Latest / Pushin' the Cushion / Weekly Race Recap 3/25: Claud Estes Wins Waco & Lance Christie Scores 105

Transcript

Weekly Race Recap 3/25: Claud Estes Wins Waco & Lance Christie Scores 105 · Pushin' the Cushion

• Slim Pushins: All right. Welcome to the first ever pushing the cushion, a weekly race recap, uh, where we can just kind of talk a little bit of racing, um, and what's going on, the goings on in sprint car racing. Uh, Jim is the idea. What's that? Jim Gardner: Open wheel racing. Open wheel racing. We might be sprint car snobs, but we also appreciate a good midget race, some micro races. Corby: This is coming from the guy who took the racer into be the mechanic and the mechanic to be the racer and then sticks his first ever Power Ride national show. Jim Gardner: That's yeah, that was ⁓ that's that's not that's not why we're doing this It's not what it's not why we're doing this Yeah Corby: See? It's huge. It was a big weekend. Slim Pushins: That's 100 % why we're doing this. Corby: That was a big weekend. You deserve all the respect for that. Slim Pushins: We're not going to talk about the outcome of said feature, but that's not what's important. Jim Gardner: Yeah, we, uh, yeah, but it was fun. It was, uh, it was really good. So I appreciate Justin. Slim Pushins: We did have some, what do we want to start with? We want to start with national stuff, just ⁓ who won this weekend. Jim Gardner: Yeah. Let's talk about hot. Yeah. High limit out in Arizona. ⁓ they ran three nights. I like what high limits kind of doing where they're like parking at one track and trying to make like a weekend event. You know, they ran two or three nights at Las Vegas. Then they ran three nights, ⁓ at Arizona, central Arizona. It's where rider and the ASCS ran a couple of weeks ago. Big half mile, ⁓ winners, Taylor Thorson, Rico Abreu and James McFadden. Corby's guy. Corby: Cool to see McFadden still getting out there and getting the win in. That's good for him. Slim Pushins: Tanner Thorson, I've got the high limit race on in the background here. Tanner Thorson is currently the leader of the high limit series. Don't ask me what the point spread is, but I just saw that he was the leader. Jim Gardner: Yeah. Yeah, he's been gassing. He's been on the gas. High limits been ultra competitive. I think they've had a new winner every night. ⁓ No repeat winners in six races, which is cool. ⁓ Same can't be said with the outlaws or David Gravel's on a heater. He's just he's abusing everybody on the quarter miles. He gets both wins in Oklahoma at Lawton and Creek. ⁓ I watched just the highlights. didn't. Corby: I agree. Slim Pushins: Not at all. Corby: again. It was actually a really cool race, the race at Lawton. ⁓ He kind of just sat there and waited for ⁓ Bacon. ⁓ He found the rubber before anyone else did and he didn't show his cards. He just sat there and waited until he had to. And at that point, truly, even some of the lap cars didn't see the rubber and he was able to carve through them. And I think it's the same concept a lot of times. If you can take the lead and gap that person, you just scare them and they don't know what you've done that's so much different. Slim Pushins: or what you're capable of. Jim Gardner: Yeah. So, you know, some of those races, it's, it's better to be running second and not showing all your cars. can kind of surprise the guy and then sneak away, especially like lap traffic that's sometimes an advantage or if the tracks really taking a big swing and you understand, you see it. Corby: Mm-hmm. Slim Pushins: You mentioned that you liked High Limits just kind of camping in a spot. That reminds me of like 90s NASCAR when it was a week long event. People start camping out there Tuesday, Wednesday, and then there's practice, qualifying, truck race. What is it now? The Xfinity Bush? What is it? O'Reilly's series? Jim Gardner: I think it's cool. Riley. Yeah. And they don't do it all the time. Like they're running tonight, which is a Tuesday. And then they've got races this weekend in Amarillo and Dodge City, Kansas. So they do hit the road quick, but I think it's just good to settle down and have those good weekends. And the Outlaws do it too. They'll run back to back nights at Knoxville in the summer, Port Royal, some of those real big. Yeah. ⁓ Corby: And they did it at Kennedale. Jim Gardner: You I think it's a great way to kind of start, especially if you're going to go to Las Vegas, like let everybody go vacation for three, four days, you know, ⁓ and then, you know, run in their zone. think it's just really smart way that they are handling their season. ⁓ Corby: For sure. For sure. Slim Pushins: You think our previous car owners would have let us spend four or five days in Las Vegas? Jim Gardner: No, no, no, no. ⁓ Corby: No, never, never. Slim Pushins: That was a trick question. I think we all need the answer to that. I don't know what that says about us or about him, but the fact remains it would have never happened. Jim Gardner: ⁓ I think that that's all I got. Right now we're killing that and then you know the national midget show at TMS ⁓ Jacob Denny won both nights Corby: absolute on a terror right now. Jim Gardner: Yeah, I think that I think they've run six nights. He's won three or four of them and the the Coons cars were up front, which nobody's shocked. Shocked to see ⁓ I saw McDermott's car was up front. ⁓ Good run from local Zane Lawrence was hauling ass on Saturday. Corby: I think, yeah, if it went four. Mm-hmm. Slim Pushins: You got a good look. You got a good look at Zane Lawrence for a little while, didn't you? Jim Gardner: It's a good looking car, it got smaller in my field of view there real quick. ⁓ Corby: Yeah, Zayn was going really good and the same, know, it's a local guy that's kind of like semi like Sam Hayford T gone to the national side You know Kyle Jones is leading the Power Eye West right now. Kyle's going really good Kyle is a really good midget driver I think a lot of people don't look at him as a local driver anymore Slim Pushins: ⁓ Jim Gardner: Ciao. Cut. That was my, that was my, forgot Kyle's a local guy because he's a national guy. He runs upfront in really good stuff. He's leading the West points. I don't know if he's going to chase the West or if he's going to go to the national tour. There's only like. Corby: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Slim Pushins: How about a moment for the mustache? Did he bring it back? I haven't seen him since Tex or Canna last season, but you gotta have respect for the mustache. I couldn't do it. Corby: ⁓ yeah. Jim Gardner: Yeah, yeah, he was good. Stubblefield was fast Friday. I he had some issues Saturday. ⁓ Ramy had cars out there. They were fast, they seemed to bring out every other caution. ⁓ I didn't see what happened. Yeah. Well, right. ⁓ So now it was fun. The tracks cool. I hope they get more, more races there. The track was, it's a kind of an odd football shape. Yeah. Corby: Yeah. you Slim Pushins: Maybe we can talk about him or talk about that with him. Corby: It's super uniquely shaped, yeah. And I agree that I think that one and two is way different than three and four, and it always just makes for better racing. know, same Jacob Denny cruised around on the bottom until he was shown a nose on the top and then went to the top. Any kind of two-lane racing is always good. Jim Gardner: the micro races we didn't stay for because they ran late. They ran to like 3 a.m. Friday and I'm sure it was late Saturday too because I left after we loaded up. But, ⁓ you know, I hope that's a really cool marquee facility. I hope it gets more either the big track or the small track. Like we need to be there and have big events. know, High Limit finishes their series at the big one and it just doesn't feel like a big event, but hopefully they stick with it and the little track is gnarly. Corby: I agree. Jim Gardner: You know, it's got its place in the midget micro world for some of these early spring marquee events with the good weather. was, yeah. Yeah. Slim Pushins: It was quick. It was fun to watch. Corby: And the same, know, give Martin Edwards some credit, you know doing track prep and Martin knows what he's doing and that that helps tremendously Martin buses, but the same they did a full rework ⁓ After the heat roll was it like right after the midget be I don't you wasn't in the midget be you didn't have to worry about that This last weekend, but I think I think it was right after the midget be Jim Gardner: Snuck yeah again. That's not why we're doing this podcast, but ⁓ Yeah But now they did they farmed it right before our main and kind of spooked me a little bit But our car was really good, but I drove it over the cushion like an idiot Yeah, that's right. Yeah, and then ⁓ Slim Pushins: That's why I'm doing it. Corby: Mm-hmm. Slim Pushins: You get that on those big jobs, Jim. When you stick the feature, you tend to get better surface. Jim Gardner: Yeah, and so I drove it over the cushion like a moron and then we weren't bad on the bottom, you know, we're kind of back there mixing it up with cars that, you know, we should have been around and ultimately the rear brake rotor snapped in half and that was a fun two corners trying to figure out what was going on back there. So it went ⁓ into turn one. I went to the brakes and I had pedal, but the car didn't slow down at all. Corby: Thanks Jim Gardner: And I was like, that's really weird. And then we went into turn three and the brake pedal went straight through the motor plate. ⁓ Slim Pushins: You know what was fun, Jim? You know what was fun? The rest of us trying to figure out what went wrong when you were on the infield for 25 laps. Jim Gardner: Yeah, right with a bloody nose. I'm just blood coming in the guy the infield worker. I took my helmet off That the infield worker goes whoa, and I was like, I just need a rack Like I'm fine Yeah, ⁓ man it started bleeding like right during warm-ups like under the floor wide I'm like stuff in my head sock up there to try to get it to stop it sucked. But anyway, thanks Justin Bates Slim Pushins: Well, we didn't know that at the time. I bet it looked like a murder scene when you took that helmet off. Corby: It's perfectly normal, don't worry about it. Slim Pushins: All right. What about the local racing? Yeah. What about local racing? Waco? Waco ran Friday night. Jim Gardner: for letting me run that thing. That was fun. Corby: Claude won like his 197th feature I think or something like that. Slim Pushins: Congratulations, Claude Father, Claude Estes. Jim Gardner: Yeah. ⁓ especially after he ditched the dead weight that was helping him at the Kennedy outlaw shows, ⁓ where he had just unbelievable bad luck and we couldn't get the engine to run for him. ⁓ and I know he put a lot of time and effort into that effort and, ⁓ it was really disappointing. I was so disappointed for him that we couldn't, you know, get him out there and, and, and let them have some fun at the outlaw deal. So for him to ditch the dead weight and go down to Waco and, ⁓ Get the win. That's a win for everybody. I don't think anybody's unhappy if Claude sticks it in the winner's circle. Corby: Super cool for him Slim Pushins: ⁓ it was a. Corby: No. No. Slim Pushins: It was an all-estice first and second, wasn't it? Corby: Yeah, dj his his nephew the older of the two estus brothers His samuel we got claude and daniel and then you got dj and colby ⁓ yeah Jim Gardner: Yeah, DJ. And then, ⁓ Slim Pushins: Hair, hair flying out of the back of his helmet. Jim Gardner: They're the second most confusing family in sprint car racing. Corby: Yeah, they do a little bit better about having different schemes on their cars than we did Slim Pushins: Yeah. Jim Gardner: Yeah, right. ⁓ and, ⁓ land in Valenzuela was, ⁓ was third in that. So good run there. ⁓ Slim Pushins: There's a that's fast and on the up. Corby: He's got real potential, know, it's just, and with Stasa helping him, I mean, unreal, just the coaching tips. It's just, cleaning up some of the small mistakes. It's still the learning curve. Everyone knows that Jimmy, you've been in that position. I've been in that position. It's it's hard to like break the balance beam of where is this is fast enough to this is over the top. Slim Pushins: He's a guy that wants to learn. He's always talking to people, always asking questions, always very upbeat. He's a guy that's going to be very soon. He's going to be a contender week in and week out. Corby: Mm-hmm. Yet the same because you know we can go throw it down to 105. He ⁓ was absolutely ripping there He started pole and he led they had like ten cautions before they actually went green and he actually led and he made just a tiny mistake entering three and Upset the car and spun it out actually leading the race And he was fast. He was really fast. I think Lance Christie went on to to get that win ⁓ And then ⁓ the local guys following him Trent Dixon in the 3d and then Jim Gardner: Trent Dixon was plus 10 to around second. Corby: Yeah, Lance was ripping. Lance was absolutely ripping. ⁓ I think him and Landon had a really good race coming up, but ⁓ I said just those rookie mistakes, the young kid mistakes. ⁓ Jim Gardner: Lance was fast on Friday too, and then didn't start or didn't finish or something. ⁓ I was just on my race best. don't know, but. Slim Pushins: 105 105 is a cool place. Corby: It's a really cool place and I'll say this on the air. I have no clue why more people don't try to run the bottom there. I would have been biting my fingernails to be on the bottom down there. Save Jacob Harris. He did it a couple laps. Jacob Harris. Slim Pushins: There it is. There it is. Jim Gardner: All right. So the only reason we're doing this podcast. Slim Pushins: If you listen closely to the things that come out of Corby's mouth, you'll learn the truth really quick. And that's it. Well, we people were on the bottom. Jim Gardner: Yeah. Yeah. So. Corby: But Jacob ended up coming home third. His brother Tyler got tangled up in a couple crashes. yeah, 105 was a good race. Jim Gardner: That's good. That's good. Um, they had a bunch of cars or not a bunch of cars, but they had a good field, 18, 19 cars, something like that. Yeah. Waco didn't get any cars. That's, that's unfortunate. But you know, the, the, and the Ramey's were at TMS. Me and Justin were at TMS double field was at TMS. Trey, Trey Zane, Zane Lawrence was there, you know, so, there was just a Jeb was there crewing. So, um, you know, there's Corby: I think they had 19 or something like that. Slim Pushins: It's tough on a Friday night. Corby: Zane Lawrence, yep. Slim Pushins: Jeb Sessoms was there both nights helping the, ⁓ what was it? Best services second? What? That's it. Sorry. I'm sorry to those people for botching there. Easy, easy. He was wearing a push in the cushion hat that you can pick up at stomp and steer.com. Thanks for that leeway. Corby: Yep. Yep. Second opinion. Second opinion. Jim Gardner: No second opinion cars. Yeah. Yeah. He was wearing a push in the cushion hat both nights though. So he was, he was looking good. Um, yeah, no, you can't. No, you can't, but, uh, maybe someday soon. Uh, yeah, that's all I got for local stuff this weekend, the Kennedale opener. think everybody's me. Corby: You need to call Jeb right now and apologize. Slim Pushins: Well, by the time this comes out, you'll be able to. Corby: It's time. Slim Pushins: Who's racing, Kennedy this weekend. Corby: Come on Jim Jim, it's time. Jim Gardner: Hopefully if I, got, I got to start my car on Thursday and set the timing. So as long as I don't crash it into my mom's Prius, we'll see you Saturday. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Slim Pushins: Jimmy Hollywood Gardener, Hollywood Jim Gardener. Corby: It's time for Kinnadale, man. Everyone's excited, you know. Kinnadale's a big racetrack around here. A lot of people are looking forward to the first ⁓ Sprint car race there. Jim Gardner: Yep. It's going to be good. then Greenville run, County Speedway runs next Friday, but that's also the prelim night for that big 20 K show up in Oklahoma, ⁓ which is, which is next weekend. Yeah. So, ⁓ Corby: Right, the arrowhead race. Slim Pushins: That's going to be fun to talk about. A lot of the last entry list I saw, there were some, there were some big names, a lot of people signing up for that. That's a cool deal. $20,000 to win. Jim Gardner: Yeah, they got like a hundred cars or something. They're being kind of coy on the format Friday for the prelims that it's like they don't really have a plan. Maybe they do and they haven't posted it for God knows what reason, but ⁓ hopefully it works out. Corby: Yeah. It'll be tough, but it'll be really cool to see it if they can make everything and iron it all out. Like Kerbo said, a lot of fast people are supposed to show up there. Jim Gardner: Yeah, so that'll be good. that's next weekend. This weekend, the 305 show around is at Kennedale. It's going to be cold. It's been hot as hell all week, but it's going to be like 60 degrees is the high Saturday. So I'm sure I'll be checking ADR and putting the fuel to her. The outlaws are up in Missouri and Kansas. Slim Pushins: It's gonna be nice, isn't it, Cormie? Corby: No, I got my coveralls out. Jim Gardner: ⁓ this week that'll be on dirt vision. I don't think any local flavors going. don't think writers going up there, right? Slim Pushins: No, as Corby: Rider is going to run which tall? He's going to run 81 speedway. Yes. Jim Gardner: Saturday. ⁓ Which I mean, why, why is high limit at Dodge city and the outlaws it in Wichita? That's, that seems, it seems like that could have been better thought out. But anyway, that's what we got for open wheel racing. ⁓ I think there's, I think Corby: It's aggressive. It's aggressive. Slim Pushins: We're going to, we're going to try to do this, ⁓ probably weekly, just a quick recap, ⁓ give people just kind of an update on what's going on. know. Jim Gardner: And not everybody's junkies like us who seek out my race pass races from 200 miles away just to see. I think I would have run second or third here, you know? ⁓ but yeah, that's kind of our plan is to, to keep everybody abreast of what's going on locally, where you can catch some racing and, ⁓ check it out on flow dirt vision race on. Corby: And you can hear from me where I would have ran at a local race either the top or the bottom. Slim Pushins: on the bottom. Kissing tires. Corby: try to keep up with the national stuff, yep. Slim Pushins: Listen to Corby talk about running the bottom. Jim Gardner: I guess we got to be on IMCA TV again. There's way too many streaming services now. Corby: Yeah, Waco, I know that everyone does it these days. ⁓ Yeah, I think Waco is actually on IMCATV now. I know Ardmore, same southern Oklahoma as IMCATV. The majority of other stuff is race on. Jim Gardner: Yeah. It Ardmore it. Yeah. Yeah. So, we'll have to share them all. Yeah. But, ⁓ anyway, that's that, ⁓ we've got, ⁓ Kevin Ramey coming on the main podcast here, ⁓ which I'm really excited about. He's a promoter at RPM Speedway now and running Sprint cars. So was talking to him at TMS. Want to see kind of the improvements of what's going on at RPM, what his plans are and, ⁓ Slim Pushins: I'm not buying that one. I'm not buying that. I've got like six others. Jim Gardner: You know, see if he's still good. Yeah. He's, he's been doing, I was looking stats up. He's been like winning races since 1993. was, I was six years old. So, ⁓ we're looking forward to talking to him. Thanks everybody for tuning in and. Corby: Don't take it for granted, an absolute legend around here. Slim Pushins: That's what Jim does in his pastime. Corby: Yeah. Slim Pushins: We appreciate it.