races like last night usually are right in his wheelhouse. Some other guys with tough nights included Aaron Reutzel, Ryan Timms, and Bill Balog. All of those guys didn't make it out of the C-Main. And Zeb Wise, Sheldon Haudenschild, Hunter Schuerenberg, Cole Macedo, and Kasey Kahne were done after the B. Chase Randall, Alex Bowman, and Schuerenberg did use provisionals to start the main event. So the racing was good, about what you would expect from a deep field on a good race track.

As for the event around the racing, it honestly felt a little flat watching at home. I'll probably catch hell for saying so, but I was hoping this was going to be more of a spectacle. It looked like they had a good crowd, which was great and that's what they'll need going forward to keep this thing going. But there was no High Limit branding anywhere, no sponsor banners, no real specialness to the event, nothing we haven't seen before. I was left wanting more. I know some had issues with FloRacing through the night, and those things need to be cleaned up for sure. I also would have liked some more energy from Vince Welch in the booth. I know it was his first sprint car race on the mic, but there is work to be done with name pronunciations and recognizing cars on track. It felt like he was still in NASCAR mode, thinking there was 500 miles of racing to chat, but things happen so much faster at these events. There were times through the night that Dillon Welch was trying to carry things and fill gaps, but hopefully that will get better as we go. I just feel like if this series is going to boast about a quote "new era of sprint cars" and sell us on something different than we see usually, I want that to manifest itself at the event and turn into tangible things we can see and feel. If I'm advising Brad Sweet today on his first night of the season, the program went pretty well, the racing was great, there are things to clean up, but I'd challenge him going forward on creating a bigger experience. Outside of heavier purses for the drivers and midweek races, High Limit shows should feel like their own thing. And last night didn't really give me that. These guys have an opportunity to build something special here, but there is work to be done. Drop your comments below, let me know what your thoughts are on the first big High Limit event.

Before we move on, I did want to update everyone on Jake Neuman. Jake crashed in hot laps last night at Lakeside and was transported to a local hospital. He spun into turn three and hit the wall driver side first. I'm guessing something had to have broke in that car, because you don't normally see cars spin that direction. It was reported that he was alert and moving his extremities afterwards. He spent the night in the ICU, and this morning on his Facebook page his family posted that he's CT scans looked good, and that doctors think he's going to be okay. That's definitely great to hear. We hope he has a speedy recovery.

Last night with the new XR Workin Man Series, Chris Madden kicked off a big week at Volunteer Speedway with the $10,000 score. He topped pole sitter Dale McDowell and Kyle Bronson. Smokey started second and led the final 13 laps around Bulls Gap to earn the win. As I expected yesterday, they were in the mid 20's for car count with 26 on hand. With $100k on the line there Saturday, I'd guess that number will grow substantially by the weekend. Volunteer Speedway is quiet today and tomorrow, with the XR Super Series action getting started on Friday.

In dirt racing podcast land this week, Winged Nation has Rico Abreu, Barry Marlow and Shane Stewart. Forward Bite has Mike Wallace, Ohio Dirt has Chris Andrews, Quicktime has John McCoy, Dirt Tracks and Rib Racks has James Turnbull, All Gas No Brakes has a few episodes including one with Bloomquist, Hoogie's Garage has Dusty Zomer, and there are new episodes of the Dirt Reporters, the Dirt Nerds, and Dirt Track Confessions. To see all the shows, all the episodes, head over to dirtrackr.com/podcasts.

Four shows today on the streaming schedule. DIRTVision has weekly micros from Millbridge and DIRTVision Now. FloRacing has late models and modifieds from Delaware plus Flo 24/7. To see the full daily streaming schedule with links to watch, visit dirtrackr.com/watchtonight.

Hope you guys have a good Wednesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow.