Transcript

1:00
What's up race fans, and welcome to the Monday Night Rewind on
1:04
Top Row Racing Media. Presented by ELH Detailing and
1:08
Federated Auto Parts. This is the interview show for
1:12
Michiana Motorsports and we have a big one tonight on hand for
1:16
you. We have Evan Verdine first up.
1:18
It's from the Street Stock division around the area.
1:20
He'll be our first guest on the Monday Night Rewind.
1:22
Following him will be none other than Kenny Wallace himself, the
1:26
Herminator before his big appearance at the Hot Shoe 100
1:29
at Kalamazoo this weekend. He'll be joining us at 7:00 PM.
1:32
You don't want to miss that. We'll have him for a quick
1:34
segment before Kenny Head joins us from the Kalamazoo Mini Wedge
1:38
program. He'll be giving us some breaking
1:41
news from what he does up there, that great work that he does
1:45
with the Kalamazoo and Beyond Mini Wedge program for the kids
1:49
up there in the Michigan area. And then our last guest from the
1:51
Reveal the Hammer series is going to be their announcer,
1:53
Matt Preer. And he has a lot more to talk
1:56
about than just reveal the Hammer.
1:57
So I'm very excited for our final guest at 7:40 with Matt
2:00
Preer. But I am joined, as always by
2:03
the man in the top row himself, Louis Noakes.
2:06
How are we doing tonight, Louis? Good.
2:08
And we got Evan Burdine already on with us, but I forgot to tell
2:12
you, Buju, a few weeks ago when we had World of Outlaws on SLS
2:15
promotions jamming out to the intro there.
2:19
So. Yeah, I I love the intro.
2:21
It's. Kind of catchy.
2:23
It gets you know, you hear it enough, it starts to get a
2:24
little catchy. So we're trying to few things
2:29
different tonight. So definitely in the chat.
2:31
Please let us know if there's any kind of echo or anything
2:34
that you might hear while either of us are talking because Lord
2:39
knows that we have had some audio issues the last two shows.
2:43
So hoping, hoping that's not the case again, but other than that,
2:49
I know Evan, we asked you, you know, to join us and you have
2:54
not only completed your season at Plymouth.
2:56
So if you want to talk a little bit about how you did this year
2:59
at Plymouth, but then your plans starting this Saturday in New
3:03
Paris IN. Yeah, so season at Plymouth did
3:09
not start off great at all. We had carved troubles for the
3:13
first 3 or 4 nights. I got that figured out, but
3:18
after that car got progressively faster and faster.
3:22
Now we're running 14 sevens. I ran A146 which is like a whole
3:28
4/10 quicker than what I started this season with, so ended up
3:33
7th I think in points. Not terrible for how many points
3:39
nights we had. And now we're going on to having
3:43
more fun at other tracks. We're going to go try the
3:47
Flagger Boy this weekend. We're going to then we then
3:52
we're going back to Plymouth for Buju.
3:57
What's it called? You gotta help me out here.
3:58
The Brandon Ross Memorial. Yeah, yeah.
4:02
And then and 40, the 22nd and then we're going to try and go
4:07
to Kalamazoo for their championship night.
4:15
You muted yourself. Louis Yeah, I did on accident.
4:19
So what are you looking forward to when it comes to Flagger Boy
4:22
this weekend? You know you're getting to New
4:24
Paris for the first time. Yeah, first time this season, I
4:29
mean, last season was a ton of fun, mainly just like going to
4:33
New Paris for the flagger boy because the hype of it, you
4:36
know, all the big guys are there, See where you can stack
4:38
yourself up with all of them. A different track.
4:42
I'm not great at it, but you're not going to get better by just
4:46
not showing up. So show up and see if we can do
4:49
anything exciting again. Well be feature last year that
4:56
you won So what does it take at new Paris?
5:01
You said it's a little tough, right?
5:02
What does it take at New Paris to succeed and get yourself into
5:06
the big show? I'm.
5:09
Not, I'm not too sure, a lot of a lot of patience, I guess
5:13
waiting for the right, right time to make something happen
5:17
and got to take that chance to get up there on, if you can roll
5:21
on the outside of New Paris, you're probably going to be
5:23
pretty good. But yeah, I mean, if your car is
5:28
just stuck on the bottom and won't go up top, I don't think
5:30
you're doing too much there. So what is it?
5:35
Last year you were when a Fuso made that top work and it was
5:38
kind of like on that last lap, right?
5:41
You made that, you know, you got around that.
5:42
So you know what, what part of like new pairs around the top
5:47
and have the patients like when you're in the driver's seat, how
5:50
do you remind yourself to have that patience?
5:55
You don't really wait for the guy in front of you to slip up
5:58
and wait for that hold open and you got to take it once it's
6:01
there. And there's not always
6:04
opportunity for that, right? I mean, even on a weekly night
6:07
when we have, you know, whole field, it's tough to get
6:09
through. And so you know when you go to
6:13
Portnet, you know how you know? While can you learn at Plymouth,
6:17
Ed is somewhat adaptable to like new.
6:19
Paris I, I don't really know if I can relate those two too much.
6:25
Plymouth and New Paris are a whole, whole lot different.
6:27
You know, Plymouth's got a whole lot more banking than New Paris.
6:32
And really, I guess you kind of park your car in the corners at
6:36
Plymouth more than Kalamazoo or South Bend.
6:40
So you could kind of take that to New Paris, I guess, but
6:44
that's probably all I can relate to that.
6:47
Yeah, sometimes you have drivers that, well, I did this at this
6:50
track, I tried it here, especially when it comes to like
6:55
bigger races, managing tires and that kind of deal.
6:57
So that's I wondered because we have fans that ask those kind of
7:00
things all the time like, well, they race over here, So what can
7:03
they apply over there? And so that's how I figure,
7:05
well, that's the question that we see.
7:07
So I thought I would ask it just to see like is there anything
7:10
that you can bring patience wise or experience wise with some of
7:15
the same drivers? And the new Paris is, it's one
7:19
of its own, I think. I haven't been to anywhere else
7:21
like it so. How would you explain one or two
7:25
to people? Turns 1 and 2.
7:29
Yep, add new Paris. Yeah, one, one and two is
7:33
nowhere near as hard as I thought it would be.
7:35
Everybody warned me about 1:00 and 2:00, but nobody told me how
7:39
quick that front stretch wall comes up off a Ford.
7:42
When you have. New guys coming in, new Paris
7:44
guys, you got to alert them about that because I was not
7:47
aware how quick you come up on that.
7:51
Yeah. See, I've always heard one and
7:53
two, so I didn't think about four.
7:55
Yeah. And then you got that little
7:56
bump off 4, two on the bottom, so the whole whole thing over
8:04
there. Yeah, yeah, I guess.
8:08
Well, when I was track driving the one time I I saw what people
8:11
are talking about with that bump in port because you don't
8:13
realize it. Like when you walk the track,
8:15
it's when you're driving the track, they're like, oh, what
8:17
was that? Yeah, you hit it and it kicks
8:20
back into the car out. You got to hold on to it.
8:23
Yeah. So what are your, you know,
8:27
obviously you've done St. stocks a couple years.
8:29
Is that something that you plan to to stick along with that, you
8:32
know, in street stocks or is there, you know, I know like
8:35
Charlie Hannah's talking about possibly moving up.
8:37
Are you thinking at some point ever doing like a limited?
8:39
I know St. stocks are in the family.
8:42
Yeah, no, probably sticking with Street stocks for a long time.
8:45
We got a huge like they're they're not going anywhere.
8:49
You got good car accounts just about everywhere.
8:51
St. stocks, you got ton of big names in Street stocks and it's
8:55
fun just being with the big field.
8:58
So who are some of the Oh, boozoo, you don't have words,
9:05
You're silent. Yeah, no.
9:08
Let's turn that back up and try that again.
9:09
How's that sound? So the tree socks might be your
9:14
main focus, but you've also got a little side project that you
9:17
might have won a little bit on accident.
9:19
So what's the other car you've been messing with lately?
9:24
Yeah, so we won a 2002 Saturn 4 door.
9:29
It's only 100 horsepower, it's nothing fast.
9:31
But we won that in a Facebook raffle, $20 car.
9:35
We threw it together in three days to run.
9:40
And then after that, Hudson Ross, my buddy, helped us out
9:43
building the car. So now it's kind of his toy.
9:46
He's kind of having fun in it at new at New Piers at Plymouth,
9:51
take that thing New Piers for not going to do too good, but
9:56
that we're going to see what we do over the offseason with that.
9:59
We were talking maybe get it better looking get, you know,
10:04
just tidy some things up, maybe sell it.
10:06
Maybe a Crown Vic for him to play around with, me to play
10:09
around with or maybe just faster Hornet.
10:13
We don't know yet, but. Little little fun car on the
10:17
side isn't too bad, and a couple B feature went for a $20 car
10:20
isn't too shabby either. So I know you and your dad said
10:23
it was probably about the most fun you've ever had putting a
10:25
car together, even though it was a bit of a rush, huh?
10:27
Yeah. Yeah, it's a whole lot cheap for
10:29
the Street stock too, so. Do you ever miss Hornet racing
10:35
yourself? Every now and then, I mean the
10:39
Hornet class, all them guys were there to like just have fun.
10:43
Nobody went there and tried to get a NASCAR contract that we
10:48
were all just there to have fun. The Street Stocks, not so much.
10:52
But it's fun once you get competitive in Street Stocks.
10:56
But this first year or two was pretty rough.
11:03
So help everyone understand that transition.
11:07
I mean, obviously we know front wheel drive V8, there's a
11:11
transition, but Haley Bowl has kind of talked about this a
11:15
little bit going from Hornet to St.
11:17
Stock. So what was it like for you?
11:18
Yeah. Hornet St. stock jump was
11:24
humbling to say like that's the best way to put it is humbling.
11:28
The competition got heavier, cars got faster.
11:32
You got a ton of horsepower on these little 8 inch tires.
11:36
You know like my Hornet, it was super it was it wasn't a fast
11:39
car 95 horsepower it handled great, but it was slow off the
11:44
corners. It was a big momentum car, but
11:45
then St. Stocks, you got to drag race
11:48
these guys on the straightaways, kick the car loose, got to drive
11:51
it sideways every now and then. It's it's a big difference.
11:56
And like anybody moving up from Hornets to St.
12:00
Stocks, I'll tell you right now, they're like your first two
12:02
years or so, it you're probably going to hate it a little bit.
12:08
Once you get it down and you get competitive though, then then
12:10
you're going to start to love it.
12:13
Which you have done this year, lots of people have commented
12:16
on. And you were good before, right?
12:18
But there's a lot of people who you've impressed more and more
12:22
as the season has gone on. So do you feel like you're
12:25
getting your confidence back, your swag back?
12:28
Or do you feel like it was there, you just had to trust it
12:32
more? Definitely getting the
12:34
confidence back like especially with this year and after the
12:37
double play race, running up front, like I was talking to
12:41
Buju because we were, we were just talking about like our old
12:44
racing heroes or whatever, you know, and telling him I'm like,
12:48
I was running third and the outside was open on Ronnie
12:50
Maynard. I'm like I was in the car and
12:53
I'm physically thinking I'm like, I'm passing Ronnie Maynard
12:56
on the top right now. I used to cheer for this dude
12:59
all the time when he was in Street stocks.
13:01
That's how I've been and it was just a full circle moment for
13:04
me. Like all these fast guys I was
13:06
running up there with like Jeff Town, he we ran side by side for
13:10
two laps or so and like we go to Kalamazoo or something or M40
13:14
and I'm not racing, but we'll place bets on Street Stock
13:17
driver and he's always my go to guy and it's like now I'm
13:20
running with him. It's just just something cool to
13:23
think about when you're in the car.
13:25
Yeah, that's what I think about all the times I almost brought
13:28
it up on my show yesterday is how much I've enjoyed watching
13:31
Evan go from mini wedges to Hornets to being a street stock
13:34
driver to being a competitive St. stock driver.
13:37
And I think just each each year I feel like from the beginning
13:40
of the year to the end of the year, excuse me, he's made big
13:44
jumps. And this year is a hasn't been
13:46
any exception to that. And it's been really fun to
13:48
watch again. And I'm excited to for some new
13:50
races. That's a new track.
13:51
So always my guy, the 72 car. Happy to be on board as always
13:56
and happy to join us here tonight, Lewis.
13:59
Oh, absolutely. Well, that's a few years ago,
14:00
right? I reached up to his mom,
14:02
Stephanie, and said I want to be a part of this team, you know,
14:05
support. You could just see this, the
14:07
little seeds planted on your career and you're going to get
14:12
the championship one of these days.
14:13
So so that's what's exciting is that watching you go from mini
14:18
wedge to Hornet ups and downs with the Hornet, you know,
14:24
almost winning your first race, getting the speed limit ticket
14:28
right, you know, but to keep coming back and keep coming
14:31
back. Yeah, and you, you guys have
14:34
both been on every single one of my big cars I've had like
14:38
Hornets to now you were on with top pro, you know, from the
14:41
Hornet. I had DFR on my Hornet and then
14:45
I had top speed travels and then now Buju.
14:47
Boring. So we've been, we've been in the
14:51
circle for what, 2021 I think I started with?
14:57
Yeah. Yeah, half your life, yeah.
15:05
So do you want it while we're there?
15:06
Do you want to thank those who ride along with you each week
15:10
when the 72 pulls off the trailer?
15:13
Yeah, I'd like to thank Williams Expert Pivot and Pump Auto Parts
15:17
City great weighting and air conditioning top row racing
15:21
Buju's bull ring top speed travels.
15:25
Mikey Ferrara. There's old three couple of four
15:32
minutes Dudley trucking left turn graphics and capturing a
15:36
moment by Liz. When you have a model of your
15:41
car on the desk, you can maybe you can do a quick.
15:43
Check that's. The result?
15:47
Oh, is that one that you painted?
15:48
Jay did that one. Oh, OK, I didn't know that.
15:54
I missed that, Jay. Jay did really good work.
15:58
Why don't you hold it up? Are you able to hold it up?
16:01
Yeah, hold it up and show it. And I could do the die cast so.
16:05
Clear all the other ones off. I got them addicted to the die
16:10
cast game. Lewis.
16:14
See, look at that bad boy Jay Freed of On Track Design.
16:18
Yeah, I mean, he he went an extra mile and even put the
16:20
little lead chunk down there by the Jack Post.
16:23
Like he got this thing like perfect.
16:26
There's not a single thing this and all that.
16:34
Again, on track design so I must have missed that, but I feel bad
16:39
that I missed that. I didn't know that he did that,
16:40
so it looks awesome. So we talked about calendars, we
16:47
talked about New Paris, talked about M40.
16:52
Do I Are we missing something Buju?
16:55
We talked about the Hornet. I don't know, I think we covered
16:57
everything we had planned anyway.
17:00
Yeah, well, so how about this? You're out of here, bud.
17:04
Oh, no. So Evan, do you want to see
17:09
Buju's face turn super red right now?
17:11
Here you go. Yeah, I know he's on my side
17:13
with this, so go ahead. What do you think about the dirt
17:17
racing at the Dome in Saint Louis since we have Kenny
17:20
Wallace coming on soon? Swerve.
17:22
You sneaky Pete. That that's the best race of the
17:26
year if you ask me. That's look forward to that
17:29
every year. I'd say it's better than Eldora.
17:32
Eldora's definitely second, but Gateway just does it better than
17:37
anybody else. The driver intros the drama, the
17:41
electricity in the building, that's what everybody uses that
17:44
word to explain the Dome and. Evan Evan told me I need to tell
17:49
Kenny to come back to the Dome tonight, so Kenny does.
17:56
So yeah, I mean, I've never, my brother goes every year.
17:59
I've never been to the Dome, but.
18:01
As a wrestling fan, Lewis, you would absolutely love it.
18:07
So then talk a little bit. So you're an asphalt racer, but
18:10
you're also a big dirt fan. So what is it like for you?
18:13
I mean, that means you're a fan of racing, but what do you think
18:17
sometimes with the tribalism that comes with, well, dirt's
18:20
for this and asphalt's for that? So how do you find it as a race
18:24
fan of both genres? I mean, I love it all.
18:28
I mean, I, I will say, I think dirt racing does it better with
18:32
their fans, their social media, but you know, like, like dirt
18:38
superweight models, they're like the equivalence to NASCAR in
18:41
their own world, but dirt superweight models, they're like
18:45
1980s NASCAR. The fans are crazy.
18:48
They're having concerts and they're, it's just a ton of
18:51
people there to love racing and they're all hyped up all the
18:54
time. Like you walk through a door or
18:57
gateway, there's not going to be a single person that's not going
19:00
to want to talk to you. Like they're everybody's just
19:02
super cool, just down to earth people and it's great.
19:07
And to his point, like him and him and his, our buddy Hudson
19:10
are the ones that got me into dirt racing.
19:12
And that's what they took me to Eldora for the first, my first
19:14
big dirt race. And that's what it felt like was
19:16
the NASCAR races when I was a kid.
19:17
And I, I can't quite put my finger on what dirt is doing
19:20
different than what we are. But I don't know, those big dirt
19:24
events just feel a little different than the asphalt stuff
19:27
does. Well, and that's, I grew up at
19:31
Santa Fe, so I grew up on dirt racing and dirt lane models.
19:35
But yeah, sometimes the formats of the races, you know, how they
19:39
do heat races, how they do draws, that seems to get people
19:42
excited. And I mean, they always have
19:44
packed shows everywhere. So that's interesting.
19:47
What do you think, Evan? Speaking of their format, for
19:52
any Trek owner or promoter listening to this right now, we
19:56
need to have a big St. stock event with a dirt race format.
20:00
Watching heat races and eight cars battle for a transfer spot.
20:05
I love watching dirt heat races just for the transfer spots.
20:08
I could careless to really watch an asphalt heat because it, you
20:12
know, fast qualifier guy, he's just going to go out there, run
20:15
2 laps, check the check what adjustment he made and he's
20:18
pulling in. If you got to run for a transfer
20:20
spot, everybody's going to race hard for that 8 laps, 10 laps,
20:24
whatever you want to run. Fans love it, drivers love it,
20:30
it's a whole lot more entertaining.
20:34
I like it. Well, I know New Paris is
20:37
listening. I don't know about anyone else,
20:39
but I definitely know New Paris is on.
20:43
I've been trying somebody. Yeah, and everybody likes big
20:48
races, right? We already have the flagger boy.
20:50
Maybe New Paris is the second big St. stock show with a little
20:52
different format. You never know.
20:53
But hey, we're just throwing ideas out there, right?
20:55
We're having fun. Yeah, you said dirt racing's
21:00
doing it better than as well somehow, and you don't know how
21:03
it would be the whole reason. And maybe it's just they're
21:06
spending more money. Maybe that's part of it too.
21:08
But. Well, definitely that yeah, that
21:16
would. Well, we've talked about how
21:18
heat races before are just kind of like extra, extra practice
21:23
sometimes. And so that's definitely
21:26
something that maybe could spice things up a little bit is do a
21:32
heat race. But it matters like where you
21:34
finish matters, because if you wanna, you know, move on to the
21:40
A or have to go to AB, you're gonna have to work, not just
21:45
right around in the back and clicks points.
21:49
If you have 4 cars that transfer from a heat race, they're not
21:52
just going to be battling for the win, they're they're going
21:54
to be battling out for 4th like hard.
21:58
So it'll be good racing all throughout the pack.
22:03
Something to think about. I like it.
22:05
I'm pondering. We're pitching ideas on the
22:07
Monday Night Rewind. Tonight, yeah.
22:10
So yeah, I like that. It would.
22:14
It's almost like, oh, what? Oh, who did it?
22:21
Was it Trident? Oh, you didn't go to Lorraine?
22:24
But I felt like maybe it was Lorraine and the Trident that
22:28
did something like that or the like with their modifies and St.
22:32
socks. I felt like those mattered in a
22:36
way. Or am I thinking something else?
22:38
I feel like I've watched it in an asphalt track, though.
22:40
Where were you placing your heats mattered, whether you were
22:44
this feature, this feature And then like the top two or four,
22:51
top four went on to the A, these went to the B and then from the
22:55
B they took like the top 6 and, and three went this way.
23:00
Three went this way with provisionals added.
23:03
I I love A bracket style format like what they do at Grundy at
23:07
the end of the year for the Bahama brackets where everybody
23:09
qualifies into their own. Like you have 200 cars show up,
23:14
but pure stocks end up racing with pure star ox and sportsman
23:17
end up racing with sportsman just because of all the time
23:19
shakes out. And then you move in from heat
23:21
races or bash races or or Foo Foo races as they call them.
23:25
Like I I love a bracket for a file style format.
23:28
And to Evans point, I think sometimes we get too stuck into
23:31
the let's run qualifying. Certain amount of cars lock in,
23:34
four cars come in from the last chance.
23:37
Let's do that every big race. And I mean, it works out
23:39
sometimes. You, I mean you.
23:40
We do still get big crowds and big car counts for big races,
23:43
but maybe we shake it up and maybe it gets a little bigger.
23:46
Like we're always talking about trying new things, and maybe
23:48
that's a new thing to try. Sorry I got AI got a message I
23:56
septic came in my ear and went. Did you hear the Ding too or is
23:59
it just me? I didn't hear it.
24:01
I. Didn't.
24:02
OK, so it's just me. I'm going to hand the show to
24:05
YouTube for a moment. I'm going to pop off for just a
24:09
second so you both are in charge.
24:11
Enjoy. Oh boy.
24:15
So, so I know you've run New Paris already, you haven't run
24:18
M40 yet. So what are the challenges
24:20
you're looking forward to when you get to run M40 in a few
24:22
weeks? Biggest challenge for M40 is
24:26
going to be there's no really preferred racing groove.
24:30
Guys make every groove their work.
24:32
They go three wide, like right off the roof.
24:35
That's the biggest thing I'm worried about for M40 but.
24:39
Did you ever run? Yeah, go ahead.
24:42
Yeah, Yeah. I think he has in the weight
24:45
model, I think. Gotcha, I was about to say I
24:48
don't even know if you have that resource to rely on for tips for
24:52
getting around M40I know Ronnie runs there a lot but he's not in
24:54
the street stock necessarily. So how long ago it's been since
24:58
Dad ran there? Probably don't have one.
25:01
That's also fair. Chris.
25:04
Chris from New Paris in the chat.
25:05
Lewis is on a dog Slinger break. He certainly might be.
25:07
You never know, Chris. But yeah, we certainly thank you
25:11
for coming on, Evan, tonight. And I wasn't expecting me and
25:13
you to have to kill time. But here we are as I think Lewis
25:16
is getting ready for old Kenny Wallace to get on, perhaps.
25:18
So I'm going to sit here and I'm going to think about stuff to
25:21
ask you about as I look at the dirt doors behind you.
25:26
We talked about dirt racing a little bit already.
25:28
I know we're both we're big dirt late rock, dirt late model fans.
25:31
You got me into being a Tyler Erb fan.
25:33
How did Tyler, how did you, how did you wind up being a turbo
25:36
fan on the dirt side of things? His attitude, mostly his
25:41
aggression. Hate to race with him but love
25:45
him to be a fan of him. Those are the kind of guys that
25:47
are easy to root for. Who do you like on the NASCAR
25:50
side of things these days? I know you don't watch as much
25:52
as you used to, but. Jose Var like everybody else in
25:57
the Indiana so. I'm noticing A trend, Evan.
26:03
It's easy to root for the guys that.
26:05
It's fun to root for the guys that make guys angry a little
26:08
bit, huh? Maybe it's the Earnhardt fan in
26:10
you as well. So you come from a long fan, a
26:15
long legacy of family racing. I mentioned your dad, he's
26:19
obviously spending the most time with you on the race car and in
26:22
your racing life. Your Uncle Ron, he's spent a lot
26:26
of time mentoring you, I guess a little bit, especially through
26:29
the many wedge days. Let's see how many more of your
26:32
family members can you name that have been in the racing world.
26:36
Let's see how far down the list you can get here.
26:40
I'm probably going to miss some of them, but I'm sure we'll
26:43
start with my great grandpa, Jack Martsof, then Ken Kenny
26:50
Martsof, His son, We Roy. Roy.
26:56
My dad. Yeah, my grandpa.
27:01
Who else? Ronnie Eskridge ran mini stocks
27:08
for a little bit. Christian Hazely, Jay.
27:16
Yeah, I the count could be over two dozen if you totaled it all
27:25
up. Honestly, I think about it a
27:27
lot. And I don't even know if I could
27:28
name them all because, I mean, most of them were racing before
27:31
you were ever around. So it's it's not even fair to
27:34
ask you to name them all. But yeah, it gets the number can
27:37
get pretty high up there. No, I mean you got Ronnie and
27:40
Cheyenne. My dad mom ran a car one time.
27:49
Yeah the gate and turn one at South end but outside of your
27:52
family maybe who were semi racing heroes growing up.
27:57
Brian Ross, Big in the Outlaws. Rodney Smith, Sportsman's St.
28:05
Stocks Big Manor fan. Yeah.
28:10
For V8 wise that's I think that's the biggest ones I have.
28:17
Outside of South Bend, I know South Bend is always going to be
28:20
home, but outside of South Bend, what was your favorite track
28:21
going up to watch? Going up to watch probably
28:29
Kalamazoo that was feeling good racing And also on the topic,
28:31
South Bend. Let's never change that track
28:34
dirt while I'm on the mic here and have the opportunity that
28:38
Yeah, listen. To these people out of it, yeah,
28:40
go go ahead. I don't care if you have the
28:42
money or not, you're repaving it.
28:45
If you're buying it, OK and stay an asshole.
28:49
We're, we're shaning ourselves to the tower to keep it that way
28:52
if we have to. Like, well, I, I'm not the, I'm
28:56
not a dirt expert, but I feel like South Bend is so small that
28:59
you'd have to narrow it so much. You're making it even smaller.
29:02
Like you're making a gateway size for, for a weekly track.
29:06
It's going to be you're, I feel like you're going to be crawling
29:08
around there. It's going to be so top dominant
29:10
because of the banking. The wall's going to have to be
29:15
raised about 10 feet. So I don't, I don't know, man.
29:18
I don't know what people are thinking sometimes.
29:19
Evan, listen, I will meet some dirt.
29:21
Races in the. Asphalt tracks or asphalt
29:23
tracks? Big money guys don't even come
29:26
to Gateway because they don't want to tear up their stuff.
29:28
The big money guys, what about this low budget guys?
29:31
We're not going to tear up our car every week.
29:33
Yeah, yeah. See, Evan, we're, we're the guys
29:35
that know. That's why we got put in.
29:38
We got put in charge of the Monday Night Rewind while Lewis
29:41
is figuring things out. I'm, I'm getting a little
29:43
worried that Lewis fell off the face of the earth, if we're
29:45
being honest. But we're going to continue to
29:47
kill time here on the Monday Night Rewind.
29:50
Oh boy, we're really getting into memory banks now.
29:53
So we made our little efforts at South Bend back in October.
29:57
So it started off as us volunteering to have a couple
30:01
paint buckets to touch up the walls.
30:02
Lewis is back, thank God. It started off with us like
30:08
volunteering to just get a couple paint buckets, touch up
30:11
the walls and all that stuff. It turned it up to cutting off
30:13
Bleacher boards and painting up concession stands and all that
30:16
other stuff. But what?
30:18
Does that mean to you? Yeah.
30:20
What did that mean back to you and at our home track to be able
30:23
to a small part of getting it back up and going, even if it's
30:26
just for another short time. I mean, I mean everything we,
30:30
me, you and Hudson and I mean we all volunteered our time, no pay
30:34
like we we just did it because we love the place and knowing
30:39
that we got this season or you know, the 56 shows, whatever
30:43
we're doing out of could just be because of that.
30:46
Maybe it brought it back to life and they seem more potential in
30:49
it, just knowing that we could have been the reason for all
30:53
those events to happen. And and maybe it speaks to my
30:57
nature as just being a big kid, but I just had a blast having
31:00
free reign on the racetrack for a week and 1/2 or longer out
31:04
there. Like I would have done that
31:05
forever if they'd have let me. That was paying enough for me.
31:08
But I don't know. Yeah, I just wanted to bring
31:10
that up one more time because I know it was special to both of
31:12
us to be able to be, you know, like I said, even if it was just
31:14
a small part, it's not like we were we had money on the line or
31:17
anything. But it was nice to be a small
31:19
place to bring it back, our favorite place.
31:20
And it was a great event to cap it all off as well.
31:25
I mean, we were there from like noon to midnight, Yeah, a lot of
31:29
nights like we were. It was, it was seven or eight
31:31
straight. It wasn't straight days because
31:33
we took an outdoor break in there in the middle, but it was
31:36
a it was quite a stretch there for it was over a week, that's
31:40
for sure. Yeah.
31:44
Lewis, come back. All right, Evan.
31:48
All right, Evan, let's see, man, we talk too much.
31:51
We talk too much for me to have to come up with topics live on a
31:54
podcast now. Yeah.
31:55
Especially ones that are safe to bring up on the podcast.
32:01
So the let's go back to the Hornet running the bee feature
32:04
at South Bend. You didn't want to be in the a
32:06
feature because of what the car was.
32:08
So take me back to taking the green.
32:10
Run me through that whole bee feature, taking the green flag.
32:13
What's running through your head as you're running this car that
32:15
was literally thrown together and you don't even know if it's
32:18
going to hold apart as you're running through this race?
32:21
I can't say I remember all of the bee feature.
32:24
Yeah, I hear just 'cause you know, you, you go green, you
32:26
forget it. But I do remember you go.
32:28
Green in your Black Flag. Yeah, I started wrecking.
32:32
Like first lap, Kaylee's behind me, hitting me, not looking in
32:35
front of me. That was a full race restart, I
32:39
think, and then went green. Somehow, some way, they sorted
32:44
it out. I was able to get through there,
32:46
had to sit behind whoever was leading, I don't know his name.
32:51
For a long time. He kept kind of taking the whole
32:53
track. So he left the bottom open just
32:56
enough, kind of fed him a door, but it worked out.
33:00
I think we had like forward to go by that point and ended up
33:03
holding on to win it. Bull ring racing baby.
33:10
You 2 are dude just fine without me by the way I can hear.
33:12
You the whole time it's just it's a 62nd for the gears to get
33:15
going and for it to catch something for me to get
33:17
something to come out of my mouth.
33:19
Well, and what's interesting is so I'm talking as our guests for
33:22
coming on in the green room. So I hear you guys and I hear
33:26
them at the same time. I'm like, man, I know I already
33:28
had voices in my head. I didn't need proof of that.
33:31
So, so we're, we're trying to get Kenny Wallace because just
33:37
so everyone knows, and I'm sure that's a lot of people are
33:41
waiting. He is on vacation with his wife.
33:44
They're in the Wisconsin Dells visiting her family.
33:48
So he's taking time out of his vacation to squeeze us in.
33:52
But Wisconsin is on a different time zone just like Illinois
33:56
when he's in Illinois and Missouri and all that.
33:57
So we're just making sure, like the messages said, Eastern and
34:02
that kind of deal, but we're just doing reminders Eastern and
34:06
that the show is live right now. And so we're going to be
34:11
flexible is what we call it. And I have Kenny had already on
34:16
and I have Matt career already on.
34:18
I need them into the staging area.
34:20
So that way they're not sitting in the green room by themselves
34:23
having thoughts to nothing that they can see the show and hear
34:28
the show. So yeah, so they're both in this
34:31
staging area. So we're just trying to figure
34:37
out where's Wallace so. We got to get Herm off the damn
34:41
water slide to come on the run out.
34:44
But just in case, you know, we do have a backup plan for
34:47
Thursday for the just in case, because again, he is on a family
34:51
vacation and so he was taken 5 to 10 minutes out of his
34:56
vacation time to to do this tonight.
34:58
So Kenny already knows that Kenny, the other Kenny, we have
35:02
two Kenny's and then Matt Preer is also Kenny Preer for
35:05
tonight's show only we have Kenny, Kenny, Kenny Evan was
35:10
before the Kenny show. So Evan gets to keep his.
35:12
Name he's pre Kenny. He's he's pre Kenny's, but Kenny
35:18
had his flexible to and he knows Wallace may come in at any
35:23
moment. So, so yeah.
35:24
So other than that, that's why I wanted to let everyone know why
35:28
I've kind of been on and off, on and off.
35:30
We have a brand new green room that we're trying.
35:32
So it's working, it's doing its job, but I've not had that many
35:36
voices in my head at one time for a while.
35:38
So it was, I mean, listening to two different conversations at
35:42
the same time, I have that skill, but I didn't know.
35:46
I didn't know. I did practice that today.
35:48
I don't know. Quite frankly, I don't know how
35:50
dangerous you realize it was that you left it, the Monday
35:52
Night Rewind in the hands of me and Evan Verdine Solo.
35:55
So I'm glad we survived it and I'm glad we made it through to
35:58
the other side. Hey, you know what?
36:01
We're all big fans of Evan. Evan has a huge following so you
36:05
know, how can you start better than having Evan?
36:10
I mean, this show is loaded. You know, we added Evan, you
36:13
know, last not last minute, but last minute, you know, because
36:17
it's especially flagger boy representation with flagger boy
36:20
coming up this weekend. And since we're talking Hot
36:22
shoot 2, like we're balancing 2 tracks on one show.
36:24
But then they have Kenny had who's such a legend in the
36:27
racing industry and really taking the mini wedges at
36:31
Kalamazoo Berlin to that next level and everything he's done
36:34
with his successful racing career and now doing it as a
36:37
it's like got that. And then Matt Pier, who's a
36:39
legend on the mic himself. I mean, I don't you know, it's a
36:43
loaded show, like loaded. So so Drew Jack is working on
36:50
the the Kenny Wallace thing for us too.
36:52
He's helping us. So I appreciate you Jack getting
36:56
his mojo working too. So we do owe Jason Seltzer a
37:00
dollar because Kenny has not on at 7:15.
37:04
So if Jason is watching, we we owe a dollar.
37:07
But but other than that, again, I know Evan, you are like, hey,
37:13
I stayed around longer than I planned.
37:14
Yeah. But again, you know, I know
37:16
we're both big fans of you though.
37:17
So to have you on, well, I'm, I get to watch him race, you know,
37:24
I, I get it like once or twice a year.
37:26
So you know I. Get I didn't get to do it all
37:28
that much this year either, so I'm excited.
37:30
Too, but I don't even have a picture of the new car right, so
37:34
I'm like we got to get that. So I'm excited to see you race
37:37
heaven and I know just watching on social media how many people
37:40
have been impressed with you and what you've done this year and
37:43
you're a mini wedge graduate. So to have again, Kenny head on
37:45
talk about mini wedges, that's the future.
37:48
You're very your proof of that of what these programs you did
37:53
it through Northern Indiana, what these programs can do
37:56
because now your and your career is becoming super successful
38:01
behind the street stock and it started in many wedges.
38:04
So I mean, that's what these programs can do.
38:10
Oh, awkward silence. But but again, Evan, oh, we got
38:15
Kenny Wallace. He is now in the green room.
38:17
So I will leave. So so I will check in with Kenny
38:23
and I will be back. All right, so Evan, it's just me
38:28
and you again. Once again we're holding down
38:31
the Fort. And folks, it sounds like we
38:33
finally got Kenny Wallace in the chat.
38:34
We got him off the water slide. Kenny will be at the Hot Shoe
38:38
100 at Kalamazoo Speedway this weekend.
38:40
It is a 2 day show Friday and Saturday.
38:43
Don't know the full details on that.
38:45
That's more Lewis's department. So he'll be back in a moment and
38:48
him and Kenny will have all the details that will be going at
38:50
Kalamazoo this weekend. Bummed that I can't be there
38:53
with the with the herminator for the hot shoe.
38:56
Evan, I know that's going to be a good time.
39:00
Yeah, it's unfortunate. I feel over there.
39:03
We already have scheduled. It works.
39:06
That's how it works out all the time it seems.
39:07
But it's good that people have great options.
39:10
So for short track racing this weekend, and you can't go wrong
39:14
with Calum. Sounds like they're going to
39:15
have about 4000 modifieds for the hot shoe this weekend, and
39:19
Kenny Wallace will be among that field and among us on the Monday
39:23
Night Rewind in just a few moments.
39:24
When once Lewis gets him settled in and onto the show here, me
39:28
and Evan hold down the Fort while that happens.
39:30
We want to thank our sponsors while we have a moment here.
39:33
Federated Auto Parts and Ellh Detailing help bring you
39:36
everything on top of racing media, especially the Monday
39:40
Night Rewind and Thursday Night Throttle, which you can check
39:42
out live live on Thursdays on top of racing meeting.
39:44
In addition to everything Top Row does with the full programs
39:47
on YouTube and beyond. Lewis Beck to take over the
39:50
show. All right, well, are we ready
39:54
for Kenny Wallace to come out? He has 2 bars, so they're in the
39:57
Wisconsin, Dallas. His family's sitting around.
39:59
So if you're ready, he's got 2 bars.
40:02
He's in the he's in the staging area now, so he let me know.
40:06
Where he's surprised that he has signal, but we do have him on.
40:09
So again, I'm super excited for this.
40:13
Evan, you want to hang out with us?
40:15
I'm finally hanging out with. You guys, it's up to you, yeah.
40:21
I'm. Down.
40:22
All right, I'll poke my phone in, though, OK All right, so I'm
40:25
going to mute you for just a second while you're doing that
40:27
while we bring Kenny on. Yeah.
40:28
All right, so again, coming to Kalamazoo Speedway for the first
40:33
time since 1986, we have Kenny Wallace.
40:38
So, oh, I got to hit the right button here.
40:40
So Kenny, welcome to the Monday Night Rewind.
40:43
Hey, thanks for having me on everybody.
40:45
Yeah, I'm up here in the I don't know, there could be an argument
40:49
between the the greatest racing states, whether it's Michigan or
40:52
Wisconsin, but I'm. I'm not far from Wisconsin
40:55
Rapids, WI, the home of the, you know, late, great Dick Trickle.
40:59
And yeah, we're up here for about 3 days with the family,
41:03
and then we're going to head out Thursday morning and come see
41:05
you all. Well, and do you want to talk a
41:08
little bit about that 1986 was the last time that you were
41:12
Kalamazoo from what you posted when the announcement was made.
41:16
And so do you want to talk a little bit about what what it's
41:18
like coming back to Kalamazoo so many years later, especially for
41:23
a huge modified race like the Super Shoe 100?
41:26
Yeah, I mean, it's like a time warp.
41:29
I I would say, you know, you guys weren't even born, but like
41:33
1986, you know, that was the epitome.
41:36
That was the greatest ASA ever was the American Speed
41:40
Association. And I was racing with guys like,
41:43
you know, Dick Trickle, Bob Seneker, Mike Eddy, you know,
41:48
the greats. And it was a wonderful time in
41:51
in ASA. If you had any success in ASA in
41:54
those days, that meant you were going NASCAR and you know, on
41:58
the tour was some of those great race tracks.
42:00
You know, Berlin, you know, we ran there and then Kalamazoo and
42:05
ran there one time. Don't forgot really how I
42:07
finished. I don't think I ran very good.
42:09
But it's just really neat to learn more about these
42:14
modifieds. You know, I ran, I ran the hot
42:16
shoe up there and Ken Ross runs seventh.
42:20
God, there was like 70 cars. I don't know how the hell I
42:22
qualified so good. You know, I was just good, you
42:25
know, Brian Nestor build those cars and but that was like 5
42:28
years ago. So I'm excited.
42:33
I've been watching all the videos, I see all the sweets
42:35
around the racetrack. I see the race tracks kind of
42:38
wore out. Looks like going to have to have
42:40
some grip stay turning good. You have it all I guess.
42:43
But but I'm ready. I'm ready.
42:45
That's not a bad thing, right? So can you ask someone who's
42:49
been entrenched in stock car racing like you mentioned at
42:51
every level, what is it about short track racing specifically
42:54
that keeps you coming back for all these years?
42:58
I love competition. I I like competing.
43:01
Of course it's it's I'm in a better mindset now that I'm 63
43:07
years old. Every race is not do or die.
43:11
When I was Evan's age, if, if I had a bad practice session, I
43:16
thought that was the end of my career.
43:18
You know, if I, if I ran 7th, you know, and I, you know,
43:23
didn't get what I needed to get, I thought, Oh my God, that's it,
43:26
my life is over. But that was never true.
43:29
And now I'm in, I'm just in a better state of mind.
43:32
And I think the reason I keep racing so much is I just love
43:36
it. I just love racing.
43:39
Amen, brother. Me too.
43:41
Well, and you're someone who's such an advocate for racing.
43:43
You not only do your dirt racing, you do asphalt racing
43:48
and then you also have such a huge platform where you get to
43:51
talk to hundreds of thousands to millions and millions of people
43:55
and your voice carries. We've cited you on the show a
43:57
couple times with your rain out video that you did where you're
44:00
like, you weren't going to the race anyway, you know.
44:03
And so you know, what is it that you know you're coming to Carson
44:07
Hosvar's home? You know your little Kalamazoo
44:10
will be just behind the wall, which wasn't there when you
44:12
raced here last time. So you'll get to see like where
44:15
he started. So what is it that you you know
44:18
that that with the platform you've built, what is it that
44:21
you think helps you stand out to everybody other than your
44:25
authentic? Well, I think my brother Rusty
44:30
says it best. It's funny.
44:33
He said, Herman, I watch that stuff you do.
44:35
And he says, you know, you taking the knife and he says you
44:40
poke the skin, but you never draw blood.
44:43
And I, I think I'm organically fair.
44:47
I don't ever badmouth people. People ask my opinion.
44:52
I think I'm just, I, I just, I'm real, you know, and I didn't
44:56
know that I didn't know I was real until everybody, they call
45:00
it organic. And I guess organic means that
45:03
you're real. And, you know, I just, I'm like
45:07
everybody else. I also think that I try to be a
45:11
little more positive. I don't see everything horrible.
45:13
I don't see everything bad. And, you know, I try to split it
45:18
up. You know it.
45:20
If you're going to criticize something, you can criticize it,
45:23
but you got to come back with at least three good things.
45:26
It just can't be all bad, you know?
45:28
That's kind of the way I think. Well, I love your coffee with
45:33
Kenny. That's the first thing I watch
45:35
every morning when I get up is I watch your coffee with Kenny and
45:40
you know, you're always holding the mug.
45:41
You got the the brands right there.
45:43
And it's like, I just love your thoughts.
45:45
I love how you talk about things.
45:46
So I definitely I'm a huge fan of you and and love what you do
45:50
and the the advocacy that you do for the sport, which needs it
45:54
right. You like you've touched on some
45:55
big topics over time and but you always do with professionalism
45:59
and sometimes, you know, in the industry, sometimes that could
46:01
be hard, you know, to do to be to you know, you're someone
46:06
whose voice carries, but you're also mindful, like people are
46:10
listening to what I say. So I'm going to deliver it in a
46:13
respectful way. You're and I appreciate that.
46:16
Yeah, well, that's really nice. You and I appreciate that's rare
46:19
people, people don't like to talk good about other people
46:22
because, you know, we, we feel like it's all about us, which,
46:26
you know, Darrell Waltrip joked years ago.
46:28
He goes, you know, it's all about me.
46:30
And I said, Oh yeah. So.
46:33
You know, I would just say that I, I know the way people feel.
46:40
I know, I know, right? You know, listen, when Kim and I
46:44
got married, we did what, you know, the Catholics do pre Cana
46:47
class, one of my greatest lessons in life.
46:50
But I really came up for air. You know, when you're a hardcore
46:53
racer like me, you can't breathe.
46:56
You're a horse with blinders. You're doing what you're going
46:59
to do. But Father John said to me, he
47:02
said, you know, before I started racing, he said, oh, young man,
47:05
what are you going to do? I said, oh, I'm going to be a
47:08
race car driver. He said, oh, be careful,
47:11
competition will kill you. And man, like 20 years later I'm
47:17
like, Oh my God, this is what he meant.
47:19
Cuz you know, you know, I, I, I got roughed up.
47:22
I didn't have a great career, but I, I did win a lot.
47:25
And you know, and I would break out in welts, you know, because
47:29
I wasn't getting what I wanted. And I, I often think of Father
47:33
John, you know, I'm a Lutheran, Kim's Catholic and, and you
47:39
know, and then we're close to Wisconsin rabbits and Dick
47:42
Trickle. He was my mentor and he was a
47:44
great philosopher. And so I really, you know, the
47:47
older you get, it's easier for me to share racing stories.
47:51
You know, I go, you know, I'll go to the hot shoe 100, I'll go
47:53
to Kalamazoo. And I, and I, I know I'm what
47:55
I'm going to see. I'm going to see all these mod
47:57
guys like it's their whole life and they're going to be checking
48:00
their stagger and they're going to be, they're going to be
48:03
resetting that sway bar like 3 times before they go on the
48:07
track. And they're just, that is the
48:11
way I was. And I know, I know what's up and
48:15
it's hardcore competition. But what I learned is you know,
48:19
it will control your life if you let it.
48:21
And it does. And, and then later on in life,
48:25
I'm just, I'm just happy now because competition doesn't
48:29
control me anymore. And it's a great feeling.
48:33
I'd never thought of it that way, but let's see.
48:35
I get lessons from Andy Bozell and now we have a lesson from
48:38
Kenny Wallace. So I I'm going to keep that.
48:40
I like how you stated that. So Andy Bozell always has
48:43
something to to share. And so I like that about the
48:47
competition and not letting it control you.
48:49
I hadn't thought of it that way. I like.
48:51
It but it will it it will, it does control you.
48:54
You, you got to figure out how to tame it, especially if you
48:57
don't win all the time. You know, if you don't win all
48:59
the time, Yeah. But but listen, I know guys that
49:02
have won eight championships and they're still destroyed, you
49:06
know, because somebody said something negative about them.
49:08
And so it so it never ends. Competition never ends.
49:14
You just I've just learned to tame it.
49:18
And you got a lot of competition on hand this weekend at the Hot
49:20
Shoe 100, Kenny. So what are the challenges that
49:22
you're most looking forward to this weekend when you head up
49:24
and hang up? Hang out here with us at
49:25
Kalamazoo. Well, I, I'm just worried, you
49:30
know, right now about pushing in the middle, being loose off.
49:33
I, I just really got to roll the center.
49:36
You know, you got to remember I ran Berlin about 3 weeks ago.
49:38
We run 10. There you go.
49:39
There you go. And I was, and I was so damn
49:42
loose, you know, and I told Brian, I said maybe, you know,
49:46
let's look into some rear shocks.
49:48
But you know, I guess they practice and they're worried
49:51
right now. So what I'm worried about is
49:54
getting qualified. And so you know, we got 2/1 hour
49:57
practice sessions on Friday. I'm not involved in the new shoe
50:01
because I ran 7th in the hot shoe about five years ago up at
50:04
Ken Ross, right? So I run 7th in the hot shoe 100
50:08
at Ken Ross. So that doesn't that doesn't
50:11
qualify me to get any more time on the track.
50:13
So even though I want to run a couple of these races, I've only
50:16
ran two of these races, but they're treating me like a
50:19
veteran. And so, you know, I get, I get 2
50:22
hours of practice and hopefully I can be up to speed, which, you
50:27
know, that's what I'm worried about.
50:28
So I'll be focused on getting that car to handle, stay rolling
50:33
and getting into gas as hard as I can and keep pedaling.
50:40
Well, what is it like for you? And I know you're on vacation,
50:43
so we'll we're not going to keep you too much longer because you
50:46
got to go enjoy the Wisconsin Dells while you're there.
50:48
Yeah, I get on them. Water slides can.
50:50
You. You're fine.
50:51
It's late in the evening. We're good.
50:53
All right, well, we still want to respect your time.
50:56
So you know, you do dirt racing, you do dirt modified.
50:59
So, you know, for fans who wonder, because we I see this
51:02
kind of conversation go all the time, what's the difference
51:04
between like you jumping in a dirt modified that you do all
51:08
the time to now an asphalt modified at a track?
51:14
You know, that or any track that's asphalt that you have to,
51:18
you know, what are those differences for those who
51:20
wonder? Well, they're 2, they're two
51:23
complete different disciplines. You know, we can drive the
51:30
asphalt modified, we can drive it loose, but that's slow.
51:34
So the chassis is just everything in the asphalt cars
51:38
like like I can be loose, but if I'm loose and the guy behind me
51:41
is not, he's going to, he's going to pass me.
51:43
So you know, there's a very narrow window in asphalt racing.
51:49
You know, you got to get that chassis as good as you can.
51:54
Now in dirt racing, if you're not running good here, you can
51:58
seek a different groove out and I mean, you can go from 10th to
52:02
the lead and that's that's the biggest difference right there.
52:06
There the window is very small. You know, at Kalamazoo for the
52:10
hot shoe 100, if you're ain't handling good, you're dead in
52:13
the water and it in the dirt racing you got to handle good.
52:17
But but you, you can, you can do some different things with the
52:21
car to stay competitive and you know, it's, it's, it's asphalt
52:27
is a lot harder because the car have to handle 100%.
52:34
Yeah, that's a conversation that I see all the time.
52:37
So I thought, well, we have someone who obviously, you know,
52:40
we don't get a lot of dirt modified racers on here too
52:42
often. So that's something that, you
52:45
know, you've done that and done that at a high level very well.
52:47
And so I thought, well, this is the time to ask, you know,
52:50
especially people see, well, it's just a modified.
52:53
I don't think it's just a modified.
52:55
There are differences, so. Yeah, well, let's put it this
52:58
way. You know, asphalt racing, you
53:01
know, you want your stagger down to the quarter of an inch, you
53:04
know, and you know, if, if I if like, let's say I want an inch
53:09
stagger in the rear, but I got an inch and 1/2 on my dirt car,
53:14
that's fine, you know, But if you're 1/2 inch off on your
53:17
asphalt car, you're, you're junk.
53:19
And it's, it's that intense, you know?
53:24
They are. Oh, yeah.
53:24
Well, and again at Kalamazoo, I get to, I've.
53:26
That's where I'm very lucky. I get to cover it every Friday
53:29
night for weekly racing and all their big shows.
53:32
And so I always explain to people, Kalamazoo, you're always
53:35
turning, you know, you're always turning.
53:37
You're always, you know, you're never really straight.
53:39
And if you're straight, you're probably climbing the wall.
53:41
So it's probably not a good thing.
53:43
So I know one of the things that I pulled up a picture of
53:47
Kalamazoo in 1986 and there is no wall, you know, So you know
53:52
when you come to Kalamazoo, you're going to definitely be
53:54
seeing a completely different facility that.
53:56
I won't even know where I'm at. So you know, do you?
54:02
So with that, you know, what's, what's something that you
54:04
remember about Kalamazoo from 86 that you want to hold on to when
54:11
you come back? Like what's a memory from there
54:13
or something that you experienced or you're like, this
54:15
is what makes Kalamazoo special and why I'm excited to come back
54:19
in 2026. I kind of felt like I was at
54:23
Berlin, like I was always turning and I never knew where I
54:26
needed to be. You know, I was young as my very
54:29
first year of racing and I didn't start racing until I was
54:33
22 because I was a NASCAR. I was a Cup crew chief in 1984
54:38
for the Levi Garrett car, Joe Rutman.
54:40
So I mean, I'm a fabricator mechanic, first crew chief.
54:45
Then I started race. I I started racing.
54:47
I was 22 and, you know, so when I first came there, I, I really
54:53
think, I think Kalamazoo was the second race of my life ever.
54:58
Wow. Yeah.
55:00
Well, it could have been second or third.
55:03
I I think it was the tracks gone now, but it was Cincinnati, the
55:08
one offside the highway. It's gone now.
55:10
Then I think I ran in my second race of my life.
55:13
I had no idea I did. I I'll run Bob Seneca.
55:16
I run 4th at Cayuga, the old Cayuga.
55:19
And then I think it then it might have been Kalamazoo, the
55:22
third race. But yeah, it's a long time ago,
55:25
guys. I recognize that.
55:27
I know I'm old, but yeah, those are great experiences.
55:32
You're well and that's where tonight's podcast to me we have
55:35
Kenny Head who's a legend at Kalamazoo.
55:37
We have Matt here, who's a legend and announcing we have
55:39
you who's a legend in so many different ways.
55:41
And so there's no there's no old to it.
55:44
You'd you just know what you're doing and you get to showcase
55:47
your talent in front of a hardcore fan base.
55:50
And Kalamazoo for the hot shoe 100 this weekend with 55.
55:54
I think the last numbers what I saw Matt Fair would you know,
55:58
will tell us more, but I think it's 55 modifieds will be on the
56:02
property this weekend. So that's.
56:04
That's a low. That's a low car count at Ken.
56:06
Roster was 70, yeah. So, oh, yeah, that's again,
56:14
that's, I mean, it's going to be exciting.
56:17
And I know again, you're on vacation, so I don't want to
56:20
keep you any longer because you're taking time out of your
56:22
night to be with us. So I definitely appreciate your
56:24
flexibility and coming on and sharing, sharing your time with
56:29
us tonight all the way from Wisconsin.
56:31
Thank you. Yep, and just a shout out my my
56:34
wife here, here's a this is my wife's suburban.
56:38
It's packed with all our merchandise.
56:40
She's been having a good time this summer.
56:42
So we got the coffee with Kenny T-shirts, coffee mugs, decals.
56:47
So she's going to be set up wherever they set up there at
56:50
Kalamazoo. So go see my wife.
56:53
That's. Right, go see Miss Kim.
56:54
Go buy some stuff from Miss Kim this weekend.
56:56
Yeah. And again, you know, definitely
56:59
safe travels and when you go by Bridgeman Michigan exit 16, if
57:03
you do a little honker wave on Thursday, I'll know it's you
57:06
because you'll be you have to pass to get to Kalamazoo.
57:08
So, so again, safe travels and but enjoy your family vacation
57:13
because racing's busy and we all deserve a breakaway.
57:17
So again, thank you so much for your time.
57:19
Tonight, Thank you, Kenny. Thank you guys.
57:21
OK, see you all then. Bye.
57:22
Bye. To you all again, thank you so
57:26
much, Kenny Wallace, for joining us tonight on the Monday Night
57:29
Rewind. And I know Evan got to hang out
57:31
for a little bit. So so Evan, I know we kept you
57:34
way longer than what we were thinking, but I thought, how
57:37
often is it that a rising star gets to share the screen?
57:41
You don't get to share the track with him this weekend because
57:43
you'll be at Flagger Boy, but share the screen with such a
57:47
legend. And he gave you a shout out
57:50
while he was talking. So that's cool.
57:52
How cool is that? Yeah, it was.
57:56
I mean, I could have kicked you off.
57:57
I have that power, but that's not fair.
58:01
I have nothing to do for the rest of the night so that.
58:04
That's about to. Be with Kenny Wallace.
58:07
Nope. And I and I kept you on screen
58:09
for most of the time other than when I zoomed to him.
58:11
So again, you got to share the screen with Kenny Wallace.
58:14
So again, thank you Jude Jack, you worked magic behind the
58:18
scenes. So that way we can keep the show
58:20
going and I don't didn't have to chop in and off.
58:22
But but that also means it's. Let's do some programming notes
58:24
while we're at it because. Yeah, I'm sorry.
58:26
I need. A break with some flexibility
58:29
again, appreciate Kenny had hanging out.
58:31
I know Matt career was getting dinner and everything.
58:33
So you know he's listening to background so that gives him
58:36
time. But Kenny's been sitting around.
58:38
So again, I'm excited to have Kenny had.
58:40
I'm such a huge fan of what he does and and the top mini wedges
58:44
here again, if you haven't seen what they're doing up at
58:48
Kalamazoo in Berlin with the family fun mini wedges, you need
58:50
to check them out. They've really taken that
58:52
program to the next level and they're not even done yet.
58:55
They just have a solid foundation to work on.
58:58
And then of course, Matt Frears. So Kenny Head, we're going to be
59:01
bringing on here in just a second.
59:02
Again, he's been waiting patiently.
59:03
And then Matt Freer will be coming on and Matt has so much
59:06
to unpack tonight. He's going to talk about the
59:09
move over Michigan dirt modified Sears as he's a part of.
59:11
Obviously we're going to talk hot shoe 100, which I said super
59:14
shoe an accent earlier. Jack's like hot shoe and I said,
59:17
what did I say? Because I don't even know what I
59:18
said. You know, you got Kenny Wallace
59:21
right there and I'm like super shoe, hot shoe.
59:23
It's all the same right now. But it wasn't obviously 2 very
59:25
different things. But but again, so I apologize
59:28
that I said super shoe. But you know, we got Matt Career
59:32
who'll be talking hot shoe 100. If he wants to mention reveal at
59:35
once, he's on. It's kind of his show to take
59:36
over from there and he'll be talking his career in general.
59:40
Again, one of the top announcers, and this was from
59:42
last year, he won the media award.
59:45
So actually on the same stream, you're going to have the last
59:48
two media Award winners for the Michigan fan club because I got
59:51
it in the year just before him. So I don't know if 2 have been
59:55
on the same screen the same time in a while.
59:56
So get to share that moment with him.
59:59
But other than that, we started chat chatting with almost an
1:00:03
hour ago, actually an hour ago with Evan.
1:00:05
So Evan's been with us for an hour.
1:00:07
I appreciate Buju and Evan for taking over the show while we
1:00:10
were definitely working things behind the scenes, getting Kenny
1:00:14
on, getting mad on getting Kenny.
1:00:15
Wallace on so and again, shout out to Drew Jack for doing some
1:00:19
extra ground work for us to make that happen.
1:00:22
So other than that, I got it. I see.
1:00:25
I always got to make sure I click these right things here.
1:00:26
So back to Evan. So again, Evan, I'm going to if
1:00:30
you're welcome to stay and watch the show, I'm going to hide you
1:00:32
in the screen so we could bring Kenny on to talk many wedges.
1:00:36
But I definitely appreciate you. I mean, for not for an hour you
1:00:38
hung out with us and you took over the show too.
1:00:40
So again, thank you so much. Thanks for coming on dude.
1:00:45
I appreciate you guys have made one of me share the screen 20
1:00:47
walls. Oh, absolutely.
1:00:49
So Saturday, then that means you want an onboard camera.
1:00:52
Wink, wink. You don't have to answer, by the
1:00:57
way. Yeah.
1:00:59
You're like, hey, remember when you know you want this camera?
1:01:04
But. But no, again, Evan, I know I'm
1:01:06
such a huge fan of you, and so many people are.
1:01:08
So I'm excited to see New Paris. And New Paris is excited to see
1:01:11
you, too. I know that for sure.
1:01:13
So we'll definitely be seeing you on Saturday.
1:01:20
Oh, yeah. All right, so again, we have
1:01:24
Kenny Head, who is joining us to talk about many wedges, or as I
1:01:27
call him, President Kenny Head. So.
1:01:31
Oh, did I? Oh, did I mute you?
1:01:33
Maybe I muted you? Nope.
1:01:35
I think you muted yourself. Yeah.
1:01:39
There we go. So thank you for your patience
1:01:43
tonight too, and waiting and hanging out.
1:01:45
So I know I kind of told you that Kenny may jump on at any
1:01:48
moment now. So and just as I was getting
1:01:51
ready to switch over to you, all of a sudden, I see Kenny Wallace
1:01:54
has entered the green room. Oh.
1:01:57
Well, that's definitely, it was definitely a tough act to follow
1:02:00
there. That guy.
1:02:02
What a what a great interview. I mean, what a great guy.
1:02:05
You know what? When I want to be like him when
1:02:06
I grow up. Yeah.
1:02:08
Hey man, Kenny, I'm with you. Well, and that's where you know,
1:02:13
we had you on earlier, you're one of our first guests, you
1:02:18
know, in our in our batch here and we're now in episode 25.
1:02:21
Can you believe that we've been doing this for 25 weeks now.
1:02:25
So and sometimes with head to head competition doing pretty
1:02:29
well at that too. So that's even more exciting is
1:02:33
the growth that we've had and it's certainly because of people
1:02:35
like you who support, you know, top row Monday night rewind.
1:02:39
And so to have you back on, I'm very it's very honoring again to
1:02:42
have you on to talk about mini wedges and update us on.
1:02:46
We know what you're doing when we were in the offseason talking
1:02:49
about it, but now we're in the season.
1:02:51
You've had several weeks of racing.
1:02:53
You have a huge event coming up on August 30th, obviously post
1:02:57
season show shows. So why don't you give us a
1:03:00
little bit of like a state of the Union, you know, on where
1:03:05
things are. And then where do you, where do
1:03:08
you go forward from here as you look for some of your big shows?
1:03:12
Well, you know, it's, it's, it's hard to even know where to
1:03:16
start. It's so busy.
1:03:19
Like this weekend, we're Berlin on Wednesday, we're back there
1:03:23
on Saturday and then we have our Sunday show at Kalamazoo this
1:03:27
week. So I'll be, we'll be running our
1:03:29
people a little ragged this week, but it's a, it's a labor
1:03:34
of love. I mean, everybody that helps us
1:03:35
in our, in our crew, that our, our team, they're all great
1:03:40
people. They, they love doing it just
1:03:44
like I do. We all do it as a volunteer, but
1:03:48
I think they just love the, you know, just love it.
1:03:52
Just seeing how it grows and, and seeing how the growth of
1:03:56
these young drivers are and it just keeps getting bigger.
1:04:01
Our our our champ cart, which is our charger series.
1:04:07
It didn't take off quite as quick as we thought I was going
1:04:09
to, but boy, I tell you what, in the last few weeks, it's just
1:04:12
blown right up. And now we've even moved into to
1:04:16
get even younger. Now we're actually doing from 2
1:04:19
years to old to five years old. We've got a juice box class
1:04:23
that's just it's just a super fun deal.
1:04:25
It's, it's electric battery operated deal.
1:04:29
But you, you, it's, it's just family fun.
1:04:33
We just love having the families and the people that that
1:04:36
actually race with us. They're all I'd say about 95% of
1:04:40
the people that are coming to the racetrack, they're all
1:04:42
looking to do the same thing that we are.
1:04:43
And is that to have fun and, and grow this grow this sport and
1:04:48
these drivers to get their get their feet wet and actually give
1:04:53
them a skill that they're going to hopefully pass on throughout
1:04:56
their years. And I mean, my biggest thing in
1:04:59
my drivers meeting is I'm not looking to see these guys race
1:05:03
on Sunday. My goal is to see them race on
1:05:06
Friday and Saturday nights. That's that's what I want to
1:05:08
see. And I've you know what, and brag
1:05:12
a little bit. I used to Carson Hosmer used to
1:05:15
be my crew or used to be who used to be teammates or
1:05:18
whatever, and to see him go to NASCAR school.
1:05:21
But I know the struggles of the family it had and, and the the
1:05:24
sacrifices that they put up with or whatever.
1:05:26
And you know, Scott and Amy, they, they put a lot into Carson
1:05:29
and I don't know, you know, if I'd like to see too many
1:05:34
families, you know, put their put their life on the line that
1:05:37
way or whatever. But it worked out for them.
1:05:39
I just want to see these kids racing and having fun on a
1:05:43
Friday, Saturday night. That's that's my goal.
1:05:46
Well, and you have Taylor Sexton, right, who you know,
1:05:50
you're part of Little Kalamazoo and saw that evolve and come to
1:05:54
where it is today, having a huge NASCAR event over the weekend,
1:05:57
youth series. And now you get, so you have
1:06:00
Taylor, you know, as a resource, who's your race director, who's
1:06:03
with you and gets to mentor these kids who could be like,
1:06:06
hey, you put in the work, you put in the time, you put in
1:06:08
these things. You could be racing a late model
1:06:12
on Friday night or a street stock or a Hornet or whatever,
1:06:15
right? Like whatever it is you want to
1:06:17
race, you can do that. And So what has it been like not
1:06:21
only to have you and your veteranship with all your
1:06:24
success, but then to have someone like Taylor on that
1:06:29
opposite end who's still, I mean, her career is still
1:06:32
starting, right? Like, I mean, she's into it, but
1:06:34
she's still building that and establishing herself.
1:06:38
So what's it like for you to have someone like her on the
1:06:40
team helping to mentor these kids where it's like, you don't
1:06:43
have to just listen to me. You have someone who's literally
1:06:46
here Friday night put in the same laps in.
1:06:50
Go back even farther, Louis. I was working at the Little
1:06:53
Kalamazoo Speedway when Taylor started racing her quartermage.
1:06:56
So. I watched, I watched some of her
1:06:58
first laps as well. Some of the kids that are racing
1:07:02
today is, you know, her brother Brock Annis, some of the Bozell
1:07:07
boys. I mean, there's so many kids
1:07:10
that come through them rankings already.
1:07:12
And, but to, to lean on Taylor, she's, she's very, she's got
1:07:18
the, she's got the attitude that you need and, and the, she can
1:07:24
get down on their level and explain to them in, in layman's
1:07:28
terms, how a kid would talk to a kid.
1:07:30
And I'm not taller a kid because, but she understands how
1:07:34
to talk to the kids. That's why I, I'm, I don't want
1:07:37
to take care of the adults. So I, I do that part of it.
1:07:43
But Taylor is, is a great race director.
1:07:47
She's definitely she, we, I had to race direct a couple weeks
1:07:51
ago up at Berlin on a Wednesday night and boy did I miss her.
1:07:55
I, I, I did OK. We didn't, we didn't have
1:07:59
anybody die, which is great. But she's when, when she's gone,
1:08:04
it's a big hole And, and, and it is for a lot of the other people
1:08:07
that are racing with us too. I've got a great tech team, the
1:08:12
girls that, that check everybody in when we, when we're missing
1:08:16
one or two of those people or whatever.
1:08:18
And there's a big hole there. And it's, we got a great, great
1:08:21
group of people that work well together.
1:08:23
And, and I, I'm very, very, very fortunate to have that.
1:08:27
And it's kind of really kind of neat too, because they're
1:08:33
volunteer people or whatever. And we've got some people that
1:08:35
would like to come and, and help us or whatever, which we, we've
1:08:39
kind of entertained that a little bit.
1:08:42
But we have such a good group of people that we work with the
1:08:47
dynamic. I don't want to screw that part
1:08:48
of it up. So we really, really selective
1:08:52
on who we bring in. So but it's it's great the the
1:08:56
whole program as far as the people that we have working with
1:09:00
us and I just can't praise those people enough as much we run
1:09:06
them ragged. Like I said, this is this is our
1:09:08
third Wednesday in a row running that Berlin and then we back
1:09:14
there on Saturday and then race on Sunday.
1:09:16
So it gets toward the end of the year.
1:09:19
It's going to be pretty busy this month.
1:09:21
But I can't tell them how much I appreciate them and the drivers
1:09:25
and the crews and stuff like that because it is a busy time,
1:09:29
busy time of the year. Well, in August 30th, I think
1:09:33
you announced it last week, I'm pretty sure you announced it.
1:09:37
Do you want to talk a little bit about what that's coming up,
1:09:39
that opportunity for the for your program on that day?
1:09:44
Yeah, we have a big race. We got a big sponsor that came
1:09:47
in and wants to help us out trying to trying to make a big
1:09:50
show out of it. He wanted us to start off with
1:09:54
throwing a bunch of money at the these races or whatever.
1:09:56
And but in the state of Michigan, you got to be real
1:09:59
careful. You can't, you can't pay kids to
1:10:02
race with that because of the, everything that goes on with the
1:10:09
schools. You, you start paying kids to
1:10:11
race, they turn into professionals and they can't
1:10:13
play their amateur sports in school.
1:10:16
So we've come up with a little bit of a, a, a deal where we're
1:10:20
going to make the trophies very expensive.
1:10:24
We're going to have about, we're going to have at least $4000 in
1:10:27
trophies that we're going to put out there.
1:10:30
That's, that's the sponsor that I have that the guys stepped up
1:10:33
and wanted to do so. And you can take that, take that
1:10:37
trophy apart or whatever, you'd be able to sell a good portion
1:10:40
of it and you could if you wanted to.
1:10:42
I don't know that I would after you get it, but it's going to
1:10:45
be, it's actually going to have silver in the in the trophy
1:10:48
itself. That's why we're calling it the
1:10:50
Quicksilver Series or the Quicksilver race.
1:10:54
Pretty excited about it. We're probably figuring it's,
1:10:58
it's going to be probably the biggest show that we've had.
1:11:01
We're going to format's going to be basically we're going to
1:11:04
we're going to do some qualifying and some practice and
1:11:08
qualifying and we're probably going to have just enough time
1:11:11
because it's a Sunday show only. We'll probably be running
1:11:15
features only, but it's going to be going to be a big, big race.
1:11:21
Very excited. Already got confirmation that
1:11:24
there's kids coming from all over the place from southern
1:11:28
Ohio to Tennessee. I've heard Illinois so, but
1:11:36
they're the many which things blown up.
1:11:38
I mean it's really kind of it's really I think it's it's been
1:11:43
blown up for quite a few years. We and I can't take credit for
1:11:47
that part of it, but our program is very the best way to say it
1:11:54
is people want to race with us. The people who want to race with
1:11:56
us are the ones who want to race with a fair, honest, safe place
1:12:01
to race. So they are the people that we
1:12:05
want to attract anyways. We, we don't, we don't deal with
1:12:09
people that want to stretch the rules very much.
1:12:12
There's, there's, there's stretching and there's breaking
1:12:14
and we don't, and we don't deal with that very well.
1:12:20
My wife and I two years ago went through those rules and with a
1:12:24
fine tooth comb and, and, and made them very easy to read and
1:12:28
they're well written, easy to follow.
1:12:31
And, and if you, if you can't follow those rules to the T,
1:12:36
we'll, we just don't accept it. So, but it's, it's a great
1:12:41
program. I encourage people to come out
1:12:43
and watch Wednesday at Berlin this week, Saturday at Berlin
1:12:47
this week and then for Sunday at Kalamazoo, you could come out
1:12:51
and watch the, the, the future of the racing.
1:12:53
It's really going to be, it's pretty big.
1:12:55
And yeah, I know you got Matt Pier coming out and he's a big
1:12:58
advocate for our program as well.
1:13:01
He whenever we're at Berlin, he makes sure he stops down there.
1:13:05
He's getting all the information on these kids and, and he's on
1:13:09
flow talking about it. He does, it's a, he does a
1:13:11
phenomenal job with that and I do appreciate him as an
1:13:15
announcer. He does a great job.
1:13:17
Well, and that's where I'm excited to have someone like
1:13:19
Matt, you know, honest again, we had him last Thursday.
1:13:21
Now we get him back today that he's taking a lot of his time to
1:13:25
to dedicate and you know, that's the kind of person that he is,
1:13:28
but it also speaks volumes to the kind of person that you are.
1:13:31
I know you don't like to always take your own accolades and and
1:13:34
take your flowers, but I mean, certainly with what you've done
1:13:37
with this program, taking it to where it is.
1:13:40
And again, it's just the foundation.
1:13:41
There's still so much that you want to do with it and so much
1:13:44
that you want to take it into the future so that eventually
1:13:47
when someone else takes it over, they have, they have the tools
1:13:51
and the resources to be successful with it.
1:13:53
So it's kudos to you that you, I mean, when you have someone like
1:13:56
a map career endorsing you, when you have others, you know,
1:13:59
endorsing what you're doing. Kids and parents willing to
1:14:02
drive from all these states to. Yeah.
1:14:04
I mean, you go back and look at the chat tonight, Kenny, It's
1:14:07
nothing but love for you and the program here.
1:14:09
Tonight, yeah. So again, that's that's
1:14:11
something that's awesome that you're doing that and I know for
1:14:15
your team and you know it, right, like there's a grind and
1:14:18
it's this is your stretch. It's going to be a grind.
1:14:21
But we're only a few weeks away from going.
1:14:24
Man, kind of wish I was at the track on Sunday.
1:14:27
So you know, we are going to we're going to forget or we're
1:14:30
going to wish we had it. You know, when it's, when it's
1:14:34
missing, and our routines. Yeah, last year we we didn't ran
1:14:38
our super shoe before the big super shoe at Kalamazoo.
1:14:42
And we actually it was kind of we had really good weather in
1:14:46
October and there was probably 3 weekends that were very good
1:14:51
Sundays that we could have been racing and I was kind of
1:14:54
chomping up the bit to get back to the racetrack even in
1:14:56
October. So no, I love what I do.
1:14:59
I love the people I work with. I love and and and I'd love to
1:15:03
take credit for all of it, but I could not take even part of the
1:15:07
credit. There's fifteen of us that run
1:15:08
that program or whatever, and I, and it's every single person
1:15:12
that, that I owe the respect to that the reason that that
1:15:16
program is successful and it becomes more successful because
1:15:21
of their time and their effort. They, they all look at the same
1:15:25
way I do. They, they just want to have fun
1:15:28
and they want to see these kids race on on Saturdays and Friday
1:15:32
nights or whatever. So, and that's what I want.
1:15:35
I want to see. I want to see my that's why I
1:15:38
must see my grandson, or at least one of them.
1:15:41
I want to see them race and that's why I do what I do.
1:15:45
It's not the only reason, but I we got to keep racing alive.
1:15:49
And if we start them early, it's I just think there's a much
1:15:54
better chance of getting, getting some more racers more
1:15:58
involved and getting this getting this back to where it
1:16:01
was. I'd love to see it like it was
1:16:02
back in the, you know, the 80s and the 70s.
1:16:07
I come from a family that I'm a, I'm a third generation driver.
1:16:11
My son's a fourth generation driver.
1:16:13
So we've been around it our whole life.
1:16:17
I mean, the heads have been, that's if there's a racetrack
1:16:19
somewhere going in Michigan or whatever that goes in circle,
1:16:22
there's probably been a head there sometime.
1:16:25
Well, and do you, I mean, even with all that, right, that's
1:16:29
where you know, watching the chat, seeing people come in.
1:16:32
Do you want to talk a little bit about how you guys have again,
1:16:35
because you come from a family who has grown up in it has been
1:16:38
a part of it has been leave, you know, breathes it lives it
1:16:43
bleeds it all these things. So what are some ways that you
1:16:47
guys have tried to recruit or some ways you would like to
1:16:50
start recruiting those kids when they're younger?
1:16:52
You know, I know you guys have done try a ride.
1:16:55
I think somebody took their mini wedge to an elementary school
1:16:58
building, which I know you can't just put kids take that from a
1:17:02
former teacher. You just can't do that where you
1:17:05
just put them in a car and let them go because I can already
1:17:08
predict a lot of ways that that could go South.
1:17:10
But right? Like touching it, seeing it,
1:17:14
feeling it. Just knowing it exists.
1:17:16
I mean knowing it exists. You know what, you're exactly
1:17:19
right. If we could get this in front of
1:17:20
some more people or whatever, just just to show them.
1:17:23
I, I had a, a young lady actually reached out to me last
1:17:27
week or whatever. She, her son is just infatuated
1:17:30
with racing and she wanted to come out and I invited her out
1:17:33
as a guest of mine to come to the racetrack and, and just see
1:17:36
it, just come out and smell it, you know, hear it and just see
1:17:40
what goes on. And we've had families that came
1:17:43
from, you know, I, I, I really kind of, this one family sticks
1:17:48
out. The Campbells actually went to a
1:17:50
dirt track and I'm not knocking dirt tracks don't get around.
1:17:53
They went to a dirt track watching a mini wedge race.
1:17:55
And then they found out that we were racing the very next day.
1:17:58
They came to our racetrack and they, they seen the program and
1:18:02
they and, and we, the way we ran it or whatever they, they, they
1:18:08
went out the next, the next week and they bought A1 mini wedge
1:18:12
and then they found another mini wedge and they put both their
1:18:14
boys in it and, and now they've been racing with us all year and
1:18:17
it's just, it's, it's great. And then it's the they don't
1:18:20
have a racing background as far as the family goes, but they're
1:18:23
absolutely having a ball. And I think that's what that's
1:18:26
one of the great things about mini wedges is when I was a kid,
1:18:29
my dad bought me a go Kart and we raced here in North Liberty
1:18:32
and it was too advanced for us. My dad's not a car guy at all.
1:18:35
We were out of our element. We didn't know what we were
1:18:36
doing. Mini wedges are much simpler
1:18:38
than the than the go Kart world is.
1:18:40
It's a much easier entry point for a family that doesn't
1:18:43
necessarily have a racing background.
1:18:45
So like, so the point we were making earlier, getting in front
1:18:47
of people and letting them know that it exists, definitely
1:18:49
matters. Yep, absolutely.
1:18:51
We invite anybody, you know what?
1:18:52
Get a hold of me. If you want to come out and
1:18:54
watch or whatever, look me up on Facebook.
1:18:57
Get a hold of me. It's not, it's not about us
1:19:00
making the money or whatever. I'd, I'd just rather have some
1:19:02
people come out and and see what's going on and see what we
1:19:05
do. Yeah, I encourage it.
1:19:08
Come on out. 6 wedges. Oh holy cow, that's a lot to
1:19:13
well I know the Vitalis right? Like I anytime I'm there and I
1:19:16
think this Sunday I'm at your show.
1:19:18
I think you're on my schedule for Sunday.
1:19:19
Pretty sure you are awesome. If not, you will be but unless
1:19:24
you tell me different of course, but but never.
1:19:27
Always welcome, Luis. You're always welcome.
1:19:29
But that's where watching the Vitalis, the one day when
1:19:32
they're just everywhere, you know, watching them do their do
1:19:35
their thing, where it's like that's a lot to manage.
1:19:37
And and I know when you're on our show, you know, Speaking of
1:19:42
lot to manage, obviously you don't have a race car that
1:19:45
you're managing much anymore, but you have this program.
1:19:48
I also know that you kind of mentioned you're looking to
1:19:52
maybe do some like winter things, you know where that
1:19:54
might be, anything that you can stay there or still a work in
1:19:56
progress? Still work in process.
1:19:58
I've got, I've got. The problem is, is there's these
1:20:02
buildings that we're looking at or whatever.
1:20:04
They want to do 12 month leases or even a six month lease.
1:20:07
We're looking, we're looking to do weekends, you know, a couple
1:20:09
weekends here and there. Still in, still in the process
1:20:13
part of it or whatever. I'm not giving up on it.
1:20:17
So even had a realtor come to work the other day or whatever
1:20:20
gave me a this building that's for sale.
1:20:23
It's only $800,000. I can just run it in there if
1:20:25
you wanted to. But yeah, if I had $800,000, I
1:20:29
don't know that I'd be buying a building to.
1:20:30
Put so. Yeah, so, but it's not it's not
1:20:37
it's not a dead thing yet, but I still, I'd like to find a place
1:20:41
if anybody knows a place that we can do a couple weekends this
1:20:44
winter, Boy, my my eyes are open to it.
1:20:47
I'd love to see it. What I know you guys got such
1:20:51
huge praise from the Rumble and Fort Wayne staff, You know, last
1:20:55
year with the way that you guys ran things way, you're on top of
1:20:58
everything prepared. You had kids in the right place
1:21:01
at the right time, sometimes even ahead of schedule where you
1:21:04
guys were Johnny on the spot and we're all lined up, we're ready
1:21:07
to go. For a staff like that who's also
1:21:11
veteran and who's worked long time together and have thousands
1:21:16
of drivers come through over the many years they've been doing it
1:21:18
for, for you guys to stand out like that, I thought that was a
1:21:21
huge kudos again, to everyone who's evolved.
1:21:24
I know Joe Shaffer was there, Eddie Benjamin was there, who
1:21:27
you know, Eddie and Joe you can see on Friday nights and KTS or
1:21:30
with reveal the hammer or 500 tour, you know, doing safety.
1:21:34
So you know, you have a team like that plus Taylor.
1:21:36
So before we let you get going, you know, would you, you've
1:21:40
mentioned them, but would you like to give their, you know,
1:21:42
shout out names and sponsors of those who help?
1:21:45
And if you forget someone, we will not judge you because it's
1:21:48
also Monday and you've had a long work day.
1:21:50
But the people didn't. You could say or what you know.
1:21:56
Job descriptions are always like and other duties as assigned.
1:21:59
So you can say and as other people assigned.
1:22:01
If I, if I, if I, I wouldn't even take the chance right now
1:22:04
because I normally forget about half of them.
1:22:06
But oh boy, every single one of them.
1:22:08
I mean from, from crew, my ex crew chief.
1:22:12
I mean, he's he's got involved in this and his family, Todd and
1:22:16
his wife or Todd and his wife, Kim and daughter.
1:22:21
But I mean just just Chris, Blanche and Taylor and you know,
1:22:26
Penny, which is Joe Schaefer's wife.
1:22:28
She's our scorer. And then Michelle Sexton, you
1:22:32
know, we they're just, they're just so many people that that do
1:22:35
this and I love them all. And I never thought that getting
1:22:40
out of a race car was what I really wanted to do, but I don't
1:22:44
regret it. I I love this is this is taking
1:22:47
the place of it. It of course, it's a little bit
1:22:52
it's quite a bit different on this roll side or whatever.
1:22:56
I'm still I still love racing, but I don't I what I miss the
1:23:00
most is working in the shop and then but I don't miss I still
1:23:05
wait around for the rain to stop when you're a promoter.
1:23:08
But but I don't I don't miss those those parts of those days.
1:23:12
But I got just, I just love the sport and I want to see it grow.
1:23:17
And that's, that's kind of what keeps me going and, and everyone
1:23:21
that's helping the same thing. Well, again, if you've not been
1:23:25
out to Kalamazoo to see them or Berlin on Wednesdays, definitely
1:23:29
follow Kalamazoo Kalamazoo Speedway Mini Wedges on Facebook
1:23:33
for schedule updates and where they plan to be.
1:23:37
It's definitely a program you need to go see.
1:23:39
And if you have kits and you're thinking about getting into
1:23:41
racing, come on out. And of course, I know Wedge
1:23:44
Innovations has been in the chat.
1:23:47
You know, they definitely have come on to the scene very fast,
1:23:49
very quick. And, you know, they've
1:23:51
definitely put out some competitive carts for people to
1:23:54
race. But I know in your program you
1:23:57
have other chassis builders too. They're not just all Wedge
1:24:00
Innovations. So I know you'd get some of that
1:24:02
Northern Indiana crowd who comes up, you know, and you've worked
1:24:05
with the Plymouth crew on like every other week.
1:24:07
So that way, you know, you both all realize like we can't just
1:24:10
stomp on each other. This is for the kids.
1:24:12
So I know they've given you praise on that, You've given
1:24:15
them praise on that, that, you know, like, hey, we can actually
1:24:18
work together because it's for the kids.
1:24:20
So I know there's Wedge innovations isn't the only
1:24:23
chassis out there, but certainly that's a group that you can
1:24:26
contact and get a hold of. I forget off the top of my head
1:24:29
the other ones right now, but I know there's a bunch out there.
1:24:31
But so again, you know, come on out, see all the different types
1:24:36
out there and again, August 30th, Sunday, Sunday, Sunday,
1:24:40
August 30th, huge, huge, huge show at Kalamazoo and it's $10
1:24:47
to get in, right? Or is that a different that day?
1:24:49
That's a that's a $10 day. Yep.
1:24:51
So $10, they have bleachers and infield.
1:24:54
They roll them out so you can sit in bleachers comfortably.
1:24:56
You could bring lawn chairs to sit too.
1:24:59
They do have everything roped off so you know where you can
1:25:01
and can't go. But definitely, you know, come
1:25:04
on out one of these days, Kalamazoo or Berlin to check out
1:25:08
the family fun mini wedges. So Kenny, I know we've kept
1:25:11
you've been on a long time too. So is there anything that you
1:25:13
feel like we might be missing before we bring on that?
1:25:18
I, I don't think we've missed much or whatever.
1:25:20
I, I really appreciate you having us on this, you know,
1:25:24
having this, this kind of deal as far as coverage goes on our
1:25:28
program. We appreciate you, Louis.
1:25:30
We really do. I mean that's this, like I said,
1:25:34
getting eyes on our programs, what we're trying to do and and
1:25:37
this helps out of time and we appreciate you as well.
1:25:41
Flowers aren't for me, they're for you and your team.
1:25:42
But I definitely appreciate that and you know, I'm a big fan of
1:25:45
you and I have your back. So anytime I can help and, you
1:25:48
know, give them any wedges, a platform to to be on and and
1:25:51
showcase because as you said, they are our future.
1:25:54
You know, walking at Little Kalamazoo this past Friday,
1:25:58
walking around there, seeing teams that I'm like, Hey, I
1:26:00
haven't seen you since the rumble and getting, you know,
1:26:02
getting a chance to connect. And some of them are like, don't
1:26:05
forget around your onboard camera list.
1:26:07
I'm like, I know you've been on since last year.
1:26:09
You know, people are excited for that.
1:26:11
But again, it's how can we give, you know, the future stars their
1:26:16
platform to start building on? Because I mean, Evan's proof he,
1:26:20
you know, these kids are not and some of them are about to age
1:26:24
out. They're not that far away from
1:26:25
taking on the big cars and the big stars wherever they race,
1:26:28
whether that's Corrigan or Kalamazoo or Berlin or Plymouth
1:26:32
or Alec or Allegan, excuse me, Angola and 40 anywhere, right?
1:26:38
Anywhere, yes. And so again.
1:26:41
Anywhere, any class. So again, thank you so much
1:26:44
Kenny for joining us tonight. And and of course being
1:26:47
flexible, like I said when I when you came on, I'm like Kenny
1:26:50
Wallace is supposed to be on, but he's not on yet, but he's in
1:26:53
Wisconsin. So we think there might be some,
1:26:56
you know, like it's OK, we made it work.
1:26:59
And, and of course Matt's been super flexible too.
1:27:02
So I appreciate that. And I know he gets to talk all
1:27:04
about hot shoe and everything else.
1:27:06
So, so again, Kenny, we will see you on Sunday.
1:27:09
If we don't, Oh yeah, I won't be at Kalamazoo this week, so we'll
1:27:12
definitely see you on Sunday there.
1:27:14
You go all right, All right. Thanks guys.
1:27:16
Boo, you have a great night. Again, thank you you so much.
1:27:18
You too and again family found many wedges.
1:27:22
Oh legends. I I thought, I said.
1:27:24
Kenny's a legend. That's all absolutely, but well
1:27:27
cuz I started to say wedges and you said legends I think.
1:27:29
Did I? Did I?
1:27:30
Miss, I wasn't correct in yeah, I was just.
1:27:32
Making a statement how Kenny had but again tomorrow, no today's
1:27:36
Monday so 2 days from now at Berlin and then this Sunday at
1:27:40
Kalamazoo's after hot shoe 100. So again, thank you so much
1:27:43
Kenny. Have a great rest of your night.
1:27:45
You too guys. Thank you very much.
1:27:46
Appreciate. It thank you.
1:27:47
Thanks. So again, Matt Career is about
1:27:50
to join us. He's been patient, but I know he
1:27:52
was eating and all that. So I'm like, at least I gave him
1:27:54
time to breathe because when he talks about his schedule and all
1:27:57
the projects he's doing and everything else, you're going to
1:27:59
wonder like, does he even sleep? Because I don't think so.
1:28:02
But we did miss the top of the hour.
1:28:05
So I do just want to remind everyone again, you're watching
1:28:07
the Monday Night Rewind presented by national compact
1:28:09
touring series, Federated Auto Parts, ELH Detailing and of
1:28:11
course, Top Row Racing Media. Don't forget this Thursday I'm
1:28:15
flying solo, so it won't be a long show unless someone wants
1:28:17
to join me as a Co host because Buju will be busy at racetrack
1:28:21
on Thursday night. But but I will be here with the
1:28:24
Thursday night throttle that you can throttle up with us where we
1:28:27
preview the upcoming weekend. Definitely a heavy emphasis on
1:28:30
flagger boy. We'll of course remind hot shoe,
1:28:33
but hot shoe gets the Monday flagship show.
1:28:35
So you know, we're going to give flagger boy all it's due on
1:28:38
Thursday too. And then of course, we'll be
1:28:40
also talking Hartford night of destruction.
1:28:43
So that's also this weekend. So we learned last week that
1:28:47
Matt Pryor got to call the combine demolition Derby.
1:28:50
So if you've never seen one of those, Matt's gotten to do that.
1:28:54
Or should I say, oh, I forgot to bring him on while he did his
1:28:57
graphic. I messed it up.
1:28:59
Fire the production guy. But we have Matt Pryor, or
1:29:03
should I say hold on, Kenny Pryor.
1:29:06
I just have Kenny, Kenny, Kenny, so.
1:29:09
Well, for today, I think I'm Kenny Evan Prayer.
1:29:12
Oh. There we go.
1:29:13
OK. I like that.
1:29:14
There we go. But yeah, we yeah, Evan was kind
1:29:17
of, you know, we brought him on because, you know, with him
1:29:20
coming to Flagger Boy and all that.
1:29:21
But Treestock Racer just flashed off his season.
1:29:24
It's like, you know, let's get someone on the kind of do a lead
1:29:27
in too. It's like having a, you know, a
1:29:28
band before the band. And again, it's been such a
1:29:32
huge, strong episode for us. And you get to be the cap
1:29:34
around. And I know it's like all these
1:29:36
tough acts to follow, but if anyone can do it, Matt Freer,
1:29:39
the voice of the reveal, the Hammer, the voice of the Hot
1:29:43
Shoe 100, the voice of Michigan dirt track Racing series.
1:29:49
If I got that name right. If not, you'll correct me.
1:29:52
Move over to Michigan. I know that part, but I think I
1:29:54
screwed up the name. But everything and hockey, you
1:29:57
do it. I'm sure if there was paint
1:29:58
drying, you'd make that sound exciting too.
1:30:00
So again, you're just such a legend with what you do.
1:30:03
So welcome back to the Monday Night Rewind.
1:30:06
Appreciate you guys for having me on again.
1:30:07
You know, it seems like it seems like it's forever since we
1:30:09
talked. Yeah.
1:30:12
Well, and it sounds like we don't have echoing today.
1:30:14
I've not seen one darn thing about it.
1:30:17
Echo earlier, I think Evan's cell phone was picking up and
1:30:21
our mic. So someone said you kind of
1:30:23
sound like ducks, but it wasn't like what it was last week.
1:30:25
So I'm like, that's a win in itself because, good Lord, I
1:30:29
paid a lot of money today to make sure that that didn't
1:30:31
happen. So, you know, it's at least it's
1:30:33
at least working. And the green room worked like
1:30:35
it's supposed those two. I actually like it.
1:30:37
I it's, if it wasn't so expensive, I would, I would keep
1:30:39
it. But it's like 299 Matt, it's
1:30:41
$299 just for that green room that's expensive.
1:30:44
But it worked. I got to talk with everyone.
1:30:46
We did mic check. So again, thank you so much for
1:30:49
not only putting up with us last Thursday and working through the
1:30:51
technical difficulties, but so far it sounds like other than a
1:30:55
little earlier today, things are great.
1:30:57
So I know you have a lot to unpack.
1:30:59
We're about 20 ish minutes behind, so thank you for your
1:31:02
flexibility. Oh, 30 minutes behind, but thank
1:31:04
you for your flexibility. So where do you want to start?
1:31:07
Well, it's past my bedtime so. Oh boy, as.
1:31:10
Quick as I can here. So you get.
1:31:14
A little you get a little older, you know, your bedtime gets a
1:31:17
little earlier and all at least like the wait till at least the
1:31:19
sun goes down. So I got probably another hour
1:31:21
or two OK. Well, yeah, and today's the last
1:31:24
sunset after 9:00 PM. Everything until mid-May is
1:31:28
before 9:00 PM, so you might as well enjoy the final sunset
1:31:31
after 9 because it won't come back until mid-May next year in
1:31:35
2027. So a few minutes to enjoy it.
1:31:39
Yeah, I've always thought, you know, in the years past, you
1:31:41
know, my, my birthday was July 24th.
1:31:43
And usually when my birthday comes and goes, I know we're
1:31:47
about the three quarter mark of the racing season.
1:31:51
And then by default I start, you know, meshing racing with
1:31:55
hockey. My, my, my hockey schedules came
1:31:59
out today. So I just had to put that all on
1:32:01
my calendar. Then I looked at my calendar and
1:32:03
went, oh, what the hell. But no hot shoe 100 race weekend
1:32:10
at Kalamazoo Speedway. It's the crown jewel modified
1:32:13
racing in the country. One of the things we're
1:32:16
obviously we're very happy to have Kenny Wallace.
1:32:19
He was. He is just a wealth of
1:32:20
knowledge. Looking forward to seeing him
1:32:23
again. him and I go back a few years.
1:32:25
Would have loved to have seen Kenny head jump into a modified
1:32:28
just once. You know, I bet we can find him
1:32:31
a modified. He'd be eligible for the new
1:32:32
shoe shootout. Oh, see, there we go.
1:32:35
Come out of retirement just for a little bit.
1:32:37
Yeah. But as of as of this moment,
1:32:42
release the the official roster this morning.
1:32:46
Since then we've had one withdraw.
1:32:49
So we're at 53 modifieds and no, we're not starting them all.
1:32:54
It's it's going to be split up into top 24 in qualifying,
1:32:58
locked in, and it's going to kind of explain how the new shoe
1:33:03
shootout works. Kenny Wallace kind of alluded to
1:33:05
it a little bit. He's ineligible because he ran
1:33:08
in Hot Shoe 100, a feature back in 2019 at Ken Ross Raceway
1:33:12
Park. It's very simple.
1:33:15
The requirements for it is you. You have not been able to have
1:33:20
started an A feature in the entire history of the race.
1:33:24
That's literally the criteria. So if Carson Hosavar wants to
1:33:28
fly over from Iowa on Friday and and gets himself a car, he's
1:33:31
eligible for the new shoe. I mean, it's, it's basically
1:33:34
what it is, is it was a way that Bud Gray, the 3rd and Amy Gray,
1:33:37
the Co founders of the hot shoe want to generate new, new names,
1:33:42
new new players to come in, you know, try to attempt to race in
1:33:47
the hot shoe. I mean, this is it's the biggest
1:33:49
modified race in the country. And we announced it this
1:33:51
morning. You know, we, we bumped up the
1:33:53
pay. It's now $12,000 to win, $1200
1:33:56
just to start. So you know, level ground
1:34:00
excavating qualifying, which starts at 4 O clock on on
1:34:02
Saturday. It's going to be insane.
1:34:05
I mean the top 24 locked in and if the new the big thing with a
1:34:09
new shoe shoot out, not only you get the the the 2000 to win for
1:34:14
the new shoe, you're the only provisional guaranteed to get
1:34:19
into the hot shoe on Saturday. Not even Kenny Wallace gets a
1:34:22
provisional. He's not eligible for the new
1:34:24
shoe, so the winner of the new shoe shootout is I said he he
1:34:28
gets the win, he gets the feature win, and he's the only
1:34:31
driver on the property guaranteed to run Saturday
1:34:33
night's main event. Wow.
1:34:37
So there's so and I know he talked a little bit about that
1:34:39
pressure earlier when we had Kenny Wallace on about
1:34:42
qualifying and and putting good laps, right, like having the car
1:34:45
spot on. And so I think that's what makes
1:34:48
this format so interesting. And this is what the 12th year,
1:34:50
right? That's why it's 12,000.
1:34:52
Is that again there? There's no guarantees.
1:34:55
You could be the biggest star of all.
1:34:57
You can have 20 track championships to your career,
1:34:59
but if you're not 24 or provisional #25 you pack up just
1:35:04
like the rest of them. Well, back in 2024, Back in 2024
1:35:09
for the Hot shoe 100 at Kalamazoo Speedway, Brian
1:35:12
Nester, the most successful driver in hot shoe history.
1:35:16
He's won four of them. The next one closest to him is
1:35:19
Blake Rose won three. Well, Brian Nestor as well as
1:35:22
the defending track champion at that time of Owosso, David
1:35:24
McManus. They didn't qualify in the top
1:35:26
24. Guess what they raced, they ran
1:35:28
the B feature. There is no transfer.
1:35:31
There is no transfer race. It's straight out of qualifying.
1:35:34
So you would have thought that B feature back then, Oh my God, it
1:35:37
was it'd have been a feature anywhere in the country.
1:35:40
But that that's what's the the fun part about it puts
1:35:42
everything into, you know, the practice sessions.
1:35:47
I'm not a big fan of a whole lot of practice on pavement, but in
1:35:50
this for the hot shoe, you, you almost have to have it.
1:35:53
You really do. I mean, the Friday, the 260
1:35:57
minute sessions and he got the 160 minute session on Saturday.
1:36:00
And again, if you're not in the top 24, you're there is no Tran.
1:36:04
There is no last chance race. There is no hooligan race.
1:36:07
No, you know, you don't get the top 24.
1:36:10
You're not racing AMA. And if it's now $1200 just to
1:36:13
start, I mean, how important is qualifying then, boys?
1:36:17
Yeah, well, and that's, I mean, you know, so when you have
1:36:20
something like that, because you, you know, the format,
1:36:23
you've been around it for a while now and so and it's kind
1:36:26
of evolved, right. So, you know, have you guys ever
1:36:29
had mods in the past? Who and you don't obviously
1:36:33
we're not going to call out drivers, but with this format,
1:36:35
have you ever had like mods in the past?
1:36:37
Like sometimes you see it other shows where they kind of play
1:36:39
the game a little bit and and like, I'll get in no big deal.
1:36:43
Or I just got to kind of do this and I get in.
1:36:46
Or do you guys like, has this truly been like when people show
1:36:49
up there, strap up right away ready to go?
1:36:50
Because again, some formats dirt wherever you've kind of seen
1:36:53
some drivers and then they go to social media and complain about
1:36:55
it. But it's like, but fans are
1:36:57
going to come out. Well, you didn't do this and you
1:36:59
didn't do this and you didn't practice this and you think, you
1:37:01
know, like there are things you didn't do.
1:37:02
So I mean, how have you seen this evolve to where it's now?
1:37:05
Like so I don't want to say cutthroat but like literally a
1:37:09
split hair can be the difference.
1:37:12
I mean, if, if any team plans on quote UN quote sandbagging, you
1:37:16
know, to try to get a start, good starting spot, they're
1:37:19
probably going to end up in the B feature.
1:37:21
The top 24 qualifiers last year at Owosso Speedway were
1:37:24
separated by .19 seconds. And if you, if you were 2/10 off
1:37:31
a fast time, which is a great qualifying time, if you were
1:37:36
2/10 off fast time, you're wanting to be a feature just the
1:37:40
way it was. I mean, last year Jordan Gatton,
1:37:44
he won the new shoe shootout. Last year, he qualified.
1:37:47
He was maybe 3/10 of a second off fast time.
1:37:52
He would, he would, if he didn't have the new shoe shootout
1:37:54
provisional, he would have been, he would have been running to be
1:37:56
featured just like a lot of guys, a lot of good cars.
1:37:59
I mean, there you need to be on your game.
1:38:02
I mean, especially during level, you know, level ground
1:38:05
excavating, qualifying at 4:00 on Saturday, you need to be
1:38:08
absolutely be on your game .19 seconds.
1:38:11
That's faster than that. Crazy.
1:38:14
So what do you think will be the because you've been counting
1:38:17
with you a couple times or was it just the one showed this
1:38:19
year? I can't remember if you came to
1:38:20
the second mod show. I I think I've I I was not able
1:38:25
to make either of the modified races.
1:38:27
Oh no, you're gonna relate models that's.
1:38:29
Yes, I was there for the Intimidator.
1:38:32
I was unfortunately not able to make the two modified races, but
1:38:36
I, I watched your highlights. I, I, I studied my race pass,
1:38:42
you know, just kind of getting a feel for everything.
1:38:45
You know, Ricky Leduc is going to be a driver to watch for
1:38:48
sure. And he's in the new shoe
1:38:50
shootout. He is.
1:38:51
I mean, he's only he's only you can count on one hand have a
1:38:54
finger or two leftover. How many times Ricky Leduc has
1:38:56
been in a modified. He's going to be tough.
1:38:59
That new shoe shootout is going to be awesome.
1:39:01
Ricky Ledoux, you got Connor Landis, you got Matthew Elsie
1:39:03
junior, Matt Elsie. I mean, you've got some dogs in
1:39:06
that new shoe shootout on Friday.
1:39:09
Well, I think I'm so glad that you brought up Matthew Elsie
1:39:12
Junior because obviously fans in the area know the dominance that
1:39:16
he has had in the front wheel drive and, and sometimes you get
1:39:19
conversations from fans and some drivers, Man, we wish he would
1:39:24
do something different. Man, we wish he, you know, if he
1:39:26
wasn't here, others would be racing.
1:39:29
Well, guess what, folks, he's in a modified and at Kalamazoo
1:39:33
twice this year. I don't know, I forget how he
1:39:34
did it at the loss. So but twice this year at
1:39:36
Kalamazoo, he's been like, I think top five both times or if
1:39:39
not pretty darn close. And and that's rookie modified.
1:39:44
I mean, he literally had one race last year in a modified at
1:39:47
Kalamazoo during super shoot, which is unofficial stuff,
1:39:49
right? That's a just.
1:39:51
And he also wanted the snowball Derby and snowball.
1:39:53
Derby as well. Yep, but then they got a
1:39:55
different modified. So it's a completely different
1:39:57
modified. It's a winning modified.
1:39:59
I mean they definitely got a good one and but you still have
1:40:03
to fix the car. You still have to work on the
1:40:04
car, you still have to set up the car.
1:40:06
You still have to do all that and they've been able to do
1:40:08
that. So I'm glad that you brought up
1:40:09
a name like that because, you know he's kind of flown over
1:40:12
under the radar, but you know, just because I mean he's already
1:40:15
got pretty close to track championship again wrapped up at
1:40:18
Kalamazoo in the in the front wheel drives.
1:40:20
But if you haven't watched him in a modified.
1:40:22
He knows what he's doing, he's very talented.
1:40:25
Well, Matthew, LC junior, just a special talent all around.
1:40:28
I mean his his front wheel drive accolades, I mean they speak for
1:40:31
themselves and get the kind of tie in my hockey stuff.
1:40:36
Junior he is, he just aged out this past season, but he was he
1:40:40
played with a fresh Coast Freeze in the United States Premier
1:40:43
Hockey League, which is based up on Holland.
1:40:45
My team is the Metro Jets out of Mount Clemens, MI and we were in
1:40:49
the same division. So we saw Matthew always come up
1:40:52
and we we kicked around, you know, and BS and all that good
1:40:55
stuff. And I've been telling him for
1:40:57
the last two years, you need to get out of you need to get
1:40:59
something else. You've done everything you can
1:41:00
do in the front wheel drive. And happy to see they got a
1:41:03
modified. I know they tried a late model
1:41:05
for a little bit of template. A little bit.
1:41:07
Didn't go the way they wanted, so they got him modified and
1:41:10
he's a talented guy. He's, he really is.
1:41:14
I, I think he's going to if, if, if you haven't seen Matthew LC
1:41:18
Junior, you know, before, I mean, there's going to be a lot
1:41:21
of travelling invaders, a lot of travelling fans maybe I haven't
1:41:24
seen been to Kalamazoo Speedway before or not many years.
1:41:27
Matthew LC Junior on Kalamazoo Speedway, you can put him in a
1:41:31
big wheel and he'll be a top five car.
1:41:33
He's going to be a lot of fun to watch.
1:41:35
Don't be surprised. He wins that Friday night, that
1:41:37
new shoe shootout on Friday. Yeah, and again, just that news
1:41:40
shoot, you've seen all the names in that list.
1:41:43
I mean, that's a, as you said, that's an A feature just about
1:41:47
anywhere, right? And it'll be the feature on
1:41:49
Friday. But if that were on a Saturday
1:41:51
at a normal Saturday night track, Wasel, Springport,
1:41:54
Corrigan, wherever modified country is, that'll be an A
1:41:57
feature, right? And a really strong A feature.
1:42:00
So and as you said, that B feature, it always, you know,
1:42:03
kind of reminds me a few years ago of RB feature at Ravers
1:42:07
Rumble. You looked at the names and how
1:42:09
many champions were just in the B feature in that street stock
1:42:12
race. You're like, this is someone
1:42:13
else's a feature on any normal night.
1:42:15
And it's just, that's crazy, right?
1:42:18
And it yeah, oh for sure. And the car counts warranted
1:42:21
right now. There could be even be AC
1:42:23
feature on Saturday. And to show you in years past
1:42:27
how talented was that field, Aaron Taylor, who is a hot shoe
1:42:32
100 winner. It wasn't so long ago that he
1:42:34
won the C feature at his home track of Springport Mid Michigan
1:42:38
Speedway. You know, a couple of years
1:42:40
prior to that I was, I want to say Dominic Van Wier again,
1:42:45
winner and pro late model competition.
1:42:47
She had she won the C feature. You know, let me just the list
1:42:50
goes on and on and on. I mean, the, the B feature and
1:42:53
even the C feature are, are, as you said, Lewis, there are
1:42:57
features anywhere else in the country.
1:42:59
So you can just imagine that A feature's going to be like on
1:43:01
Saturday night. Oh, yeah.
1:43:03
And they go 100 laps. And so with that, you know what
1:43:07
kind of strategy with it? You know, obviously it's been in
1:43:10
a loss the last couple years. It's been Spring Park before you
1:43:12
said Ken Ross. It's been it travels around.
1:43:15
So what do you think the strategy is that you know
1:43:18
someone who's watched this unfold at many places?
1:43:21
What do you think the strategy is for a lot of teams going into
1:43:24
Kalamazoo, especially for some who may not have been Kalamazoo
1:43:27
in years or ever? Well, I mean, with the, the 24
1:43:31
cars that will start on Saturday, I mean, there are no,
1:43:35
there aren't going to be any slouches whatsoever.
1:43:37
I remember what was it last year at Owosso Speedway.
1:43:42
I don't think we even reached lap traffic.
1:43:44
You know, the leaders never got to the back of the laid back
1:43:46
car. So like lap 40, something like
1:43:49
that. There's a fuel stop in there
1:43:51
between laps 60 and 65. OK, Yeah.
1:43:54
So you want to position yourself to be in the hunt basically, and
1:43:59
that sounds a lot easier than what it actually is.
1:44:03
Again, we go back to last year .19 seconds separating first to
1:44:06
24. You know, you want you want at
1:44:08
least be in the hunt coming out of the fuel break and then you
1:44:13
know, you just go from there. I mean, last year's race at
1:44:17
Owosso pair of number sevens, what a battle.
1:44:20
Matt Dimmons and Josh Ware, two of the very best modified
1:44:23
drivers in the country, not just in the state of Michigan, not
1:44:26
just in the Great Lakes Mid West region.
1:44:28
They're two of the very best in the country.
1:44:30
I mean, Matt Dimmons had had a special 2025 year, no doubt
1:44:33
about it, championship before unfortunately that series went
1:44:39
away. You know those two drivers and
1:44:44
you know they're both going to be at Kalamazoo.
1:44:46
They're they're 2 heavy hitters. You got Trevor Berry leading the
1:44:49
way in the, the new Michigan Modified series.
1:44:53
No matter where Trevor Berry goes, he's a top contender.
1:44:56
You got David McManus who has been so good on the East side
1:44:59
the last few years. And honestly, I think Brian
1:45:03
Burgaker, who's going to, is going to make one of his rare
1:45:05
appearances unmodified. I, I really believe that he's
1:45:09
going to be the one of the guys to beat if, if you, if you're
1:45:12
looking for a hometown home track favorite, if you will.
1:45:16
Brian Burkaker's definitely going to be 1 to watch as well.
1:45:19
Well, and again, that's when you have a list of 53 now modifieds.
1:45:23
That's still, I mean, you just have cars coming from
1:45:26
everywhere. I think it was how many how many
1:45:29
different states did. You 8 different States and 1
1:45:31
Canadian province. Yeah, I, I was thinking sevens,
1:45:34
but I'm like, I don't want to say the wrong number.
1:45:35
So I would have been off 1, but yeah, eight U.S. states, one
1:45:38
Canadian province, again, talent from all over.
1:45:41
And and you're someone who obviously gets to watch a lot of
1:45:44
these drivers in a lot of different places.
1:45:46
And so if you had to pick, let's put you on the spot.
1:45:50
But if you had to pick, you studied my race pass, right?
1:45:53
You, you've done this a long time.
1:45:55
You know what you're doing. You've race directed, you've ran
1:45:57
tracks, you've done all this. What do you think the time
1:46:00
difference at Kalamazoo based on what you've seen so far this
1:46:04
year? What do you think will be the
1:46:06
difference between one through 24?
1:46:07
If you had to pick a number and just randomly guess, we won't
1:46:11
quote you where if it's not that number, we'll be like, well,
1:46:14
Matt, you weren't right. But like if you had to guess
1:46:16
based on your studying. Man, like I said, Owosso last
1:46:23
year was .19. I would expect anywhere from
1:46:27
2/10 of a second down to .15. It's going to be that close.
1:46:32
You're going to have to be on the ball just to make the show.
1:46:36
And I see the question there. The inversion, the top 10 redraw
1:46:40
for the, for the inversion of the top ten, that's the fastest
1:46:44
qualifier. For example, let's say who it is
1:46:46
Lewis Knox fast qualifier. You'll be the first one to draw
1:46:50
between 1:00 and 10:00 and it'll go all the way down to the the
1:46:53
10th fastest qualifier. So that's, that's basically the
1:46:56
inversion, if you will, for the hot shoe 100.
1:46:59
But to answer the question, anywhere between point 1/5 to
1:47:02
2/10, I think you're going to have minimum, absolute minimum
1:47:07
quarter second. Absolute minimum.
1:47:10
Yeah, being the ballpark. Again, I, that's this is where
1:47:14
I'm jealous that I'm missing it on, you know, on Friday and
1:47:17
Saturday, but I know I'll definitely be watching my race
1:47:19
pass and, and watching to see how everyone's doing because
1:47:23
it's, it's a cool get for Kalamazoo to have an opportunity
1:47:26
like this to put on a modified showcase.
1:47:29
And so do you want to talk a little bit about the, for those
1:47:31
who may not know the hot shoe history?
1:47:33
And then it's 12 years. If you want to talk a little bit
1:47:35
about some tracks that they have been to because I think, and
1:47:37
Matt, you'll definitely correct me if I'm wrong because again,
1:47:40
you, you definitely know, but this is the first time it's been
1:47:43
at Kalamazoo writer, first time in a really long time that it's
1:47:46
been at Kalamazoo. So if you want to talk a little
1:47:49
bit about the history, for those who maybe not know why should
1:47:51
they care about hot shoe or why hot shoe is the crown jewel
1:47:55
modified race of open wheel racing.
1:47:58
Well, the hot shoe one hot shoe 100 started back in 2014 at a
1:48:02
Whittemore Speedway as an idea of Bud Navy Gray.
1:48:07
But if you don't know who Bud Gray, the third is long time
1:48:10
modified, a super late model competitor.
1:48:12
Matter of fact, he's got to win at Kalamazoo Speedway in the old
1:48:15
USA modified series. Him and him and his wife Amy put
1:48:19
want to put together a big modified race.
1:48:21
At the time, there really wasn't anything up here other than, you
1:48:26
know, the USA modified series, which it later became eventually
1:48:29
became the Midwest modified tour.
1:48:31
But it wasn't really that big race per SE.
1:48:33
There was the run for the gun down at Winchester.
1:48:36
There was a snowball Derby for modified at Pensacola, but there
1:48:40
was nothing up here in Michigan. So 2014 they they put together a
1:48:46
race at Whittemore Speedway, fast quarter mile up in
1:48:49
Whittemore, Michigan, the northern lower peninsula, let's
1:48:51
call it. If you, if you ever seen someone
1:48:53
from Michigan do this, there we go.
1:48:56
So it'd be right about there. That's where Whittemore,
1:49:00
Michigan is. So, but they put it together and
1:49:05
from 2014 to 2018 they were at Whittemore Speedway.
1:49:10
The five races there, four of them were won by Brian Nester.
1:49:13
He is statistically wise, he's the best driver in Hot shoe 100
1:49:17
history. And he'll be at Kalamazoo
1:49:19
Speedway this weekend. 2019, the one year the the race went up to
1:49:25
the Michigan's Upper Peninsula to Kinross Raceway Park.
1:49:27
That's the race Kenny Wallace was in.
1:49:30
Blake Rowe went to Victory Lane that day.
1:49:32
Of course on 2020, whether there was not a hot shoe 100, there
1:49:36
was not a lot of anything that year.
1:49:39
But 2021 and 2022 was a Springport Mid Michigan
1:49:42
Speedway. Cody Sickler came up from
1:49:45
Florida to win in 22. I'm sorry, Blake Rowe, 1 and 22.
1:49:49
Cody Stickler came up in 2023 and then in 2024 moved over to
1:49:53
Owosso, OR. That sounds about right. 2021
1:49:56
and 22 is Springport 2023. I don't have my notes in front
1:49:59
of me. I'm going off memory.
1:50:01
But that's 20. 3 was at Owosso and Blake Rowe, who has a unique
1:50:05
distinction of winning the first appearance of a hot shoe at a
1:50:09
brand new racetrack. He won a Ken Ross in 19,
1:50:12
Springport in 21, Owosso in 23. Blake Rowe is in the field this
1:50:16
weekend for the hot shoe 100. So if that that that holds true,
1:50:23
you can't count on Blake Rowe. He's in that Bob Oaks Bob's
1:50:26
House of speed #16 machine and Blake Rowe is absolutely tough
1:50:30
to allow where he goes. But yeah, that 23 it was Blake
1:50:34
Rowe. 24 was the big win by Aaron Taylor, which, like I
1:50:38
said, it makes it remarkable because back in 22 he he won the
1:50:41
C feature. Didn't you make the B feature?
1:50:43
You won the C feature and then a few years later, 2024 wins the
1:50:47
hot shoe 100 last year was that throwing battle with Matt Dimon
1:50:51
and Josh Ware. It's the crown jewel modified
1:50:54
racing in the country of the the long winded answer to the to
1:50:58
your question, Lewis, it's the crown jewel.
1:51:00
It's the one everybody wants to win.
1:51:03
It's there is no modified race, bigger, better or better.
1:51:07
There just isn't. And Bud and Amy, they like to
1:51:11
move it around a little bit. And I said it's been to
1:51:13
Whittemore, it's been to Ken Ross, it's been to Springport,
1:51:16
it's been a while. So and now it's it's his new
1:51:18
home of Kalamazoo Speedway. And to me, source wise, you
1:51:25
know, you have such a great field, a great talent of cars in
1:51:29
the Michiana area, not only from the east side, from the central
1:51:32
part of Michigan, from all over the country.
1:51:35
Michiana is tough and it doesn't have to be a modified man.
1:51:38
I mean, you, you guys got your the flagger boy this, this
1:51:41
coming Saturday. The hot shoe has St. socks as
1:51:44
well. I think both, I think both races
1:51:46
are going to be just fine with the talent you guys have in
1:51:49
Michigan. I mean, I'm not worried about
1:51:52
either race for that. But Kalamazoo Speedway is so
1:51:55
centrally located that you're going to see, you're going to
1:51:59
see the the best of the best. And I know Lewis, you can't make
1:52:05
it, but anyone else, come on out, man.
1:52:07
It's going to you're not going to regret it.
1:52:10
Well, I think that's the thing and hearing you say it too,
1:52:12
Matt, this is, I've had this conversation with a lot of
1:52:14
people, especially when I, you know, I get a chance like you to
1:52:17
travel. You travel way more than I do
1:52:20
and you put way more miles than I do.
1:52:21
And I thought I put a lot of miles on, but I, I don't want
1:52:23
your, I know you're doing even way more than that, right?
1:52:27
I'm due for an oil. Change, yeah, they come quick.
1:52:31
They come quick. And but that's why I talk about
1:52:34
Kalamazoo all the time and Buju and I've talked about it on on
1:52:37
this show before, is that, you know, Kalamazoo is in such a
1:52:41
unique spot. And really most of the tracks,
1:52:43
you know, whether it be S Bend OR Plymouth or even New Paris in
1:52:47
it to an extent, you know, but really Kalamazoo is in such a
1:52:50
way where on a normal Friday night, our street stock field,
1:52:56
it could have 456789 champions of some sort from some division
1:53:01
or some track in the area and an A feature on a normal paying
1:53:06
whatever they pay. I don't, I don't know the payout
1:53:08
because I don't need to know that.
1:53:09
That's about my pay grade. But you know, the, the drivers
1:53:12
get their pay. But a normal payout on a normal
1:53:15
night, you know, that's not 2000 to win or 4000 to win or 6000 to
1:53:19
win or 12,000 to win. That's a couple 100 bucks to
1:53:22
win. And it's, that's what's so
1:53:24
crazy. And so you're going to see the
1:53:26
same thing with modifieds is that you get to pull from
1:53:29
Indiana, you're going to pull from Ohio, you're pulling from,
1:53:33
I mean, 8 states are coming to Kalamazoo, MI for such a huge
1:53:37
weekend that again, it's incredible to have this
1:53:41
opportunity at Kalamazoo. So I know that's why I'm
1:53:43
jealous. Like I'm, I'm excited for family
1:53:45
time on Friday. I'm not certainly complaining
1:53:47
about, you know, being able to do that, but at the same time,
1:53:51
you know, that Saturday feature hunter laps with the best of the
1:53:54
best and open wheel racing. You're just not going to find
1:53:57
that anywhere else, especially 1200 start.
1:54:01
That's that's an A feature win at some places, you know, and
1:54:06
but again, this is their big crown jewel.
1:54:08
So I know if you're, if you're not going anywhere else, go to
1:54:12
Kalamazoo. You just reminded me about the
1:54:15
Kalamazoo St. Stocks 22 drivers very familiar
1:54:19
to fans at Kalamazoo Speedway Industry Stock Division.
1:54:21
Brock Ganis and Mike Gaines is going to make his modified
1:54:24
debut. And in the new shoe shootout,
1:54:28
you talk about a heck of a way to make your debut.
1:54:30
I mean, the open wheel warriors, my goodness.
1:54:33
But I, I think their track experience, especially Brock
1:54:36
Ganis, who's going to be behind the wheel of Nolan Cooper's #24C
1:54:40
Ganis, ironically not eligible for the new shoe.
1:54:42
He made us start at Springport back in 2022 or 2021.
1:54:46
Sorry, but I'm sorry again, my notes aren't in front of me.
1:54:49
So older. So the, the, the memory fades
1:54:52
every now and then, you know, so but now Brock isn't eligible for
1:54:56
the new shoe, but my gain is and he's making his debut and a
1:54:58
modified and a new shoe shoot out.
1:55:00
He's going to be 1 to watch as well.
1:55:02
Well, and he's come, you know, he's really come on too in the
1:55:05
street stock and he's been competitive.
1:55:07
Obviously. It's when I talked with someone
1:55:09
earlier, they're like, well, no, no Brock.
1:55:12
I said no, Brock is at hot shoe. His dad will be a flagger boy.
1:55:16
I said, you know, Connor Landis has taken over that machine, you
1:55:20
know, for them this week. And I said, so you will have a
1:55:23
chance if you're not at one track to watch one Ganis, you
1:55:25
will get to watch a Ganis at another track.
1:55:28
So if you know, I mean, again, two awesome drivers who you get
1:55:33
to see. But that's where that, you know,
1:55:35
just seeing the names and I've seen some of these guys down at
1:55:38
Bristol and I know you were down at Bristol.
1:55:41
That's where you and I got to finally meet in person.
1:55:44
We knew each other, you know, through passing, but never like
1:55:46
met met and no. But again, this talent is just
1:55:52
Rockstar talent. So it's it's there's.
1:55:54
Going to be some very, very good cars and there's going to be a
1:55:56
bunch of surprises to a lot of people that are going to have to
1:55:59
run that B feature on Saturday. Oh yeah, well, and that's where
1:56:03
that's just one of your projects is hot shoe and you you know,
1:56:06
you get to do that. And but I know you know
1:56:09
something else that you get to put your passion in.
1:56:11
You know where we talk, man, you just have this, but you get to
1:56:14
be at Berlin. What next week right is Berlin
1:56:17
for their big late model race, which also will have names that
1:56:21
you might not be that you might be a little surprised that you
1:56:25
know, might finish different or be in a different spot than you
1:56:27
get revealed a hammer. And then and then you have the
1:56:30
Michigan dirt series late model series.
1:56:32
So so kind of like with hot shoe to dovetail that into the next
1:56:37
part, Like where do you want to go from here?
1:56:39
You know, with time kind of turn left and go fast.
1:56:42
But so do you want to go to Berlin or do you want to talk a
1:56:44
little bit about the dirt series?
1:56:45
Because I know that move over Michigan's brand new and growing
1:56:50
and any anything else on hot shoe.
1:56:51
I don't want to close that, but I.
1:56:52
Figured like not at all not at all.
1:56:54
Just final note on hot shoe level ground excavating
1:56:57
qualifying at 4:00 on Saturday backtrack does the Friday night
1:57:02
is the is the third annual new shoe shootout.
1:57:04
It's the only race a Friday night so and it's a big 150 lap
1:57:08
feature 2000 to win 300 to start.
1:57:11
The winner gets a guaranteed spot in hot shoe 100 XII.
1:57:16
If you're into Roman numerals, that is 12.
1:57:18
So but yeah, that racing, that racing starts at 7:30 on Friday
1:57:21
night. It's the one feature 50 laps and
1:57:24
Saturday, as we mentioned, level ground excavating qualifying at
1:57:27
4:00. We're going to start racing at
1:57:28
six O clock with the hot shoe C feature followed by a Street
1:57:31
Stocks B. If we need one hot shoe B
1:57:34
feature St. Stocks A and then we'll wrap it
1:57:36
up with a crown jewel modify racing in the country Hot shoe
1:57:39
100 on Saturday night. What this had this coming
1:57:43
Thursday I will head to the West side of the state of Michigan
1:57:47
and for me that begins a 18 day road trip.
1:57:50
I will not be in the comforts of my office chair which I solo I'm
1:57:54
sitting in right now. I'm leaving on this Thursday,
1:57:57
August 6th and I will not be home until Monday August 24th.
1:58:04
So all that deleted what you were talking about, Louis, So
1:58:07
the next. Day.
1:58:07
I'm like that. Is the 16th running of the
1:58:10
Tecton Battle at Berlin 250 for the United Auto Racing Alliance
1:58:14
National Super Late Model Tour. It's the richest paying template
1:58:17
super late model race in the in the state of Michigan.
1:58:22
Last year, defending trash champion Austin Hall went to
1:58:24
Victory Lane. Previous winners Carson Ho
1:58:27
Savar, Bubba Pollard, Brian Campbell, Boris Yerkovich.
1:58:31
I mean, it's it's 40 grand to win for the the Battle of Berlin
1:58:35
250. I'm in a social media role for
1:58:37
that event. Jake Wilson, the voice of UARA,
1:58:41
is going to be making the haul up from from from Florida.
1:58:44
He's going to be on the call for that race.
1:58:47
Ricky, I have a great relationship with Ricky Brooks.
1:58:50
A lot of people can say that, but Ricky, he's the man, you
1:58:55
know, the, the, the legendary room of Doom for many, many
1:58:58
years. Have have a great relationship
1:59:00
with Ricky and his wife Tracy and the entire management staff
1:59:04
of the UARA National Super Light Model Tour.
1:59:06
Looking forward to being there in a social media role for them.
1:59:10
And then from there, I, I, I technically in parentheses
1:59:14
quotes have a day off on the 13th, which not really.
1:59:18
But then on Friday, August 14th, the inaugural move move over
1:59:21
Michigan Dirtway model series presented by Catholic Insurance
1:59:24
group and McAllister Machinery company.
1:59:27
It's a it's a labor of love that started with a phone call back
1:59:32
in October of, of last year. Jeff Finley, member of the
1:59:35
Michigan Motorsports Hall of Fame.
1:59:37
He's a dear, dear friend of mine.
1:59:38
We've been friends since I was a teenager, even before I started
1:59:41
my announcing career. Calls me up one day out of the
1:59:44
blue and says, hey, I'm thinking about doing this.
1:59:47
And if you know Jeff Finley, he can talk more than me.
1:59:52
He can talk 45 minutes later. I didn't notice.
1:59:56
I didn't say a word. 45 minutes later he's like, what do you
1:59:59
think I'm like? OK.
2:00:05
And that's where the Michigan dirt late model series is born
2:00:11
and last year was privileged to be able to work over at my home
2:00:15
track on Bertrand Speedway and an admit and a director of
2:00:19
operations role for a little bit.
2:00:21
Unfortunately, the some behind the scenes sells things didn't
2:00:24
work out, but it ignited something in me.
2:00:28
The promoting side of this, the the operation side, the behind
2:00:34
the scenes stuff that no one sees, right?
2:00:37
You know, Bud and Amy do it once a year and they say that that's
2:00:40
enough that we're good. You know, it ignited something
2:00:44
in me. And then this opportunity came
2:00:45
along with Jeff and the the Michigan Dirt late model series
2:00:50
was born. We been putting this together
2:00:54
since that phone, that phone call in October.
2:00:57
There's if you're, if you're into dirt racing at all, for
2:00:59
those tuning in and for you guys as well, if you don't know
2:01:03
Michigan dirt late model drivers and teams are some of the best
2:01:05
in the country. Unfortunately, they have, they
2:01:08
don't have a home, You know, if they want to travel, if they
2:01:11
want to run the touring series, they run the Valvoline American
2:01:15
Iron Man Late Model series, a series based out of Kentucky,
2:01:18
Chris Tilley and Michael de Spain.
2:01:19
They do such a wonderful job. They're based out of Kentucky.
2:01:22
They run all over Michigan, Tennessee, you know, Ohio,
2:01:26
Indiana, Michigan. They do such a wonderful job.
2:01:29
The Dirt Car Summer Nationals, Hell Tour.
2:01:32
Sam Driger is a long time promoter of dirt car racing.
2:01:36
Those two series, whenever they came to Michigan, that was the
2:01:39
only time our Michigan based drivers had somewhere to go.
2:01:43
Are they weekly racing? Which is there's nothing wrong
2:01:46
with weekly racing, especially on the nerd track level, but if
2:01:49
they wanted to go travel to some of the bigger shows, they had to
2:01:51
go out of state or wait for the Iron Man series or the hell Tour
2:01:54
to come to Michigan. Jeff and I put this together.
2:01:59
We we were originally going to do a partial season this year
2:02:03
that we kind of put we kind of put that on hold.
2:02:05
And then literally I'm, I'm at Berlin Raceway on July 4th
2:02:09
getting ready for the spirit of 76 reveal, the hammer outlaw
2:02:12
super late mall series race there.
2:02:14
I'm literally in the booth setting up my broadcast.
2:02:16
My phone rings. It's Jeff Finley.
2:02:19
Just like, hey, what are you doing?
2:02:21
Like, dude, race day, right? And it's like, what do you think
2:02:28
about a mini season this year? I'm like, OK, I'm not busy
2:02:36
enough but. All right.
2:02:39
So we all put it together. Then on July 20th, we announced
2:02:43
the world the the formation of the Move over Michigan Dirt Lane
2:02:47
model series presented by Kapnik and McAllister.
2:02:50
Our first race is Friday, August 14th at Winston Speedway.
2:02:53
I can't thank Andrew and Crystal.
2:02:55
Hey Coop, enough for take #1 taking the chance.
2:02:59
I mean you. We've literally built this
2:03:02
series from the ground up that we had, we had our experience
2:03:06
doing what we do right. But to, you know, the from the
2:03:11
ground up to when the cars hit the track on Friday, August
2:03:15
14th, that's going to be a very special day.
2:03:18
It's the, it's the inaugural event.
2:03:19
We're going to run 3 races this year, Friday, August 14th at
2:03:22
Winston's, the opener Friday, August 21st.
2:03:25
We are certainly privileged to share the stage with the the
2:03:29
Napa network All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint car series at
2:03:32
I-96 Speedway on Friday, August 21st.
2:03:35
I mean talk about coming out of the gate with a big, big show.
2:03:37
I mean, my goodness, the throw down at I-96 with a, the 410
2:03:41
wing Sprint cars, the bad, the big dogs, those Sprint car
2:03:44
racing and our Michigan, our little Michigan dirt late model
2:03:48
series. We're going to share the stage
2:03:49
that night. I mean it's going to be awesome
2:03:51
to say the least. And then on Saturday, August
2:03:53
29th is our inaugural championship race up at Merritt
2:03:57
Speedway up in Lake City, MI. That's it's been a late, it's a
2:04:00
cliche, but it's true. In this case, it's a labor of
2:04:03
love. It really is.
2:04:05
I'm a huge fan of dirt late model racing.
2:04:07
I grew up on dirt late models at at Auto City Speedway back in
2:04:12
the late 70s, early 80s before they paved that racetrack when I
2:04:15
was 12, which broke my heart because Auto City back in the
2:04:20
early mid 80s, it was the best dirt track in the country.
2:04:23
It was. It was bigger and better than
2:04:26
Eldora Speedway. You ask anybody that was around
2:04:28
that time, they'll tell you Auto City was head and shoulders
2:04:31
above Eldora at that time in the early, late 70s, early mid 80s.
2:04:37
Auto City was just a special place when it was a dirt track
2:04:40
and it's always been in the back of my mind.
2:04:44
Privileged to have have traveled with a World of Outlaw Late
2:04:47
Model series back in 2016. That was probably the best, the
2:04:49
funnest year of my life. It was so much fun and it's
2:04:54
always the Dirt Late Model has always been in the back of my
2:04:56
mind and here it is. We Fast forward and we are 11
2:05:02
days away from the inaugural race for the Move Over Michigan
2:05:05
Dirt Late Model Series presented by Cavac Insurance Group and
2:05:08
McAllister Machinery Company. We've had a lot of sponsors come
2:05:11
on board. I'm probably about five press
2:05:13
releases behind on getting on some of our marketing partners I
2:05:16
need to take care of. But I'll I'll scoop you guys
2:05:20
right now. Who's your racing tire?
2:05:23
The official tire, dirt car racing, the dirt car late model
2:05:25
series and our official tire. The winner of the Hard Rock
2:05:29
award in each event is going to get a free right rear tire.
2:05:32
And if you're in the dirt racing, that's that's huge.
2:05:35
A second award is going to be for the driver, the first car
2:05:41
that doesn't transfer out of the last chance race.
2:05:43
Well, they're going to get a Hoosier right rear as well.
2:05:46
And if we don't, if for something happened we don't
2:05:48
have, we don't are not the car count, don't warn last chance
2:05:51
race, then it'll be just a random draw.
2:05:52
But either way, we're giving away 2 right rear tires at every
2:05:54
race. Wow, all All Star towing.
2:05:58
My goodness, a $500 fast qualifier award for each race.
2:06:03
I mean, my goodness, it's the spot.
2:06:06
The marketing partners have been unbelievable.
2:06:10
I mean, you know, the, the, it's just, and it's something that
2:06:13
the state of Michigan has needed for a long time.
2:06:15
And then we're, we're never going to leave the state.
2:06:18
All of our races are going to be in Michigan.
2:06:20
We're not going to Oak Shade and Christina Hendricks.
2:06:22
They all do a wonderful job at Oak Shade Speedway, but their
2:06:26
state is Ohio. This is the Michigan dirt late
2:06:29
model series. So if Escanaba Motor Speedway up
2:06:33
in the Upper Peninsula State Fairgrounds wants a race, we'll
2:06:36
talk. And, and, and I love the Upper
2:06:38
Venezuela. I wouldn't mind something like
2:06:40
that. Right, right.
2:06:42
But yeah, the the three, the three races, Winston Speedway
2:06:45
August 14th, I 96 August 21st and Merritt Speedway August
2:06:48
29th. We're really looking forward to
2:06:49
it to build us some momentum heading into a full year in
2:06:52
2027. Well, and, and if anyone hasn't
2:06:55
been to Winston yet, I know I have, I haven't yet.
2:06:58
That is on my To Do List that I want to get out there 'cause
2:07:00
they have done such an amazing job bringing that track back to
2:07:03
life. They put in a lot of work and
2:07:06
well, and I love Andrew's captain logs.
2:07:08
I mean, I told him at the Michigan meeting.
2:07:11
You think he's a Star Trek fan? Oh yeah, Abuju.
2:07:14
Have you seen his? Logs.
2:07:16
Yeah, I did finally see him A. Little bit better.
2:07:18
Oh, they're amazing. I told him when I first met him
2:07:21
at that Michigan promoters meeting, I said, dude, I love
2:07:25
those. I mean, I didn't call him dude,
2:07:26
but I said, I love what you're doing because it's different.
2:07:30
It's different in the way he does it.
2:07:32
And then, you know, Crystal will just kind of tell you the way it
2:07:34
is And, and I appreciate that about her too.
2:07:37
And that you get you get both of them kind of, you know,
2:07:40
balancing off of each other with some of the different things
2:07:42
they post, how they post. I mean, if there's social media,
2:07:45
you know, I mean, you did incredible job with all your
2:07:47
social media. I know when it's you typing it
2:07:49
because I just, I'm like, oh, that's Matt Peer.
2:07:51
I know his style. That's a Matt Peer post and and
2:07:55
then sometimes like, I didn't know he did that page too, you
2:07:57
know, like sometimes I'm like, how does he have time for all of
2:07:59
this? But again, like you're finding
2:08:01
time. But but I'm excited for Winston
2:08:04
and that's such a that's such a great shot, you know, for that
2:08:08
track too, right, because it's in its revival year.
2:08:11
So you know. Yeah, for sure.
2:08:13
Yeah. Andrew and Crystal have done
2:08:15
such a wonderful job at Winston Speedway, and you guys might be
2:08:18
able to help me out. I was never a big, never a big
2:08:20
Star Trek fan, but I know the meme where the I want to say
2:08:24
it's Captain Picard. I could be wrong.
2:08:26
The ball, the ball the. We're on the right track.
2:08:29
That used to be. On every like where he's like
2:08:30
what the you know that that mean?
2:08:33
I you know, if if if Andrew shaved his beard mustache, you
2:08:36
look just like him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, He's well.
2:08:39
And he'll tell you he's like, I'm just a guy with autism, you
2:08:42
know, and, and that's just how that's like how he comes out
2:08:45
with things. And he's like, so I'm just
2:08:46
different. I'm like, well, you just keep
2:08:48
being different. You know, I, I can.
2:08:49
Appreciate there's nothing wrong with being.
2:08:51
Different. Not at all.
2:08:52
And, and they're, and that's what differentiates their posts.
2:08:55
And I think why they why I told them, I said if I'm seeing it on
2:08:59
this side of the state, which I mean, I'm not down far from him,
2:09:02
but I'm like, if I'm seeing it down in this corner, which is
2:09:04
very much Hartford country, if I'm seeing it, that means a lot
2:09:07
of other people are seeing it because it just came out of
2:09:09
nowhere. Oh, for sure.
2:09:12
I live north of Detroit and you know what I mean.
2:09:15
I, I, I, I look forward to, to a Winston post now just about
2:09:18
every time you just come out, you know?
2:09:21
Yeah, just like when I told Kenny Wallace earlier, like,
2:09:23
that's one of the first things I do in the morning is I?
2:09:26
Talking with. Kenny talking with Kenny and
2:09:28
what's he talking about today and and all those different
2:09:30
things. And so with the Winston post
2:09:33
that Andrew does, I look forward to those just to read them.
2:09:35
I'm like, and I haven't even been there.
2:09:37
I almost did go there a couple weeks ago, but there's a really
2:09:39
bad accent here in Benton Harbor that kind of shut down the
2:09:42
highway. I'm like, I'm not even trying
2:09:43
it, but because we rained out all down here, but they gave it
2:09:46
a shot up there. And but yeah, that's something
2:09:49
that again, if you haven't checked out Winston, you need to
2:09:52
check out Winston because they're doing incredible work
2:09:54
there too. So again, such a showcase, not
2:09:56
only what you guys can bring them, but what they can bring
2:09:59
you too with each other's platform.
2:10:01
And so do you want to talk a little bit about again, where
2:10:05
everyone can follow that on social media?
2:10:06
Because I know Lanehead was in here.
2:10:08
What's the series called again, which you did say this series
2:10:10
after that, but you know, where can they find?
2:10:13
Because I know it's two different pages.
2:10:14
You have move over Michigan, but then you also have your Michigan
2:10:18
late models here. So if you want to talk about
2:10:19
social media, maybe where they will be able to watch or listen,
2:10:23
you know, audio or visual and or visual, you know, where can they
2:10:27
follow all of this? Yeah, on Facebook, X and
2:10:31
Instagram, just the search for Michigan dirt late model series,
2:10:35
the move over Michigan movement. You can learn more about that at
2:10:39
Move over Michigan, which is on Facebook and X and Instagram as
2:10:44
well. We're we're really excited and
2:10:49
and kind of put a period on that.
2:10:51
You know, it's for me personally, it's the first it'll
2:10:53
be the first dirt race I've called since the since the the
2:10:56
privilege of, you know, being on the broadcast scene for the last
2:11:01
dirt L Bristol dirt Derby with my ass first Cup series debut.
2:11:05
So it's going to be over three years I've called a dirt race.
2:11:07
So I hope I remember how to do it.
2:11:09
But but Novi Michigan dirt late model series Facebook Instagram
2:11:15
X for all the latest information.
2:11:17
We try to keep that updated as best we can.
2:11:20
And like I said, we're 11 days away from the inaugural race for
2:11:24
the Move Over Michigan Dirt Late Model Series presented by
2:11:27
Cabinet Insurance Group and McAllister Machinery Company.
2:11:30
And so you kind of talked about again, right, there's just so
2:11:33
much impact, right? So kind of as we move, you know,
2:11:36
you've talked about, you know, NASCAR, your NASCAR debut and
2:11:39
all that you've done Performance Racing Network.
2:11:42
So if you want to dovetail into a little bit about that and like
2:11:45
how those opportunities came to be, you know, what's what's
2:11:48
challenging about those? Cuz again, just listening, I
2:11:51
know you're like, I don't have my notes in front of me, but
2:11:52
just listening to them, like, I don't think you need notes.
2:11:55
But like you just, it all just seems to just, I mean, you've,
2:11:59
you've done this, you've had a very successful career.
2:12:02
When I was looking for a Facebook photo, I'm like, Oh, I
2:12:05
didn't know he was at that track and I didn't know he was at that
2:12:08
track. And I mean, I know you've been
2:12:09
everywhere, but still like when you see those posts and some of
2:12:12
the, the names that you've even shared the stage with, I mean,
2:12:15
it's just, you have such an incredible career.
2:12:17
So if you don't talk a little bit about that, because like
2:12:19
Buju is an aspiring announcer. He didn't know that at the start
2:12:22
of the year, but you know, he got it.
2:12:24
He got an opportunity at New Paris.
2:12:25
And I know we have other announcers like Joel who you'll
2:12:27
get to work with this Friday. You know who they may be
2:12:31
wondering, like what does it take to be a successful
2:12:33
announcer like you have done for so long?
2:12:37
Well, it's not without a lot of hard work.
2:12:39
Not a lot, not without a lot of sacrifice, that's for sure.
2:12:43
This is maybe mentioned on Thursday night.
2:12:45
This is my 37th year calling short track races.
2:12:50
It just means the mold is all it means.
2:12:51
No, no, no, we ever. We already covered that there's.
2:12:54
No mold, right? Right.
2:12:57
No, it it's a lot of work. It's a lot of sacrifice.
2:13:01
And I was fortunate enough in 2018 to earn an audition with a
2:13:09
motor racing network and it was at at Mid Ohio Sports Complex on
2:13:13
a road course. I've never been to a road course
2:13:15
in my life. That was my audition for MRN.
2:13:19
Unfortunately, it rained the whole time.
2:13:24
So the, the folks MRN were kind enough to give me a second
2:13:27
audition at Kansas Speedway later that year.
2:13:29
Got to, got to spend the weekend with Dave Moody.
2:13:32
That was amazing to say the least.
2:13:35
You want to see, you want to watch how to do things
2:13:38
correctly. Just just stand 10 feet from
2:13:41
Dave Moody and watch him work. You know, it was at my audition,
2:13:45
I was told what I needed to work on, and that's what I did.
2:13:49
Berlin Raceway for a couple years.
2:13:51
I did a lot of turn in addition to the booth.
2:13:53
I I introduced turn announcing to Berlin Raceway back in 2019,
2:13:58
and I got the chance in 2021. I'm sorry, 20.
2:14:03
Yeah, 2021 to work the big show. There's a big show at
2:14:09
Jennerstown Speedway and in the booth was the legendary Mark
2:14:14
Garrel, the anchor, along with Doug Rice at the time at the
2:14:19
Performance Racing Network. We called a race together.
2:14:22
I was on pit Rd. and I to this day, I, I, I, I kind of hold
2:14:29
back a little tear here too there, But I guess I did pretty
2:14:34
good that day because it wasn't so long after that.
2:14:37
I got a call. I got a phone call just randomly
2:14:39
out of the blue from Doug Rice and he's like, we want you to,
2:14:42
we want to see what you can do. We know you're, and this is
2:14:47
where, this is where the age part comes in.
2:14:48
Again, like we know you're, you're up there in the years,
2:14:52
but you deserve this opportunity.
2:14:53
So I made my at the time NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at Texas
2:14:58
Motor Speedway during 2022 All Star Weekend.
2:15:03
That was unbelievable in a in so many ways.
2:15:07
Well, one it was 99° and but in and with Texas humidity it felt
2:15:12
like a. 120. And I, I'll tell you the guys
2:15:16
this quick story. Not many people know this part.
2:15:19
I was in the middle of calling a pit stop for AG Allmendinger and
2:15:22
this bug. It had to have been, it had to
2:15:25
have been that big, had to have been that big.
2:15:27
I mean, I'm not exaggerating, it was huge.
2:15:31
I'm right in the middle of calling the pit stop for AG on
2:15:33
the bigger and this damn bug flew right directly.
2:15:36
To my mom's. Oh no, I knew that.
2:15:39
What can I do? So I'm like, I'm like and just
2:15:42
kept on going. I didn't know what the hell it
2:15:45
was. I have no idea.
2:15:47
And so I, I, I radioed my producer Laura Beth Barnhart
2:15:51
right after that that segment, I said, Laura Beth, I don't know
2:15:54
what, what bug I just ate, but if I die the next 5 minutes, it
2:15:57
wasn't good. Apparently it was fine.
2:16:00
But that was the only hiccup of my NASCAR debut was a swallowing
2:16:04
a, a pterodactyl size bug. And I guess I did pretty good as
2:16:11
Doug, Doug Rice called me not too long after that and said,
2:16:15
oh, we're going to give you, we're going to give you a cup of
2:16:17
coffee in the Cup Series. You're going to you're going to
2:16:19
be on pit Rd. for the. And we knew it at the time, it
2:16:22
was going to be the final dirt race for the NASCAR Cup Series
2:16:25
at Bristol Motor Speedway, which would have been Easter 2023 and
2:16:31
made my cup debut. I was 48 years old.
2:16:34
To this day, the oldest broadcaster to make their debut
2:16:37
in the NASCAR Cup Series. If if I ever get back, it'll
2:16:43
it's just icing on the cake. But it's I'm one of the few guys
2:16:48
and I and I take pride in this too.
2:16:49
You know where you know, you have, you have Jeff Striegel,
2:16:53
one of my mentors, you have a Matt Yoakam and he got me and
2:16:58
that's called NASCAR Cup Series racist from the state of
2:17:00
Michigan. And that's a pretty damn elite
2:17:03
list. Oh, absolutely.
2:17:06
Like I said, if I I'm on what's called a standby list.
2:17:11
So if someone something happens to somebody and I get the call,
2:17:14
I'm on a plane. So, but otherwise I will, will I
2:17:19
get another cup chance? Will I get another now O'Reilly
2:17:22
series chance? Maybe.
2:17:24
But if I don't, I'm perfectly happy.
2:17:27
I was gonna say again, that's where, you know, hopefully you
2:17:30
do. It's kind of, I always think of
2:17:31
like Matt Kemp, you know, getting all these opportunities,
2:17:34
who's a dwarf racer. Just saw him Saturday night at
2:17:35
Flat Rock. Yeah, at Flat Rock.
2:17:37
Yeah. And you know, he did well there,
2:17:39
I think top four if I saw right. Or you.
2:17:40
Know one on the lead lap too. You have to work on the lead
2:17:42
lap. Yeah.
2:17:43
So, you know, that's something that it's like, you know, you
2:17:45
see these next level talents, these next level people and
2:17:48
certainly, you know, hearing you call a race, you know, I always
2:17:51
enjoy it when I get a chance to listen to you call a race, even
2:17:54
listening to you call the snowmobile races, no matter how
2:17:57
cold it is, you know, you're calling that with the same
2:17:59
enthusiasm, you know, hearing you even get a car, you know,
2:18:03
get a crowd revved up. You did that at the at Kalamazoo
2:18:08
when reveal was there a few years ago where you're like, I
2:18:10
want them to hear us in in Indiana and, you know, doing all
2:18:14
these things. And you just got that crowd so
2:18:16
fired up that, you know, that's just that's just not a skill
2:18:19
that everybody has it naturally. I should say.
2:18:22
Some people have to coach it into them and they can do it
2:18:25
right. But for you, it's like it always
2:18:27
just seems to come natural and with always the same amount of
2:18:30
energy, whether it's the start of the night or the end of the
2:18:32
night. So again, hopefully you get that
2:18:34
opportunity because I mean, just, I don't know if you've
2:18:36
seen all the comments, but I mean, you know, best announcer,
2:18:39
one of the top announcers and you truly are.
2:18:41
So hopefully you get that. But I also know if you don't,
2:18:44
you're plenty busy and you get to showcase with your voice the
2:18:48
amazing talent that we have in Michigan and around the area.
2:18:50
And for that, sometimes that might even be better than
2:18:53
NASCAR, you know, because I mean, we have a lot of drivers
2:18:56
in this area who probably could be in a NASCAR car, but will
2:19:00
they ever get that opportunity? You just never know.
2:19:03
Yeah, for sure. And I'm certainly blessed and
2:19:06
privileged to be able to have had the opportunity to make it
2:19:08
to the highest level in our sport, you know?
2:19:11
Yeah. And to your point, if, if
2:19:13
another opportunity comes, that would be just wonderful.
2:19:15
If it doesn't, I'm perfectly content.
2:19:18
I've I've had my cup of coffee. And there's very few people in
2:19:22
especially in this state of Michigan that cannot nor will
2:19:25
they ever be able to say that. And it's a, it's a very short
2:19:28
list. And yeah, certainly a blessed
2:19:32
and privileged and, and to kind of fall back a little bit to the
2:19:34
Michigan Dirtway model series. I'm not going to be, I'm not
2:19:38
going to be a broadcaster or announcer forever.
2:19:41
You know, I, again, I, I joke about my age, but in, I'm soon
2:19:47
to hit my 40th year in broadcasting in 6th decade, 6th
2:19:50
decade. I, I, it worked out that way
2:19:52
because my first race was a ninth first race in Cumble was
2:19:54
September 3rd, 1989. So 80s, nineties, zeros, tens,
2:19:58
20s. I want to hit 2030 and that will
2:20:01
be 6 decades. That will be a 41 years at that
2:20:04
point. And this Michigan Dirtway model
2:20:06
series comes along at a pretty opportune time because I'm I'm
2:20:10
not going to be on the on the headset forever.
2:20:12
And I want to do. I really have fallen in love
2:20:16
with the administrative part of this sport.
2:20:19
And just like what Kenny head does, Kenny head does when he
2:20:22
when he retired, you know, one of my favorite race car drivers
2:20:25
at Kalamazoo Speedway. Kenny really is he's he's him
2:20:30
the entire head family, a buddy head lane Head.
2:20:33
You know, I've had the privilege of calling all three names.
2:20:36
They they are wonderful, wonderful human beings and and I
2:20:41
know, I don't know, I know if Kenny's watching or anything,
2:20:43
anytime you need me, don't hesitate to call.
2:20:46
But on that note, you know, along the lines of Kenny, that's
2:20:50
where I want to aspire to be in the next chapter of my career.
2:20:54
You know, I'm, I said I'm going to hit 40 years here in just
2:20:57
three, in just three more seasons.
2:21:00
The administrative part is I've fallen in love with it.
2:21:03
I really have. And for those that you know, if
2:21:07
you're dirt fans, please come see us Friday, August 14th at
2:21:11
Winston Speedway. It's the it's the move over
2:21:14
Michigan Dirt League model series presented by Catholic
2:21:16
Insurance Group and McAllister Machinery Company.
2:21:19
It's a labor of love for Jeff Finley and myself.
2:21:23
And for those of you who know who Jeff Finley is, one of the
2:21:25
best race car drivers Central Michigan's ever seen or ever
2:21:30
will see. And I'm privileged to call him a
2:21:32
dear friend of mine. And now we're we're Business
2:21:34
Association associates with this new series.
2:21:38
Do you want to mention we were talking about Ken Ross real
2:21:40
quick? Yeah, yeah.
2:21:40
Yeah, yeah. Ken Ross Raceway Park announced
2:21:43
today that they have scrapped their August 8th race so people
2:21:49
can go to the hot shoe. And they have scrapped.
2:21:51
The August 22nd race so people can go up the Laird
2:21:54
International Raceway up in Echo Bay ON for their season finale.
2:21:58
They're they have rescheduled those two dates, combine them
2:22:00
into one. It's going to be on Saturday,
2:22:02
August 15th. It's the Kuwait and Casino
2:22:05
Summer Shootout Series rounds four and five.
2:22:09
It's a double features that night up at Kinross.
2:22:11
So if you're not doing anything that weekend, you want to fancy
2:22:14
a trip up at Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
2:22:16
I've mentioned before my favorite place to be come out
2:22:18
and see us up at Kinross Raceway Park, and it's only 15 minutes
2:22:21
from the International 500 Snowmobile Race.
2:22:23
I was going to say because, you know, if you want to and I know
2:22:26
it's late and you said it's already past your bedtime and
2:22:28
now you missed the sunset, the last sunset, you know, before.
2:22:31
Look at the window here, I still see sunlight.
2:22:33
Oh, OK, well, and I'm on I'm on the lake MI side.
2:22:36
So where I am, I'm, you know, I can see.
2:22:38
Like yeah, it's sunlight there till 10:30.
2:22:40
Yeah, I see this. I can see the Sears Tower from
2:22:43
our beach here and all that. I will never call it the Willis
2:22:45
Tower because it's not a thing, but it is a Sears Tower.
2:22:47
If you're born in Chicago or in the Chicago area, it's always
2:22:50
Sears Tower, right? But but I know it's past your
2:22:53
bedtime, but that's where I wanted to talk about, oh, crap,
2:22:58
I just forgot because I got tracked by the sunset.
2:23:00
Oh, if you wanted to mention, you know, even the snowmobile
2:23:04
because it's never too early to promote that out there because
2:23:07
that comes faster than what people realize.
2:23:08
I mean, it's already August. And if you want to talk a little
2:23:11
bit about even your hockey and how you got into hockey, because
2:23:13
I bet that's an even shorter list of people who have called
2:23:17
NASCAR, called local racing, called the combine demolition
2:23:20
Derby, and now call hockey. I can't think of 1.
2:23:25
I can't think of others, so I, you know, it's probably a really
2:23:29
short list, but yeah. Yeah, I appreciate.
2:23:32
I appreciate the opportunity guys, first and foremost.
2:23:34
But yeah, the 58th running of the International 500 and
2:23:37
Solobel Race Week starts on Sunday, January 31st of 2027
2:23:43
with the Mini 5 Kids Snowmobile Races.
2:23:45
What are Mini 5 Kids races, you ask?
2:23:47
It's snowmobiles version of mini wedges.
2:23:49
So I might need Kenny Head to come up there and do some Tekken
2:23:53
for me. For the Mini 5 Kids Snowmobile
2:23:55
races, we race right on the front stretch of the legendary
2:23:58
one mile Oval there in Sioux Saint Marie, Michigan.
2:24:01
We have preliminary events all week long with a Sioux Vintage
2:24:04
Shootout, the O 600 Modified Series, our version of the All
2:24:08
Star Race, the Meyer Pro Shootout, which is so important
2:24:11
because it's the only track time under race conditions.
2:24:13
The snowmobile teams have to get out onto the racetrack before
2:24:17
the International 500 Snowmobile Race itself, which is on
2:24:20
Saturday, February 6th. Green flag at 10:00 AM.
2:24:23
If you've never been to it, if you've never heard about it, the
2:24:26
International 500 Snowmobile race is the most grueling
2:24:28
preceded snowmobile race in the world.
2:24:30
It's raced on a one Mile High bank ice Oval.
2:24:34
It's not snow, it's it's ice. The the workers start usually
2:24:39
we're just after Thanksgiving and by the time race week gets
2:24:43
there, there's over 1,000,000 gallons of water on that one
2:24:45
mile ice Oval to create the banking to create the racetrack.
2:24:50
It's, it's one of my favorite race weeks of the year.
2:24:53
Sioux Sainte Marie. It's already the biggest city in
2:24:56
the Upper Peninsula. It becomes the third biggest
2:24:58
city in the state of Michigan that week, just behind Detroit
2:25:02
and Grand Rapids. And that's it.
2:25:04
It's bigger than Flynn. It's bigger than Kalamazoo.
2:25:06
It's bigger. That's the city, the population
2:25:09
grows exponentially. It's it's one of my favorite
2:25:13
race weeks and it's so unique because it's snowmobile racing
2:25:18
and but there's, I mean racing's racing guys, right?
2:25:21
I mean, it don't matter if you're in race cars,
2:25:23
snowmobiles, big wheels, bikes, it don't matter what it is.
2:25:25
The only difference in this I500 to a stock car race is
2:25:28
terminology. Tires are skis, drivers are
2:25:32
riders, steering wheels, a handlebar, shocks are carbides.
2:25:36
You know, the list goes on and on and on.
2:25:38
It's the same racing. It's just a different piece of
2:25:40
machinery is really all it is. The International Power
2:25:44
Snowmobile racetrack is located in Sioux Saint Marie, Michigan,
2:25:46
is directly behind Lake Superior State University.
2:25:49
Up in a zoo and from the right. I look out the right side of my
2:25:53
broadcast booth, I can see Canada.
2:25:55
That's how close it is to the border.
2:25:59
It's especially known up there as the Twin Siouxs, Sioux Saint
2:26:02
Marie, Michigan and Sioux Saint Marie, Ontario, Canada.
2:26:04
One of my favorite places to go. If I think when I retire, I have
2:26:10
this plan. When I do finally retire, when
2:26:12
I'm 89 or whatever it is, I'm going to spend my summers on
2:26:16
Mackinac Island being one of those carriage guys that told us
2:26:20
during the carriage rides. And then I'll spend my winters
2:26:23
either in Florida or I'm going to spend it in Sioux Saint
2:26:25
Marie, going to Lake Superior State, Laker hockey games.
2:26:29
Oh yeah. Well, I know again, that's where
2:26:31
hockey is another one of your passions and you get to call
2:26:34
that. You already talked a little bit
2:26:35
about it earlier, but how did you find yourself in a spot of
2:26:39
calling hockey games? Like how does that come about?
2:26:42
Well, I, I played hockey as a kid.
2:26:45
I was a goaltender. So I explained some brain
2:26:47
damage. I got hurt just out of just
2:26:53
after high school. I got, I blew my knee out and I
2:26:56
want to stay involved in hockey. So I became a referee and I
2:26:59
referee for 29 years. It was during the the later
2:27:03
stages of my refereeing career where I was living in
2:27:07
Westerville, OH at the time, NE suburb of Columbus Go blue.
2:27:12
Anyways, that's that's for all the Ohio guys in in the league I
2:27:18
call right now the United States Premier Hockey League.
2:27:21
They were the the city of Columbus was granted an
2:27:23
expansion franchise and I've always wanted to call hockey and
2:27:28
I got the opportunity with the Columbus Mavericks of the of the
2:27:30
USPHL spent two seasons there and then got made an offer I
2:27:37
couldn't refuse to come up to the Metro Jets hockey club based
2:27:40
up bases down the road from me here in Mount Cummins, Michigan.
2:27:43
One of the it's one of the goal not because they pay my salary,
2:27:46
not because I get checks from them, but they are the gold
2:27:48
standard junior hockey in North America are ironically, today
2:27:53
our schedules came out for all three of our teams.
2:27:56
We have made the transition up to Tier 2 junior hockey, and if
2:28:00
those who don't know what that is, Tier 2 hockey is a step
2:28:04
below tier one, which will be the United States Hockey League.
2:28:08
For example, for you guys, I'm a Segan Lumberjacks, the USA
2:28:11
Hockey national team development program.
2:28:14
It's also tier. Tier 1 is also the Ontario
2:28:16
Hockey League. Closer to me, the Flint
2:28:18
Firebirds, the Saginaw Spirit, the Windsor Spitfire is a Sarnia
2:28:22
Sting, the London Knights, only hour and a half away.
2:28:26
You know, from where I'm at, but the Metro Jets are now Tier 2,
2:28:30
the National Collegiate Development Conference.
2:28:32
So it's not surprised. It's not going to be surprising
2:28:35
to see a Metro Jetta 2 get called up to say the Firebirds
2:28:38
or do the Lumberjacks. You know, it's, it's the, it's
2:28:41
the feeder system to the premier junior hockey levels in the
2:28:44
world, the USHL and the OHL. And our schedule just came out
2:28:48
today, matter of fact. And opening weekend, September
2:28:51
25th and 26th, the Chicago Union and Chicago Crush come to town.
2:28:56
Wow, still during race season. So again, that's why your your
2:28:59
schedule is just going to be. Yeah, September and October can
2:29:02
get a little hairy. Like I said before.
2:29:04
I mean, there's been times where I've called a hockey game, a
2:29:06
couple hockey games on a Friday and then drive down to
2:29:09
Winchester Speedway on Saturday morning for, you know, the run
2:29:12
for the gun or something like that.
2:29:13
You know, it's it gets hairy around September, October.
2:29:17
Well, you know those time lapse that they always do about
2:29:20
stadium transitions where it goes from like football to
2:29:22
hockey to basketball or whatever concerts to wrestling or
2:29:26
whatever. There.
2:29:27
You should do that, Matt. You should make like a
2:29:30
transition where you go from calling a hockey game to calling
2:29:33
a race to it. Happens every year.
2:29:35
I'll, I'll call the first race of the season and I'll throw
2:29:38
hockey terms in there. Just whatever, you know, and
2:29:42
it's worse when hockey season starts and, you know, like, and
2:29:47
a penalty coming to car #18 you know, and I do that and I get in
2:29:53
my producer Matt name and he'll, he finds me $5 every time I make
2:29:56
a racing reference to, to enduring a hockey game.
2:30:00
And he makes bank off me the first week or two.
2:30:03
Although there are some ways that you probably could get away
2:30:06
with it. In fairness, though, like I've
2:30:08
tried a couple times, like, you know, with like Matthew LC
2:30:11
Junior, like, oh, how did I do it?
2:30:13
The one time I thought it was really clever.
2:30:15
Now I can't remember it, but I, I'll look because I, I was proud
2:30:18
of it. I because I don't know anything
2:30:19
about hockey, just to be fair, but I knew enough to say
2:30:23
something clever that someone's like that was really good.
2:30:25
Who are you a fan of? I don't know anything about
2:30:29
hockey. I know the Chicago Blackhawks
2:30:31
are not that far from me. That's what I know, but I've
2:30:33
learned. I've learned over the years that
2:30:36
my Motorsports broadcasting has really helped my hockey
2:30:40
broadcasting and vice versa. You know, hockey broadcasting,
2:30:43
you are on to you the racing term.
2:30:46
You're on the chip for 2 1/2 hours.
2:30:48
I mean, if you obviously you guys, if you guys have been to a
2:30:51
hockey game, it's they run wide open.
2:30:54
It's from start to finish. There is no downtime.
2:30:57
And even, you know, during in between periods when the Zamboni
2:31:00
comes out, resurfaces the ice, you're still doing something.
2:31:03
But yeah, calling hockey is really helped with racing and
2:31:07
vice versa, racing is really helped with calling hockey and I
2:31:10
enjoy both sports. I'm privileged to be able to do
2:31:12
both sports and I'm really looking forward to the rest of
2:31:17
the season, the wrapping up racing season and get started
2:31:20
with hockey. And I'll put you boys on the
2:31:22
spot. Give me a winner for this
2:31:24
weekend and Saturday at Hot Shoe.
2:31:26
Oh man, oh man, you are putting me on the spot.
2:31:31
I'm going to have to go with Matt Dimmitt.
2:31:32
Personally, I. Would see, I could see Aaron
2:31:36
Taylor, you know, coming around because he does have
2:31:40
championship back laid. But I mean, Ricky Leduc has
2:31:43
definitely. That's a good pick too.
2:31:45
He was so fast a couple weeks ago when I was up there.
2:31:47
That's not a bad pick at all. But sometimes is it like, is it
2:31:50
the pick that stands out? That's the pick that won't win,
2:31:53
right? It's kind of one of those like
2:31:54
if it, you know, because he he got caught up into a race
2:31:57
incident a few weeks ago that, you know, put him towards the
2:32:00
back and, you know, otherwise and but he moved back up, you
2:32:05
know, but but when you look at a field like this, it's like, OK,
2:32:08
but you're also going to have all these heavy hitters coming
2:32:11
from all these other places and they're all going to be on their
2:32:13
A game because they know if they're not, as you talked
2:32:15
about, if they're not on their A game, you're you're in the B and
2:32:20
you might be in the sea. And but I definitely think Ricky
2:32:22
Leduc, Aaron Taylor or I can definitely see Matt Dimon and
2:32:25
Matt Dimon, you know, he's won at Lorraine.
2:32:27
He run the, you know, won the jackpot there or was no, that
2:32:30
was when it's jackpot. So he won the jackpot.
2:32:32
So, you know, he's definitely a a front runner there.
2:32:34
But I have a feeling that all the names we said it's going to
2:32:37
be someone different. Yeah, it's just because that's.
2:32:40
The beauty of it, right? Anybody can.
2:32:43
It could be Brock Dennis. Anybody, but I'm going to give
2:32:45
you a couple guys to watch. Brian Bergaker, obviously, he's
2:32:50
really good. Trevor Berry from the east side
2:32:53
of the state, he's going to be really fun Cup.
2:32:56
The last two winners, Matt Dimmitt, Aaron Taylor are going
2:32:59
to be fun to watch. Blake Rowe, Brian Nester, two
2:33:02
former winners. And at Kalamazoo, I would
2:33:06
normally not call this driver an underdog, but we don't see him a
2:33:11
lot behind the wheel of a modified and that's Phil Bozell.
2:33:14
Oh yeah, and Phil's already in here.
2:33:16
He was and. And I know he got, I think he
2:33:19
was spun and I can't remember how it happened, but I think he
2:33:22
got spun and some damage. And so I know his night ended a
2:33:24
little shorter than he had planned, but I know he was in
2:33:28
here or still in here. He's definitely one to watch.
2:33:31
I think any time you put a Bozell in a car, you know, you
2:33:34
can give him 4 flat tires and they still have a chance.
2:33:36
But but, you know, he's definitely one who stands out.
2:33:42
Yeah, I I just think with the field, you know, I could see a
2:33:44
Brock Ganis winning it, right. He's going to be in a great car.
2:33:47
That's and a sharp looking car too.
2:33:48
That 24 is a good looking car. And you know, he could be up
2:33:51
there, you know, challenging for the spot.
2:33:53
So. None of us have, said Kenny
2:33:55
Wallace. Oh yeah.
2:33:57
Oh wow. Yeah, well, I think with him
2:34:00
being a little nervous about it, it's like maybe he doesn't need
2:34:02
all that pressure his own. Confidence.
2:34:03
Wasn't. Yeah.
2:34:06
And there's one more I want to mention in there, too.
2:34:08
He hasn't driven much this year, but he holds the modified track
2:34:11
record at Kalamazoo Speedway, and that's Walt Obrinski Junior.
2:34:15
Oh yeah, and he and they've had their machine out the both shows
2:34:18
this year. Yeah, his son, Walt Obrinski the
2:34:20
third, will be in the new shoe shootout.
2:34:22
Yep. And I think, I think that's
2:34:25
what's going to be interesting about the hot shoe is seeing
2:34:29
who, because we've had 2122 mods, right, 55 total or 53 now
2:34:34
are here, but only 2122 have shown up this season for the
2:34:39
trial runs. And so, you know, I that what I
2:34:42
want to wonder is do those drivers, those 21 or 22, do they
2:34:47
have a leg up and have some extra notes that other teams
2:34:51
won't have? Or do other teams, is it still
2:34:53
going to be an outsider who's like, we just have a really
2:34:56
great game plan. We kind of know what to expect.
2:34:58
They're going to figure it out on Friday and there it doesn't
2:35:01
matter how many times they race the Kalamazoo, they're going to
2:35:03
be able to go out and do that. So I think that's what's going
2:35:05
to be interesting is did those two races because they didn't
2:35:08
get rained out, right? We lost the late model race,
2:35:10
the, you know, before clash, but for the modifieds, they've had
2:35:13
both shows. So it's going to be, you know,
2:35:16
does Ricky Leduc, does he still keep his strong run?
2:35:18
Because again, he finished well despite going back that last
2:35:21
race. He finished well and he was on a
2:35:23
rail. But then you you had Burgaker
2:35:26
who was up there. I even think fast qualifier this
2:35:28
last time. I want to say yeah.
2:35:30
So, you know, you have Brian who obviously even a late model does
2:35:33
well. He won the Ohio William Man race
2:35:35
a few years ago. I know Tech said different, but
2:35:38
he won the race, you know, just weird things, right?
2:35:41
Yeah, that's why I said he won and I didn't post different, but
2:35:44
there's. A.
2:35:45
There's a reason why I've used that picture in Hashu promo.
2:35:48
Yeah, yeah, Yep. You know, and so, you know, you
2:35:50
have him, Tyler Hufford is gonna be, you know, out in the mod
2:35:55
again and, and giving that a shot.
2:35:57
So I I think it's gonna, it's gonna come.
2:36:01
I bet it comes down to the last 10 laps.
2:36:04
I would say that the. Like last year with Demon and
2:36:07
Josh Ware another contender. If you got that field change,
2:36:11
that's gonna help, right? That's gonna close the field
2:36:13
back again. So if they spread out a little
2:36:15
bit like they have the last two races accounts do, they've
2:36:18
spread out right, where modifieds are literally covering
2:36:20
every inch of the track. That fuel stop is going to bring
2:36:24
them all back together again. So do you have someone like a
2:36:26
Ricky Laduke who got stuck in the back this last time and
2:36:29
still works his way up? But hey, we got a reset.
2:36:32
We all get to go green flag racing one more time at at least
2:36:36
one more time at the end of the race, right?
2:36:37
It could be a couple, but at least one more and does that
2:36:41
maybe if someone gets stuck in the back or someone got put in
2:36:43
the back or whatever, does that give them a reset where all of a
2:36:46
sudden now you're like and business just picked up like Jr.
2:36:50
good old Jr. would say on Monday night Raw.
2:36:52
Business just picked up folks. So yeah, I'm.
2:36:54
Missing Monday Night Raw aren't. I yeah, yeah, we all are right
2:36:57
now. But Dan has, it's probably not
2:36:59
on. So we're not cursed.
2:37:00
But yeah, he's on Thursday or no, he's on Monday night.
2:37:04
So we might be cursed, but but but other than that, again, like
2:37:07
I said, those are my picks. That's who I think.
2:37:10
But like I said, I it could be any of those names and then it's
2:37:13
not going to be any of those names.
2:37:14
It's going to be someone who we're not thinking of.
2:37:16
Blake Rowe, you mentioned he's done so well in the in the late
2:37:18
models too there that I could definitely see him up there.
2:37:21
So again, I just think if you're not if you're not going to M40I
2:37:25
know M40 is racing. If you're not going to
2:37:27
Galesburg, I know Galesburg is racing.
2:37:29
If you're not going to New Paris, which were racing, you
2:37:33
find your way to Calamus, especially if you love
2:37:35
modifieds, you're just modifieds.
2:37:38
That's all you got to say, right?
2:37:39
If you love modifieds, I know if you love St.
2:37:42
Stocks, you might be torn between two spots because
2:37:44
Kalamazoo would certainly have a good field with their race and
2:37:47
obviously flagger boy. But if you're just out for
2:37:49
modified racing and love modified racing hunter laps, you
2:37:54
got to go Kalamazoo. So I know I'm excited for that
2:37:58
and just to see how it shakes out, especially for their trip
2:38:01
to Kalamazoo. Hopefully you won a many.
2:38:04
Hopefully this, you know, they found a little bit of a home
2:38:06
that they can stay at a little bit and then move it again in a
2:38:08
few years because like you said, they like to move it around.
2:38:11
You don't want to stay somewhere too long.
2:38:13
You know, you want to change it up.
2:38:14
But but yeah, no, I'm really excited for that.
2:38:18
Yeah, so am I. I mean, I said it's a crown
2:38:20
jewel of modified racing in the country this Friday and
2:38:23
Saturday, August 7th and 8th and I get to come back at Kalamazoo
2:38:27
for the another crown jewel. Only this time it's the crown
2:38:30
jewel, the Outlaw Super Weight Loss Zoo Class 34 on Wednesday,
2:38:34
August 19th. So some good, good racing coming
2:38:37
up starts this weekend with a hot shoe.
2:38:39
So, so other than that, if we haven't, I know it's 9/17.
2:38:43
So I'm going to let you get to bed because you've been you've
2:38:45
been on the show pretty much since like the start.
2:38:47
So you've been hanging out with us for a while.
2:38:48
I know you got to at least eat dinner a little bit while we
2:38:50
were waiting for Kenny to come on.
2:38:52
But that's like a perfect pinpoint.
2:38:53
We started with hot shoe conversation and you know, end
2:38:56
with hot shoe conversation. So I know you'll be on track,
2:39:01
tune, right, You'll be calling it on track.
2:39:03
Tune That's right, live the only if the only live broadcast of
2:39:08
the hot shoe 100 race weekend is audio only on the track Tune
2:39:12
app. It's a free app to download if
2:39:14
you're if you're on Android, go to your Google Play Store if
2:39:16
you're on if you're on the iPhone, go to your Apple store.
2:39:20
It's absolutely free to download and just search for Hot Shoe 100
2:39:25
and bring some earbuds. I might have a couple extra pair
2:39:28
I might sell you or give you. But yeah, the Hot Shoe 100 race
2:39:32
weekend will be live audio only, exclusively on track Tune.
2:39:36
Yep. So again, good luck to Yeah Buju
2:39:39
if you've never tried tractor. Yeah, that's.
2:39:42
A yeah, you have to get it. I think new pairs tried it a few
2:39:45
years ago when they had Cody Guyer I think was announcing at
2:39:48
the time they were trying to tractune, but I don't think they
2:39:51
use it anymore. But I somewhere they still the
2:39:53
banner, but I don't they don't use it anymore.
2:39:55
But definitely I know you'll be on there and I think will Joel
2:39:58
be on Joel be on there for the Street stock portion?
2:40:00
Yeah, Joel, Joel has the Street stocks all taken care of this
2:40:03
weekend? I got I got the modified all
2:40:05
sort of way. So yeah, they're looking forward
2:40:07
to working with Joel. I know he has some big shoes to
2:40:10
fill there. When Jason.
2:40:14
When Jason Seltzer was there and that Joel's definitely some big
2:40:17
shoes to fill, but he's doing a good job.
2:40:19
Yeah, he yeah, he he danced on the front stretch.
2:40:22
That's how he got his way into announcing.
2:40:24
So be careful Buju if you dance too much.
2:40:27
Sometimes he danced on the front stretch, sometimes you tell
2:40:29
Lewis he'll Co host the podcast for a few weeks and.
2:40:31
Then yeah, and then look at you. But again, I forgot the top of
2:40:35
the hour again. But we've been talking with Matt
2:40:37
Preer, who won the media award, best in Michigan, the media
2:40:41
award for the Michigan Auto Racing Fan Club.
2:40:43
And then if you did miss it, we had Kenny Head, not at 7:15, but
2:40:47
around 730. Kenny Head came on.
2:40:49
Matt Preer was about eight O 5 S the time are a little wrong, but
2:40:54
we had Kenny Wallace. He was a little late.
2:40:56
He was in Wisconsin and he's had a family vacation.
2:40:58
So you know we did get him on about 7:15.
2:41:02
So if you go back and you listen to the broadcast for anything
2:41:05
that you miss at about 7:15, which would be about what Buju
2:41:08
at that point is about 40 minutes into the broadcast
2:41:11
because we started with Evan Burdine right away at 640.
2:41:14
Evan was on and him and Buju held down the Fort while I was
2:41:18
doing some production things on the side and they hate you
2:41:22
didn't crash. Yeah, nothing crash.
2:41:24
And I like I said, I heard all the conversation you guys did
2:41:26
fantastic. So again, you can go back.
2:41:29
So 640 Evan Burdine. Of course, this is Monday night
2:41:32
rewind presented by national compact touring series Federated
2:41:34
all parts and ALH detailing. But again, 640 just doing the
2:41:38
timestamps for those who are watching now about 715 Kenny
2:41:41
Wallace about 730 Kenny had, which would be about about 50
2:41:46
minutes into the broadcast. And then Matt Career coming on,
2:41:50
I'm not doing that math, but it's at 8:00, so one hour and
2:41:54
about 20 minutes or so, 30 minutes that Matt Pier came on.
2:41:57
And then obviously he's helping us close the show or temporarily
2:42:01
Kenny Pier just to match up with the things.
2:42:04
But yes, Kenny, Evan Preer. But I know you're when you came
2:42:08
on, you already said it's past your bedtime.
2:42:09
And it's not past my bedtime. And past but but that's where I
2:42:13
thank you so much for joining us tonight.
2:42:15
Again, you're one of the best in the business.
2:42:16
So it's so awesome to have you and and no echo.
2:42:20
We had I know we had a little duckling thing we figured out we
2:42:23
were we are bouncing off of Evan's phone.
2:42:26
That's that's why you heard the little thing at the start was it
2:42:29
was just bouncing back. I was bouncing off of Evan's
2:42:31
phone. But thank goodness we figure out
2:42:34
the echo stuff. Like I said, I paid enough damn
2:42:35
money for that, so we we were not.
2:42:38
Going to sleep. The night now I yeah, I did not
2:42:40
sleep at all. I was so stressed between last
2:42:43
night and today. I just I couldn't I didn't even
2:42:45
edit Matt on board cameras, which I wanted to.
2:42:47
I'm like I just I couldn't stop moving and pacing.
2:42:50
I was pacing all day. I'm like this just needs to work
2:42:52
for us. So, so again, thank you so much
2:42:55
for coming back and working through all the technical
2:42:57
difficulties the last time, but definitely safe travels on your
2:43:00
way to Kalamazoo for an awesome weekend and safe travels
2:43:03
everywhere you're going because again, you're on the road until
2:43:05
like. 18 day road trip brother. It's crazy I don't know that I I
2:43:10
don't know that I could do that. I super shoe weekend in Michigan
2:43:14
cup weekend away from home was long enough for me.
2:43:16
So again, Matt, thank you so much for joining us tonight and
2:43:20
definitely share out the stream. I know it's a a little bit of a
2:43:24
marathon tonight with the full everything, but definitely
2:43:27
packed. I mean, just in fact, if you
2:43:30
don't find somebody that you'd like listening to tonight, then
2:43:32
I don't know, check your pulse. That's on you.
2:43:35
Because this was probably our most 25th episode, the most
2:43:38
loaded episode that we probably had in the in our short, short
2:43:41
history. But again, it's because of
2:43:43
people like Matt, Kenny and Evan and of course, Kenny Wallace, a
2:43:46
huge name joining. So, so Matt, it's our favorite
2:43:49
part of the night where I'm going to let's see.
2:43:53
Do you remember how I always close the show?
2:43:58
I. Won't.
2:44:00
It's on the spot making us a particular modifier.
2:44:02
So yeah, yeah, well, and I'm not sure because it's also like
2:44:07
bedtime too, right? But so I always like to close
2:44:09
off with it's. I always say Buju Dalton Irish
2:44:12
shit. It like extremely well.
2:44:14
Like he hadn't even doubted my mannerism.
2:44:15
So I'm like, that's a little creepy in a good way.
2:44:17
Like like, oh, he really listens.
2:44:19
But, but I always say Buju or I say, well, buju, it's time to
2:44:23
turn left and go fast because. We'll see you at the races.
2:44:27
Again, we'll see you at the races.
2:44:28
Have a great night everybody and thank you for listening.