Latest / Top Row Racing Media Monday Night Rewind / Episode 34 | Monday Night Rewind | Matthew Elsey Jr. | Michigan Cup Recap | Jerry Osterhouse

Transcript

Episode 34 | Monday Night Rewind | Matthew Elsey Jr. | Michigan Cup Recap | Jerry Osterhouse · Top Row Racing Media Monday Night Rewind

• 1:03
  What's up race fans? It's Monday and it is time to
• 1:06
  rewind on top of racing media. With the Monday Night Rewind
• 1:10
  presented by Federated Auto Parts and the LH detailing.
• 1:13
  This is a digital scrapbook of short track racing in Michiana,
• 1:17
  or excuse me, in Michigan and Indiana.
• 1:19
  I guess that works too, Michiana.
• 1:21
  But as always, live on Monday night on top of racing media.
• 1:25
  I am Buju, sometimes race car driver, host of a whole bunch of
• 1:28
  shows now and joined as always by the man in the top row
• 1:31
  himself, Louis notes. But we have a good line up a
• 1:34
  guest tonight, Matt. Matt, LC, Junior gonna be our
• 1:37
  first guest. Matthew, his mom just rolled
• 1:39
  over. Yeah, she's gonna kill you now.
• 1:43
  That's OK. I didn't.
• 1:44
  I'm sorry you did it. But yeah, I'm sorry to see that.
• 1:46
  Matthew, LC Junior Matthew. LC Junior.
• 1:50
  Hot off of a win at Michigan Cup, correct?
• 1:55
  Yes. Yeah, sorry I'm unemployed.
• 1:58
  I I was at the campground this weekend.
• 2:00
  I don't, I don't know his name. I don't know he won this
• 2:02
  weekend, but he will be on the show tonight looking forward to
• 2:05
  that. And also Jerry Osterhouse, hot
• 2:07
  off of a great season and a great end of the season as well.
• 2:09
  So he'll be joining us as our 2nd guest tonight.
• 2:12
  We've also got roulette with the wheel, whatever we call that
• 2:16
  where I get put on the hot seat, rewind roulette.
• 2:18
  There we go. The wheel will determine what we
• 2:20
  talk about with that. But how are you doing tonight?
• 2:25
  Back is extremely sore, but other than that, that's at at
• 2:28
  Springport. I stand on grates and they move
• 2:32
  and shift. So I have a very nice black and
• 2:35
  blue spot on my back from my injury last February, not this
• 2:39
  past February, but the previous February.
• 2:41
  And so I'm like, oh, that's, that's great.
• 2:45
  That's good. But it felt great to be back
• 2:48
  home though. I mean, that's just something
• 2:50
  that, you know, for a lot of us spring ports diehards that, you
• 2:57
  know, we didn't get a lot of closure when everything went
• 3:00
  down. And you know, a couple of us
• 3:02
  were at Michigan Cup last year and it just wasn't the same,
• 3:05
  didn't feel the same, although you saw a lot of familiar faces,
• 3:09
  but it didn't have the same vibe as like 2024 and 2023 when it
• 3:15
  was 2023 and 4 where, you know, one of Donnie's goals was we
• 3:20
  just cuz we went head to head with Owosso nationals and it was
• 3:23
  can we get more than them? Right?
• 3:24
  You know, can we just get more than them?
• 3:26
  And each year we did, and I'm obviously last year, like I
• 3:29
  said, was completely different vibe.
• 3:31
  But this year 257 cars, they just kept coming from anywhere
• 3:34
  and everywhere. And so, so I was really excited
• 3:38
  for that. I, I was really happy for Donnie
• 3:40
  and crew. David Miller, who's also a
• 3:44
  partnership with with Donnie and the whole thing at Springport,
• 3:47
  but it just felt really good to be back, be back home.
• 3:50
  So I know it's, it's a it's tough thing about 2027, right?
• 3:56
  Because I know the big question that I had this weekend from a
• 3:59
  lot of people is, so we're going to see you next year.
• 4:00
  We're going to see you next year.
• 4:02
  And it's like, well, right now I'm, you know, committed to New
• 4:04
  Paris and, you know, in their schedule and I'm excited for
• 4:07
  their schedule too. But it's like, you know, they've
• 4:10
  open dates, they have open things.
• 4:11
  So we'll just see how it all shakes out.
• 4:14
  And I said, it's a long winter. You never know, you know, all
• 4:17
  the things that happened between now and then.
• 4:18
  But but other than that, you know, I, it looks like it was a
• 4:22
  really nice night of destruction too for New Paris.
• 4:25
  I know I originally had that on the schedule, but you know, even
• 4:27
  leading up my guts like I need to be at Springport.
• 4:30
  And I was really glad I was at Springport.
• 4:32
  Yeah, what did the final car count ended up being up there?
• 4:35
  It was 257. Yeah, that's insane.
• 4:37
  I like, as I I said on my show, like outside of like Chili Bowl,
• 4:41
  what, what show draws that many cars without you know?
• 4:45
  Yeah, we had and yeah, so it was, I don't know all the
• 4:50
  numbers off the top of my head, but I'll bring it up on my race
• 4:52
  pass. I know there's 114 port stocks
• 4:55
  throughout the weekend, which is not unusual for Michigan cup a
• 4:59
  few years ago is 11 O 4:00 somewhere in there.
• 5:03
  So that's not like a insane number.
• 5:07
  It sounds insane, but it's not right And and not many many
• 5:11
  stocks are a couple many stocks, but these are mostly front wheel
• 5:14
  drives. They had 26 late model
• 5:18
  sportsman, which was I think close to a high for that
• 5:25
  division. If not, it's past it.
• 5:28
  Modifieds. There are 39 modifieds on the
• 5:31
  property which includes our winner, Matthew LC Junior.
• 5:34
  So as I said in my live yesterday when I did like a
• 5:37
  little recap, because when he had a huge puff of smoke coming
• 5:40
  out of his car during practice or during qualifying on
• 5:44
  Saturday, there is lots of cheers over in turn 3
• 5:48
  celebrating the events. And you know, by a lot of people
• 5:53
  who can't find Victory Lane even if they were standing in it.
• 5:56
  And you know, so he beat he beat a good field of cars.
• 6:00
  It's not like he showed up in there seven cars and he was just
• 6:04
  faster than six others. I mean, he had to beat a lot of
• 6:07
  people. So then there are 40 9th St.
• 6:10
  stocks, like I said, 114 port stocks.
• 6:13
  I knew that one we had they were talking G feature, but then they
• 6:17
  did more based on time rather than cutting like here's 2020
• 6:21
  next 20 next 181818 whatever. They ended up splitting it where
• 6:25
  like one feature had 26 cars another.
• 6:28
  And you would think with that many, like a lot of people are
• 6:31
  like, oh, it's going to be rec fest though.
• 6:32
  The front wheel drive is really there are moments, but and there
• 6:36
  are certainly time limits that were met over the weekend.
• 6:38
  But at the same time, you know, 26 cars on the track, you can do
• 6:42
  that at Springport. It's tight at Kalamazoo, but
• 6:45
  Springport has long straight ways.
• 6:46
  They go like 10 wide as Chris Foby said one time.
• 6:50
  And they can, you can get away with a little bit more at
• 6:53
  Springport then maybe you can some of the other tracks like at
• 6:56
  Kalamazoo and M 4026 would probably be pushing it a little
• 7:01
  bit. You know, just with the late
• 7:04
  configuration of that 3/8, obviously at a place like New
• 7:08
  Paris in South Bend, you're not going to put more than maybe 16
• 7:11
  out there, right? So I mean, you know, because we
• 7:14
  know what it looks like, right? So Springport is a little bit
• 7:17
  more forgiving in that sense. Even Owosso, you know, Owosso
• 7:20
  has a little bit more straightway to it than M40 in
• 7:23
  Kalamazoo. So you could probably get away
• 7:24
  with that at Owosso too, having a deeper field then 20 limited
• 7:30
  late models, which is one of the highest this season for any
• 7:32
  track and then 9 Crown Vics and those that Crown Victoria
• 7:36
  feature definitely was is similar to late model feature
• 7:40
  over at Kalamazoo the previous week.
• 7:42
  Where is, you know better than probably what it deserved to be.
• 7:45
  There's a really good battle between Zach Denton and then one
• 7:48
  of our guest tonight, Jerry Osterhouse.
• 7:50
  So they put on a little bit of a show that you know, you're
• 7:55
  thinking 9 cars have a big track.
• 7:56
  What's that going to look like? So it was better than I think it
• 8:01
  what a lot of people would have expected it to be.
• 8:03
  But the crowd though, and we have time for Michigan Cup so I
• 8:07
  don't want to dive too much into too much into Matthew's time,
• 8:12
  but I gave us about 30 ish minutes that we could talk
• 8:16
  Michigan Cup so we can get in more detail there.
• 8:18
  But because I want to talk about crowd, I want to just talk about
• 8:21
  the facility. I want to talk about a lot of
• 8:23
  the things with Michigan Cup. So if you're ready, we can put a
• 8:27
  put a pin in Michigan Cup and talk about someone who won three
• 8:32
  races on Sunday. 1 was by foot where he caught up with Donnie
• 8:37
  Ritter and he had race against Tanner Jack and a couple other
• 8:42
  people. I don't know who I was doing and
• 8:43
  I didn't even know what's happening.
• 8:44
  Next thing I know, Trevor Hoekstra was like, well, I hope
• 8:47
  you got pictures of that. And I went of what you know, I'm
• 8:49
  mounting cameras, I'm chasing cars down, going OK, if you're
• 8:52
  not out of your trailer by 12:20, I'm just going to go to
• 8:55
  the next guy. Like, you know, I got a certain
• 8:57
  time I got to be done. So I'm like, I didn't know
• 8:59
  there's a foot race. I missed, completely missed the
• 9:02
  memo there. But sometimes I say the video
• 9:04
  guys the last last to find out anything.
• 9:07
  So it's like, well, I would have been there if I knew it was a
• 9:10
  thing. So But other than that, he won
• 9:12
  that. That's a six foot trophy.
• 9:14
  Again, thank you to Trevor Hoekstra.
• 9:16
  He's done a lot of sponsorships in the area.
• 9:19
  He had a nice run too. I call it the Bumblebee St.
• 9:21
  stock. I keep trying to convince him
• 9:23
  don't change it. He's done really well in the
• 9:25
  black and yellow. So I'm like, maybe that's his
• 9:26
  color and his GM. He's always had nice looking St.
• 9:29
  socks, but that black and yellow is really sharp.
• 9:32
  And so he Matthew won that And then he had to work for that 4
• 9:36
  wheel drive. I mean, he was stuck in the back
• 9:37
  there for a while, but choose cone and other things help out.
• 9:40
  And then and then the modified race once he got front, I mean,
• 9:44
  there was some challenge, but I, I truly think even if that went
• 9:48
  another 10 laps, he still pulled that out.
• 9:50
  But before we get into it, since we are talking a little bit
• 9:52
  about Michigan Cup for a brain Buster Springboard has operated
• 9:55
  under how many names and bonus who challenged Russ Densmore,
• 9:59
  the original owner, to build his own racetrack?
• 10:03
  Oh my gosh, are racetrack if you could do it better.
• 10:06
  So was it 9? Is it 9 different names, 5
• 10:09
  different names, three different names or 10 different names?
• 10:11
  It's actually had a lot of names including and one season it had
• 10:14
  two names and then was it? And then who is the challenger?
• 10:18
  Paul Zimmerman? And these are all people who are
• 10:20
  part of Michigan or Supreme Court history.
• 10:23
  Paul Zimmerman, Ronnie John Cox, Maurice Randall.
• 10:28
  Ronnie John Cox was an injury driver, Morris Randall was a
• 10:31
  ARCA NASCAR driver, and then Russ Cowpert.
• 10:34
  So other than that, like I said, you have your rewind roulette
• 10:38
  coming up. But if you're ready, we can
• 10:40
  bring on a bad fast. Matthew LC junior sweeping
• 10:43
  Sunday Michigan Cup. So you ready, Boozoo?
• 10:46
  Let's do it. All right, so we have been
• 10:49
  trying to get bad fast on since snow was on the ground.
• 10:53
  So he had hockey. He had just this is in March, I
• 10:56
  believe, because he had just went to Connecticut to do
• 10:59
  hockey. So it's been a while that we've
• 11:02
  been trying to get Matthew on. So I'm excited to have Matthew
• 11:05
  on. Of course, his dad and and mom's
• 11:09
  help sponsor, I guess not technically sponsored,
• 11:13
  technically not official marketing partners, but official
• 11:15
  supplier of all things, top row quality graphics.
• 11:18
  So always making sure that he has good looking rides.
• 11:21
  So I can't appreciate more Christina and Matt.
• 11:24
  And of course, his sister Chloe always keeps me on my toes at
• 11:27
  the racetrack too. So again, welcome Matthew to
• 11:30
  your debut episode of The Monday Night Reward.
• 11:33
  Thank you guys. Well, I know you got a dog
• 11:35
  behind you, so from time to time you might see a show behind
• 11:38
  Matthew, but certainly putting on a show this past Sunday was
• 11:42
  Elsie Junior. And so you know, the softball
• 11:46
  question I always like to start off with, and we'll go from
• 11:48
  there, is for those who are watching who may not know who
• 11:51
  Matthew LC Junior is or they definitely know who you are, but
• 11:54
  they don't know the maybe the face, right?
• 11:56
  So who is Matthew LC Junior? Well, I mean, as you know,
• 12:00
  Matthew's my name. I'm a, I'm a junior compared to
• 12:02
  my dad. He's a senior.
• 12:04
  So, you know, I'm 21 years old, born and raised in Michigan,
• 12:08
  kind of grew up into the racing family.
• 12:10
  So, you know, my grandpa's raised, my dad's raised, my
• 12:13
  mom's raised. So kind of got born into it.
• 12:16
  You know, we started when I was 6 in the quarter midgets and
• 12:19
  from there we kind of took a little break till I was 14.
• 12:22
  And once I was 14, we started in the front wheel drives and kind
• 12:25
  of evolved from there. Well, and obviously in the front
• 12:29
  wheel drives, I mean, you've been Juju and I talked a little
• 12:32
  bit about breakout rules and everything in the past and
• 12:35
  you've been a driver who has been really close to
• 12:37
  championships. But you had the breakout, right?
• 12:40
  And you or no, that's TomTom Metz Junior and I last week we
• 12:44
  talked about that. And so you've had you fall into
• 12:46
  the breakout rule where you almost had a championship.
• 12:48
  You have different things, but it's like finally, once you got
• 12:51
  that championship, you have just steamrolled to a lot of
• 12:54
  championships in the same seasons multiple times.
• 12:57
  Of course, we're on the national compact page.
• 12:59
  You're a national compact champion.
• 13:01
  So what was it like for you? You know, you were in a big rack
• 13:05
  at at South Bend a few years ago where you broke your wrist on
• 13:08
  the front stretch. You got hit hard at the Jarrett
• 13:11
  Memorial that they had there. That was like 2022, I think.
• 13:15
  And so, you know, you're you're young, you're getting into the
• 13:17
  track. You know, you're chasing
• 13:19
  championships, you're showing competitive, your competitive
• 13:23
  spirit to basically be perfect every time you're on the track.
• 13:27
  So what is it like been for you when you think back at your
• 13:31
  young age about man, you know, M40 champion, Kalamazoo
• 13:36
  champion, national compact champion, super shoe winner,
• 13:40
  Michigan Cup winner. I mean, you've won every track,
• 13:45
  I think in Michigan so far or close to every track.
• 13:47
  So like when you think about your career and where you've
• 13:50
  been, what's it like for you? I mean, like you said, I mean it
• 13:54
  started back in 2019 in the front wheel drives, the zoo
• 13:56
  stocks at Kalamazoo and they kind of had the breakout rule
• 13:59
  and we made it all the way up to championship night.
• 14:02
  And I believe I was passing for 4th in the feature and that's
• 14:06
  when I broke out was during the feature.
• 14:08
  So that was pretty heartbreaking.
• 14:09
  You know, first year racing it, it definitely it hurt the heart
• 14:13
  a little bit and then COVID hit. So with not not many tracks
• 14:17
  running for a championship, it was a very long wait trying to
• 14:21
  get that first one. And then in 2021 we had another
• 14:25
  go at in the zoo stocks where, you know, I was going into the
• 14:28
  championship night leading by like 20 points and I ended up
• 14:31
  breaking out and qualifying, which basically just handed the
• 14:35
  win right over to Tyler McGann, which that was an amazing season
• 14:38
  racing with him. But then we got the National
• 14:42
  Compact Touring Series championship in 2022, which 22
• 14:46
  is a rough year, you know, moving up to the outlaw front
• 14:48
  wheel drives and, you know, having that big wreck at South
• 14:52
  Bend kind of put a hurt the soul a little bit.
• 14:55
  But you know, we we still stayed competitive and being consistent
• 15:00
  and winning the championship of the compacts and then 23, you
• 15:03
  know, winning three in a three in one year was definitely
• 15:06
  something I've never dreamed of doing, you know, because it's
• 15:10
  very unlikely to win more than one in one year.
• 15:13
  So to win three, it was kind of a a big deal.
• 15:17
  Well, not only three, but then, you know, as you continue,
• 15:21
  you've kind of gotten like the New York Yankees treatment, you
• 15:24
  know, the Notre Dame treatment, the now Kansas City Chiefs
• 15:27
  treatment, right? Where as you've had this
• 15:29
  success, right, obviously the target gets bigger and bigger
• 15:34
  and bigger and bigger. And then like you got a lot of
• 15:38
  cheers on Sunday and I was up top.
• 15:40
  I'm like, well, you can tell there's no place like home
• 15:42
  because if this were at Kalamazoo, you would have
• 15:45
  definitely not been getting, you know, a lot of cheers, you know,
• 15:49
  So with that, what is it like sometimes to play the heel and,
• 15:53
  and, and the racing industry where you know, you're going out
• 15:56
  and you're winning, you're working your butt off.
• 15:57
  You have a lot of people who are talking about you, but does that
• 16:00
  ever carry on you? Does that ever put any pressure
• 16:03
  on you when you're out on the track?
• 16:04
  Because again, I just know you and yourself is that you're,
• 16:07
  you're wanting like perfection when you're on the track.
• 16:11
  And so, you know, what is it like to block out that noise or
• 16:15
  and there's sort of times that it's hard to block out that
• 16:17
  noise. Yeah, I mean, I, you know, grew
• 16:20
  up, you know, with the whole hockey thing.
• 16:22
  So like there's always been a lot of smack talk and you kind
• 16:24
  of just got to draw out the noises, you know.
• 16:26
  So even in in any sport, there's always going to be haters.
• 16:29
  So, you know, it's kind of just let them talk.
• 16:33
  I mean, if they're talking about you, you're doing something
• 16:35
  right. It's that's kind of the memo I
• 16:37
  go by. So, you know, as long as they're
• 16:39
  talking about me, I, I think we're, we're going in the right
• 16:42
  path. Obviously.
• 16:43
  We've definitely been in the front wheel drive for a long
• 16:46
  time to a point where like, yeah, the car has to be perfect
• 16:50
  for me because I know what it's capable of doing.
• 16:53
  So if we have a bad night, we know there's something wrong.
• 16:56
  You know, we got to work harder. And now moving to the mod, I
• 16:59
  mean, it's a whole different ball game.
• 17:00
  You know, I can't expect to win every race.
• 17:02
  I have to, you know, we have to work and we have to earn it.
• 17:05
  You know, I'm like the front wheel drive where it's kind of
• 17:08
  more of a given rather than earning.
• 17:09
  You have to. We still work on the thing and
• 17:11
  make it fast, but it's definitely five years of work
• 17:15
  compared to four months of work with the mod.
• 17:19
  So let's talk about the mod in your move up.
• 17:22
  What has that been a challenge at all for like you because we
• 17:25
  had Haley Bola on here a few weeks ago and she's talked very
• 17:28
  openly all season about jumping from the Hornet being very
• 17:31
  dominating to the street stock has been really frustrating for
• 17:34
  her. So for you to jump into the mod,
• 17:37
  right, you know, even Joel in the you know, in the comment
• 17:41
  section awfully quiet from the move up.
• 17:42
  A class can only win in front wheel drives.
• 17:44
  I mean you and like I said on my live yesterday, that field that
• 17:48
  you beat yesterday, I mean beat you didn't get it by chance.
• 17:51
  It's not like someone spun out and someone didn't break out
• 17:54
  like you got up front and you race like.
• 17:57
  So what has been the challenge for you moving up from the front
• 18:00
  wheel drives to then the modified and staying grounded
• 18:03
  with that? But then what was it for you
• 18:05
  yesterday to just look at the field behind you, all the names
• 18:10
  behind you, the Champions behind you, the history behind you, and
• 18:13
  go, I just won against this field.
• 18:18
  Yeah, I mean, so the mod, it just takes that much more effort
• 18:21
  to to put it together, you know, and it's to be consistent takes
• 18:26
  a lot. So going out every practice, you
• 18:28
  know, things are changing and even the smallest change can
• 18:31
  actually make a huge difference. So doing all that and you know,
• 18:37
  going into a feature with that many cars, I mean from besides
• 18:40
  Burgager being 2/10 quicker than second place, I mean from 2nd to
• 18:44
  20th was I think less than 2/10. So yeah, we were 14th quick, but
• 18:48
  we were also .11 off of 2nd quick.
• 18:51
  So like it was a very, very competitive field, you know, So
• 18:55
  I mean to get out front early was definitely a little nerve
• 18:59
  wracking because I I knew how to be smooth and consistent and
• 19:02
  then hated to see that yellow come out with tend to go and
• 19:06
  then to see Bryant Berghager to my outside.
• 19:08
  I mean, you know, he's been the most dominant in the modifies
• 19:11
  all year. You know, he's kicked my butt at
• 19:13
  Kalamazoo all three times. So like, you know, seeing him
• 19:17
  out there was a little nerve wracking, but I knew that if I
• 19:20
  could just run my line and you know, with how close everyone
• 19:23
  was in the in the times that we would have a really good chance.
• 19:27
  Well, it even showed that I wasn't at Kalamazoo earlier this
• 19:31
  year that you had a top five run in the mod, if I remember
• 19:34
  correctly. And then I mean, even at New
• 19:36
  Paris, you know that your first time at New Paris, there's a lot
• 19:39
  of people who struggle at New Paris just because it is, it's a
• 19:42
  different animal to a lot of tracks.
• 19:44
  And but even there, you know, you're running up front, you're
• 19:47
  running with people. It's not like you were getting
• 19:50
  blown out of the water there. So for that, you've shown a lot
• 19:53
  of promise in this mod, right? So I think for a lot of people
• 19:56
  who really truly watch, it wasn't surprising, You know that
• 19:59
  you've had success in the mod and that you've had success, and
• 20:04
  obviously you have people behind you helping you with the success
• 20:07
  too. So do you want to talk a little
• 20:09
  bit? You did it in your Facebook post
• 20:10
  a little bit earlier, but do you want to talk about some of the
• 20:12
  people who have been behind you specifically with the mod?
• 20:15
  Yeah, with the Mod, I mean, as previously owned, I mean, Tom
• 20:19
  Rutherford ran that car at Springport.
• 20:21
  You know, he's been super helpful helping us get that
• 20:25
  thing straight now. I mean, he knows that car more
• 20:27
  than anybody. So Tom Rutherford is a big help.
• 20:30
  His brother Andy, not Bozo, excuse me, Rutherford, he's been
• 20:34
  a lot of help at Springport this weekend, you know, helping out
• 20:39
  Tim Bolas has been very helpful with that.
• 20:42
  He's always working on that thing, especially the front end,
• 20:45
  building air boxes, anything like that.
• 20:47
  You know, he's always very smart about the modified and you know,
• 20:51
  it's kind of a small team, but obviously my parents as well.
• 20:54
  I mean, that's, that's kind of our team that kind of helps out
• 20:57
  mainly me and my dad that are really wrenching on the car, my
• 21:01
  mom here and there as well. But you know, it's it's not a
• 21:04
  big team like many others have. Well, and Buju hasn't seen all
• 21:10
  the possible rewind roulettes conversations.
• 21:13
  We'll have sniper. That's definitely one of the
• 21:16
  topics that I have in there is that, you know, short track
• 21:19
  racing for the long time has been known as like the working
• 21:22
  man's sport. But more and more you're seeing
• 21:25
  teams that are well funded, you know, coming in with teams with
• 21:30
  all the tools and the technology and people and all the things
• 21:33
  where it's like, you know, you have someone like Matt Kemp who
• 21:37
  is next level talent who finds opportunities as he can to get
• 21:41
  next level, but those doors are still not wide open for him.
• 21:45
  And you're someone too, who has shown next level talent where,
• 21:49
  you know, you should have a lot of opportunities to jump in a
• 21:51
  lot of things. So are there classes or
• 21:55
  divisions that you've thought about?
• 21:57
  Like, OK, you're doing the mod now, but do you have any?
• 21:59
  Like, what are some of your dreams?
• 22:01
  Like, do you ever want to be in an ARCA car someday?
• 22:03
  Or do you ever want to try to get to a NASCAR or do you just
• 22:05
  want to go beat people up on the hockey rink?
• 22:07
  You know, like, you know what? What do you want to do with your
• 22:10
  racing career? You know, it's I'm having a lot
• 22:13
  of fun in the mod. I think the mod is very
• 22:15
  competitive and like all the states, it's not just here, you
• 22:18
  know, you go down to Florida or even Vegas.
• 22:20
  They have big shows over there. But like I've always been a big
• 22:24
  super late model fan. So like to go race and like say
• 22:27
  the snowball Derby or like running CRA, like the series
• 22:31
  like that, like that's one of my goals is to definitely run with
• 22:34
  them one day. I think that the the best
• 22:37
  competition is there. Arca is definitely one thing
• 22:42
  I've always wanted to do as well.
• 22:44
  Just never actually looked into it ever hard or anything like
• 22:47
  that. But like yeah, ARCA and like
• 22:49
  super late models are always but my favorite classes to go into.
• 22:54
  Now I feel like I'm leaving Buju out, so I'm going to toss it to
• 22:57
  another front wheel drive racer. That way, you know, he kind of
• 23:00
  looks a little lonely over there.
• 23:02
  So I definitely don't want to make him feel like he's left
• 23:04
  out, but I know he's been sick too.
• 23:06
  He's been overcoming, you know, stuff.
• 23:08
  So. But his voice mostly is back.
• 23:10
  So I'm going to hand it over to him for a little bit so he can
• 23:13
  get some of his thoughts in there too.
• 23:15
  Drinking this weekend probably didn't help.
• 23:17
  With the voice. But do you know the number of
• 23:19
  tracks you've raised? Matt Matthew got do it again.
• 23:22
  Sorry. Christina's going to kill you
• 23:24
  for sure. I wish I knew.
• 23:27
  I know my very first year I ran 14, that's all I remember.
• 23:31
  But we can probably add at least 10 to 15 more on to that.
• 23:35
  So I would say at least 30 tracks I've raced.
• 23:38
  What's 1? You want another shot at?
• 23:40
  One that maybe you didn't have figured out.
• 23:42
  Five Flags. We definitely didn't have the
• 23:44
  car until I think now that is definitely one track I really,
• 23:48
  really want to go back to and see what we have.
• 23:51
  We kind of just had the not the best car to go there, but I
• 23:55
  definitely want to go to Slinger.
• 23:57
  I want to go back to Slinger. I mean, that is by far my
• 23:59
  favorite track. Even in front wheel drive.
• 24:02
  I mean, be able to let off and then floor it right away.
• 24:04
  Like the speed and then adrenaline is probably one of
• 24:07
  the best feelings over there. There's a lot of new tracks I
• 24:10
  want to go to. I mean, I want to go race in
• 24:12
  Indianapolis Raceway Park. Like that is one track I really
• 24:16
  want to go to. Even Nashville Fairgrounds,
• 24:19
  that's the track I want to go to.
• 24:20
  So there's there's still a few out there that we got to find
• 24:23
  the opportunities to go to. But definitely Five Flags is 1 I
• 24:28
  really want to go back to. Anything big on the schedule
• 24:31
  right now or just kind of trying to see what opportunities come
• 24:34
  down the road? You know, next year we haven't
• 24:38
  looked at anything too big, but I am going to go run my front
• 24:41
  wheel drive at Hartford in a couple weeks for their big $3000
• 24:45
  to win race. So going to try out dirt for the
• 24:47
  first time. Never done it.
• 24:49
  I've always hated that eye racing but we'll we'll see how
• 24:51
  it goes in real life so it should be a blast.
• 24:56
  Yeah, go ahead, Louis. Oh no, I was just showing the
• 25:00
  nightmare in Bowie St. So that's what he's for those
• 25:02
  who don't know, that's what he's talking about.
• 25:03
  That banner was already there. That wasn't like a pre planned
• 25:06
  answer from Matthew where I'm like, oh, that's like perfect
• 25:08
  timing. That was one of our banners
• 25:10
  because I know your mom raced on dirt last year for the first
• 25:14
  time, if I remember, in the enduro and she seemed to have
• 25:16
  fun with that. So, so I mean, do you have any,
• 25:22
  any idea of what you're going to do on dirt?
• 25:24
  Like have you, do you have an idea from watching how your mom
• 25:26
  did, how you might do yourself or you just kind of like what
• 25:28
  we're going to find out what happens?
• 25:30
  No, we're going to wing it. We're going to, we're going to
• 25:32
  see what we could do, get a little insight on a couple
• 25:35
  people that have raced dirt. But other than that, I no idea
• 25:38
  what I'm doing and we're just going to kind of wing it.
• 25:40
  So hopefully it's good enough and I'm not expecting anything.
• 25:44
  I just praying I don't drive off the backstretch or anything like
• 25:48
  that. That's kind of my one goal is to
• 25:50
  just keep it on the track. Yeah, there is Jr. hotterby
• 25:55
  early this was so it's a half mile.
• 25:57
  He hit the turn 3 wall just right and flew actually into the
• 26:00
  tree tree line and came back that night.
• 26:04
  He didn't race. He's not like you where you end
• 26:06
  up on water barrels at Corgan Oil and then come and win a
• 26:09
  feature later on in the night. But his car was pretty
• 26:11
  destroyed, at least yours. Yours wasn't.
• 26:13
  What was it like to get on the water barrels though?
• 26:15
  I mean, there's going to be water at Hartford, so at least
• 26:17
  you won't be landing on the water.
• 26:19
  You'll be actually driving on the water.
• 26:20
  Yeah, it was a it was a scary moment.
• 26:23
  I mean, I guess every driver's worst fear is kind of a throttle
• 26:27
  stick. So I mean, I let off the gas and
• 26:29
  the car just kept going. And that's, I mean, it's kind of
• 26:32
  prey and hold. It's not hope.
• 26:35
  It's not that bad. And then luckily the water
• 26:37
  barrels are even there. I mean, they could have been a
• 26:39
  lot worse. So the fact that the car was
• 26:41
  still drivable and still to win was, I mean, the best outcome we
• 26:45
  could ask for. And Speaking of outcomes, you
• 26:48
  and your dad put on a show at Super Shoe last weekend.
• 26:51
  So what was it like to drag race with him for several laps on
• 26:56
  your way to the checkered flag? It's so much fun.
• 26:59
  I mean, not only is it with my dad, but I mean running side by
• 27:01
  side with anybody. I mean it's it's the best thing
• 27:05
  a racer can ask for, especially for the lead.
• 27:09
  Partly why I like running the mod is so much fun as you can
• 27:11
  run side by side for multiple laps as well.
• 27:13
  I mean the front wheel drive at this point, I mean, you know,
• 27:16
  there's a few people that we can run side by side, but kind of a
• 27:20
  lot of times the car is just too fast for other cars.
• 27:22
  So it's actual racing part in besides actually driving through
• 27:26
  the field. So to have him run side by side
• 27:29
  for the seven laps I think we did, I mean, it was so much fun.
• 27:33
  I mean, my hands hurt because I was so tense in the car, hanging
• 27:36
  out of the wheel. But I mean, it's, it's so much
• 27:39
  fun. And well, I know you've had
• 27:42
  battles with Will Slaughter in the past, racing side by side
• 27:45
  for something like that. So you're more nervous racing
• 27:47
  against Will Slaughter side by side.
• 27:49
  A few years ago when you guys just went lap after lap after
• 27:51
  lap after lap for, I think you'd said 1520 laps.
• 27:54
  So it was like a whole feature versus your dad.
• 27:57
  What, when were you more nervous going against the Will Slaughter
• 27:59
  or going against your dad? Well, you know. 2022 is my first
• 28:02
  year in the outlaw front wheel drive and that's when that race
• 28:05
  happened. So, you know, I always heard
• 28:07
  that Will Slaughter was kind of the the guy to beat.
• 28:09
  So the race side by side and kind of do the Eric slide jobs
• 28:12
  that we did. I mean, like it was a little
• 28:13
  nerve wracking. I mean, I think I could have won
• 28:16
  that race, but driving in turn three, I overdrove it because I
• 28:19
  was like, I want to, I want to get this guy and then I
• 28:22
  overdrove it anyway. So, you know, that was
• 28:25
  definitely nerve wracking. And I think I can I can
• 28:27
  definitely hold my composure a little bit better.
• 28:29
  So like with the race with my dad, I knew I had to hit my
• 28:32
  marks whether he drove in deeper or not.
• 28:35
  It was more just trying to, yeah, stay composed.
• 28:40
  So equal car, equal everything in a drag race.
• 28:45
  You and your mom. Who wins that one way?
• 28:47
  And my mom. You beat your dad.
• 28:49
  So now mom, because she always talks about her front wheel
• 28:52
  drive and how her front wheel drive isn't as best as your
• 28:55
  guys's front wheel drive. And, and I think she's supposed
• 28:58
  to inherit yours when you finally move on from it.
• 29:00
  That's her, her big talking point.
• 29:02
  So let's say you and your mom and your your car the same 27.
• 29:07
  We're just going to twin it. We're going to duplicate it.
• 29:09
  You and your mom, side by side, 10 laps.
• 29:12
  Who wins? I mean, there is.
• 29:14
  No doubt that she is a very good race car driver, but she is too
• 29:19
  scared to race me hard as it is right now.
• 29:22
  Like she hates being on the racetrack with me.
• 29:25
  She doesn't know what's going on.
• 29:27
  Maybe if it was just one-on-one she would be a little bit more
• 29:29
  aggressive, but I think she would feel bad for beating her
• 29:35
  kid. I I think that's how she would
• 29:37
  be. Well, and I know this show isn't
• 29:40
  about her, it's about you, but what was it like?
• 29:42
  I know what it was like for me to watch her race at super shoe
• 29:45
  knowing that she's not been in the car this you know much this
• 29:47
  year and obviously has a lot of different things going on for
• 29:50
  that reason. But what was it like for you
• 29:52
  guys and even you as her son to watch what she did at Super
• 29:55
  Shoe, almost coming close to when I mean, you know, being
• 29:59
  right there and then have a heat win on Saturday and then to push
• 30:05
  for a win on Sunday too. What was that like for you guys?
• 30:09
  Just we're. So incredibly proud of her.
• 30:11
  I mean, you know, being out of a car that long and then jumping
• 30:14
  straight into it and, you know, winning a heat or even being
• 30:17
  that close to winning a feature. I mean, she drove from the back
• 30:20
  to the front in both races. Like we couldn't be more proud
• 30:23
  of like how she, well, she got through the field.
• 30:25
  I mean, she's a race car driver and that's what we love about
• 30:27
  her. Yeah, I was so excited for her.
• 30:31
  I just to see that run, I even, I always remind her she's the,
• 30:35
  you know, baddest woman on the track.
• 30:37
  So, you know, I it's like go out and do your thing.
• 30:40
  But other than that, I know as we wind down here, you already
• 30:43
  kind of mentioned the people behind your modified program.
• 30:46
  But in general and overall, you know, who are the people who you
• 30:49
  want to thank for supporting you, your marketing partners
• 30:53
  that you've had some for a while, some you know, have come
• 30:56
  on last couple years. So your entire program, who's
• 30:59
  behind everything you know? Mainly my parents, you know,
• 31:02
  quality auto quality graphics. You know, my dad does sick raps.
• 31:05
  I mean, obviously everyone sees it, but I think mine, I'm always
• 31:08
  picky about mine and he's always perfected them to my taste
• 31:12
  because I, I think I tell him no probably 20 times before we
• 31:15
  actually set on a design. So you know, he's he does a heck
• 31:19
  of a job and I couldn't be more proud of this team.
• 31:21
  And then you know, all our sponsors, we have Tim Bullis,
• 31:26
  BRT, we have Quadi auto, Quadi graphics.
• 31:29
  We got you Lewis on the car. We got Jasper's pizza, Lambert
• 31:34
  septic, 14 eight salon re/max. I think there's a couple more,
• 31:40
  but I think I'm forgetting them. But you know, we're still, we
• 31:43
  have plenty, but we're so incredibly proud to have them on
• 31:46
  board with us. You think for as many times as
• 31:48
  he's been in Victory Lane that he would just recite all these,
• 31:52
  all of his marketing partners in his sleep, that he'd have dreams
• 31:54
  saying them. But but other than that, Buju,
• 31:57
  I'm going to toss it over to you for the last few because I know
• 31:59
  we kind of you thought I was going to say something and I
• 32:00
  just kind of jumped in from there.
• 32:01
  But I certainly want to pass it back to you because I, like I
• 32:04
  said, I feel like you're just a little lonely over there, you
• 32:07
  know, listening you mentioned. That the front wheel drives
• 32:10
  there kind at the end kind of felt more routine like you kind
• 32:14
  of not that you knew what the outcome would be, but it's it
• 32:17
  was a little more simpler than maybe what it started as did it
• 32:20
  become old Was it I don't I don't want to say boring, but
• 32:22
  were you ready for that new challenge Was it time to move on
• 32:25
  Was that did it get old I mean there there's.
• 32:28
  Definitely been a couple times where it's like, you know, the
• 32:31
  wins were expected rather than earned.
• 32:34
  So like it. But at the same time, if I
• 32:36
  didn't win, I would be upset with myself.
• 32:38
  So like it I that mentality kind of put me in a bad hole because
• 32:43
  it's not a good mentality to have, especially moving up to
• 32:45
  the mod where I can't expect to win.
• 32:47
  You know, these guys are a lot more hard working and, you know,
• 32:51
  more money, whatever, like more skill.
• 32:53
  I mean, like these guys are a whole different ball game.
• 32:55
  So yeah, this year we definitely slowed down in the front wheel
• 32:58
  drive, which means like, you know, the the wins we actually
• 33:02
  had to earn. I mean, from March all the way
• 33:04
  to championship night, I didn't win a single race at Kalamazoo.
• 33:07
  So like it was a long drought where it's like I need to earn
• 33:09
  my wins back because, you know, there's more competition now.
• 33:12
  And I think that's something I'm getting better at, especially
• 33:16
  with the mod. You know, I can't be mad for
• 33:17
  finishing 6th or 4th. Like, I mean, that's still a
• 33:20
  very, very good finish against guys like Laduke and Berg Ager
• 33:24
  and Dimon, like guys that have race mods for years and her rear
• 33:28
  wheel drives in for years. You know, and it's a whole
• 33:31
  different ball ballpark that I I just have to get my routine in
• 33:35
  of you know, we're expecting decent finishes, but we can't
• 33:39
  expect to win every race. What's the harder?
• 33:42
  Transition from the front wheel drive to the modified As far as
• 33:45
  driving the car goes or as far as the other drivers go, what's
• 33:48
  the harder switch so far? I mean I.
• 33:52
  Don't really find it difficult jumping from one car to another,
• 33:55
  hence why I kind of race Bolt at spring Ford or even at
• 33:59
  Kalamazoo. I don't really find it difficult
• 34:01
  to find my marks differently. It, it just comes to me and then
• 34:07
  I think, I think the drivers, I guess racecraft is a little bit
• 34:11
  different. You know, cars are wider as you
• 34:13
  know, people have seen I've wrecked out of Owosso because
• 34:15
  I've hit the wall because I didn't, I'm so used to the front
• 34:18
  wheel drive, how much smaller it is.
• 34:20
  So like with the mod being so much wider, you know, trying to
• 34:24
  not run into people because I'm I'm used to running them a
• 34:27
  little bit higher due to the front wheel drive.
• 34:29
  So that's I guess one challenge, but other than that, I mean it's
• 34:33
  racing with people I've never raced against.
• 34:35
  So learning everybody again and I I think that's definitely the
• 34:39
  big challenge. Sure.
• 34:41
  My last question. And I'll let Lewis wrap it up
• 34:43
  over there. You have, I'll have a lot of
• 34:45
  wins. So I'm sure this probably isn't
• 34:46
  an easy question to answer. But if there was 1, you could
• 34:49
  have back one win or one race rather that you could maybe try
• 34:53
  again. Is there one that comes to mind
• 34:55
  I mean? There's a few.
• 34:56
  I mean the one with Slaughter, I mean like my first year in
• 34:59
  there, I mean like we were side by side for 15 laps.
• 35:03
  Like I mean it was a battle. I mean slide jobs back and
• 35:06
  forth, side by side. Like that was just one race like
• 35:10
  I was a part of and I just didn't get the winning and even
• 35:14
  Slinger this year. Like, I knew we had the car, but
• 35:17
  we also didn't have the car and I really wanted to win a Slinger
• 35:19
  again, 'cause like, I mean that that place is just a blast.
• 35:22
  So I think those two are definitely at the top of the
• 35:24
  list. Well, and even watching you at
• 35:28
  Slinger, I mean, you know, last year you pretty much dominated
• 35:32
  that group and that you have many stocks chasing you and
• 35:35
  even, you know, obviously this past Sunday you pass, you had to
• 35:39
  pass a mini stock, you know, to to get out front.
• 35:42
  But watching at Slinger even this year, you know, you had to
• 35:45
  come up through the national compact race and you'll you
• 35:48
  know, you're getting close to catch.
• 35:50
  And I think what was who won that one?
• 35:53
  Stark, right? Didn't Stark win that one?
• 35:55
  But I mean, even there you put on quite the show.
• 35:58
  But one thing I think about as you're talking even about your
• 36:02
  modified transition, what driver are you modeling your driving
• 36:06
  after? Like sometimes, you know, when
• 36:09
  when other drivers come to tracks, they'll say, I'm going
• 36:12
  to follow this guy because I know the line they run or
• 36:14
  whatever. So when you're doing the mod,
• 36:15
  like, is there anyone who you're trailing when you're out
• 36:19
  qualifying or hot lapping to kind of figure out like, I want
• 36:23
  to be like them or I want to follow their line?
• 36:26
  Yeah, I mean Berg. Ager I mean, I literally did
• 36:29
  this Friday night. We were sitting right behind him
• 36:31
  in line and like I'm going to stay right on him and I'm going
• 36:34
  to follow his line, see where he like kind of let's off gets back
• 36:37
  on it. What's what is he doing
• 36:39
  differently than I am? And then he just pulled away
• 36:41
  from me. So like it was wasn't that much
• 36:43
  helpful. But like anybody that's really,
• 36:46
  you know, really good at what they do in that kind of car,
• 36:49
  such as Burg Egg or even Laduke, like those guys I kind of look
• 36:52
  up to to really follow and learn things from.
• 36:57
  Well, again, congratulations on your huge win.
• 37:00
  You know, at Michigan Cup you got the three race sweep, which
• 37:04
  is the maximum number you could have got that day.
• 37:06
  I guess, you know, unless you brought out your template or
• 37:09
  whatever it may would have been, Do you even have do you guys
• 37:11
  still have the template? No, we know you got you got rid
• 37:14
  of that. Yep.
• 37:15
  But other than that, again, congratulations on the modified
• 37:17
  win. As I said on my live yesterday
• 37:19
  when I got a little bit on my soapbox, Todd Metz Junior and I
• 37:22
  are going to be rolling out a podcast.
• 37:24
  I'm not hosting, I'm supporting it, but it's going to be all
• 37:27
  about keyboard warriors. And so we're going to be
• 37:30
  sounding just like a keyboard warrior.
• 37:32
  And certainly I got my soapbox a little bit during my live is I'm
• 37:36
  so tired of people who say their fans are short track racing and
• 37:40
  then they don't want to give credit where credit is due.
• 37:43
  And you certainly showed that you can go and you can compete
• 37:46
  with anyone, anywhere, any place, anytime.
• 37:48
  And so I hope the opportunities just like Matt Kemp finally
• 37:51
  started to get opportunities. I certainly hope those
• 37:53
  opportunities continue to come your way or if they haven't
• 37:56
  start coming your way because you definitely deserve those
• 37:59
  opportunities to go and show what you can do and and other
• 38:02
  cars, other equipment. So again, congratulations on
• 38:05
  that. Congratulations on the foot
• 38:07
  race. Now did you win one at Super
• 38:08
  Shoe before 2A foot race? Kinda.
• 38:12
  I so I won like the the front one drive one, but another one I
• 38:17
  was like top five. And I.
• 38:19
  Got cocky and I started at the top wall everyone else started.
• 38:22
  At the bottom 1 and I finished. 2nd to Leonard.
• 38:25
  I think if I would have, if I was on the bottom, I think I
• 38:27
  could have won it as well. But yeah, we we've had a fair
• 38:30
  share of Sprint races as well, yeah.
• 38:33
  Well, and it's more often than not that Leonard is behind you.
• 38:36
  So in this case, you can say like, hey, you know, he can
• 38:39
  really say that they beat me in something, right?
• 38:40
  Yeah. I know you 2 obviously get along
• 38:43
  pretty well. I know there's a, you know, fun
• 38:45
  rivalry between you 2, always racing and putting on a show
• 38:48
  when you get a chance too. So other than that, like I said,
• 38:51
  thank you so much for your time and that that mod race was fun.
• 38:56
  And, and for those who missed it, I do have every lap of every
• 38:59
  race from this past Michigan Cup.
• 39:01
  It'll probably be on YouTube sometime tomorrow, but I'm going
• 39:06
  to say more Wednesday than anything because I literally
• 39:08
  have done nothing today back hurt and I'm like, I'm not
• 39:12
  moving anywhere anytime fast. So even sitting in this chair
• 39:15
  out here watching the deer, I'm like, I don't even feel
• 39:18
  comfortable sitting in this chair, but we're going to push
• 39:20
  through. So again, thank you so much for
• 39:23
  joining us tonight. Matthew and I will let your mom
• 39:25
  give Buju a hard time on calling you Matt.
• 39:27
  He doesn't know better. So Matthew, don't worry that I
• 39:33
  think Sean Sprague might have said it on accident, but Phobe
• 39:37
  corrected him. Not like on purpose.
• 39:40
  It was just a natural. He went right into Matthew and
• 39:42
  and Sean, you know, it wasn't on purpose either.
• 39:45
  But I'm like, anytime I've done it, I go and I've done it on
• 39:48
  lives before where I'm like, oh, Christina just rolled over angry
• 39:51
  and she has no idea why so. If Matthew's been racing for six
• 39:55
  years, I've been doing it for six years, so it'd.
• 39:58
  Be a tough adjustment, but but other than that, thank you again
• 40:01
  for joining us tonight, Matthew. Thank you guys.
• 40:04
  Oh, no, you're very. Welcome.
• 40:05
  So again, we have been talking with Matthew, Matthew LC Junior
• 40:09
  and see now I say Matthew, Matthew, Matthew LC Junior,
• 40:13
  Kalamazoo champion four times in a row, a national compact
• 40:17
  champion multi times in a row, M40 champion, super shoe
• 40:21
  champion, Michigan Cup champion. And he also is a Dang good
• 40:25
  hockey player too. And I even think Matt Pier
• 40:27
  talked a little bit about Matthew when we were on because
• 40:30
  if you remember, he talked about being able to watch Matthew on
• 40:33
  the hockey rink a little bit. So again, that was that was a
• 40:38
  fun race. So you'll get to watch at all
• 40:40
  the laps, all the things. So probably I'm just going to
• 40:43
  say Wednesday, I'm not going to box myself in and say there's a
• 40:46
  chance tomorrow because I'm going to be disappointed if I
• 40:49
  don't mean my own deadline. But Speaking of Michigan Cup,
• 40:52
  again, Jerry Osterhouse will be joining us a little bit after
• 40:55
  8:00 tonight. So we will have the Super shoe
• 40:58
  champion. He also won in the Crown VIX.
• 41:01
  He had a nice battle with Zach Denton, who I know is watching
• 41:03
  there for a little bit. But since we're just at
• 41:05
  Springport, Springport has operated under how many
• 41:08
  different names? And then the bonus of who
• 41:10
  challenged Russ Densmore, the original founder of of Spring
• 41:14
  Court, to build his own race track, not tack.
• 41:18
  I can't believe I did that. That pisses me off.
• 41:20
  But if he could do it, would you like me to?
• 41:22
  Would you like me to? Really rub it in.
• 41:24
  There's no end on the quotation either.
• 41:32
  You know what, Buju, I hope South Bank comes to dirt track
• 41:34
  now just for that reason. That's what's going to happen.
• 41:37
  I hope it's a dirt track now. I had to do it through you.
• 41:40
  Oh, I'm going to when we're talking, I'm going to fix that
• 41:43
  somehow because that's just now that's double irritating me.
• 41:46
  I didn't even notice that part. And you're fired too, by the
• 41:49
  way, just for all of that. You're fired.
• 41:52
  I'm going to I'm going to make you do all the graphics from now
• 41:55
  on. Is that way if there's a well
• 41:57
  last week I made a mistake and it was oh, shitake mushrooms who
• 42:01
  did it. John Culp, his wife Betty
• 42:05
  noticed that the the subtitles were wrong and I never I was so
• 42:10
  tired after super shoe. I mean, I I almost thought about
• 42:14
  not doing the Monday night rewind that day and I'm like,
• 42:16
  Nope, We got to keep consistent to Mondays.
• 42:18
  We got to have a consistency. Yeah, you weren't even.
• 42:22
  Available, I'm like, nothing's going right and that so I, oh,
• 42:27
  the writing center person in me just irritates when I catch my
• 42:30
  own mistakes. And so but anyways, so Paul
• 42:33
  Zimmerman, Ronnie John Cox, Maurice Randall, Russ Cowper,
• 42:38
  who was it that challenged for? If you think you could go do a
• 42:44
  better, go do it yourself. And and luckily he took that
• 42:47
  challenge. But spring Court has definitely
• 42:48
  had a rocky history, very, very rocky history.
• 42:52
  So someone I do want to shout out who's on here?
• 42:56
  I forgot to send him a friend request too, even though I said
• 42:58
  I was going to do it before I left.
• 42:59
  And now that I see him on here, Gary, he was in the O1 late
• 43:04
  model that got a lot of other people's late models on top of
• 43:09
  him and everything else during the Michigan Cup.
• 43:13
  He was on the backstretch and that O1 and that's a throwback
• 43:16
  scheme. I won't say and Gary can correct
• 43:18
  me if I'm wrong, but I felt like it's a throwback to his dad or
• 43:21
  something, like a scheme that they had.
• 43:22
  They just debuted at Super Shoe, but he was feeling fine.
• 43:27
  I talked with him afterwards. And so he's from that Flat Rock,
• 43:31
  Toledo area, races a lot over on that side.
• 43:33
  So his car actually on on Sunday was the first time this week.
• 43:37
  And then I'm like, oh, I've never seen his car with the roof
• 43:39
  before. Yeah.
• 43:40
  Dad 20/20/2003. So yeah, I had the dad part
• 43:43
  right. Well, that's where even Sean
• 43:45
  Sprague, they were talking about Brock Gannis's car and I was
• 43:47
  messaging from the top because with Joel next to me, I can feed
• 43:50
  him a lot of lines because I can yell at him from the rooftop.
• 43:54
  I can yell at him. And so like I give him a lot of
• 43:58
  information about some different drivers.
• 43:59
  There's different things that he'll say were the PA system.
• 44:02
  I don't have that at other tracks.
• 44:04
  And so I was messaging Sean Sprague.
• 44:07
  I was texting him saying, you know, like for Brock that that
• 44:10
  was they weren't sure his scheme.
• 44:11
  They're like, we've never seen him that I said that's a
• 44:13
  throwback to his dad. And I felt like it was 2005 was
• 44:16
  when Brock said so I was feeding them a couple things from the
• 44:19
  roof too over the weekend. But anyways, like I said, Spring
• 44:24
  Court has had a bumpy history, but I'm so glad that it's back.
• 44:27
  And so I left this time purposely for us to talk about
• 44:32
  that. But I also figure since we do
• 44:34
  have Jerry coming on soon, that we can also do the roulettes as
• 44:39
  well. So you ready to see the topics?
• 44:41
  Yes. Sir, All right.
• 44:43
  So again, this is the we called the Rewind roulette.
• 44:46
  We've had a few weeks off because with the Bahama
• 44:48
  brackets, that episode was just too packed to even talk about
• 44:53
  rewind roulette. And then Buju was sick last
• 44:56
  week, so he bought a Mulligan last week.
• 44:58
  So let me get it set up here so that I can present the screen
• 45:01
  here and we can get into the roulettes, noise effects and
• 45:06
  all. So can you see the screen?
• 45:07
  Not yet, no. What about now?
• 45:11
  Nope. Hold on.
• 45:12
  I got to remove the graphic. That's a stupid me once again.
• 45:16
  All right, Can you see the screen now?
• 45:18
  We got it. All right, so.
• 45:20
  Let's see what our topics are. So you have who is to blame for
• 45:27
  the death of historic local short tracks and what can we do
• 45:31
  now to support these tracks and show their value?
• 45:35
  Or is short track racing losing its soul to wealthy pre packaged
• 45:40
  programs? Or is there still room for the
• 45:43
  working class? Name your top five race tracks
• 45:47
  you visited and how you rank your experiences.
• 45:50
  So why are they in the order that they are?
• 45:53
  And then is it time for race tracks to reconsider their tire
• 45:58
  partnership with Hoosier? That was a big conversation over
• 46:03
  the weekend. And then we also have opinion.
• 46:05
  Race tracks needs to need to focus on weekly racing and stop
• 46:10
  running that crashing the blank. And then should regional
• 46:18
  promoters, we've talked about this before, collaborate on like
• 46:22
  their dates, Like these are our big dates or these are big
• 46:24
  events or does competition make everything better?
• 46:28
  And then there are many also who are saying that these classes
• 46:31
  are getting out of hand. How do you reel them in now?
• 46:35
  So what do you think about those topics?
• 46:37
  What's a topic where you're like, I don't want to talk about
• 46:39
  that at all. Or what's a topic where you're
• 46:40
  like, oh, that could be a good one.
• 46:46
  There's a couple I'm not sure. How I would answer like the
• 46:50
  who's responsible for killing our historic short tracks so
• 46:53
  that one would be tough top five tracks would be fun that'd be an
• 46:57
  interesting one let's see where we land here though all right so
• 47:00
  why I. Asked because last time you said
• 47:02
  I don't want to talk about that one and then that's one that
• 47:03
  landed. Yeah, so.
• 47:05
  I'm sure we'll be talking about, so let's.
• 47:08
  See. Oh, all right.
• 47:10
  So our first one, and we'll probably have time for 2, so
• 47:13
  we'll do 2 topics. We'll see though.
• 47:15
  Is it time for race tracks to reconsider their tire
• 47:19
  partnership with Hoosier? So obviously we have M40
• 47:23
  Speedway, Russell's M40 Speedway that went to American racer
• 47:28
  Russell's M40. Speedway and Matthew LC Junior
• 47:31
  Yep, Yep. Russell's M40 Speedway and then
• 47:34
  obviously we also have Berlin who has switched and so the
• 47:41
  everyone else's Hoosier. But you always see lots of
• 47:44
  drivers dirt and asphalt, but you always see lots of drivers
• 47:48
  talking about Hoosier. And so let me eliminate that one
• 47:52
  while we are talking. I like the sound effects too.
• 47:57
  But So what do you, what do you think?
• 47:59
  What about Hoosier tire should should tracks?
• 48:02
  Maybe open it up more where they allow competition within their
• 48:05
  facility? Well, yes.
• 48:07
  It is time for them to reconsider the relationship with
• 48:10
  Hoosier for sure. But it's not necessarily an easy
• 48:13
  answer to what you do either. I would love, I love the idea of
• 48:17
  what you just said. And I mean, I think that's the
• 48:19
  ideal situation where you just kind of say, hey, put what you
• 48:22
  want on the car and whatever works out best for you is what
• 48:24
  works. But then you kind of lose that
• 48:29
  relationship with Hoosier or American Racer or whoever your
• 48:33
  supplier that you have currently is.
• 48:35
  You know what I mean? And as prices continue to go up,
• 48:38
  having that relationship and trying to keep that price
• 48:40
  reasonable for your racers seems to be part of why those
• 48:42
  relationships are still standing from.
• 48:45
  From my seat, anyway. No.
• 48:47
  Well. Did you know that not every
• 48:50
  track pays the exact same type of price as another track,
• 48:53
  right? Yeah.
• 48:54
  So I'm not going. To give the tracks because
• 48:57
  that's not my business to do. But there there is a track that
• 49:00
  has a direct contract with Hoosier and they pay a certain
• 49:04
  price. But then there are other tracks
• 49:07
  who have business dealings with Hoosier and for the exact same
• 49:10
  tire, they might pay 203040506070 dollars more than a
• 49:16
  track down the road for the exact same tire.
• 49:19
  So, you know, a lot of times people think that tracks are
• 49:22
  making all this money on tires and they do make some money, I
• 49:28
  think. I think at 1:00.
• 49:29
  Time the tracks were probably making a significantly higher
• 49:33
  amount off the tires than what they are now because yeah, it's
• 49:36
  very. Minimal now, yeah, the the the.
• 49:38
  Business has changed. I mean, race tracks realize that
• 49:42
  they have to look out for their racers to an extent now.
• 49:43
  And I don't think they're, yeah, I don't think they're trying to
• 49:45
  make it back in the tire barn anymore.
• 49:47
  But before, before we get too far off the conversation.
• 49:53
  Like I said. I don't think the answer is an
• 49:54
  easy answer because obviously American Racer is the most
• 49:57
  direct competitor right now. And I just with the conversation
• 50:00
  being so as active as it has been, I've just kind of been
• 50:03
  asking some St. Stock racers that I know I'm not
• 50:06
  going to name names necessarily. Oh no, but we don't have.
• 50:08
  To give names but what they think.
• 50:10
  About American racers and those they don't, those don't seem to
• 50:12
  be all that popular among who I asked either.
• 50:15
  And granted, small sample size so maybe that's coincidence, but
• 50:20
  doesn't seem like American racers necessarily.
• 50:21
  A great answer. I see Joel mentioned Cobras have
• 50:24
  been great for the mid wedges at Kalamazoo and Galesburg.
• 50:27
  Tried the cobras for a while right?
• 50:29
  And switched back if I'm not wrong.
• 50:31
  Well, some of that had. To deal with changing who was
• 50:34
  leading Galesburg too. And I think maybe the
• 50:36
  relationship, but I know and the time that the Centaurus had
• 50:40
  Galesburg, they had went over to Cobra and you had like Billy
• 50:43
  Yates, who was a, who was winning over.
• 50:47
  You had a lot of drivers who are advocating for Cobra.
• 50:50
  And actually Cobra went and kicked Hoosier's butt at M40
• 50:53
  twice in 2023 with Kyle Santoro racing on the Cobras, the
• 50:59
  Hoosiers were quite a bit behind.
• 51:01
  But then at Super Shoe, Cobra came out and did nothing.
• 51:05
  They switched over to Hoosiers just to be competitive and so
• 51:10
  that so it's kind of like a tale of two areas.
• 51:13
  But but I so I think maybe that's why they switch is
• 51:16
  because that's when snails and them really started to take the
• 51:19
  reins from there. So I think when Santoris left,
• 51:21
  that agreement with Cobra left. But Cobra, I know, has been
• 51:24
  super involved with the mini wedge program at Kalamazoo as
• 51:27
  sharing, and they've actually done a lot of sponsorship stuff
• 51:30
  where, you know, talking with some people who are Cobra
• 51:33
  tracks, they get a lot more from Cobra than what they ever got
• 51:37
  from Hoosier and Hoosies. Yeah, like lots of things, like
• 51:41
  even for Cobra sponsored the trophies.
• 51:44
  Hoosier, you know, they've done a lot of things.
• 51:47
  Yep. Where Hoosier, Like there's a
• 51:49
  track promoter in this area. I'm not going to say obviously
• 51:51
  what track. We're not going to do names.
• 51:52
  That's not fair to them, especially when they're not here
• 51:54
  to defend themselves or anything.
• 51:56
  But we're not great enough to name names.
• 51:58
  Oh. No.
• 51:58
  No, no, but there's, well, even if I were grumpy, right?
• 52:01
  But there's, there's a track that literally like, yeah, they
• 52:04
  send us flags and they send us a banner, but they do nothing for
• 52:07
  me. They do nothing.
• 52:09
  They just send us the stuff and we partner with them, but I get
• 52:12
  nothing out of it. And they're like, so like that
• 52:16
  owner promoter, I literally watch them wad up the Hoosier
• 52:21
  thing and throw it in the dumpster.
• 52:23
  They kept the flags, but you know, they just took that
• 52:26
  banner. They're like, they Hoosiers done
• 52:28
  nothing for us. They're doing all these things.
• 52:30
  And so, you know, it's one of those things that obviously as a
• 52:32
  video guy, media guy, like I don't have to worry about tire
• 52:35
  money. But when I hear what some people
• 52:37
  are spending on tires, even for this past weekend at Michigan
• 52:39
  Cup, I'm like, holy, like, This is why I, I don't care even if I
• 52:45
  go bankrupt, right? Everyone thinks I'm rich, but
• 52:47
  I'm not. But you know, I will not charge
• 52:49
  a driver for onboard cameras. I will continue to seek
• 52:52
  marketing partners to help with those kind of cost of upkeep.
• 52:55
  Because like camera #7 the winningest camera has been
• 52:58
  having issues for a long time now.
• 53:00
  And it's, it's double screening. It's double all these things.
• 53:04
  It's I don't have a replacement right now.
• 53:06
  I have to wait until November 23rd to be eligible for
• 53:09
  replacement. But it that camera needs to
• 53:11
  replace. If I just went and spent 39999
• 53:14
  because on GoPro right now you can't buy a 12.
• 53:16
  You have to get the 13 because the 12's out of stock.
• 53:19
  So if I want to go spend 39999 and replace it, but that's where
• 53:24
  am I going to get that money from?
• 53:25
  I don't have 399 to go do that when I'm spending almost $1000
• 53:29
  on a hotel room for Sabrina and I separate hotel rooms for
• 53:32
  Sabrina and I at Grundy like that it's 1000.
• 53:35
  It's it's going to cost me almost $1000 just for the hotel
• 53:38
  rooms to go down to Grundy and I, I'm not going to get any of
• 53:41
  that money back. That's not going to happen.
• 53:43
  I'm already in the hole, right. So I'm like, I won't charge
• 53:47
  drivers for those reasons because I can look at the car
• 53:48
  and see all the things that they have to pay for race seavers and
• 53:51
  all the things but tires. It's like, I mean there is a
• 53:54
  race that paid 10,000 when that I saw and if you took seconds,
• 54:00
  you were already a loser for your for what you would have
• 54:03
  paid to drive there commute with diesel being almost 7 bucks a
• 54:09
  gallon in some spots. I mean it's just ridiculous.
• 54:12
  So I think you know, there's some tracks that allow soaking.
• 54:16
  They don't promote soaking, but they allow soaking and and they
• 54:20
  do it because if that helps a driver keep their tires for
• 54:22
  another week or two rather than buying them, like they're not
• 54:26
  out against it, but they're not stopping the drivers.
• 54:28
  And I think like that's being mindful, like, hey, this cost
• 54:32
  them a lot of money to come race and that might allow a driver to
• 54:35
  come race a week that maybe they couldn't.
• 54:37
  So, you know, I definitely think in hearing all the conversation
• 54:41
  that Barry, Barry with Great Lakes Super Sprints, they
• 54:45
  changed tires. And I remember talking with him
• 54:47
  last year saying you're kind of sending a message even though I
• 54:50
  know that's not your goal. And he said, Oh no, that was
• 54:52
  goal. Then I went oh OK like message
• 54:55
  received now I will. Say, in my opinion, and
• 54:59
  obviously this is my opinion, and the National Compact Touring
• 55:03
  series kind of posts about this asking this question earlier.
• 55:07
  I think it's a complicated answer for VA cars, but I don't
• 55:10
  think the answer is complicated for four cylinders.
• 55:12
  I think you put them on radials. Oh yeah, there's.
• 55:15
  A million. Options available.
• 55:17
  It takes away some of your problem in people dumping money
• 55:20
  into getting horsepower in their car.
• 55:23
  It kind of slows everybody back down a little bit and brings the
• 55:26
  cost back down as far as some of the spending goes in other
• 55:29
  areas. I think, and like I said,
• 55:31
  there's so many options for radials.
• 55:34
  You can find what works for you at South Bend.
• 55:37
  When we ran radials, the longevity was comparable to what
• 55:41
  we're having with Hoosier right now, at least so.
• 55:44
  And the cost was a hell of a lot less.
• 55:46
  So yeah. I think it's easy in.
• 55:48
  Performance cylinders, you put them back on Street St. radials
• 55:50
  with the treadware treadware rule and that's a problem solved
• 55:54
  in four cylinders in my opinion. Well, I think some solved.
• 55:58
  Well, I think some. People.
• 55:58
  To talk about like, well, they're not as fast and I'm like
• 56:02
  will, will fans really notice, right?
• 56:06
  Like if you switched over, will fans really notice or does it
• 56:09
  make you know, or do they do they just want racing?
• 56:12
  Because on I think on any tire, if you have a race that's a
• 56:14
  blowout, it's a blowout, right? Like, but if you have a
• 56:16
  competitive race, then it's a competitive race, right?
• 56:19
  But it's like, I don't think fans are going to notice the
• 56:21
  2/10 slower that this tire is versus another or whatever,
• 56:25
  right? So, you know, when I hear racers
• 56:28
  say that it's like, I don't know, I've watched American
• 56:31
  racer over at M40 and I don't sit there and turn to Bill
• 56:34
  Russell go, you know, they're just not as fast for me.
• 56:38
  Like I don't know, the cars still look fast to me.
• 56:39
  So I I think it's, you know, I think it's, it's one of those
• 56:44
  like you're already doing 90. Do you really need to do 91
• 56:47
  point? You know, whatever.
• 56:49
  But Tina, Tina in the. Chat better racing on the wheels
• 56:53
  and to use South End as an example again again when that
• 56:56
  when the front wheel drive class at South End went from radios to
• 56:58
  Hoosiers, it went from a class where everybody was within 6/10
• 57:02
  from 1st to 14th to the field. And it would take a.
• 57:06
  Full race to get from the back if you were the fastball fire
• 57:10
  to. When it went.
• 57:10
  To Hoosiers, it was literally a three or four lap dash for those
• 57:14
  3 or 4 guys to get to the front, which everyone got to the front
• 57:16
  first, was going to stay there because there wasn't enough
• 57:17
  momentum to pass because there's so much speed on Hoosiers that
• 57:20
  ruined the class. So yeah.
• 57:22
  But to Tina's point, it is better racing on radios.
• 57:25
  Yeah. And so I think.
• 57:26
  That's something again, you know, everyone has their own
• 57:28
  choice. And then I always use the lead
• 57:30
  double if it was your savings account on the line and
• 57:33
  obviously it's not my savings account now your savings
• 57:35
  account. But you know, as we talk, you
• 57:37
  know, as we hear drivers say, the cost of racing, the cost of
• 57:40
  racing, the cost of racing, when sometimes it's the drivers who
• 57:42
  are making the cost of racing going up, right?
• 57:45
  That it's you know, how can again, how can we all help each
• 57:48
  other, right? So that way we can continue to
• 57:51
  do this because you know, there's only so many cars that
• 57:55
  you're going to get. I mean, front wheel drives,
• 57:57
  obviously there's 114 of them at at at Michigan Cup, I think over
• 58:03
  100 at super shoe or close to it, right.
• 58:06
  So I mean, obviously there's a lot of front wheel drives in the
• 58:08
  area, but you know, we had 50 St. stocks and if you really
• 58:12
  think like New Paris got lucky a few years ago with 80 St. stocks
• 58:16
  on the property or 78, whatever the number was, I don't know
• 58:18
  that you're going to get that again anywhere no matter how
• 58:20
  much money you put out there. Obviously this Michigan Cup was
• 58:24
  like a huge paying thing. Like it was a nice payout, but
• 58:26
  it wasn't like some big show where like 10,000 on the line.
• 58:30
  It was a basic number that they got 49 St. socks.
• 58:34
  But that's probably about the number that you're going to get.
• 58:36
  Maybe 55, maybe 60. But I don't think there's more
• 58:39
  of them out there than that, at least in this immediate area.
• 58:42
  You're drawn from Kentucky OR. Over right you.
• 58:45
  Know Ohio, you got to get those some of those guys out like the
• 58:48
  Josh ways weren't obviously there.
• 58:50
  You had a couple, but but even still, like you're having to
• 58:54
  pull from a four hours away to get, you know, to that number.
• 58:57
  So so yeah. So that's where I think, you
• 59:00
  know, that's something that tracks can definitely think
• 59:02
  about. I know it's like scary.
• 59:05
  Just one more point too. Because you mentioned St. stocks
• 59:07
  in my surveying of my street stock friends, seven 90s for
• 59:11
  street stock, who's your seven 90s for street stocks has also
• 59:14
  been something that's brought up as a as a potential option to
• 59:18
  try. So yeah, because you're on what
• 59:20
  the? Like nine 80s right now or 9
• 59:22
  hundreds or something like that. Depends on, depends on the
• 59:24
  track. Obviously.
• 59:25
  Well. If we had Nick Tremie on here,
• 59:27
  he'd have a lot to say about that.
• 59:29
  He's already done all of that. But I mean, just think about
• 59:31
  that. Like, is it again, maybe this is
• 59:34
  an easy question for us to ask and answer, but is it that hard
• 59:39
  for all the tracks, at least within an area, to say, hey, for
• 59:44
  one year, let's try it? No, it's not that honest.
• 59:48
  No, it's not that hard, but they make it that hard.
• 59:51
  You know, like sell. It whatever you're going to sell
• 59:53
  like money is whatever, right? I don't, I don't get into that.
• 59:55
  It's not my business, but but it's like at least for the tire
• 59:59
  purposes. So that way, you know, if I'm
• 1:00:01
  racing down at Plymouth or South Bend and I want to come race at
• 1:00:04
  Kalamazoo or whatever and I don't, I don't remember who
• 1:00:07
  shares the same tire and who's different.
• 1:00:09
  But like, can we all just maybe that's what it is for one year,
• 1:00:13
  one year trial basis. We're going to try it and take
• 1:00:16
  notes and if it sucks, then we can at least say we tried it.
• 1:00:22
  You can at least say that. And say, we tried it, we didn't
• 1:00:25
  like it, we're going to go back to this, right?
• 1:00:27
  At least you get feedback. Give it one year.
• 1:00:30
  Have a have a tire program, whatever your tire program is
• 1:00:33
  like at new pairs, they don't, You know that Chris orders them
• 1:00:36
  as he needs to, right? They don't stock tires anymore.
• 1:00:39
  Like they used to wear Kalamazoo as a huge tire barn and all the
• 1:00:42
  things. They have a process.
• 1:00:44
  I think it's like you buy 2 tires or whatever new pairs
• 1:00:47
  doesn't have that and 40 does. Obviously different.
• 1:00:50
  But, and Tracy's on here, she said we had seven 90s but
• 1:00:53
  couldn't get them from Hoosier. And that's her favorite tire.
• 1:00:55
  And I remember Tracy saying that too.
• 1:00:57
  Is that getting anything from Hoosier was almost like trying
• 1:01:00
  to win the lottery in 50 states. Like I remember those days.
• 1:01:04
  As well, Yeah. And so you know, which is just
• 1:01:08
  think like these tracks here at least have home field advantage
• 1:01:10
  with it being right in Plymouth and they can't even get answers
• 1:01:13
  from Plymouth. So, so I think that's, and I'm
• 1:01:16
  not talking to Plymouth Speedway.
• 1:01:17
  I've talked about the the facility, Hoosier facility and
• 1:01:20
  Plymouth. But yeah, so, so, yeah.
• 1:01:23
  So I think, you know, that's one of those things that it hey, if
• 1:01:25
  you try it for one year and it sucks for your track, maybe
• 1:01:28
  maybe it's not all tracks, but maybe for this track you're
• 1:01:31
  like, hey, we did it. It just doesn't work for our
• 1:01:32
  surface. Like Springport has a different
• 1:01:34
  surface than Kalamazoo than new Paris, right?
• 1:01:36
  Like if you it's been different than M40, the holes are
• 1:01:40
  different. The, the the ceilings are
• 1:01:42
  different, like all the things are different, right?
• 1:01:43
  So, but if it's one of those like, you know, if you tried
• 1:01:47
  something with a class like a child run, maybe they can take
• 1:01:51
  notes and go that worked or that didn't work or maybe you allow
• 1:01:54
  for one year. Hey, this class we're going to
• 1:01:56
  have an open tire. It has to be these tire models,
• 1:01:59
  like it has to be this. We're going to test them through
• 1:02:01
  blue labs, right? You know, kind of like what John
• 1:02:04
  Boy does with the tri-state sprints.
• 1:02:06
  They have different things that they do to kind of balance it
• 1:02:08
  out. Now they will be going exclusive
• 1:02:10
  to American Racer next year, but this year they had a little bit
• 1:02:13
  of a mix between the two. But that's something that again,
• 1:02:16
  it's like, does it hurt anything you know or does?
• 1:02:20
  Like I said, I don't get into the whole tire thing.
• 1:02:22
  I just know talking with drivers, hearing from drivers at
• 1:02:25
  multiple tracks, multiple areas. So that's why I put that on
• 1:02:27
  there because as you know, the reliant, the rewind roulette
• 1:02:31
  will pull from some of the social media chatter that we see
• 1:02:34
  from the Facebook interwebs of everything.
• 1:02:38
  But let's we have time for one more quick topic before Jerry
• 1:02:42
  comes on. I know he's going to get on here
• 1:02:43
  about 8. So so there are many
• 1:02:47
  conversations that some classes are getting out of control in
• 1:02:50
  terms of costs and expectations. Obviously tires part of that
• 1:02:53
  too. But is it too late to pull back
• 1:02:55
  and how do you get things under control sharing because you're
• 1:02:59
  not going to have time for another topic.
• 1:03:01
  But, but obviously, you know, I heard this conversation on on
• 1:03:05
  this weekend at Michigan Cup Limited late Models.
• 1:03:08
  And I and Johnny Russell has had a lot of videos about where he's
• 1:03:12
  been publicly about like, hey, these limited late models are
• 1:03:16
  kind of getting out of hand. They're getting closer and
• 1:03:18
  closer to being just like the Super late models that they've
• 1:03:21
  not replaced. But for a weekly program,
• 1:03:23
  they're trying to. Yeah.
• 1:03:24
  Be an alternative to Yeah, so. Why don't we just focus for our
• 1:03:29
  time purposes? Why don't we focus specifically
• 1:03:32
  on the front wheel drive aspect? Because you are a front wheel
• 1:03:34
  drive racer. And obviously still, I'm just
• 1:03:37
  the video guy. I don't have to worry about all
• 1:03:39
  this in terms of like what it looks like, but I obviously I
• 1:03:42
  hear the chatter because I talk with a lot of people.
• 1:03:45
  And so let's go just front wheel drive racing itself again, I saw
• 1:03:49
  on what page was it, I forget what page, but they had a front
• 1:03:53
  wheel drive for sale. What do you think the price tag
• 1:03:56
  was? Oh.
• 1:03:59
  Probably north north of 10. Probably you're asking the
• 1:04:02
  question. That would be a low ball.
• 1:04:05
  Yeah, it was $51,000 dirt front wheel drive.
• 1:04:11
  OK, that makes. That makes it a little better,
• 1:04:13
  but it's still obscene. Yeah, 51. 1000 for a front wheel
• 1:04:17
  drive. Yeah, it was outlaw style, but I
• 1:04:20
  went that is more than I made as a teacher.
• 1:04:24
  Yeah. And I got stabbed and physically
• 1:04:27
  assaulted, put in the ER, all these things as a teacher, like
• 1:04:32
  desk thrown at me, scissors thrown at me, water bottles
• 1:04:34
  thrown at me, anything that could be thrown at me, thrown at
• 1:04:36
  me as a teacher. And and that car cost more than
• 1:04:40
  I made getting physically assaulted.
• 1:04:45
  I like other than my mental health too but like 51,000 they
• 1:04:50
  got some wild stuff. Going on on dirt, I don't know
• 1:04:52
  what they're doing over there, but as far as asphalt goes,
• 1:04:55
  radials is the answer for four cylinders to really cost back
• 1:04:59
  in, it makes horsepower less effective to a larger extent.
• 1:05:05
  It brings those times closer. It makes it closer racing.
• 1:05:10
  Radials fixes the. Not necessarily fixes it
• 1:05:13
  completely, but it reels in the spending problem in the 4
• 1:05:16
  cylinder classes a lot. Well, and and you know, in this
• 1:05:21
  even we can too, right? You know, one of the things that
• 1:05:24
  I thought about still is like the success of the ABC format,
• 1:05:28
  right, And, you know, you had cars that E feature was
• 1:05:33
  entertaining and a few different ways, but that class, they
• 1:05:38
  didn't have to worry about running with a Matthew Elsie
• 1:05:40
  junior or the mini stocks, right?
• 1:05:42
  They raced where they raced based on time and you know, and
• 1:05:46
  they that was a slower feature. Very lots of new drivers and
• 1:05:51
  kind of things in there. But you know, you didn't have to
• 1:05:55
  be in that feature and have Matthew Elsie junior zooming
• 1:05:58
  around you 20 times, right, Like they race with who they race and
• 1:06:01
  they spent what they could spend and they were with a group of
• 1:06:04
  cars that were just like them, right.
• 1:06:06
  And so I think sometimes too, you know, when you let's say
• 1:06:09
  you're running an an outlaw front wheel drive class only,
• 1:06:13
  like South Bend did this right. South Bend front wheel drive
• 1:06:15
  only. Well, if I want to race with a
• 1:06:17
  Derrick Davis, I know what kind of car ish I need to have,
• 1:06:21
  right? And I'm not talking money
• 1:06:23
  purposes. I'm just saying like to be
• 1:06:25
  competitive, right? I kind of know what I need to do
• 1:06:28
  based on their times, but I don't I don't have maybe the
• 1:06:32
  resources of like a mad genius in the garage to do that with,
• 1:06:36
  right? You know, a mad scientist,
• 1:06:38
  right? You know, I don't have that or
• 1:06:41
  you know, I don't. I maybe I can't afford the tires
• 1:06:43
  all the time or whatever it may be, right.
• 1:06:45
  But but if you wanted to win at South Bend, you either had to
• 1:06:49
  beat Derrick Davis or you had to beat Keith Barringer junior or
• 1:06:55
  every now and then, Maddie D, Matt Davis, right?
• 1:06:57
  Like that's who you had to be. Or some of the Davises I mean
• 1:07:01
  you had. Drew Davis.
• 1:07:04
  Yeah, yeah, He was a champion, too.
• 1:07:06
  He usually watches us. I'm not, I'm not forgetting him
• 1:07:08
  on purpose, right. But, but, but Derek had a long
• 1:07:11
  run going there before Drew took over.
• 1:07:14
  Droopy, right? And you know so right.
• 1:07:17
  But you, that's who you had to. That's who you had to be.
• 1:07:20
  And if you weren't doing what they were doing, you weren't
• 1:07:22
  beating them, right. But if you had an outlaw front
• 1:07:25
  wheel drive class, where or not outlaw front wheel drive, but
• 1:07:29
  you had ABC and you mixed everyone in, Maybe there's a
• 1:07:31
  mini stock that showed up in would have challenged a little
• 1:07:34
  bit. Or maybe there was a a front
• 1:07:36
  wheel drive that could have shown up from another track and
• 1:07:38
  went Derrick Davis, see you when I'm passing you by, right?
• 1:07:42
  Like whatever it may have been, you know where if you're not
• 1:07:47
  that right, like let's say that you were at the lower end of
• 1:07:51
  that outlaw front wheel drive class where you're 2345 seconds
• 1:07:55
  off, right? You're like, you're just not
• 1:07:57
  going to be up there. Maybe that bee format you would
• 1:07:59
  have been one of the faster cars be you would have been a little
• 1:08:02
  bit more competitive right and then and then.
• 1:08:04
  That's part of the frustrations with the change.
• 1:08:07
  The Hoosier on 4 cylinders for me as well as you took away that
• 1:08:10
  jump from those that those fringe guys that the fast
• 1:08:13
  Hornets in my area to jump to the Outlaw for.
• 1:08:16
  That's what I tried to do. I tried to go from Hornets
• 1:08:18
  Outlaw 4 cylinders and boy was I outgunned.
• 1:08:21
  It's just it's. Not necessarily a feasible.
• 1:08:23
  Jump for a lot of guys anymore, it's front wheel drive.
• 1:08:25
  I know Hornets, and this is where the ABC comes in.
• 1:08:28
  Hornets are supposed to be the budget class and front wheel
• 1:08:31
  drives are a step up from that, but it's still supposed to be
• 1:08:34
  affordable. That's what Street stocks and
• 1:08:37
  late models and all the other stuff is for, right?
• 1:08:39
  But I don't. I don't.
• 1:08:40
  Know it's out of hand and it's hard.
• 1:08:42
  To get back in the bag. But as I said, I really, really,
• 1:08:44
  really think putting 4 cylinders back on radios fixes a lot of
• 1:08:47
  those problems. Well, as Dave.
• 1:08:49
  Lagreca says on Busted Open Radio, WWE Radio Network, he
• 1:08:54
  always says it once the toothpaste is out, you can't put
• 1:08:56
  it back in the tube, right? And so it's one of those things
• 1:09:00
  like you can't do that, but what can you do within your matching
• 1:09:04
  the tube and what? Right.
• 1:09:06
  Right, it's like, what can you do?
• 1:09:08
  And so obviously right these it's easy for us to kind of talk
• 1:09:12
  about it and think about, but I also think like we're fans too
• 1:09:16
  of this and and we have a love more than more than.
• 1:09:19
  Anything I'm a fan of it, right and.
• 1:09:21
  We have a love for racing. Yeah, you know, And it's so it's
• 1:09:25
  like it's at the end of the day, you know, one of the topics that
• 1:09:28
  we didn't pick tonight, that the wheel didn't pick tonight.
• 1:09:30
  But obviously with historical Greenville pick and Speedway,
• 1:09:35
  they're in a fight, Nashville's in a fight.
• 1:09:36
  You have all these things that are going on that it's like, how
• 1:09:40
  can we keep these tracks going? How can we keep these tracks
• 1:09:44
  relevant so that way we as fans can do the work.
• 1:09:49
  Like here's the thing with Mission Cup, that the fact that
• 1:09:52
  there were cars in the parking lot, if I had shown up like I
• 1:09:56
  did last year where I came very last minute because I wasn't
• 1:09:59
  going to go and I'm like, I'm going for the drivers.
• 1:10:01
  I could care less what Kurt thinks.
• 1:10:04
  I'm going for the drivers. That's who I'm showing up for.
• 1:10:08
  And I showed up for them at the end of the day because they're
• 1:10:10
  bigger than anything, right? They're they're bigger than the
• 1:10:13
  previous guy. And I parked and nice parking
• 1:10:18
  spot. If I did that same thing this
• 1:10:21
  year, I would parking out in the back 100 and, and they had
• 1:10:24
  campers all over. They had all these things all
• 1:10:26
  over that crowd. I mean, there's trash on the
• 1:10:29
  ground. It was windy because it's always
• 1:10:31
  windy in Springport. I'm like, it's a, it's a lot
• 1:10:32
  like full house. When they say full house, the
• 1:10:34
  doors always open. I say in Springport, it's always
• 1:10:37
  windy. And, and I and everyone says
• 1:10:39
  like where I stand on the roof is the tallest point in Calhoun
• 1:10:43
  County. And I'm like, I haven't actually
• 1:10:44
  looked that up, but I've had enough people say it that I just
• 1:10:47
  believe it. And and I'm like, so I was
• 1:10:50
  standing at the tallest point where I'm like, you could see
• 1:10:52
  like 12 cities from here. But but it's one of those things
• 1:10:55
  like it's the challenge is what does Donnie and team do to bring
• 1:11:03
  hell half those people back? That that's what I talked about
• 1:11:07
  a lot. On my show this week, Bleachers
• 1:11:08
  and Features, There's my free plug.
• 1:11:12
  I'm gonna start. Charging you for that, that's
• 1:11:13
  what I that's. What I talked about on my show
• 1:11:15
  this week was it feels like the post season shows are kind of
• 1:11:18
  swinging back up some like, yeah, I felt like in more recent
• 1:11:22
  years the car counts had dipped and they had lost some momentum.
• 1:11:25
  But this year, 123 cars at South Bend, 200 plus at Super Shoe,
• 1:11:30
  250 plus at Michigan Cup. There's momentum there and you
• 1:11:35
  so you start looking around. It's like, well, what's
• 1:11:36
  different about these shows than the regular season and how do we
• 1:11:40
  get those to there? Well, and I'm already so I will
• 1:11:44
  say at Michigan Cup, this hit until last year, last year was a
• 1:11:47
  Asterix big one on it. I see Jerry just popped in.
• 1:11:52
  Jerry, everyone loses the same battle.
• 1:11:54
  Just go ahead and flip your phone back the other way.
• 1:11:56
  It's not going to it's supposed to, but it never does.
• 1:11:59
  So I'm not going to let you lose that battle.
• 1:12:02
  You win too many races to be sideways.
• 1:12:03
  And so although you were sideways on Sunday, not on
• 1:12:06
  purpose, but, but the thing with Michigan Cup is if you go back a
• 1:12:10
  couple years, you know, when I got there in 2023, one of
• 1:12:13
  Donnie's big goals, can we, you know, cuz at Owosso Nationals
• 1:12:16
  was on top of Michigan Cup. And, and obviously with Owosso
• 1:12:20
  and all the fancy things that they have and the, the money
• 1:12:23
  bags that they can roll out, then at Owosso was something
• 1:12:27
  that Donnie couldn't do. They couldn't do that.
• 1:12:30
  And so they had competition and buy 6 cars.
• 1:12:34
  They had more than Owasso and that was a huge deal.
• 1:12:38
  They were even celebrating the, you know, the, the, the, the,
• 1:12:42
  the, the gobbler. You know, my annual thing Battle
• 1:12:46
  of the tracks that I do that's coming up here in November.
• 1:12:48
  Again, you know, they, they've edged M40 in that and they were
• 1:12:52
  celebrating that at the banquet. Like Donnie was just so excited.
• 1:12:54
  He's like, I didn't think we could beat those Russell guys,
• 1:12:56
  you know, with all the momentum they had behind them.
• 1:12:59
  And so for Trent Port, right, it's like 7 people run that
• 1:13:02
  whole thing. They don't have the same kind of
• 1:13:04
  staff that any other track does, you know?
• 1:13:08
  And so now obviously for Michigan Cup, they bring in a
• 1:13:10
  few more people to help with that, but still it's a core
• 1:13:13
  group. And so with that, right, they,
• 1:13:17
  they were over 200 then they were like 250 in 2024,
• 1:13:23
  annihilated Owosso's numbers again.
• 1:13:25
  Owosso went head to head with them, lost two in a two in a
• 1:13:28
  row. So then Owosso didn't do that
• 1:13:29
  anymore. They didn't go ahead and have
• 1:13:30
  with Michigan Cup. But this year they decided to go
• 1:13:32
  ahead and have a super shoe, even though super shoe's on the
• 1:13:34
  same week. And it's been every year for the
• 1:13:36
  last couple years, many, many years.
• 1:13:38
  But Owosso went ahead to head with them again.
• 1:13:40
  Lost that battle too. But but it's one of those things
• 1:13:43
  that, you know, Donnie has helped keep that number at Super
• 1:13:47
  Shoe. It was about what it was two
• 1:13:49
  years ago. Super Shoe this year we were two
• 1:13:51
  O 2 and 2024 we were up in 2025, but we are kind of back where we
• 1:13:57
  were in 20 for 2026 where we were in 2024.
• 1:14:01
  But there's a lot of cars so and we talked about this with Todd
• 1:14:03
  that's junior and I last week on the show.
• 1:14:06
  There's a lot of cars that save it from Michigan cop.
• 1:14:08
  They don't want to take their car apart or they know that if
• 1:14:10
  they take the car apart they're going to put it back together
• 1:14:13
  and they don't want to do that like Nick Presser said that
• 1:14:15
  before that I just don't want to do that.
• 1:14:16
  I want, you know, cars in one piece class racing.
• 1:14:20
  And so so Spring Port's kind of been up with that and this was
• 1:14:24
  like normal. It felt normal.
• 1:14:27
  But I think a lot of it is like how you run your program and
• 1:14:30
  Ryan warning, I know gets a Rep from a lot of people.
• 1:14:33
  He's a firm race director. Like I know in the race Seaver,
• 1:14:37
  some people don't appreciate his approach, but the guy works for
• 1:14:41
  Freedom Factory, knows how to put on a big show and treats the
• 1:14:45
  Youtubers the exact same way. He doesn't care if you're on
• 1:14:47
  YouTube and have all these millions of followers or if
• 1:14:49
  you're a local racer racing in the front wheel drive E feature.
• 1:14:51
  He, he's going to talk to you the same way and you know,
• 1:14:55
  because he's race directing, he's managing the program and it
• 1:14:59
  takes a lot to manage these programs And, and I think it's
• 1:15:02
  how you do that. If it looks like a shit show, I
• 1:15:04
  know it's before 9:00, but whatever, you know, if it looks
• 1:15:07
  like a shit show, you're the right, you're probably going to
• 1:15:11
  lose people because they don't want that, right?
• 1:15:13
  They want a, a program that runs efficient, that goes that, you
• 1:15:17
  know, that doesn't mean mistakes don't happen.
• 1:15:19
  There were mistakes this past weekend, but it it's when you
• 1:15:24
  have 257 cars and you're literally parking them in the
• 1:15:27
  woods because you have nowhere to put them and a track that.
• 1:15:31
  And a track that hasn't operated in 12 months, correct the
• 1:15:35
  official. Was October 6th, I think 2024
• 1:15:40
  and then they did do Michigan Cup last year for those three
• 1:15:43
  days, but no cars other than rentals had been on it and no
• 1:15:46
  cars, I don't think any cars were on it this year because
• 1:15:49
  like I said on my lives, I can't, I won't say what Donnie
• 1:15:51
  and them had to do, but I'm just going to tell you what they
• 1:15:54
  inherited was a mess. And so I don't know how many
• 1:15:58
  cars actually got on the track this year until they're open
• 1:16:00
  practice, but I mean just that for them to bring the facility
• 1:16:03
  back-to-back to race conditions from what they inherited a few
• 1:16:07
  months ago. And people just don't
• 1:16:09
  understand. That's why I'm advocating for
• 1:16:10
  Donnie to be promoter of the year.
• 1:16:12
  And I'm going to keep doing it publicly.
• 1:16:13
  I'm not going to apologize for it at all.
• 1:16:16
  I think if you take the body of work and evidence based
• 1:16:18
  measures, including all the metrics and all the things, it's
• 1:16:21
  without a doubt, if he's not at least considered, then it's just
• 1:16:25
  the word is just for good old boys.
• 1:16:27
  You know, like because Donnie's not a good old boy, he's not in
• 1:16:30
  the club. And you know, if, if, if he's
• 1:16:33
  not considered for any post season recognition, then what's
• 1:16:36
  the word for, especially in Michigan?
• 1:16:38
  What's it for? So I do plan to write an open
• 1:16:40
  letter to our president of the Michigan Auto Fan Racing Club to
• 1:16:44
  advocate for Donnie and you know, and all those things.
• 1:16:47
  And I know we had the Michigan Promoters group and it's going
• 1:16:50
  to be just, well, look at the metrics now, the track that does
• 1:16:54
  have a standing that also is up for running.
• 1:16:56
  If he's not, I'm surprised who's at Winston, Andrew at Winston,
• 1:17:00
  because they've done a lot to bring that track back.
• 1:17:02
  So there's good people who are there, but Donnie ran Kalamazoo
• 1:17:06
  at an elite level because that's what Kalamazoo expects, his
• 1:17:08
  elite and, and, and had to put in all the hours that he wasn't
• 1:17:13
  at his real job doing that. They had put in hours at Spring
• 1:17:17
  Court just to make it look like it did this past weekend.
• 1:17:20
  So I think he needs to be at least considered and if he's
• 1:17:23
  not, the word is not real. But other than that, other than
• 1:17:27
  that, someone who do have is real.
• 1:17:29
  His nickname that I was calling him after Super shoe was Jerry.
• 1:17:31
  O damn, how fast was he Jerry Osterhouse?
• 1:17:34
  He's a multi time champion at Galesburg, so it's not like he
• 1:17:37
  doesn't know what he's doing behind the car.
• 1:17:39
  But I talked with him earlier this year when he brought the
• 1:17:41
  limited late model out. I stopped in his pit air and I
• 1:17:43
  went. I'm excited to see what you can
• 1:17:45
  do with the limited late model here because for a lot of
• 1:17:48
  Kalamazoo fans who only go to Kalamazoo and maybe they go to
• 1:17:51
  M40 or they go to Owasso, they go wherever.
• 1:17:54
  They may not have known much about Jerry because he was in
• 1:17:56
  the template the year before and, and did pretty well in the
• 1:17:59
  template. But he could do a lot of damage
• 1:18:02
  in that limited late model. And, and I remember talking in
• 1:18:05
  the very beginning of the year and then he went out, won three
• 1:18:07
  races in a row, was pretty up there and then came away with
• 1:18:11
  the championship in his first full year at Kalamazoo running
• 1:18:13
  the limited. And then he went to New Paris on
• 1:18:16
  his first day there, did that, won that at the Summer Sizzler,
• 1:18:21
  then went to Michigan Cup and our super shoe and went against
• 1:18:25
  a bunch of outlaws, Super late models, won that, did the Crown
• 1:18:28
  Victoria, which he has won in the Crown Victoria before.
• 1:18:31
  He's won. I believe that in 40 he's won at
• 1:18:33
  Kalamazoo and the Crown Victoria.
• 1:18:35
  So he has won in that class before those tracks, but you
• 1:18:39
  know, went out with his limited. I'm like, hell, I didn't know it
• 1:18:43
  went that fast. And I mean, it was fast like he
• 1:18:46
  was the fastest car on the property All super shoe weekend
• 1:18:48
  going against summer Sizzler winner in the outlaw reveal
• 1:18:51
  race. I mean, just a lot of top names
• 1:18:53
  there that he's faster than the rest of them and then had good
• 1:18:56
  runs going at Michigan Cup. But obviously he got caught up
• 1:18:58
  in the limited late model mess that happened and that ended his
• 1:19:01
  night early. But if you're ready, we can
• 1:19:04
  bring on the 2026 Kalamazoo Champion, the new Paris Summer
• 1:19:08
  Scissor Lemon Late Model Champion, and the Super Shoe
• 1:19:11
  Nationals Champion. Jerry Osterhouse.
• 1:19:13
  Are you ready? Yes, Sir.
• 1:19:15
  All right, so. Let's go ahead and welcome him
• 1:19:17
  on for his debut. There we go.
• 1:19:21
  Now we can see my face. Not that I think anyone needs to
• 1:19:22
  really see it, but but if they listen to audio only, they don't
• 1:19:26
  even see our faces anyway. So I guess we could just make a
• 1:19:28
  bunch of faces and no one would even know.
• 1:19:30
  But we do have Jerry on. So again, Jerry, welcome to the
• 1:19:32
  Monday Night Rewind. How's it going?
• 1:19:35
  So far. So good.
• 1:19:36
  Well, how are you doing again? Because you got caught up in
• 1:19:38
  that mess yesterday and you also in the Crown Victoria got bumped
• 1:19:42
  up against the wall. So how are you doing though?
• 1:19:45
  Cuz those the the wall hit was hard.
• 1:19:47
  I heard it. Oh yeah, headphones.
• 1:19:49
  And I mean, obviously that late model mess, just everybody got
• 1:19:52
  tangled up. Oh yeah, I'm doing.
• 1:19:54
  Fine. But yeah, it was a it was a bad
• 1:19:56
  weekend, bad Sunday at Michigan Cup.
• 1:20:01
  But you had a great super shoot too and you had a great season
• 1:20:04
  overall and you've had a dominant run.
• 1:20:05
  So the one thing that we always start off with the shows, we
• 1:20:08
  call it the softball question of the night, because this is an
• 1:20:12
  aim first shoot seconds kind of podcast.
• 1:20:15
  And so I would start off with, this is the only scripted
• 1:20:18
  question I have is who are you for those who are watching who
• 1:20:21
  may not know who you are? Well, I'm I'm just Jerry
• 1:20:25
  Osterhouse. Just.
• 1:20:28
  Easy. There you go, Jerry.
• 1:20:30
  Well, why don't you talk a little bit about like your
• 1:20:33
  accolades, everything you've done, the fact that you're that
• 1:20:35
  Galesburg exists because your family helped with the property
• 1:20:39
  acquisition for them to be at the racetrack that you literally
• 1:20:43
  live next to. You have a probably what, a 2
• 1:20:46
  minute drive over in a golf cart to get ready for a race day.
• 1:20:49
  I mean, not everybody has a racetrack in their backyard.
• 1:20:52
  So a little bit about your accolades and everything, Yeah.
• 1:20:55
  Oh yeah. Galesburg Speedway's been in my
• 1:20:57
  backyard my whole life. That's really where I grew up,
• 1:21:00
  racing big cars at least. And yeah, we had a strong start
• 1:21:04
  to the season, winning, winning at Galesburg, won three races at
• 1:21:08
  Kalamazoo, and it's been a it's been a great season.
• 1:21:11
  It really has. Well, and you?
• 1:21:13
  Also, didn't you race quarter midgets at one time, like
• 1:21:18
  against Carson Hosavar and all that?
• 1:21:20
  Were you a part of that group? Who's with Carson?
• 1:21:22
  Yes, I was. Yeah.
• 1:21:23
  I was in the, I was in the quarter Midget Club since I was
• 1:21:27
  about 6 years old. That's when I first started
• 1:21:29
  racing. And yeah, I kind of grew up
• 1:21:31
  racing with Carson Hosovar and yeah.
• 1:21:36
  So what's it like to? Now to see what Carson's doing,
• 1:21:38
  Like, I don't know, maybe someday you can go throw punches
• 1:21:40
  like he did. Yeah.
• 1:21:42
  Oh. Yeah, man, I don't have the
• 1:21:44
  money he does, but. Yeah, it's pretty cool.
• 1:21:48
  That I kind of grew up racing with him and watching what he's
• 1:21:52
  become and hopefully one day I could do something, at least
• 1:21:56
  something like that. Well, that's something.
• 1:21:59
  That again, with your limited late model program, you know,
• 1:22:01
  obviously you come from a racing legacy.
• 1:22:03
  I mean, your family has been deeply rooted.
• 1:22:06
  So if you want to talk a little little bit about your family
• 1:22:09
  background and how you found yourself being the next
• 1:22:11
  generation to take the wheel, right.
• 1:22:14
  Oh yeah. Well, it all started with my
• 1:22:16
  dad. He's been racing for years.
• 1:22:18
  He's 6263 years old and he, he really started racing at like
• 1:22:24
  the same, not the quite the same age as me.
• 1:22:26
  He started me way earlier. But yeah, he's like around the
• 1:22:30
  age where he, he actually used to race with fucking Dale
• 1:22:33
  Earnhardt senior and everything. And yeah, he's he's got a real
• 1:22:37
  big history and I kind of just followed in his footsteps and
• 1:22:40
  kind of just became what I became all because of him.
• 1:22:44
  Any pressure with? That, you know, we always kind
• 1:22:47
  of think about like we've had an extremity on here.
• 1:22:49
  We've had others where they're deeply rooted, where they're
• 1:22:51
  like the next generation. Like there's there any pressure
• 1:22:54
  sometimes carrying around the Oster House name, knowing the
• 1:22:57
  legacy that Scoot left or I shouldn't say left because he's
• 1:23:00
  still leaving his mark. You know, he's in the pit area
• 1:23:02
  with you all the time and you know, so is there ever any
• 1:23:06
  pressure to perform to that level or, or does it just come
• 1:23:10
  natural to you where it doesn't really get to you at all?
• 1:23:13
  I mean, there's. Definitely, definitely a natural
• 1:23:15
  to it. But there's always the pressure
• 1:23:17
  to, you know, always do the best I can and always perform as good
• 1:23:20
  as I can. I always go out there and try to
• 1:23:22
  do do my best and become the best I can be.
• 1:23:27
  And yeah, I just want to be good as I can be, really.
• 1:23:32
  And what was it? What has?
• 1:23:33
  It been like for you this year, you know, racing full time at
• 1:23:37
  Kalamazoo in the Limited, knowing that that was a
• 1:23:40
  championship car or you've had a change program because wasn't
• 1:23:44
  this a new car from last year, if I remember correctly?
• 1:23:46
  Or is it the same? Oh yeah, no, it's a it's a
• 1:23:49
  brand. New car, we all started it.
• 1:23:51
  It was all brand new, beginning of the year, brand new Triple B
• 1:23:55
  chassis and so. What was it like for you then,
• 1:23:58
  knowing the talent that was coming over?
• 1:24:00
  I mean, you had Jerry Pearman, who you've put on battles with,
• 1:24:03
  You know, you've had, you know, you had Bryce Bozell in there.
• 1:24:06
  You had these names who have kind of been leading the way in
• 1:24:10
  the limited. So for you, what was like to
• 1:24:12
  join that group this year and then to almost immediately have
• 1:24:15
  success with that group, Right? Yeah.
• 1:24:18
  It means a lot to me, it really does.
• 1:24:19
  I know I can always hold my own at Galesburg, you know, because
• 1:24:23
  because I've raced there for years and I know the track very
• 1:24:26
  well. Coming to Kalamazoo, I didn't
• 1:24:28
  really have that mentality kind of to win the first race that
• 1:24:33
  the first three races there really kind of shook my mind,
• 1:24:35
  shook everybody's mind. Nobody really thought I could do
• 1:24:38
  it. And yeah, it was a it was a hell
• 1:24:41
  of a beginning, that's for sure. Well then.
• 1:24:44
  Now, to even say that you're a Kalamazoo champion, was that
• 1:24:47
  like, was that a goal for you at all or was it kind of one of
• 1:24:52
  those in your first year at Kalamazoo in this class?
• 1:24:54
  Like, hey, let's just go see what we can do.
• 1:24:56
  Let's, you know, maybe put ourselves in position to
• 1:24:59
  compete, but like you end up at the end of the year with the
• 1:25:03
  championship and I don't I don't know if that was on a lot of
• 1:25:06
  people's mind. Again, when you look at the
• 1:25:08
  lineup that you're going against every single week, and that's
• 1:25:10
  not because you're not good, but there's there's there's a lot of
• 1:25:15
  champions that were competing in that division this year.
• 1:25:18
  I mean, you had, you know, Joshua Fry, you know, coming
• 1:25:22
  over and doing that and obviously that name, you know,
• 1:25:25
  he has championships everywhere on every surface.
• 1:25:28
  And so, you know, what were your goals now that you can reflect
• 1:25:31
  back? What were your goals coming into
• 1:25:33
  this year and then where you know to now end up as a champion
• 1:25:37
  though, right? Well, the goals in the in the
• 1:25:40
  beginning of the year where we're going to run points at
• 1:25:42
  Galesburg and we're just going to go over to Kalamazoo as much
• 1:25:45
  as we can and we'll honestly be happy to win a feature, not just
• 1:25:50
  win a feature. We weren't really thinking, even
• 1:25:52
  thinking about a championship over there.
• 1:25:54
  And when in the first three races kind of just got the got
• 1:25:58
  that mentality going, like we we could actually do this if we put
• 1:26:02
  our minds to it and just stick to it.
• 1:26:05
  And it all worked out in the end, that's for sure.
• 1:26:09
  Yeah, again. I mean, that was like I said at
• 1:26:12
  our opening, you know, I talked with you that opening day when
• 1:26:14
  you were there and said how excited I was for you to have
• 1:26:17
  that and see what you could do with it there at Kalamazoo.
• 1:26:21
  And obviously, you know, you've had success over at Galesburg.
• 1:26:24
  So what you know, Galesburg doesn't get a lot of, you know,
• 1:26:28
  publicity, you know, at all. And certainly they don't get.
• 1:26:32
  They don't get none of the recognition and like any other
• 1:26:34
  track does. Yeah, Yep.
• 1:26:36
  And so certainly, you know, one of my goals of going over to
• 1:26:39
  Galesburg is to always try to put that positive spin on what
• 1:26:43
  at what's taking place at Galesburg, because there's a lot
• 1:26:45
  of good people there. There's a lot of good racers
• 1:26:47
  there, and it's a Bullring. It produces a lot of good
• 1:26:51
  racing. So, you know, what has it been
• 1:26:53
  like for you especially? It's literally in your backyard.
• 1:26:58
  I mean, you can, if you went to your back end of the property
• 1:27:00
  and sat there, you can look over in 2-3 and four.
• 1:27:03
  So what's it been like for you to be one of those flag carriers
• 1:27:07
  for Galesburg and knowing that Galesburg doesn't get the shine
• 1:27:12
  that like a Kalamazoo or Berlin or Owosso gets right?
• 1:27:17
  Well-being in my backyard, it's just so easy to race there
• 1:27:20
  really, you know, we don't have to travel.
• 1:27:22
  There's there's a not as much effort put into it.
• 1:27:25
  You know, there's a lot of effort and travelling to other
• 1:27:28
  race tracks and changing setups and stuff like that.
• 1:27:32
  It was, it's just really kind of simple for us to race there.
• 1:27:35
  I know they don't get the recognition as any other track,
• 1:27:38
  but, and my dad grew up racing there too.
• 1:27:41
  I mean, it's just really easy for us and the team and I think
• 1:27:45
  it's a good track to start at too, because I feel like if you
• 1:27:48
  can race at Galesburg, you can you can race at any other track
• 1:27:51
  because it's it's just as tough. Well, what was it like then?
• 1:27:55
  For you racing in Galesburg to go down to New Paris, because
• 1:27:58
  obviously, I mean, that was your first time at New Paris.
• 1:28:01
  You hadn't raced there. I remember I kind of gave you a
• 1:28:04
  scouting, scouting report on the drivers of this is what they do.
• 1:28:08
  This is what they do. This, you know, like I, you
• 1:28:11
  know, we talked a little bit and, and I even remember telling
• 1:28:14
  you if you could figure out turn one and two, then you can figure
• 1:28:16
  out the rest of the track without it issue.
• 1:28:19
  And you went down there and you put on a show and and you
• 1:28:22
  introduce everybody to Jerry down there.
• 1:28:25
  And So what, what kind of things could you take from Galesburg
• 1:28:29
  down in New Paris with you to help you came that quarter mile
• 1:28:33
  right well. I I know both those quarter mile
• 1:28:35
  tracks are they're like a bull ring.
• 1:28:37
  You got to watch what you're doing at all times.
• 1:28:40
  New Paris was definitely the trickiest track I've ever been
• 1:28:43
  to. I feel like every corners
• 1:28:45
  different, especially 1 and 2. Like you said, figuring out 1
• 1:28:48
  and 2 is almost like the hardest thing to do.
• 1:28:51
  If you can get one and two down, three and four just kind of
• 1:28:54
  comes naturally. Like Galesburg.
• 1:28:56
  I feel like 3 and fours, kind of like one and two in Galesburg.
• 1:29:01
  And yeah, it was definitely different to go down there, but
• 1:29:04
  I had a great time and I definitely want to go back.
• 1:29:07
  Well, I know. I was, I was excited when you
• 1:29:10
  told me that you're going down there because it's like, oh,
• 1:29:12
  this is going to be good then. And, and we do have a race this
• 1:29:15
  Saturday at New Paris. It is the trifecta finale where
• 1:29:20
  the trifecta champion gets 5000. And I don't know where you are
• 1:29:23
  in the points, but winning helps.
• 1:29:26
  But they did have or yeah, flagger or was flagger boy the.
• 1:29:30
  Yeah, yours wasn't the trifecta race.
• 1:29:32
  Flagger boy was the trifecta. So.
• 1:29:34
  But if you're looking to get that late model out one more
• 1:29:36
  time, although I know it's a little bruised up, but you're
• 1:29:38
  looking for one more time, you know, this Saturday is the
• 1:29:41
  Trifecta championship. And it's only three classes.
• 1:29:44
  It's going to be the modifieds, limited late models and St.
• 1:29:47
  Stocks will be racing that day. So if you're looking for
• 1:29:49
  somewhere to go, new Paris has one more time.
• 1:29:52
  Definitely. Yeah, we.
• 1:29:52
  Were definitely thinking about it, but Michigan Cup kind of
• 1:29:55
  really tore up our car. I don't know if we're going to
• 1:29:58
  have it ready in time, but we were definitely thinking about
• 1:30:01
  it. If Michigan Cup went well, it
• 1:30:03
  was like a guarantee we were gonna go there.
• 1:30:05
  But it's not looking very good at the moment.
• 1:30:08
  Yeah, no. Like I said, you got that.
• 1:30:11
  I mean, when it all piled up fast, it happened fast.
• 1:30:14
  I mean, there was one of those that everyone was there and, and
• 1:30:18
  I know Sabrina didn't get like the cameras on because they just
• 1:30:20
  rolled you all right through the pit area or the the pit zone
• 1:30:24
  spot right there. And so she and I ended up
• 1:30:26
  texting her like, well, maybe no one will be too disappointed if
• 1:30:29
  the camera wasn't on because it didn't last.
• 1:30:31
  It didn't last long for a lot of drivers who had cameras.
• 1:30:33
  So, so maybe they won't miss out on that.
• 1:30:36
  I don't know. But but it was one of those that
• 1:30:38
  again, watching you race, watching what you do, obviously
• 1:30:41
  it takes a lot of support. So who are some of the people
• 1:30:43
  behind your program? I'll.
• 1:30:46
  I'll name off all our sponsors. We got a Triple B fabrication.
• 1:30:50
  We got elite companies, Chip Systems International, Dave
• 1:30:53
  Fenton Racing, TLG Mechanical, Lawson Printing Engines by only.
• 1:31:01
  I like to thank my crew, my my dad, Steve Allen and yeah, I I
• 1:31:09
  just want to thank everybody behind me, all friends and
• 1:31:12
  family, supporters that have been here been for me this
• 1:31:15
  season and yeah, now Buju I. Know I've left you out but it
• 1:31:20
  not on purpose. But I'm going to hand it over to
• 1:31:22
  you for a little bit because I know I don't think you've met
• 1:31:24
  Jerry at all. I don't think you 2 have crossed
• 1:31:26
  paths. So what do you want to know
• 1:31:28
  about Jerry? What are the plans for?
• 1:31:29
  Next year, so you're you got a championship to defend at
• 1:31:32
  Kalamazoo. You're going back there for a
• 1:31:33
  full season next year. I assume you're going to be
• 1:31:35
  racing Galesburg with it being literally your backyard.
• 1:31:37
  What are the plans? Yeah.
• 1:31:38
  Oh yeah. Definitely going to go back to
• 1:31:39
  Kalamazoo. I'm honestly starting to like
• 1:31:42
  that track the most. We'll definitely be back at
• 1:31:45
  Kalamazoo. We'll be racing at Galesburg
• 1:31:47
  too. I kind of want to do some more
• 1:31:48
  travelling around next next year, so I don't think we're
• 1:31:52
  going to run for points at Galesburg.
• 1:31:54
  I know Springport's going to be running, so I'd like to make it
• 1:31:57
  out there quite a bit. I really like that track.
• 1:31:59
  Anywhere else? Besides Springport, I'd like to
• 1:32:02
  go down to. New Paris, too.
• 1:32:04
  I'd like to make it down to New Paris, yeah.
• 1:32:07
  Yeah, do some traveling. Around learning new tracks and
• 1:32:10
  stuff. You mentioned new Paris.
• 1:32:12
  Was the trickiest track. You said Kalamazoo is probably
• 1:32:16
  your favorite so far. Yeah, well, so what's what's,
• 1:32:20
  what makes Galesburg unique outside of, again, being your
• 1:32:23
  yard? Just learning it over the years.
• 1:32:27
  Honestly, I feel like I I got that track down more than I do
• 1:32:30
  any other one. I kind of know it like the back
• 1:32:32
  of my hand, even though I'm young.
• 1:32:34
  Do you feel that's kind? Of your do you feel like you're
• 1:32:36
  defending that turf almost like that like this is my yard.
• 1:32:40
  Not to keep going back to the yard, but like, this is my house
• 1:32:43
  and you have to come take it from me to an extent with it
• 1:32:45
  being in a in a. Way yeah, if I, I have a feeling
• 1:32:49
  all my competition whenever I'm there, they yeah, I'm always the
• 1:32:53
  one to worry about, yeah. Well, congratulations on the
• 1:32:56
  success. This year, good to meet you.
• 1:32:57
  I still have to go to Galesburg to learn a little more about it
• 1:33:00
  myself. But yeah, congratulations on a
• 1:33:02
  on a great year and thanks for coming on the show.
• 1:33:04
  Thank you very. Much.
• 1:33:05
  I appreciate it well and everybody.
• 1:33:07
  Knows when that 27 pulls in because they have an open
• 1:33:09
  trailer. Yeah, open trailer.
• 1:33:11
  Yeah, so you. Know when that 27 is showing up
• 1:33:14
  because it's coming on an open trailer and and it's a sharp
• 1:33:18
  looking car I mean it's definitely you know it's a why
• 1:33:25
  don't you talk a little bit because Chris Foebe and Sean
• 1:33:27
  Sprague before we let you get going Sean Sprague and Chris
• 1:33:31
  Foebe are announcers over at spring court this week and
• 1:33:34
  they're kind of talking about the rules of the limited late
• 1:33:37
  model class and kind of like the throwback that they are with a
• 1:33:40
  little modern twist and all that and so your chassis is a little
• 1:33:46
  different than some of the others because you have more of
• 1:33:48
  the rounded edge on the back that's the most.
• 1:33:52
  Round signature, that's kind of like the one of one my dad used
• 1:33:56
  to run his quarter panels round like a Corvette, rounded like a
• 1:33:59
  Corvette. He was the only one that ever
• 1:34:01
  used to run it that way. And that's kind of like our our
• 1:34:04
  signature. All right, well, that explains
• 1:34:07
  that. But you know, so how you know,
• 1:34:10
  cuz not every nose was the same this past weekend at Michigan
• 1:34:13
  cop. Not every, you know, not every
• 1:34:15
  late model had the exact same like back panels where, you
• 1:34:19
  know, a lot of late models had the left or was yeah, left side
• 1:34:22
  panel where the right side was open.
• 1:34:24
  So why don't you talk a little bit about, I mean, you don't
• 1:34:26
  have to give all your secrets away, but why don't you talk a
• 1:34:28
  little bit about the design for those who cuz there's a lot of
• 1:34:31
  questions in the comments. Not this page right now, but
• 1:34:35
  like any time I post limited late model, everyone always goes
• 1:34:39
  how can it be limited? If it looks like a super late
• 1:34:43
  model or when calums you used to call them outlaw limited late
• 1:34:47
  models. Everyone's like, how can it be
• 1:34:48
  an outlaw but limited? And, and it's like you try to
• 1:34:52
  explain that. So you being a limited late
• 1:34:54
  model racer, why don't you talk a little bit about like how you
• 1:34:58
  guys put your work into your nose piece and what you're
• 1:35:02
  looking for in terms of your car and your performance and then
• 1:35:06
  maybe how that and how it's different than the Super late
• 1:35:10
  model for those who maybe still don't understand the
• 1:35:13
  differences? Right on.
• 1:35:14
  Yeah. I I know all, all limited late
• 1:35:16
  models. They're they're all different in
• 1:35:18
  a way. Like on a super late model, you,
• 1:35:21
  you have to buy the front nose and you got to buy different
• 1:35:25
  parts to meet the rules and everything.
• 1:35:28
  We're limited. You, you build everything from
• 1:35:30
  scratch. Really.
• 1:35:31
  You, you make everything from the, from the deck lid, the
• 1:35:35
  doors, the nose hood, everything.
• 1:35:38
  The only thing we, we bought on that car was the roof and from,
• 1:35:42
  you know, everything else is built and custom made, custom
• 1:35:47
  bent. We we do everything from
• 1:35:49
  scratch. So a lot of work, right?
• 1:35:51
  And that's where again, a lot of people that's, I mean, that's
• 1:35:55
  one thing we see all the time in the comments section is why, why
• 1:35:59
  is it a limited or what makes it a limited?
• 1:36:01
  Or like I said, some noses this past weekend were very tight,
• 1:36:05
  almost kind of where others are. They were more swoopy, like AUMP
• 1:36:09
  dirt light model that you might see at a dirt track or whatever.
• 1:36:12
  So that's where I thought, well, why don't we have a limited
• 1:36:14
  light model racer on? Why don't we talk a little bit
• 1:36:15
  about, you know, some of the things that go into it that does
• 1:36:18
  make it just a little bit different than what people may
• 1:36:21
  think of when it comes to like a super late model.
• 1:36:24
  But then I also know you do the Crown Victoria and you have
• 1:36:26
  crashers adventurers on here saying bring that crown Victoria
• 1:36:28
  back. So what a lot of people may not
• 1:36:30
  know is that you also race school buses at the night of
• 1:36:32
  destruction and you know, you'll go out and and put a hit on
• 1:36:36
  somebody too, and you'll go do that.
• 1:36:38
  So what is it with the Crown Victoria?
• 1:36:40
  You know what got you into Crown Victoria racing and and what do
• 1:36:43
  you like more? The Crown Victoria the template
• 1:36:45
  late model or the lemon late model?
• 1:36:47
  Oh yeah, I. Mean the crown Vics are they're
• 1:36:49
  a blast to race. You know, you can kind of beat
• 1:36:52
  and bang have have a little bit more fun in that in the crown
• 1:36:55
  vics and you can the late model. You know, late race in the late
• 1:36:58
  model is pretty serious, you know, touching something.
• 1:37:00
  You know, parts are expensive, you know, real expensive,
• 1:37:05
  especially when you wreck them. On a Crown Vic.
• 1:37:08
  You don't have to worry about it so much.
• 1:37:10
  Some things are kind of built like tanks and you can get a
• 1:37:13
  little little more beat and banging going on door to door
• 1:37:18
  action and it's like it's like slow motion compared to a late
• 1:37:21
  model. I kinda enjoy that, yeah.
• 1:37:25
  What was it like racing? The Crown Victoria at
• 1:37:27
  Springport, because I think when you won at super Shoe, I thought
• 1:37:31
  I heard on the onboard camera where you even said that's like
• 1:37:33
  slow motion and that like you gotta feel like you're.
• 1:37:36
  Crawling around that plate. Oh yeah, It it's a.
• 1:37:38
  Blast racing it at Kalamazoo. It really is with with the Crown
• 1:37:43
  Vic, kind of got to build your momentum up.
• 1:37:44
  But once you get your momentum going, it's pretty smooth, yeah.
• 1:37:49
  It's one of those that I know I enjoy.
• 1:37:52
  Yeah, I enjoy the the Crown vics.
• 1:37:54
  Now. Have you ever done the dirt
• 1:37:55
  Race? Because, you know, on October
• 1:37:57
  24th. Also cheap plug Monday on
• 1:37:59
  October 24th, we do have the Nightmare on Bowie St. over or
• 1:38:03
  is it Bowie? I think it's Bowie.
• 1:38:05
  We have it on the street, that's by the track at Hartford.
• 1:38:08
  That's what it's named after. So it's a nightmare nonetheless.
• 1:38:11
  But they have Crown Victoria's 1000 to win.
• 1:38:13
  It's the inaugural for the Great American Pursuit and it's the
• 1:38:17
  final leg of the Top row Racing Media Triple Crown.
• 1:38:21
  So do you have you ever raced on dirt or would you ever consider
• 1:38:23
  racing the Crown Victoria on dirt and maybe showing up at at
• 1:38:26
  Hartford on October 24th? Yep.
• 1:38:28
  Originally when we when we had the Crown Vics, one of our
• 1:38:32
  sponsors bought three of them for us and we turned them all
• 1:38:35
  into race cars. It was me, my dad and one of my
• 1:38:37
  buddies. We were out there.
• 1:38:38
  We first started racing them at Hartford actually.
• 1:38:42
  We were. We were kind of, we weren't
• 1:38:45
  racing for points or nothing, but we were, we were there every
• 1:38:47
  weekend just having a blast. I think that was the last year
• 1:38:52
  that we were running the template late model.
• 1:38:54
  And so we thought we'd go over there and have some fun, kind of
• 1:38:57
  learned some dirt racing and stuff.
• 1:38:59
  And I won a few races over there and yeah, I honestly, I have
• 1:39:02
  I've been wanting to go back racing dirt.
• 1:39:04
  It's a it's a whole another world, but I feel like it's a
• 1:39:06
  lot funner really is well. October 24th, they have that,
• 1:39:11
  like I said, 1000 to win race there.
• 1:39:14
  The national, the national compacts, the Midwest compacts
• 1:39:16
  will be there. I think they're doing a
• 1:39:18
  demolition Derby and they have other things going on too.
• 1:39:20
  I don't, I don't remember everything off the top of my
• 1:39:22
  head, but the seafood shoe. I'm just trying to sell a few
• 1:39:25
  tracks here. You know, we got obviously new
• 1:39:27
  Paris. Although I think, like I said, I
• 1:39:29
  know with what your car is missing that that might be that
• 1:39:31
  might be a little harder to get to this weekend.
• 1:39:34
  But but October 24th, because how much damage did the Crown
• 1:39:37
  Victoria have? I know you had to pull off after
• 1:39:39
  for a second. How much damage was it to the
• 1:39:41
  Crown Victoria not? Too much damage.
• 1:39:44
  I got a flat left front tire. OK. 2 white walls on.
• 1:39:48
  The outside, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:39:51
  Emphasis on white walls. It was he it even I booed you.
• 1:39:55
  I don't know if you saw it. The highlight is up, but I just
• 1:39:58
  posted it before the show at like 4 or something.
• 1:40:00
  But him and Zach had a nice little battle going on.
• 1:40:03
  And then. Yeah, it didn't turn into a
• 1:40:06
  battle. It turned into Jerry eating some
• 1:40:08
  wall and it popped into the trunk.
• 1:40:10
  That's how hard. That's how hard the hit was.
• 1:40:13
  Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah.
• 1:40:14
  I was, I think it was on a restart.
• 1:40:16
  I started on the outside and the 22 kind of took off and the pink
• 1:40:22
  car, Zach Denton, he was on the inside.
• 1:40:24
  We were running side by side for a couple laps, side by side.
• 1:40:27
  Not I was, I was close to the wall as I can get.
• 1:40:30
  And he just, he ran me right up into the wall.
• 1:40:33
  Yeah. There was not a lot of room, no.
• 1:40:36
  Left no room for me. Well, and even the lap before.
• 1:40:41
  That Sean Sprague, you can hear Sean Sprague saying, I don't
• 1:40:43
  know that you could put a piece of paper because you were, I
• 1:40:46
  mean, that slap, you were like, like, I was running this to the
• 1:40:51
  limit. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:40:53
  I had a track camera on the back and I don't know if it ran out
• 1:40:55
  of disk space or not during that race.
• 1:40:57
  I have to look because I, I had five hours a day before.
• 1:40:59
  So I came in with low disk space to begin with.
• 1:41:01
  And that program did from 1 is almost 6:00.
• 1:41:04
  I'm like, I definitely know I didn't get the whole night, but
• 1:41:06
  I hope I got at least got most of the night.
• 1:41:08
  But I'm I'm excited to see once that's all downloaded to watch
• 1:41:12
  how close because you were about where you hit is where my camera
• 1:41:15
  was placed. And so I'll get to, I'll get to
• 1:41:18
  show Sean everyone how close to that wall you were because there
• 1:41:21
  was, there's definitely not a lot of space place there.
• 1:41:23
  So again, I know it's late and, and I but I appreciate you
• 1:41:28
  coming on tonight and talking with us and to talk a little bit
• 1:41:31
  about your championship and obviously your plans maybe for
• 1:41:35
  the rest of this year, some plans you might have.
• 1:41:37
  But otherwise for 2027 where you're looking to go and do and
• 1:41:40
  maybe it'll be the year of the 27 in 2027.
• 1:41:45
  Because you already had a good year.
• 1:41:46
  This year, see how I did that booze you little marketing year
• 1:41:50
  of the 27 in 27, but seven we're.
• 1:41:53
  Coming strong, but definitely. I'm, I hope you get down to new
• 1:41:58
  Paris more because that that limited class.
• 1:42:00
  They have a good group of solid dedicated 6 to 8 cars.
• 1:42:04
  But to have Someone Like You come on down, if Josh brought
• 1:42:07
  his down from time to time, I mean, there's a couple of cars I
• 1:42:10
  I hope comes down that will just give that division a little bit
• 1:42:14
  of a boost down there. You know, just to again, the
• 1:42:17
  more cars you can have, you don't want too many, but you
• 1:42:20
  know, the more cars you can have as you know, is going to put on
• 1:42:22
  a little bit of a better race, more competitive race.
• 1:42:24
  So and obviously someone with your accolades makes it really
• 1:42:27
  awesome too. But again, thank you for joining
• 1:42:29
  us tonight. I know, I know it's getting late
• 1:42:31
  for all of us. So, but again, Jerry, if we see
• 1:42:35
  you over the next couple weeks out of track somewhere, awesome.
• 1:42:39
  If not, definitely congratulations on your season.
• 1:42:41
  And I know you get to celebrate at the banquet coming up on I
• 1:42:44
  think it's November 7th for the Kalamazoo Championship.
• 1:42:48
  Yep. Oh, yeah.
• 1:42:50
  All right, Well, again. We have been talking with Jerry
• 1:42:53
  Osterhouse, the champion of Kalamazoo Speedway also super
• 1:42:57
  shoe sweep in the Crown VIX and in the and the rear wheel drive.
• 1:43:02
  I will set super late miles. So it's rear wheel drive class
• 1:43:04
  there. And then he also won down at new
• 1:43:07
  Paris in the during the summer sizzler for the lemonade model
• 1:43:09
  class there. So again, you can if you miss
• 1:43:13
  any part of our interview with with Jerry, you can always go
• 1:43:15
  back on Spotify on Facebook on YouTube, on iHeartRadio.
• 1:43:22
  Boozoo, help me out. What else do we have?
• 1:43:24
  Amazon Music. And Apple podcast so so again,
• 1:43:28
  thank you so much Jerry for joining us tonight Yep, thank
• 1:43:31
  you very much for. Everything.
• 1:43:32
  I appreciate it. Yep.
• 1:43:34
  All right, right, other than that booze you let's go ahead
• 1:43:38
  and let's give our answer to our question here for the rewind
• 1:43:42
  brain Buster. So again, Springport has
• 1:43:44
  operated under how many different names?
• 1:43:47
  And then of course, who challenged Russ Densmore to
• 1:43:50
  build his own racetrack not tack that so pisses me off but and
• 1:43:56
  quotation if he could do it better.
• 1:43:59
  So the answer is five. So letter B for five it opens
• 1:44:04
  opened up as Michigan Ideal Speedway, modeled after Michigan
• 1:44:08
  International Speedway, MIS, MIS because Russ Densmore was also
• 1:44:12
  on the safety team at MIS and it was Russ Cowper who challenged
• 1:44:18
  him over a spat that they had. He was the brand new Spartan
• 1:44:22
  Speedway owner, also owner of the Galesburg Speedway at the
• 1:44:25
  time, but just took over Spartan and him and Russ.
• 1:44:29
  The Russ's had a disagreement and Russ told him if you think
• 1:44:32
  you can do it better go build your own track.
• 1:44:35
  So Russ Densmore said challenge accepted, took his retirement,
• 1:44:40
  had 70 acres of corn and plowed it all down and he the Amish and
• 1:44:47
  a few others built and is designed and built Springport,
• 1:44:51
  although then Michigan Internet, Michigan ideal Speedway built
• 1:44:55
  it. There's a whole YouTube series
• 1:44:56
  that goes from start to finish. There's a like a 1000 year storm
• 1:45:01
  that wiped out pretty much all the work that they did.
• 1:45:03
  So they did rebuild it back up. But the 18° of banking and all
• 1:45:07
  the the hot shoe where it's elevated so the fans from the
• 1:45:10
  stands can see the cars in the in the hot chute.
• 1:45:13
  There's a hot pit area where cars can work and come back
• 1:45:16
  right out onto the track. So there's a very purposeful
• 1:45:19
  design process to Michigan Ideal Speedway, which then became
• 1:45:26
  Springport Speedway when it was sold over and then it became
• 1:45:32
  Calhoun County Speedway when gym leisure came the first time and
• 1:45:38
  got it current Corrigan oil Speedway owner.
• 1:45:41
  And then it was changed to Mid Michigan Speedway or it was
• 1:45:45
  Springport mid Michigan Speedway.
• 1:45:47
  Then it went to Mid Michigan Speedway, then a Springport
• 1:45:50
  Motor Speedway and then it went back to Michigan Springport Mid
• 1:45:52
  Michigan Speedway. So it's had a lot of different
• 1:45:54
  names and it's time, but five names.
• 1:45:57
  It's been closed officially three seasons in its history.
• 1:46:01
  It opened in in 89. The first Michigan Cup.
• 1:46:04
  Michigan Cup was 1991. But I'm I'm a sucker for history
• 1:46:09
  as I know you are Buju. It opened in 80. 9 and it's had
• 1:46:12
  that many names, yeah. 89 It had two names in the same year.
• 1:46:16
  It was it opened in 2005. It opened as Calhoun County
• 1:46:20
  Speedway and then it changed to Mid Michigan Speedway halfway
• 1:46:25
  through the year. But Ronnie John Cox did have it.
• 1:46:30
  He was a IndyCar owner and racer.
• 1:46:33
  He did have it for a little bit. And then Maurice Randall first
• 1:46:37
  had it on the lease. He was an ARCA NASCAR guy, had
• 1:46:40
  it on lease and then operated it fully for the next season before
• 1:46:43
  it kind of converted over again in different hands.
• 1:46:46
  And it's had a lot of different promoters and it's time, but at
• 1:46:49
  which other tracks have promoters too.
• 1:46:51
  But but other than that, that was the answer to that.
• 1:46:54
  A little bit of history and I'm a big soccer for history.
• 1:46:57
  Excuse me, I'm sorry. I have a I'm a big soccer for
• 1:47:00
  history and my favorite corner at Springport is turn 4.
• 1:47:03
  I always after the races, I usually sit there and I just
• 1:47:06
  kind of just appreciate, you know, how lucky we are to have
• 1:47:10
  like a Springport. But the scenery, I mean, you
• 1:47:11
  just have all the foliage around the track.
• 1:47:15
  You get those fall colors going and have all these.
• 1:47:17
  It's rarely. It's almost like untamed land
• 1:47:21
  around it. I mean, you got a cow, you got
• 1:47:23
  cows and chickens and goats across the way.
• 1:47:28
  You have farms. It's all dirt roads out there.
• 1:47:30
  The asphalt literally ends at the racetrack and then turns
• 1:47:33
  into dirt road for a couple miles and pothole city
• 1:47:38
  everywhere. But yeah, that that, that, that
• 1:47:42
  track, you know, just knowing that a guy literally, I call it
• 1:47:45
  the Speedway of Dreams, short track racing, Speedway of
• 1:47:47
  Dreams, because you didn't need Kevin Costner to come out and
• 1:47:50
  and, you know, lay down the first brick and do whatever.
• 1:47:54
  But if you ever get a chance, I forget where it is on YouTube,
• 1:47:59
  but there's a way to find it under Michigan Ideal Speedway
• 1:48:01
  where you can live. It's a three-part series, like
• 1:48:03
  10 minute videos each, give or take.
• 1:48:06
  But it goes for the whole history of when they first laid
• 1:48:08
  down the property, when they're building it, what it looked like
• 1:48:11
  after the monsoon came and nearly wiped it out.
• 1:48:13
  You see the Amish building the wall and how deep into the
• 1:48:16
  ground those walls go. Those walls are probably not
• 1:48:18
  going to move. And some money hungry police.
• 1:48:24
  But did I miss something? I don't.
• 1:48:27
  Know Tina. Give.
• 1:48:28
  More Yeah, contacts. Yeah, I'm like.
• 1:48:32
  I talk about Springport. I don't know what money.
• 1:48:34
  Oh, I know. So going through Springport,
• 1:48:38
  there's a lot of people who got paid a.
• 1:48:42
  Lot of people funded. That town for the rest of the
• 1:48:44
  year and probably next year too. That's so annoying.
• 1:48:47
  They they were. Pulling people over.
• 1:48:49
  So I didn't see any. So I came in the back way from
• 1:48:52
  Charlotte because I stayed in the hotel in Charlotte, not
• 1:48:55
  Charlotte, Charlotte. So I stayed in Charlotte.
• 1:48:59
  So I came in the back way. So where I came in, there were
• 1:49:02
  no police, but there was road construction at Bellevue Highway
• 1:49:05
  or whatever the hell they call that road and you literally
• 1:49:08
  couldn't get from one side to the other anywhere.
• 1:49:11
  They weren't letting people cross.
• 1:49:12
  I'm like, there's where did you go?
• 1:49:14
  So I ended up with children of the corn at one time because I
• 1:49:16
  went, I tried to follow detour and I'm like, I don't know where
• 1:49:19
  the hell I am, but I'm just waiting for Scarface or somebody
• 1:49:21
  to come running out and cuz out there that's all it is.
• 1:49:25
  It's just farm field. It's like going through Nebraska
• 1:49:27
  and accepted there's hills at least.
• 1:49:29
  But but you know, there's like places out there that you
• 1:49:33
  wouldn't want to be caught with a mob because you're probably
• 1:49:36
  not coming out. And but anyways, other people
• 1:49:40
  who came through the town of Springport, there's someone who
• 1:49:43
  got pulled over for doing 26 mph and it's 25 posted.
• 1:49:50
  Literally. One mile over got pulled over
• 1:49:53
  and it's like, OK, now there is a construction zone there.
• 1:49:57
  So they do have construction. They do have different things,
• 1:49:59
  but 26 I have now when they said that police were pulling over,
• 1:50:04
  like I didn't know there's police in Springport cuz you
• 1:50:06
  never see him. Yeah, anywhere.
• 1:50:08
  That's a good way to make sure. Nobody ever comes back to your
• 1:50:10
  tiny little town, though. Well, and this is the thing.
• 1:50:13
  Too. She's not wrong, Tina.
• 1:50:15
  If 55 to 25 in a second, it's like there's no warning.
• 1:50:18
  You're literally going and then it's like 25 and and as you're
• 1:50:22
  going through, then there's a spot where it's 35.
• 1:50:25
  There's actually at one time on one side of the road is 25 and
• 1:50:28
  on the other side of the road is 35.
• 1:50:29
  I took a picture of it. They did change the sign at some
• 1:50:32
  point because I remember I sent it to their city people,
• 1:50:35
  whatever. He called the village council
• 1:50:37
  and I said your signs are not right, which is an m.thingbut
• 1:50:41
  but you know, like it's one of those thing and but they were
• 1:50:47
  hiding in the graveyard because there's a graveyard as soon as
• 1:50:49
  you pull in. The town was built in like 1863
• 1:50:52
  when it was founded. So who knows how old some of
• 1:50:54
  those headstones are, but but there's not much.
• 1:50:57
  I mean there's literally like nothing in Springport.
• 1:50:59
  There's no other reason you go to Springport other than to go
• 1:51:02
  to the racetrack at all. There's nothing there.
• 1:51:04
  It's literally like 100 miles off of the highway off of 94.
• 1:51:09
  There is civilization there, not many, but there is civilization
• 1:51:12
  there. But you got to go a long ways to
• 1:51:13
  see it and and it's not 100. It's but it but it's I'm Mark.
• 1:51:18
  I see. I've never even seen the truck.
• 1:51:19
  I didn't even know like I said, I didn't even know they had
• 1:51:21
  police there. They don't have like a fast
• 1:51:25
  response team for medics. It took we had a situation in
• 1:51:28
  the pit where we needed to bring in medical support and it took
• 1:51:32
  forever to get them there. And so it's like there's nothing
• 1:51:34
  there, right, which is part of it's the issue with rural count,
• 1:51:38
  you know, countries anyways, But it's like Calhoun County is big
• 1:51:40
  enough, right? Like it's big enough.
• 1:51:42
  It's Battle Creek and which is really its biggest town anyways,
• 1:51:46
  But still, like, I don't know. So yeah, they were announcing
• 1:51:50
  that, you know, Springport had to make a post about, you know,
• 1:51:53
  don't speed through, you know, like, literally, you might as
• 1:51:56
  well just done 20 just to be sure of it and put it on cruise
• 1:51:58
  control. So you knew you're doing 20.
• 1:52:00
  And but I just find that silly. Like I've literally had cops
• 1:52:05
  pass me even on 94 texting and driving, state troopers texting
• 1:52:10
  doing 85. I know they're doing 85 because
• 1:52:14
  I was doing 80 and they passed me like I was parked and I was
• 1:52:16
  only doing 80 because if I wanted to live to tell about it,
• 1:52:19
  I had no choice. They didn't like no lights and
• 1:52:21
  sirens are on or anything. They were, they were texting and
• 1:52:24
  driving and doing more than 80 and you know, and so whatever,
• 1:52:30
  right? But sometimes that's, that's
• 1:52:31
  irritating. It's like 1 mile per hour.
• 1:52:33
  Literally they they pulled someone for one mile when I'm
• 1:52:35
  on, when I'm. On the bypass here at South
• 1:52:37
  Bend, Mishawaka, Elkhart. I'm going to work in the
• 1:52:39
  morning. Yeah, to me, me and the South
• 1:52:42
  Bend cops that are coming from South Bend to Elkhart to go
• 1:52:44
  home. We're all bugging together.
• 1:52:46
  Trust me. Yeah.
• 1:52:47
  Oh. Yeah, no, I've, I've had a Saint
• 1:52:49
  Joe County cop pass me in Elkhart County.
• 1:52:51
  Like it didn't even matter. I went, oh, OK, I guess we're
• 1:52:55
  all hammering. Down.
• 1:52:58
  Well, but there's that part of the bypass.
• 1:52:59
  So especially by, you know, if you're to go to Potawatomi zoo
• 1:53:04
  and go like it literally pretty much after the South Bend exit,
• 1:53:08
  like it's pretty tamed by the International Airport and and
• 1:53:11
  through that spot. But once you get past that and
• 1:53:14
  you start getting by Ireland and all them like you better be
• 1:53:16
  boogging because if you're not, you're going to get your ass ran
• 1:53:19
  over. That's because that's because
• 1:53:20
  really, no. Cops that we're getting in D
• 1:53:21
  bypass talk now. No cops really sit between the
• 1:53:24
  airport and like all the way to the junkyard in OAK cars.
• 1:53:28
  It's kind of a free for all in there so and everybody knows it
• 1:53:31
  so well because you have this. Yeah.
• 1:53:33
  Well, the cement barriers, you know, you have though and they
• 1:53:36
  can't park in spots where they have open spots, but really
• 1:53:39
  like, although I have seen them. So when I go to New Paris and I
• 1:53:43
  pull off at to go to what's that town that's right there,
• 1:53:50
  Wakarusa, is that right? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:53:53
  Is that Wakarusa it starts with? AW, that's all I know.
• 1:53:58
  Yeah, they're, they're all there.
• 1:54:02
  But they'll Saint Joe or Elkhart County will sit there in the
• 1:54:04
  median as people pull off the highway, which I always find
• 1:54:07
  funny because, like, you literally had the flock cameras
• 1:54:08
  right there. So do you really need the state?
• 1:54:10
  You do you need any troopers right there when you have the
• 1:54:12
  flock camera they're just looking at.
• 1:54:14
  License plate with that Lewis, that's all that.
• 1:54:16
  Yeah, sure. But.
• 1:54:17
  Yeah, I'm sure that's all they're doing.
• 1:54:18
  But but yeah. And and, and this is obviously
• 1:54:22
  not to pick on cops because there are very nice, yeah.
• 1:54:25
  They're cops, yeah. You know, they're they're cops
• 1:54:28
  who race. You know, this isn't a picking
• 1:54:31
  on cops thing, but but they're obviously if you're pulling
• 1:54:34
  someone over for doing 26 and a 25, you're just out to do it.
• 1:54:38
  You're just out to do it. You're not out for anything
• 1:54:41
  else. You're just out to be an ass for
• 1:54:43
  no reason. Like if they were doing right,
• 1:54:47
  if they were like 10 over now, like I said, there is a
• 1:54:50
  construction zone. So I could understand if it's,
• 1:54:53
  you know, if they're construction workers or
• 1:54:54
  whatever, like doing that. Because in Michigan we have had
• 1:54:57
  construction workers getting hit a lot.
• 1:55:00
  I mean, in Benton Harbor, the highways closed all the damn
• 1:55:02
  time because nobody understands that the highway continues, that
• 1:55:05
  you got to split and you got people who are freaking out.
• 1:55:08
  It's usually the Illinois people who don't know what they're
• 1:55:10
  doing in Michigan. You know, now that it's after
• 1:55:13
  Labor Day, we don't see as many double plates as we did up
• 1:55:16
  before Labor Day. But still you got the Michigan
• 1:55:19
  Wolverine crowd who goes for Michigan games to Michigan State
• 1:55:22
  game. So you do have people who are
• 1:55:23
  still coming, almost always Illinois plates who do this.
• 1:55:26
  They don't understand. Just follow the road like it.
• 1:55:28
  There's all these arrows, all these signs, all these
• 1:55:31
  electronic things with short print that says stay in your
• 1:55:34
  lane. But they always freak out at the
• 1:55:36
  same spots. Even by Coloma, they freak out
• 1:55:38
  the same spots. And that's where all the
• 1:55:39
  accidents are happening. And so so I get that like if
• 1:55:42
  you're protecting, but come on 26 now think of it if their
• 1:55:49
  speedometers showed that they were doing 25 but your thing.
• 1:55:51
  So I had this on 994. So by water of elite, there's a
• 1:55:56
  sign or there's a speed bar speed radar thing.
• 1:55:59
  So and I had my because it drops down to 60 there.
• 1:56:04
  So I go 65 until I get to that point like I slowed down to 65
• 1:56:09
  and then I slowed down to about 60 twos where I put it going
• 1:56:12
  through the construction zone. Definitely slower than everyone
• 1:56:15
  else, but the the I don't. Want that big ticket?
• 1:56:20
  Well, well, yeah, cuz. They do have the cameras
• 1:56:23
  monitoring that and sometimes drones are doing it.
• 1:56:25
  So I go down to 62, I've gotten a drone ticket.
• 1:56:27
  Before Yep. But the the the speed R thing
• 1:56:31
  said I was doing 70. I'm like there's no one behind
• 1:56:34
  me. I'm literally by myself.
• 1:56:36
  I'm like so I'm doing 62. I know it's up to 62 cuz my
• 1:56:40
  speed thing says it's 62. My electronic speed thing and my
• 1:56:44
  speedometer's one mile off. So if like I'm doing 70, it's at
• 1:56:48
  71 or no, it's at 69. So like it always threw Patrick
• 1:56:52
  off into the pace car. He's like, it doesn't match up.
• 1:56:54
  I'm like, I don't know why it doesn't match up.
• 1:56:55
  It never has, but but I'm like, I know what it's set at.
• 1:56:59
  And that thing said 70. I'm like, I better not get AI
• 1:57:02
  said a different word ticket because your thing said that I
• 1:57:05
  was doing 70 when I know I'm at 62.
• 1:57:07
  Like come on. I'm like that's that's fake.
• 1:57:13
  It's fake news, but I lost it. Damn it.
• 1:57:17
  Oh sorry, but when I use the Waze app that has the speed on
• 1:57:21
  in the corner, that's a. That's 2 miles an.
• 1:57:23
  Hour faster than or slower than what my speedometer says.
• 1:57:26
  So that means you have an extra 2 miles an hour.
• 1:57:30
  Yeah, so, yeah, so I, I just, they kept advertising that and
• 1:57:33
  Chris Fobie and Sean Spray were kind of poking fun at it all
• 1:57:36
  weekend too, when we were giving speeding tickets out to the
• 1:57:39
  drivers on the track. And it's not very welcoming to
• 1:57:42
  the. People visiting your town?
• 1:57:43
  No. Again, I could understand if it
• 1:57:47
  were like egregious like doing 40, but it is very little
• 1:57:51
  warning coming into town and like it's abrupt and but again,
• 1:57:57
  like I, you know, 20, the one wife who posted it 26 mph is
• 1:58:02
  what she was doing. It's.
• 1:58:05
  Crazy and the 20. Five, I'm like, you're again,
• 1:58:08
  you're just out for that. You're just out to make whatever
• 1:58:12
  boring life that you're living at that moment in time, like
• 1:58:15
  you're just bored. Let's just be real about it.
• 1:58:17
  But he made a salary. In the weekend for the year or
• 1:58:20
  in the for the year and the weekend?
• 1:58:22
  I said that backwards, yeah. But it didn't really dampen
• 1:58:25
  anything at again at Michigan Cop.
• 1:58:27
  And that's where, like I said, I'm not going to be shy about my
• 1:58:30
  campaigning. You know, I, I think Donnie
• 1:58:34
  needs to be heavily considered and I'm going to contact those
• 1:58:36
  who I need to contact to put that in the stratosphere.
• 1:58:40
  Now he will say there's no I in team or there, you know, an I
• 1:58:44
  around here. And he's very right.
• 1:58:46
  Like he does run a team operation.
• 1:58:48
  He does not like the credit. But at the end of the day, as
• 1:58:50
  they told him last night, but someone still has to find the
• 1:58:52
  people. And he's finding the people and
• 1:58:54
  he he knows how to build teams. And so that's something that,
• 1:59:00
  you know, he deserves the accolades.
• 1:59:02
  I know he doesn't always like the accolades.
• 1:59:03
  He doesn't want anything a part of the accolades.
• 1:59:06
  But you know, he he for the work that his family did, even if
• 1:59:10
  it's just the Ritter Miller Award, you know, I don't care
• 1:59:13
  what. But, you know, obviously he was
• 1:59:15
  the general manager at Kalamazoo over the last two seasons and,
• 1:59:19
  you know, took over Kalamazoo at a time where there was some
• 1:59:22
  turmoil with the transition and leadership and all that.
• 1:59:24
  And and this year we had the largest clash crowd and years we
• 1:59:29
  had the largest clash count car not yeah, it was for clash
• 1:59:33
  because the last big count was revealed the hammer for the
• 1:59:36
  Marty Jones. You we had a ton of cars 25,
• 1:59:39
  which is the most we've had in numerous years with and that was
• 1:59:42
  the name of a reveal race in a very tough time for.
• 1:59:44
  The sport, too. It's not like this.
• 1:59:46
  Everything is all Sophie Dory. No, no.
• 1:59:49
  Is moved to a Wednesday, right You know, we had the we had a
• 1:59:52
  sellout night at destruction crowd with a pretty entertaining
• 1:59:56
  a night at destruction event there too.
• 1:59:59
  And so it's like, you know, he's been the and the night
• 2:00:02
  instructions are like not his favorite thing.
• 2:00:04
  So, so it's one of those that it's like he deserves that
• 2:00:09
  credit because he at the end of the day.
• 2:00:11
  The buck stops with somebody and ultimately he has to be the one
• 2:00:15
  to make the ultimate decisions on a lot of stuff.
• 2:00:17
  Like at the end of the day, him and David Miller, especially at
• 2:00:19
  Springport, but at Kalamazoo, it's been, he's been making
• 2:00:22
  those decisions. Obviously Randy owns it and
• 2:00:24
  makes decisions too. But there's a lot of things that
• 2:00:27
  are in Donnie's control that ultimately he has to be the one
• 2:00:29
  to take the brunt. You know, when the driver's
• 2:00:31
  upset or unhappy about something, he's the one that has
• 2:00:33
  to help make things right. And you know, so that's where I
• 2:00:36
  think he definitely deserves it. So like I said, there's going to
• 2:00:39
  be campaigning and and, and promoting on it.
• 2:00:42
  I hope people help me with that. You know, I hope that they see
• 2:00:47
  that, you know, even if let's say that something didn't go
• 2:00:50
  right for you at Michigan Cup at the end of the day, I mean,
• 2:00:53
  those bathrooms on the pit side, I'm like, you need sunglasses to
• 2:00:57
  go to the bathroom in this bathroom now.
• 2:00:59
  They were so nice and clean and sharp and bright lighting even
• 2:01:03
  when I walked in like I don't remember it being laid out this
• 2:01:06
  way. I I felt like they did a
• 2:01:08
  different layout than what they've had.
• 2:01:10
  Obviously the front bathrooms are working on, they still need
• 2:01:13
  some work on the front bathrooms, but to where it was,
• 2:01:16
  I'm like the, I mean, they've done a lot of work.
• 2:01:18
  They had to bring the kitchens back to life.
• 2:01:20
  There's just a lot that they've had to do.
• 2:01:22
  Again, I'm not going to advertise everything and I only
• 2:01:24
  know a little bit of it. I don't even know all of it, but
• 2:01:27
  I know Donnie was on the auction sites finding as much as they
• 2:01:30
  could to bring it over. So they've, they've had to do a
• 2:01:32
  lot and, and, and it's no secret to anyone.
• 2:01:35
  I'm team Donnie and I've, I've been teamed Donnie and I will
• 2:01:40
  continue to be teamed Donnie. I've even told Donnie himself to
• 2:01:43
  his face. He said, you could tell me to F
• 2:01:44
  off one of these days and I'll probably say thank you with a
• 2:01:46
  smile and continue to, to push whatever you're doing because.
• 2:01:50
  And he said, well, I'll never do that.
• 2:01:51
  And I said, but even if you did, you know, I've always told him
• 2:01:55
  and I've said it publicly, I'm not shy about it, that I would
• 2:01:58
  put his program up against anybody.
• 2:02:00
  And this is even before he was at Kalamazoo.
• 2:02:02
  I'm like, I put you up against Kalamazoo on any night, any
• 2:02:05
  night, any day, any event. The problem is it's Springport
• 2:02:10
  again because it is off the highways getting fans there.
• 2:02:13
  But I'm hoping, here's my hope, and I've said this to the fact
• 2:02:17
  that he was at Kalamazoo the last two years and that people
• 2:02:21
  got to see what he can do as a promoter and that I'm hoping
• 2:02:24
  those who didn't know who he was now see what he is.
• 2:02:28
  And we'll give him that shot at Springport and go support
• 2:02:31
  Springport whenever they can. You know, you know, when Chris
• 2:02:34
  and Tracy, when New Paris isn't racing, my goal is Springport's
• 2:02:39
  racing to get to Springport. Chris and Tracy know how much I
• 2:02:42
  love Springport. That's that's not a secret to
• 2:02:45
  them. They know it.
• 2:02:46
  And in fact, a few years ago when I was at Springport and
• 2:02:48
  coming down to New Paris, on the off days at on the off weeks at
• 2:02:51
  Springport, you know, Chris and Tracy always, they're always
• 2:02:55
  saying, we appreciate any time you can get down here.
• 2:02:57
  They just appreciate it when I was there and now it's kind of
• 2:03:00
  like the reverse right where now I'm there all the time and and
• 2:03:03
  I'll try to get to Springport as I can with Springport the lion
• 2:03:07
  in tow. You know, that's the first time
• 2:03:08
  I took Springport the lion out with me.
• 2:03:11
  But it what was nice too is I got to see fans who stopped me
• 2:03:15
  in the parking lot. Like, man, it's so good to see
• 2:03:17
  you. We haven't seen you in a long
• 2:03:18
  time. And I thought that was cool.
• 2:03:19
  Like you don't have to give a shit about me.
• 2:03:22
  And the fact that fans like people who are just fans are not
• 2:03:25
  racist. Anything stopped me like, oh,
• 2:03:26
  it's so great to see you. Even when I was leaving, I
• 2:03:28
  someone say it is great to see you up on that roof again.
• 2:03:31
  It felt like good old times. I'm like, well, thank you,
• 2:03:34
  including there's a guy there who always brought his stuffed
• 2:03:36
  animal to meet with Springport the lion and he would bring his
• 2:03:40
  teddy bear and, and, and all that kind of deal.
• 2:03:44
  So it's like a lot of fun. But that crowd, I just kept
• 2:03:48
  looking behind me and I'm like, there's cars in the parking lot
• 2:03:52
  and they are deep in the parking lot, like back 40 deep.
• 2:03:57
  And that was nice. I know trash on the ground isn't
• 2:04:01
  nice, but it was, I would say from the roof and it was windy
• 2:04:04
  because it's always windy. It's nice to see.
• 2:04:06
  Look, oh, this is going to be a big cleanup.
• 2:04:09
  That meant they sell food. They sold food.
• 2:04:12
  Daniel Osborne, she was busting her butt in the pit concession.
• 2:04:15
  So I don't know who's working the front, but I cuz I didn't go
• 2:04:20
  to any of the concession stands. I just heard about them, but I
• 2:04:22
  know Daniel Osborne and them were working in the pic
• 2:04:24
  concession. She busted her ass all weekend
• 2:04:27
  cuz they were busy. So I want to give her a shout
• 2:04:29
  out. Ken Bebe, Tina Lewis working
• 2:04:31
  timing and scoring in the tower again.
• 2:04:34
  They were talk about AG feature at one time for the front wheel
• 2:04:38
  drives that you know, that's a big that's a lot of drivers to
• 2:04:41
  manage and they did it without many issues.
• 2:04:45
  And if there were issues, I didn't know about them.
• 2:04:46
  That meant that they were able to do what they needed to do.
• 2:04:49
  Sean Sprague and Chris Foby were entertaining as all get out on
• 2:04:53
  the mic. That's a huge shout out to them.
• 2:04:54
  Of course, Ryan warning back-to-back super shoe and
• 2:04:57
  Michigan cop race directing shout out to him.
• 2:05:00
  He did a nice job. You know, with both programs.
• 2:05:02
  We did the we did 28 heat races in two hours, 44 minutes.
• 2:05:06
  Crazy. And.
• 2:05:08
  Then we were still done with all the features by 10:00 is before
• 2:05:13
  10:00 that we were done. So 28 heat races and and four
• 2:05:19
  features done by 10. Started at 5 or started at six.
• 2:05:25
  So 6 to 10, all that, how many tracks have not 257 cars and
• 2:05:29
  we'd be going till 3:00 in the morning with 50 cars, you know.
• 2:05:35
  So Facet Efficient started at 1:00 on Sunday and we were done
• 2:05:40
  before 6:00. And we had over 300 laps of
• 2:05:42
  racing, including two big 33 big like pile UPS where they needed
• 2:05:48
  The Wreckers. They had two wreckers.
• 2:05:50
  The one pile up, they needed five wreckers.
• 2:05:52
  They only had two so they had to take them back.
• 2:05:55
  Pit parking. I mean literally boozoo.
• 2:05:56
  They were putting them in spots that don't exist.
• 2:05:59
  If there is a space between two trailers, like parked in this
• 2:06:03
  way, they fit someone in between those and had them parked that
• 2:06:08
  way. So it made leaving pretty
• 2:06:10
  interesting for some cars. Thank God it did not rain as
• 2:06:14
  much as it did in 2024. Otherwise we had cars getting
• 2:06:17
  stuck in 2024. That's how soggy it was because
• 2:06:20
  that clay just you just sink into it's like quicksand.
• 2:06:23
  But so luckily everything was packed nice.
• 2:06:26
  We're drivable, walkable. It was soft, definitely some
• 2:06:29
  soft spots, but you didn't follow through.
• 2:06:31
  So I just I Can't Sing their praise enough.
• 2:06:34
  I know when I was praising Donnie last night, he said it's
• 2:06:37
  team, team, team, all of us. I'm like, I get it.
• 2:06:39
  But you're still the big guy, you know?
• 2:06:42
  And soon, a shout out to everyone who did their job, Mark
• 2:06:46
  Mcguffey, you know, controlling the pit, pit lane KTS.
• 2:06:51
  They were busy. They had two weekends in a row.
• 2:06:56
  Can't think of who else right now but there.
• 2:06:57
  I mean, there are a lot of names, but both of those are the
• 2:07:00
  ones who I definitely wanted to shout out.
• 2:07:02
  So I, I hope you get to Spring Court at some point because I
• 2:07:07
  tell people one time, yeah, you give it one time and you'll want
• 2:07:12
  to go back. I'm glad there's an opportunity.
• 2:07:14
  Again, wasn't sure that there would be there for a while.
• 2:07:17
  So hopefully next year now, yeah.
• 2:07:20
  And like. I said even in the lives, I just
• 2:07:22
  said a couple times that you know, it's, it's had a bumpy
• 2:07:25
  history. It's a tough sell being in
• 2:07:28
  Springport because you're off the highway, you got to go.
• 2:07:31
  So for me, I'm one, I live where I am in Bridgman.
• 2:07:35
  I'm one mile closer to Morris, IL and Grundy County Speedway
• 2:07:40
  with Bahama brackets. October 16th through 18th.
• 2:07:42
  I'm one mile closer to Grundy County than I am Springport.
• 2:07:46
  So I will literally go to three day show here in a couple weeks
• 2:07:50
  living one mile closer than I did the Springport this weekend.
• 2:07:55
  So but The thing is about Grundy is you are all highway.
• 2:07:59
  Like literally once I get on I-94 here at exit 16, I'm on the
• 2:08:03
  highway until I get off at Grundy County Speedway to turn
• 2:08:07
  what, a half mile ish mile to go down to the racetrack.
• 2:08:12
  And you can see the racetrack from the highway at the spring
• 2:08:15
  at Springport. I get on an exit 23 in
• 2:08:18
  Stevensville and I'm on there until exit 124 for the
• 2:08:23
  Springport exit. And then you go down like 9
• 2:08:26
  miles. So I get it like it's not easy,
• 2:08:30
  but one time you'll want to go back.
• 2:08:35
  Yeah, I. Hear you so.
• 2:08:37
  I and I hope people do, but other than that I know it's 9:00
• 2:08:41
  so a little bit past our time. I don't.
• 2:08:43
  Oh the only thing I other thing I'm going to do and I will post
• 2:08:46
  this too but for a couple days here since it is hoodie weather
• 2:08:50
  time. Although the weather saying it's
• 2:08:51
  supposed to get nice again for a little bit but we all know it's
• 2:08:54
  coming 30% off hoodies right now.
• 2:08:58
  And don't forget to I do have the breast cancer awareness
• 2:09:01
  shirt that is not awareness but it's the breast cancer logo for
• 2:09:05
  top row. Top row is pink all October and
• 2:09:09
  that's you know as I've shared before why pink is in my logos.
• 2:09:12
  My mom is a two time breast cancer survivor and so pink will
• 2:09:16
  always be in my logo some way shape or form.
• 2:09:19
  And most logos I do will that are Topper related will have
• 2:09:22
  pink in them somewhere just as always to honor her fight that
• 2:09:28
  she has had for a lot of her life.
• 2:09:31
  And so. But since it is getting colder,
• 2:09:34
  30% off of hoodies and that's automatic.
• 2:09:36
  You don't need the discount code or anything.
• 2:09:37
  Literally you put a hoodie in the in the cart and when you go
• 2:09:41
  to check out Apple Pay, whatever it may be, it will automatically
• 2:09:45
  take off the 30%. So I, I do automatics.
• 2:09:48
  I don't want to do code stuff. I, I mean, I might from time to
• 2:09:51
  time, but I rather it's just automatic.
• 2:09:54
  It's easier, but other than anything else that I'm missing,
• 2:09:59
  no Sir, I think. We covered it this week.
• 2:10:00
  If, if, if there's anything left, I'm not pulling it out of
• 2:10:03
  my brain. Now It's bedtime for me, don't
• 2:10:07
  forget. There's no throttle this week,
• 2:10:10
  so you're not throttling up with us the next show, maybe remember
• 2:10:14
  I'm going to be coming back from Michigan International Speedway.
• 2:10:17
  So I might not make it back in time.
• 2:10:19
  We'll see it or it might be. Maybe I get you a Co host, but
• 2:10:22
  Oh no, then I still have to be available to run the thing
• 2:10:24
  though. But but we'll see you on the
• 2:10:26
  October 15th. I kind of want to get the show
• 2:10:29
  just because Bahama brackets. I want to do one final push for
• 2:10:31
  that. But we may just have to figure
• 2:10:33
  something out for that week. But otherwise there's no
• 2:10:35
  throttle this week and and there may not be a throttle for the
• 2:10:39
  rest of October. We'll just see when I get back
• 2:10:40
  from Michigan International Speedway on Thursday, October
• 2:10:43
  15th. It's also it's on my birthday
• 2:10:45
  the day before on Wednesday, so I don't drink or anything, but
• 2:10:49
  we may want to have a family celebration on the 15th or
• 2:10:53
  something like that before I go down to Bahamas.
• 2:10:55
  So we'll see. We'll play it by ear on what
• 2:10:57
  that show may look like then. So don't forget there's nothing
• 2:11:00
  this week. Stay tuned to social media for.
• 2:11:05
  I'm really putting a lot of this on Tom Metz Junior for the it's
• 2:11:09
  going to be called Keyboard Cowboys.
• 2:11:12
  So we're gonna, he's gonna, it's gonna be an off the cuff,
• 2:11:16
  unfiltered PG13 kind of podcast. He had talked, well, maybe Buju.
• 2:11:22
  I said Buju's bedtime. Is that 9?
• 2:11:24
  I said Buju goes to sleep and Buju's maxed.
• 2:11:27
  Out on podcast. Dodd Yeah, yeah.
• 2:11:30
  So I already took you out of the conversation.
• 2:11:32
  I'm like, I'll happily be a guest.
• 2:11:35
  Yeah, yeah, someday. But well, that's what I told
• 2:11:37
  him. I said maybe like that first
• 2:11:39
  episode that I can like be there to support and kind of give the
• 2:11:42
  basis of it. But otherwise I'm putting it on
• 2:11:44
  him and he'll have a rotating panel.
• 2:11:46
  So if anyone has ever been interested in being a part of a
• 2:11:49
  podcast or is interested in that does help if you ever apply to
• 2:11:54
  like PRI or whatever it may be and you can say, hey, I can get
• 2:12:00
  a media credential maybe because I'm part of this podcast.
• 2:12:02
  So I have a vested interest in racing and all that kind of
• 2:12:05
  deal. But that wouldn't be the reason
• 2:12:07
  to do it. But it's certainly there's some
• 2:12:09
  perks to being part of a platform such as this where you
• 2:12:13
  can have some. Yeah, I'm published.
• 2:12:16
  My face is published all the time, you know, with the show or
• 2:12:19
  whatever related to racing. So if you've thought about ever
• 2:12:22
  being a part of a podcast, the plan is for to be live for about
• 2:12:27
  an hour and so about 9:30 to 10:30.
• 2:12:30
  And Todd Metz said that junior actually said that sometimes his
• 2:12:33
  largest audience were late, not during the day or anything.
• 2:12:36
  And I went really. So.
• 2:12:39
  So it's kind of be pretty much his project, but that's kind of
• 2:12:43
  where we're going. So that will be one more.
• 2:12:46
  And it's going to be like every other week.
• 2:12:48
  Maybe we'll see. It might be every week if
• 2:12:50
  there's a lot of demand for it. But stay tuned for that
• 2:12:55
  conversation. But other than that Buju this
• 2:12:58
  weekend we have new Paris Speedway for the trifecta.
• 2:13:00
  And then I believe, and I could be wrong but I believe I have to
• 2:13:04
  double check again, but I believe the mini wedges have a
• 2:13:06
  Sunday program this weekend at Kalamazoo.
• 2:13:10
  I'll do a double check and I'm post a clarification on that if
• 2:13:14
  I'm wrong. But I felt like it's this
• 2:13:15
  Sunday, they have a an event and then unfortunately they
• 2:13:21
  rescheduled one for October 24th, which I know I won't be
• 2:13:23
  able to make because I will be at Hartford on that.
• 2:13:26
  So since I won't be at the Night of Destruction at Hartford, I'm
• 2:13:29
  definitely going to be at the Nightmare on Bowie St. to
• 2:13:31
  support Drew and his entire show there.
• 2:13:33
  So, so definitely still some things to do.
• 2:13:37
  And I also know it's Winchester weekend.
• 2:13:38
  For those who go down to Winchester, that's a little bit
• 2:13:43
  of the Thursday night throttle. Yes, they do.
• 2:13:46
  So mini wedges are this Sunday, which I believe is going to be
• 2:13:49
  their Quicksilver race or their mini shoots going to be one of
• 2:13:51
  those. But it is a mini wedge race
• 2:13:54
  nonetheless. So if you have a chance, get out
• 2:13:55
  to Kalamazoo on Sunday to support the mini wedges and the
• 2:14:00
  Champ carts. I'll get a new Paris Saturday.
• 2:14:05
  New Paris better than the old Paris.
• 2:14:06
  That's what I hear. I've never heard that before.
• 2:14:12
  I'm tired, man. Yeah, it's after nine.
• 2:14:14
  Hey, you know, all your camping that you did is what did that,
• 2:14:20
  right? But that's right.
• 2:14:21
  It's the camping. I will say today.
• 2:14:23
  I I mean I have I still have super shoe on boards to get
• 2:14:26
  done. So that's what I'm going to do
• 2:14:27
  after this is start editing that because I will tell you I did
• 2:14:30
  and it's after 9:00. I didn't do shit today.
• 2:14:33
  I slept most of the day and some of it is my back.
• 2:14:37
  I mean, just even getting out here to sit down, I'm like, oh,
• 2:14:41
  that hurts. And again, you know, a lot of
• 2:14:44
  people don't understand that I do what I do and they don't need
• 2:14:46
  to. I don't advertise it, but I I
• 2:14:48
  got injured big time my back when I was in the classroom.
• 2:14:52
  This is a few weeks before I finally left and, and I said I
• 2:14:55
  just can't be injured and do all these things anymore.
• 2:14:57
  I can't get stabbed anymore. I can't get physically assaulted
• 2:14:59
  anymore. I just cannot do any of this
• 2:15:02
  anymore for my own mental health.
• 2:15:04
  I mean, just just for mental health, I'm like, I don't care
• 2:15:06
  what the paycheck is and the insurance and all the things.
• 2:15:09
  I just couldn't do it anymore. But it's this time of year where
• 2:15:11
  my back really starts to bother me.
• 2:15:13
  And so standing on that great all weekend and it's shifting up
• 2:15:18
  and down anytime I took like a footstep, I mean, it's literally
• 2:15:21
  you can see the spot on my back. It's black and blue.
• 2:15:24
  And so, you know, there are nights after the races where I
• 2:15:26
  have to kind of pretzel my way out of my car.
• 2:15:29
  And but I pushed through, you know, and it's, you know,
• 2:15:31
  there's job to do. I don't it's myself that does
• 2:15:34
  all the mounting of the onboard cameras.
• 2:15:35
  Although Sabrina did help this past week and she mounted some
• 2:15:38
  of the cameras for me. But I didn't have a race night.
• 2:15:41
  I'm sore as I'll get out and, and so sometimes I'm not in a
• 2:15:45
  talkative mood after the races because I'm literally in pain
• 2:15:48
  and I don't take pills or anything.
• 2:15:50
  I actually physically have not mastered ever taking pills.
• 2:15:53
  I'm, I gave up hope on that. I'm one of those adults who just
• 2:15:56
  literally cannot do pills. I burp like Homer Simpson and it
• 2:16:01
  just does not happen it there's no pill that goes down this
• 2:16:04
  throat and so so I have no choice.
• 2:16:07
  I just limp through the pain and although I'll be putting on some
• 2:16:11
  of that Biofreeze stuff here, but other than that, I'm just
• 2:16:15
  today I just needed to do nothing because of how sorry was
• 2:16:19
  and but I there's shit to get done.
• 2:16:21
  So I got to do that because I have I got.
• 2:16:24
  I should have started graphics at noon today.
• 2:16:28
  That happened so. Hopefully Wednesday everything
• 2:16:30
  will be posted and then on boards will be after that
• 2:16:32
  Thursday and Friday. I have nowhere to be on Friday
• 2:16:34
  and if there even is somewhere to go, I'm probably not going
• 2:16:37
  just because I have so much to get done.
• 2:16:38
  But I will be at New Paris on Saturday for the trifecta.
• 2:16:43
  Grundy County has their Figure 8 race this Sunday and they also
• 2:16:46
  think or this Saturday and I also think it's their five O
• 2:16:48
  race too is this weekend. But other than that, it's almost
• 2:16:53
  time to turn left and go fast because we'll see you at the
• 2:16:58
  race. See every.
• 2:17:58
  None.