DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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The secretive world of dirt late model racing | Daily 7-21-2023

The Macri 39M machine has a new driver for some upcoming shows, we'll get into the cloak and dagger world of dirt late model racing, and what to get into this weekend. Let's go!

It's Friday, July 21st, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

We'll jump right in today with the recent breaking news in the sprint car world. With Anthony Macri out of the 39M and set to run for Clauson Marshall and Indy Race Parts in the near future, the Macri Motorsports team and it's future were a big question mark. Lance Dewease filled the seat in the car at Eldora for the Million and Kings Royal, but that was only a stop-gap with Dewease committed to Don Kreitz and the 69K. This morning though, the Macri team announced they have hired California driver Justin Sanders to pilot their car in some upcoming shows. Sanders' first race with the 39M and crew chief Joe Mooney will be on July 27th with the All Stars at Lake Ozark. The team does plan on being at Grandview Speedway for next week's High Limit race, but will announce a different driver for that show. The rest of the upcoming schedule that the team released includes I-70 and Knoxville with the All Stars, the Kokomo High Limit show, everything around Knoxville including the 360 Nationals, Cappy, Front Row Challenge, and 410 Nationals. They've also got the High Limit show at Huset's and the Jackson Nationals. That's basically an entire month in the midwest for a team that is very heavily based in Central Pennsylvania. I would assume this means that Sanders is done for the time being in the Swindell SpeedLab 39, which they allueded to in a tweet, and at least this initial schedule won't affect Sanders' ride with Mittry out in California. There isn't another NARC show until August 26th at Stockton. In a story at sprintcarunlimited.com, Sanders told Jeremy Elliott that they are going to run this schedule and see where things go, but it sounds like if these races go well, Sanders could be a more permanent solution in that car. If Sanders is indeed done with Swindell, that team could look to Hunter Schuerenberg, who drove that car at Eldora last weekend. Schuerenberg is driving this weekend for Jay Kiser in Ohio. As for Sanders and Macri, I think this is a solid pickup for that team. It's obviously good news that they will continue on even without Anthony, and hopefully it won't take long for Joe and Justin to get things sorted out. Drop me a comment, let me know your thoughts on this move for the 39M.

With that breaking news out of the way, let's dive into my main topic for today. Watching last night's Lucas show at Huset's, Ricky Thornton Jr. your winner after getting the lead from Jonathan Davenport on lap 19, and surviving to the end on a latched down race track. Afterwards, thanks to FloRacing's cameras and their drone we watched RTJ roll across the scales, and then hit the droop check. And just as soon as the droop check was complete, an SSI Motorsports crew member was in place to run the cover across the back of the 20RT just to keep any snooping eye balls away from their chassis while the car sat in victory lane. And this has been fairly standard procedure for that car, and others. This is just a small example of the secretive world of dirt late model racing. Technology is changing all the time, and teams are always pushing the envelope to find more speed, and when they get an advantage, they don't want anyone to know about it. Whether it's bodies and aerodynamics, or shocks, or chassis, or suspension geometry, or strange "devices", they will go to all sorts of lengths to keep their advantages hidden. When the rear of cars are not on the race track, you see them covered with banners. Cars on jackstands with the tires off usually have a piece of plastic covering up the hubs and wheel wells. Anything to obscure prying eyes and cameras. If you're ever at a super late model race, watch how crew guys and other drivers will look over their competitors cars around the podium celebrations, looking for any little clues. We literally see the same things on the Formula 1 grid. These are things I've asked both Kevin Rumley and Vinny Guliani about. Rumley obviously the owner of the car that Kyle Larson has been racing the last few years and who's had a lot of success with Jonathan Davenport and Longhorn Chassis, and Vinny is now a crew guy for Jonathan Davenport, engineer, worked in NASCAR as well. Rumley talked about all of the cameras and photos taken of his R&D car, but mentioned that if you are trying to copy what somebody else is doing, you'll always be a step behind. And Vinny said even when you don't have trick stuff going on, you cover things up just the same to keep up appearances. It's like a poker hand, who can keep the same face whether they have the full house or are bluffing. There are games being played all the time, and it's necessary to participate to stay at the top. If you want to see those past conversations I had with those guys, I'll link them below. Just a few weeks ago, racer Austin Kirkpatrick posted a video to his YouTube channel about the straight front axle car he built a few years ago, and all of the trials and tribulations he went through to make it all work. Eventually, he was able to have some success with it, but after the 2020 season ended, the major late model sanctioning bodies outlawed his design. If you haven't watched that video, I'd definitely recommend checking it out. It gives you a really good idea of what it takes to design new stuff, and just how many different areas are not covered by these rule books. Kirkpatrick, who is known for creating his own designs, spent 30 minutes and really only covered a handful of topics. I'll link to it below as well. This idea of secrets and innovation is something I feel like doesn't get enough attention when it comes to dirt late model racing, and it really adds to the intrigue of these races if you know what's going on. We've touched on it briefly with the chassis wars, but it's a big reason why performance is so cyclical for some of these drivers. These crews are constantly trying stuff, testing, building new parts and pieces, and I'd love to see a guy like Kirkpatrick be invited in by some of the streamers, or even build out his own YouTube channel and let us in on some of the technical side of things. I feel like we have much less of this with sprint cars and open wheel racing, because the cars are so much easier to see what everyone has, plus most of the parts and pieces come from off the shelf. The same isn't true with dirt late model racing though. The possibilities are much more endless, and Kirkpatrick's video shows you that. But because everything is so cloak and dagger, it's hard to get real details. But maybe that's fun too.

Alright, before we shut it down for the week, I do want to hit on a few races. Besides RTJ winning last night at Huset's, Davenport's third place finish drew him even closer to Overton for third in the chase standings. Devin Moran's 18th didn't do him any favors, and if JD stays hot, this may come down to Overton vs. McCreadie for that final spot at Eldora. Tonight at Huset's is two rounds of heat racing, with passing and finishing points on the line to set Saturday's feature lineups. I was asked how that points system works, but I did not see anywhere online or in the Lucas rulebook where that system is spelled out. Hopefully the Huset's track crew can make some improvements to avoid the rubber the next two nights.

At BAPS last night, David Gravel outdueled Brad Sweet to pick up his series best ninth win of the year. Sweet and Logan Schuchart joined him on the podium. Heading to Williams Grove the next two nights, Gravel leads Sweet by six points in the championship, with Macedo now 32 out. Kyle Larson and Lance Dewease were no-shows on Thursday after being at BAPS on Wednesday. We should see Dewease back tonight, and I have no idea what Larson's plans are, or why he wasn't there last night. I do think we all need to keep an eye on the business of sprint car racing this second half of 2023. The rumor mill is working overtime right now and the ground continues to move and shift. There is a lot of unrest in the community, which is odd to me because things are maybe as good as they have ever been from many different sides. But as is usual, we can never have nice things.

At Utica-Rome last night, Matt Sheppard picked up another Short Track Super Series win, holding off Mat Williamson late. Tim Fuller finished third. Ross Chastain needed a provisional to start the main event and finished down in 25th. The STSS heads to Canada next week for stops at Granby and Le RPM.

Elsewhere this weekend, the All Stars being a midwest swing with stops at 34 Raceway, Spoon River, and Red Hill. We'll see what Anthony Macri can continue to do in the 7BC and if Zeb Wise can run them down. Indiana Sprint Week gets started for the USAC National Sprint Cars. Gas City tonight, Kokomo tomorrow, Lawrenceburg Sunday. Only 32 points separate the top three in the standings right now, so a lot can and will change over the next several days. We've got the Xtreme midgets back going again, USMTS modifieds, ASCS, and a lot more on the card coming up. And for my guy out in California, Thomas Soper, Barona Speedway has the IMCA Summer Nationals the next two nights just outside of San Diego. A bunch of different divisions, and you can watch it live on IMCA.tv.

That's it for the show this week. Make sure you hit the streaming schedule at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight to see what your options are through the weekend.

Hope you guys have a good weekend out there, we'll see you right back here on Monday.