October 28, 2020 • 27 mins
Kody Swanson returns to the show along with Kasey Color, General Manager of Lucas Oil Raceway. They are in the studio with Rico Elmore, Ken Stout and Georgia Adeline to celebrate a very special announcement about the 2021 Hoosier Classic Fatheadz Eyewear $100K Challenge! Don’t miss it!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm Casey Cohler, I'm Cody Swanson, and this is the
Skinny from Fathead Studios and Speedway, Indiana. This is the Skinny.
Special Announcement, Special Announcement, Special Announcement. Welcome to the Skinny.
We've got a special announcement coming your way. It was
(00:20):
a last minute gathering here and some pretty cool people,
I must say. Of course, Rico is always here. I
don't know that he ever leaves that chair. George is
with us once again, ken Stout, and two special guests
will join us here. Of course we have Cody Swanson,
who has been on the show before. We appreciate you
coming back. And then sitting in the center seat is
(00:40):
Casey Koehler, g M for Lucas Oil Raceway, just about
ten miles or so from here, and we have a
special announcement. You guys have put together in conjunction with
Rico and I'm sure a number of other people are
pretty incredible schedule and let me personally say thank you
very much because has been for most people man. So
(01:01):
we are certainly looking forward to one. But let's talk
about what you guys have put together some because it's
it's gonna bring back some memories of stuff that Oval
track fans loved back in the day, and you're it's
gonna resurface in one you put together a big triple
event that's gonna pay out or at least have the
opportunity to pay out some incredible amount of money. The
(01:23):
certainly your thoughts behind it will gather some people, a
lot of people. You've put together some incentives for people
to take vacation, come out, some free camping, park their
motor home on a Thursday, stay out through throughout the weekend.
I mean a lot of thought has gone into this,
and we appreciate your efforts along with of course all
your partners as well. But fill us in man, we
(01:43):
want to hear it. Yeah, thank you, Kenn. I mean,
it's nice to turn the page into one and start
looking ahead. So we're really excited to to to come
off of what we had with the night before this
past year. Uh, it kind of threw us a little
bit of a bone to try something a little bit
different or at least reaching back, uh and bringing back
pavement midget racing that hasn't been around really for at
(02:06):
least the past six or seven years in Central Indiana.
So we were really excited to bring that back, and
based off of the excitement we had there, we started
to look towards and that's where we were able to
integrate that into the Carbon Night Classics. So the Carbon
Night Classic, traditionally around the Indie five hundred um will
be May. We've got the Road to Indie there that
(02:27):
Cody knows something about, as well as we're bringing back
payment midgets as part of that weekend. And then on
top of that, we've got the Carbon Night Classic, the
hundred lap Silver Crown Race, so that kind of kicks
off our season. Then we roll into an event that
that you know, we we get asked a lot about
Thursday Night Thunder. When's Thursday Night Thunder coming back to
(02:48):
Lucas Oil Raceway, And we're probably not gonna do a
whole series there, but we are going to focus on
one big event on June, a Thursday Night Thunder that
features both sprint cars and midgets you know, in those
five thousand to win both races there, and we've got
a lot of fun stuff that we've got planned and
we'll be making some announcements around and then we get
to the Who's Your Classic, So the Who's Your Classic
(03:09):
is on that weekend. You know, the Brickyard four hundred
weekend Indy Car is gonna be there. It's kind of
like the must see, must attend weekend for motorsports in
one and oh, by the way, over at Lucas Oil Raceway,
we've got Friday night, we've got sprint cars ten thousand
to win on a fifty lap race. Then we go
on Saturday with midgets ten grand to win on fifty
(03:30):
laps there, and then we've got the Silver Crown Race
a hundred laps, twelve thousand to win. And then the
big announcement right why we're here today, A big bonus
that will go on top of it, uh that we're
going to announce that. You know, if you win all
three of those big races two hundred laps of racing,
win a hundred thousand dollar bonus on top of the
(03:51):
thirty two that you want already that day. And then
if you only win two of the three, you know
you're gonna win a fifty thousand dollar bonus, so that
that win are still taken home seventy dollars worth of money,
which is which is great, and that's based off the
support that Rico and fatheads I Wear has put together
for this program. So we're beyond excited. This is gonna
be a big, big year. That's an incredible package, to
(04:13):
say the least. I mean, certainly the money, but just
the effort to put it all together, to get the
fans back out here again, to get the racers back
out here again, to give them incentives, to bring those
cars that have been sitting in the garages for years,
get them, get them dusted off, put them back together,
come out here and make a legitimate run at it.
I mean, and I agree. I mean this past year,
(04:34):
the midget race, it was so nice and it was
a great race. For sure, Silver Crown race is always
a ton of fun to watch. But to have the
midgets come back out here and put on a show.
They're so fast, three wide, uh you know, through those
long arching turns, so exciting. Of course, Swanson over there
trying to win already, trying to win. Everything is did
you what'd you qualified on the pole at two out
(04:54):
of three or or some sort of deal out there?
I mean, you were on it. The poll was three
out of three, only one. I thought his brother stole
one for some reason. He stole the race from one already,
he has some plans. I was gonna say, I feel
(05:15):
his cell phone already vibrating based off of this announcement.
And I'm sure there's car owners calling already. Yeah, it's
it's an incredible effort to talk to us about how
that came together. Rico, Well, you know, I mean, listen,
we've we've extended our you know, our reach in the
Motorsports Era Arena this year more than we have in
(05:35):
years past. And you know, one of our main things
this year was that, you know, we we had the
good fortune of having a good year with a lot
of things that went our way, and we know a
lot of folks had the misfortune that it went the
opposite way. And you know, whether that be race ors,
(05:58):
race teams, us whatever it may be. Promoters. Uh. So
you know, we've tried to step in and help where
we could. And I came to no Casey through Cody
and uh and was introduced and you know, we used
(06:21):
to do a lot of things out at the out
at you know, Lucasoil Raceway and and love it. I
mean it's um, it's a it's a hidden gym, you
know what I mean. And for those that haven't been there,
weren't there in the past to get to see a
lot of the action. I mean there's probably uh I don't.
(06:41):
I mean, you know, Winchester Salem is awesome, but I'm
telling you to to know how to run that track
and run it the right way. Uh, you know, in
a in a pavement as as he said, you know,
a sprint, midget or silver crown you got, it's gotta
be pretty special, and you've got to be a pretty
special I were to be able to do that, you know,
from the likes of you know, Tony Stewart, Kenny or
(07:04):
when you know you're you're Jeff Gordon's and uh, you know,
as we talked about Danny drying and before this, I mean,
those guys put some major battles on there. And you
know this, Casey came to me and started talking about this,
and you know we've again, you know, with everything that's
been kind of up in the air and how everything's
(07:25):
going this year, you know, we we started talking about
it and and I'll go on the record and say,
as I told Casey, if you leave before this event,
I will come find you and will pare you have
left on your head and be there anymore. So, um,
there are special shoes for you that will help you
to the bottom of the river. Yeah, you'll be able
(07:46):
to find whatever you want down there for a long time.
But you know, the cool part of it was is,
you know, it really had to do with him. It
really did in in in in what his vision was,
and it fit right in with a lot of the
things that we're doing. And uh, I mean as I was,
(08:07):
you know, I was honored to be asked to be
a part of it with our with our fat heads
family and uh, you know, we hope a lot of
our drivers, you know, Cody, I'm I'm sure we'll have
a seat in that and and uh maybe his uh
maybe his brother will come make him look good this time.
So I have nothing else to just work out a
(08:28):
side deal in the background, like you know, if I
if I won one, you know, don't take it from me,
and I'll give you or something. Work at some sort
of dealer starts splitting money already. You gotta run block.
You gotta run blocked for me of it. That that's
the great part. There's none of them that would do
it like I'm gonna win it. I don't care how
much I'm gonna win this one and win the next one. Sorry, bro. Yeah,
(08:50):
I love the fact that that you've had a long
term relationship with Lucas Oil. I'm certainly biased towards wonderful
people Lucas Oil. So to have this come together Lucas
Oil Raceway, which you'd be really hard pressed to find
a company that does more for grassroots racing and on
the globe than Lucas Oil. So to have this come
together at a track that they support, UM is a
(09:13):
beautiful thing as well. Just another caveat to UH to
what's going on here. So I plaued all you guys
for the effort. For sure. The big thing I was
gonna say, we go. You're big into giving racers opportunity, UM,
whether or whether or not they've had it before or not.
You're always there sponsoring things, You're doing things like that.
So what does it mean to both of you? I mean,
the winner if ruining all three races, taking on that
hundred and thirty two thou dollars, that is life changing
(09:34):
for pretty much anyone that's involved in the grassroots racing itself.
So what does it mean to you to be able
to do that? And give someone that opportunity. Potentially it
means we better have a hell of a party afterwards.
So yeah, you know, I mean for for for the facility.
We're we're celebrating our sixtieth anniversary going into I was
telling Cody or earlier and just talk about crazy timing.
(09:59):
The Carb Night Classic May will be exactly sixty years
to the day that A. J. Floyd won that first
ever event on the oval uh at then Indianapolis Raceway
Park now in our Lucas Oil Raceway. So it's a
big year for us, and we thought, you know, we
want to make sure that we've we've got some tent
(10:19):
pole events. We want to create events. We don't want
to create races, there's enough of those out there. So
if we have four really good events, uh, this being
the biggest tent pole event for us, we're really excited.
We're excited for the racers that we know, you know,
the Cody Tanner Um, Justin Grant, Bobby Santos, all those
folks that come race with Chris Wyndham. But we also
(10:41):
think this is a big opportunity for a lot of
racers that you know, have it come run that facility
either previously or it's been a number of years to
to come back out to Lucas Oil Raceway and give
it a shot in one of those three classes. Yeah.
I really think people are going to start pulling cars
out of their garages that we haven't seen in a while.
That's gonna be really cool. Hopefully I get a split
(11:02):
on the track rental. I think it's gonna go up.
Is there going to be a pre entry list? So? Yeah, well,
well certainly one of the things that we always do is,
you know, we certainly want to make sure that there
are pre entry It kind of determines where you're pitting
for the whole weekend, So that seems to be important
for teams and drivers. Uh. Right after the first year,
(11:23):
we'll put that out there so teams can start formally
uh entering each of the three categories. Uh. And we
will certainly be letting folks know as as time goes on,
who's kind of throwing their hat into into the ring
on this from either a team driver perspective, and we
think there will be a lot of storylines gained from this. Codes.
Does this make you excited as a racing Absolutely? Um.
(11:46):
I mean I came to the Midwest, the first time
to run at that racetrack at that point it was
night before Still it's been been a few years ago
and UM so so I mean I was excited for
uh what Casey did for US racers in I mean
took uh the initiative in in the midst of um
(12:07):
just an insane year, UM to revive payment midgets and
and to take payment sprint cars that at one point
been on a lifeline and kind of surviving through a
little five hundred alone. Uh, and get us back to
lucasall raceway and a great track to to race them at.
And so UM to to put all three together was
it was a great week this year, UM through through
(12:28):
the you know, the revival of the night before the
five hundred. But to take that next step UM Casey
and teaming up with with Rico UM and Fat Heads
eyewear to to put a challenge like this is um,
you know, is something really really neat um for open
wheel racing and UM and the sport here in Indiana.
And it really is going to be a challenge. How
(12:48):
difficult would it be, you know to actually pull it off?
I mean it it's difficult this year and we know
nobody UM has been able to put a string together
like that across all the different divisions, and UM to
be bringing payment midgets back on top of the UM
added incentive. This year, everyone's gonna be UM bringing their
(13:09):
best car, the best equipment and preparing UM to do it. So,
uh to to win any of them is gonna be tough.
To to win all three of them is going to
be uh be be certainly a challenge worthy worthy of
it and really neat that that if you managed to
pull it off, there Uh there's a there's a great,
a great bonus on top for it. I love it.
(13:30):
So I've touched on this briefly at the open of
the show. But phillis in because we're fortunate enough to
to live around here and during these big race weekends,
like I literally get goose bumps talking about it when
I think about the five and all the racing that
goes on that week. I mean, for the fans at
home that have not been in this area, they think, oh,
they had the Indianapolis five there, they don't realize that
(13:50):
there was so much more racing that went on in
this area. Same way with the Brickyard, and and that's
what you're adding to here, that's what we're talking about here.
But you are also going to offer fans a place
to stay. So if they have a camper or motor
home and we see him intents I mean backup, pickup trucks,
whatever it maybe it doesn't matter. It's really designed around
that week so that you can plan a vacation for
(14:13):
your family, come here and just soak it in. Right.
So for for us on our fans first policy, really
as we focus on these these uh three oval races
for next year, you know, tickets are only twenty dollars
in advance. We just went on sale yesterday with a
ninety dollars season tickets, so you can get all of
these events plus a stock car event that we have
in October, for only ninety dollars. That includes parking. That's
(14:34):
pretty good, pretty good deal out there. Uh it's only
at the gate. But we're also instituting kids twelve and
under our free which something that we haven't done on
the oval side of it. It's something that's been kind
of exclusive on the drag racing side. Um, so we
have that piece of it free parking, something that we
haven't done for a number of years. And then we're
instituting free camping, right, so folks can come in, set
(14:55):
up camp, take in both the Carb Night Thursday Night
Thunder or the Hoosier Classic. They don't have to move,
and they can go enjoy other racing that's taking place
in and around the area, being over at the Indianapolis
Murar Speedway or you know other other tracks in central Indiana. Yeah,
I mean, and and for those that aren't aware of
the geographical area, I mean, we're talking about ten minute
(15:17):
ride over to the speedway, so it's very close, very doable,
and romping an uber car and shoot over there honestly
probably better than trying to get to the speedway and
then find park, you know, someplace to the car. So right, yeah,
I get dropped off at right up front there. I mean,
it's yeah, that's the best best of both worlds by
all means, because the camping thing, and I mean if
(15:37):
you try to stay close to the speedway, I mean
I did. I did hear you know, Doug Bolls and
I discussed it and he was talking about or I
was there when he was discussing, um about how you know,
the real thrill of of the race for a lot
of people were these relationships where they parked at people's houses,
(15:59):
you know what I mean. And uh so this this
deal here, I mean, it's it kind of reminds me
of when the NASCAR weekend would come in. You know,
we always knew that we were going Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
and then Sunday to the Big Track. And it's kind
of cool that this is bringing things like that back together.
(16:21):
Uh you know, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway needs Lucas Oil
Race Way as much as Lucas Oil Raceway needs the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It's the same fan, it's the same fun.
And you know, if we can make it affordable for
people to get to go and have some fun, I mean,
that's really what this is about. And I mean looking
at the talent that comes out there and comes out
(16:41):
of there is is pretty amazing. You're right. It really
is an extension of people have spent their lives. You know,
they have they have season tickets at the five for generations,
and they go back and they sit next to those
same fans, those same friends, and that they do they
develop into relationships and then the camping is kind of
the same way. And the Cooke lots. It's not uncommon
to see people that have camped there beside each other
(17:03):
for many, many years, and that's they're gathering that particular year.
I I remember going back to when I was a kid,
a young kid going to the twelve Hours Receivering. I
lived in Florida with twelve Hours Receivering and everybody would
line their their motor homes up or their campers, whatever
the case may be. And it was the same group
of people all the time. So it really does generate
um that camaraderie, if you will, of race fans. It's
(17:26):
it's a great atmosphere. After you know, the fans are
going to be hungry for it. Yeah, I think there's
a lot of pent up demand right for for racing
and motorsports, not only locally but nationally. We had a
lot of fans that just couldn't come in obviously for
May or August in the rescheduled Inde five hundred are
are clamoring to see pavement midgets again, right, So we
(17:46):
we think we're we've got something here with all three
of these events, but really with this this Hoosier Classic
and now having this this this massive hundred thousand dollar
Challenge out there. Um, you know it, it's it's gonna
be a off ticket to get for the fans that
might not be able to make the trip. Will they
be able to watch it anywhere? Yeah, so all three
of our events will be on flow Racing, So we're excited.
(18:09):
They've done a really nice job. They did a great
job with the night before. Um, but really yeah, they will.
They will give coverage all both days, green flag, the
checker flag and cover everything in between. Yeah. That's um,
that's exciting as well, so that they'll have a place
to watch it. And yeah, those guys do do a
(18:30):
nice job of bringing all the all the action at
home for sure. And that's one of the things I
was talking to Casey about. I said, you know, anybody
that was in the drag racing world, which of course
I spent a lot of time with the Lucas family
going drag racing, and you know where was our favorite
place every year? Brainerd? You know? And what was BRAINERD about? Well,
(18:51):
it was about the party, right, But it was interesting
all of the folks that were out in the zoo
as they call it, all the folks that are out
in the zoo, that was their vacation, and it was
unbelievable because they were vacationing with this friend and that friend,
and they were all motor homes or camping or whatever
it was they were doing. And uh, I told Casey,
(19:14):
I said, there is zero reason that that shouldn't go
on at this speed at at at Lucasville Raceway. And
you know the you know, listen, we jumped in with
the challenge. Let's get some more sponsors in there. Let's
build this thing up, Let's build the facility up, Let's
make things. I mean, it's an unbelievable place. I have
(19:34):
some unbelievable memories there of us racing, our teams, us
watching you know. I mean, I can't even remember what
year it was, it's probably nineties six or seven, Jack Sprague.
You know, the truck race there was probably the best
race of all of them. I mean, with the NASCAR Weekend,
the you know, the first the first Exfinity race which
(19:58):
is Bush Anyway race, that Toyota one was there with
Jason Leffler and they were with us in our suite
that we had there. So there's a lot of great
memories that we've had there, and and uh, you know,
we want to make a lot a lot more, And hey,
I'd be more than happy to split that with Cody
if I gave it to him at the end of
(20:18):
the night. Just by the way, I'd be happy to
split it with you too, So just a side note,
i'd even just go if you want. I'm really okay
with that one too. Hey, you brought up something that
is near and dear to all of our hearts that
have been in this industry for a couple of minutes,
but that Thursday Night Thunder deal to to bring it back.
(20:39):
Let's um expand on that just a little bit philisent
on on what's working there and doesn't have a chance
to grow because you said it's not gonna be a
full series, doesn't have a chance to grow. Yeah, So
we look at this as it's an annual tradition. We'll
call it the homecoming of Thursday Night Thunder. We want
this to be kind of the rallying point for all
of those folks have spent time out here, uh on
(21:00):
across the Thursday Night Thunder for the twenty plus years
it was out here to to always have that rallying
point to come back and celebrate it once a year.
So we're working on that right now with you know,
some special recognition of some folks that have you know,
certainly made a name for themselves under the Thursday Night
Thunder banner. We think that that will continue to grow
(21:21):
and we look at that as something that everybody can
circle on their calendar every year that we continue to
to to put effort behind. That's so exciting. I never
got to see thunders, so it's not going to be
I think it was over before you were born. I
mean I I remember sitting on the couch with my
daughter who was just you know, a couple of years
(21:41):
old at the time, and Thursday night, Man, you were
in front of the TV and you were you're watching
Daved Spain and you were watching the Best and Noble
track racing. You know, go at it. It was Larry Rice.
I think Larry Larry Rice, a late Larry Rice and
such a such a good friend for all of us here,
and um, you know, I remember sitting on the couch
and watching when a rich vogler you know, had his
crash and it was on Thursday Night Thunder. I mean
(22:03):
it was it was stuff that touched us, you know,
pretty deeply. And I mean I fell in love with
David Spain. We saw him everywhere all the time and motorsports,
but but it was Thursday Night Thunder where he had
that magical ability to make you believe that you were
there and that you were friends with all those drivers
as he would go down pit road and talk to
all of those guys, and of course just a magical
(22:24):
broadcaster and certainly honored to have the opportunity to work
with him a couple of times there at the Chili Bowl.
So yeah, it's it's a special event. As I said before,
to us that have been around and been able to
watch it. Certainly you Georgie, I know you've you've heard
about it your whole life, probably at least in your
racing life, and to have to have a little bit
of that magic come back would be very cool. Absolutely
(22:45):
one of the neat things. I had Terry Linger in
the office last week, and Terry was the producer right
of of Thursday Night Thunder, and he said, you know,
when we looked at it, we said, you know, similar
to what we've got here. We can create a studio,
bring everything and why are the place up? And we
can just create weekly content right and create I mean
(23:05):
let people know and understand and kind of follow the
trials and tribulations weekend week out of our drivers and
our teams here and create kind of that male soap opera.
And that's what Thursday Night Thunder was. Lucas won a
Raceway just happened to be the back you know, we
were the set for for that event. Uh kind of
weekend week out. It was very cool to to to
hear those old stories and we think, you know, we
(23:26):
want to celebrate that on an annual tradition. Yeah, Terry's
one of those silent names nobody at home knows about,
but he is um. He's put together and crafted some
of the most exciting motorsports events of all time. He's
been behind the scenes inside of the truck. I'm sure
he was just at St. Pete and cuts together the
the IndyCar races. And he's the reason I moved here.
(23:48):
I moved here to work for Terry Lingner and it
never ever happened. He's probably happy about that. He knows.
Actually we're still we're buddies. I really really like and
respect Terry, but it's super cool to hear he's involved
with it as well. Yeah, he's he's been a good
sounding board. We we kind of broached the idea he
was bringing over some of the Fast Masters stuff last weekend,
(24:09):
which is a kind of a story and in of
itself hilarious, hilarious story. I mean, that's an episode right there.
Oh my god. So being able to kind of share, hey,
here's what we're looking to do, and and you know,
he certainly has said, hey, you know, however, we can
help make this thing a great celebration. He's in so well,
I guess we might as well wrap this thing up.
I see Cody's over there, texting away. He's already working
(24:31):
on ride. So I've gotta I've got two or three man,
I gotta I gotta find that third car. I left
my phone in the hallway. I was trying to be prepared, right,
good stuff. Is there anything else that we missed here
that you want to talk about? Covered a lot of ground.
Now we're excited. We're excited to have drivers like Cody
uh take on this challenge and UH kind of see
(24:53):
where everything ends up on August thirteen and four, Cody,
do you need to make any Anatolis announcement? I do
out at this moment in time, just check. But right,
But I do need to say I want to say
thanks to to Casey and to t Rico for UH
their continued support of short track racing. I mean, this
is UM, this is a monumental thing UM for us
(25:13):
and and drivers like me and across the board and
these divisions UM to have a chance at something like this.
So UM, I know I've known Rico for for a
long time through support of of Silver Crown teams, UH,
support of the series and to the fat Heads I
wear a Fast Time Award especially be part of that
in the series. And to connect with Casey and and
(25:34):
all that he's done through Lucasoil Raceway. UM to to
revive a wheel series, the Midgets, UH sprint Cars, reviving
UH Thursday Night Thunder with the homecoming UM is really
special for UH, for drivers and race teams all throughout
these divisions and something that really gives us a lot
to look forward to, exciting stuff. So there you go,
(25:54):
Ladies and gentlemen, go to Fatheads dot com, Go to
Lucas Oil Raceway dot com, start planning your family vacation
and now they're gonna have a place for you to
camp and spend the entire week and catch your absolute
fill of some of the best racing you will see
anywhere on the planet. Exciting stuff. Thanks a lot Rico
for the support obviously in short track racing. Casey, thank
you very much for all of your hard work. I
(26:14):
know it's ah endless job over there at Lucas Oil Speedway.
I'm sorry Lucas Oil Raceway, so thank you very much
for everything you're doing. Best of luck in Cody, I know,
uh we can't wait to get to get going here
and Georgia, thanks again for all your year input. Okay,
we'll wrap it up. Special announcement and special edition of
The Skinny by the way, send it to all of
(26:36):
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(26:59):
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I'm Casey Cohler, I'm Cody Swanson, and this is the
Skinny from Fathead Studios and Speedway, Indiana. This is the Skinny.
Special Announcement, Special Announcement, Special Announcement. Welcome to the Skinny.
We've got a special announcement coming your way. It was
(00:20):
a last minute gathering here and some pretty cool people,
I must say. Of course, Rico is always here. I
don't know that he ever leaves that chair. George is
with us once again, ken Stout, and two special guests
will join us here. Of course we have Cody Swanson,
who has been on the show before. We appreciate you
coming back. And then sitting in the center seat is
(00:40):
Casey Koehler, g M for Lucas Oil Raceway, just about
ten miles or so from here, and we have a
special announcement. You guys have put together in conjunction with
Rico and I'm sure a number of other people are
pretty incredible schedule and let me personally say thank you
very much because has been for most people man. So
(01:01):
we are certainly looking forward to one. But let's talk
about what you guys have put together some because it's
it's gonna bring back some memories of stuff that Oval
track fans loved back in the day, and you're it's
gonna resurface in one you put together a big triple
event that's gonna pay out or at least have the
opportunity to pay out some incredible amount of money. The
(01:23):
certainly your thoughts behind it will gather some people, a
lot of people. You've put together some incentives for people
to take vacation, come out, some free camping, park their
motor home on a Thursday, stay out through throughout the weekend.
I mean a lot of thought has gone into this,
and we appreciate your efforts along with of course all
your partners as well. But fill us in man, we
(01:43):
want to hear it. Yeah, thank you, Kenn. I mean,
it's nice to turn the page into one and start
looking ahead. So we're really excited to to to come
off of what we had with the night before this
past year. Uh, it kind of threw us a little
bit of a bone to try something a little bit
different or at least reaching back, uh and bringing back
pavement midget racing that hasn't been around really for at
(02:06):
least the past six or seven years in Central Indiana.
So we were really excited to bring that back, and
based off of the excitement we had there, we started
to look towards and that's where we were able to
integrate that into the Carbon Night Classics. So the Carbon
Night Classic, traditionally around the Indie five hundred um will
be May. We've got the Road to Indie there that
(02:27):
Cody knows something about, as well as we're bringing back
payment midgets as part of that weekend. And then on
top of that, we've got the Carbon Night Classic, the
hundred lap Silver Crown Race, so that kind of kicks
off our season. Then we roll into an event that
that you know, we we get asked a lot about
Thursday Night Thunder. When's Thursday Night Thunder coming back to
(02:48):
Lucas Oil Raceway, And we're probably not gonna do a
whole series there, but we are going to focus on
one big event on June, a Thursday Night Thunder that
features both sprint cars and midgets you know, in those
five thousand to win both races there, and we've got
a lot of fun stuff that we've got planned and
we'll be making some announcements around and then we get
to the Who's Your Classic, So the Who's Your Classic
(03:09):
is on that weekend. You know, the Brickyard four hundred
weekend Indy Car is gonna be there. It's kind of
like the must see, must attend weekend for motorsports in
one and oh, by the way, over at Lucas Oil Raceway,
we've got Friday night, we've got sprint cars ten thousand
to win on a fifty lap race. Then we go
on Saturday with midgets ten grand to win on fifty
(03:30):
laps there, and then we've got the Silver Crown Race
a hundred laps, twelve thousand to win. And then the
big announcement right why we're here today, A big bonus
that will go on top of it, uh that we're
going to announce that. You know, if you win all
three of those big races two hundred laps of racing,
win a hundred thousand dollar bonus on top of the
(03:51):
thirty two that you want already that day. And then
if you only win two of the three, you know
you're gonna win a fifty thousand dollar bonus, so that
that win are still taken home seventy dollars worth of money,
which is which is great, and that's based off the
support that Rico and fatheads I Wear has put together
for this program. So we're beyond excited. This is gonna
be a big, big year. That's an incredible package, to
(04:13):
say the least. I mean, certainly the money, but just
the effort to put it all together, to get the
fans back out here again, to get the racers back
out here again, to give them incentives, to bring those
cars that have been sitting in the garages for years,
get them, get them dusted off, put them back together,
come out here and make a legitimate run at it.
I mean, and I agree. I mean this past year,
(04:34):
the midget race, it was so nice and it was
a great race. For sure, Silver Crown race is always
a ton of fun to watch. But to have the
midgets come back out here and put on a show.
They're so fast, three wide, uh you know, through those
long arching turns, so exciting. Of course, Swanson over there
trying to win already, trying to win. Everything is did
you what'd you qualified on the pole at two out
(04:54):
of three or or some sort of deal out there?
I mean, you were on it. The poll was three
out of three, only one. I thought his brother stole
one for some reason. He stole the race from one already,
he has some plans. I was gonna say, I feel
(05:15):
his cell phone already vibrating based off of this announcement.
And I'm sure there's car owners calling already. Yeah, it's
it's an incredible effort to talk to us about how
that came together. Rico, Well, you know, I mean, listen,
we've we've extended our you know, our reach in the
Motorsports Era Arena this year more than we have in
(05:35):
years past. And you know, one of our main things
this year was that, you know, we we had the
good fortune of having a good year with a lot
of things that went our way, and we know a
lot of folks had the misfortune that it went the
opposite way. And you know, whether that be race ors,
(05:58):
race teams, us whatever it may be. Promoters. Uh. So
you know, we've tried to step in and help where
we could. And I came to no Casey through Cody
and uh and was introduced and you know, we used
(06:21):
to do a lot of things out at the out
at you know, Lucasoil Raceway and and love it. I
mean it's um, it's a it's a hidden gym, you
know what I mean. And for those that haven't been there,
weren't there in the past to get to see a
lot of the action. I mean there's probably uh I don't.
(06:41):
I mean, you know, Winchester Salem is awesome, but I'm
telling you to to know how to run that track
and run it the right way. Uh, you know, in
a in a pavement as as he said, you know,
a sprint, midget or silver crown you got, it's gotta
be pretty special, and you've got to be a pretty
special I were to be able to do that, you know,
from the likes of you know, Tony Stewart, Kenny or
(07:04):
when you know you're you're Jeff Gordon's and uh, you know,
as we talked about Danny drying and before this, I mean,
those guys put some major battles on there. And you
know this, Casey came to me and started talking about this,
and you know we've again, you know, with everything that's
been kind of up in the air and how everything's
(07:25):
going this year, you know, we we started talking about
it and and I'll go on the record and say,
as I told Casey, if you leave before this event,
I will come find you and will pare you have
left on your head and be there anymore. So, um,
there are special shoes for you that will help you
to the bottom of the river. Yeah, you'll be able
(07:46):
to find whatever you want down there for a long time.
But you know, the cool part of it was is,
you know, it really had to do with him. It
really did in in in in what his vision was,
and it fit right in with a lot of the
things that we're doing. And uh, I mean as I was,
(08:07):
you know, I was honored to be asked to be
a part of it with our with our fat heads
family and uh, you know, we hope a lot of
our drivers, you know, Cody, I'm I'm sure we'll have
a seat in that and and uh maybe his uh
maybe his brother will come make him look good this time.
So I have nothing else to just work out a
(08:28):
side deal in the background, like you know, if I
if I won one, you know, don't take it from me,
and I'll give you or something. Work at some sort
of dealer starts splitting money already. You gotta run block.
You gotta run blocked for me of it. That that's
the great part. There's none of them that would do
it like I'm gonna win it. I don't care how
much I'm gonna win this one and win the next one. Sorry, bro. Yeah,
(08:50):
I love the fact that that you've had a long
term relationship with Lucas Oil. I'm certainly biased towards wonderful
people Lucas Oil. So to have this come together Lucas
Oil Raceway, which you'd be really hard pressed to find
a company that does more for grassroots racing and on
the globe than Lucas Oil. So to have this come
together at a track that they support, UM is a
(09:13):
beautiful thing as well. Just another caveat to UH to
what's going on here. So I plaued all you guys
for the effort. For sure. The big thing I was
gonna say, we go. You're big into giving racers opportunity, UM,
whether or whether or not they've had it before or not.
You're always there sponsoring things, You're doing things like that.
So what does it mean to both of you? I mean,
the winner if ruining all three races, taking on that
hundred and thirty two thou dollars, that is life changing
(09:34):
for pretty much anyone that's involved in the grassroots racing itself.
So what does it mean to you to be able
to do that? And give someone that opportunity. Potentially it
means we better have a hell of a party afterwards.
So yeah, you know, I mean for for for the facility.
We're we're celebrating our sixtieth anniversary going into I was
telling Cody or earlier and just talk about crazy timing.
(09:59):
The Carb Night Classic May will be exactly sixty years
to the day that A. J. Floyd won that first
ever event on the oval uh at then Indianapolis Raceway
Park now in our Lucas Oil Raceway. So it's a
big year for us, and we thought, you know, we
want to make sure that we've we've got some tent
(10:19):
pole events. We want to create events. We don't want
to create races, there's enough of those out there. So
if we have four really good events, uh, this being
the biggest tent pole event for us, we're really excited.
We're excited for the racers that we know, you know,
the Cody Tanner Um, Justin Grant, Bobby Santos, all those
folks that come race with Chris Wyndham. But we also
(10:41):
think this is a big opportunity for a lot of
racers that you know, have it come run that facility
either previously or it's been a number of years to
to come back out to Lucas Oil Raceway and give
it a shot in one of those three classes. Yeah.
I really think people are going to start pulling cars
out of their garages that we haven't seen in a while.
That's gonna be really cool. Hopefully I get a split
(11:02):
on the track rental. I think it's gonna go up.
Is there going to be a pre entry list? So? Yeah, well,
well certainly one of the things that we always do is,
you know, we certainly want to make sure that there
are pre entry It kind of determines where you're pitting
for the whole weekend, So that seems to be important
for teams and drivers. Uh. Right after the first year,
(11:23):
we'll put that out there so teams can start formally
uh entering each of the three categories. Uh. And we
will certainly be letting folks know as as time goes on,
who's kind of throwing their hat into into the ring
on this from either a team driver perspective, and we
think there will be a lot of storylines gained from this. Codes.
Does this make you excited as a racing Absolutely? Um.
(11:46):
I mean I came to the Midwest, the first time
to run at that racetrack at that point it was
night before Still it's been been a few years ago
and UM so so I mean I was excited for
uh what Casey did for US racers in I mean
took uh the initiative in in the midst of um
(12:07):
just an insane year, UM to revive payment midgets and
and to take payment sprint cars that at one point
been on a lifeline and kind of surviving through a
little five hundred alone. Uh, and get us back to
lucasall raceway and a great track to to race them at.
And so UM to to put all three together was
it was a great week this year, UM through through
(12:28):
the you know, the revival of the night before the
five hundred. But to take that next step UM Casey
and teaming up with with Rico UM and Fat Heads
eyewear to to put a challenge like this is um,
you know, is something really really neat um for open
wheel racing and UM and the sport here in Indiana.
And it really is going to be a challenge. How
(12:48):
difficult would it be, you know to actually pull it off?
I mean it it's difficult this year and we know
nobody UM has been able to put a string together
like that across all the different divisions, and UM to
be bringing payment midgets back on top of the UM
added incentive. This year, everyone's gonna be UM bringing their
(13:09):
best car, the best equipment and preparing UM to do it. So,
uh to to win any of them is gonna be tough.
To to win all three of them is going to
be uh be be certainly a challenge worthy worthy of
it and really neat that that if you managed to
pull it off, there Uh there's a there's a great,
a great bonus on top for it. I love it.
(13:30):
So I've touched on this briefly at the open of
the show. But phillis in because we're fortunate enough to
to live around here and during these big race weekends,
like I literally get goose bumps talking about it when
I think about the five and all the racing that
goes on that week. I mean, for the fans at
home that have not been in this area, they think, oh,
they had the Indianapolis five there, they don't realize that
(13:50):
there was so much more racing that went on in
this area. Same way with the Brickyard, and and that's
what you're adding to here, that's what we're talking about here.
But you are also going to offer fans a place
to stay. So if they have a camper or motor
home and we see him intents I mean backup, pickup trucks,
whatever it maybe it doesn't matter. It's really designed around
that week so that you can plan a vacation for
(14:13):
your family, come here and just soak it in. Right.
So for for us on our fans first policy, really
as we focus on these these uh three oval races
for next year, you know, tickets are only twenty dollars
in advance. We just went on sale yesterday with a
ninety dollars season tickets, so you can get all of
these events plus a stock car event that we have
in October, for only ninety dollars. That includes parking. That's
(14:34):
pretty good, pretty good deal out there. Uh it's only
at the gate. But we're also instituting kids twelve and
under our free which something that we haven't done on
the oval side of it. It's something that's been kind
of exclusive on the drag racing side. Um, so we
have that piece of it free parking, something that we
haven't done for a number of years. And then we're
instituting free camping, right, so folks can come in, set
(14:55):
up camp, take in both the Carb Night Thursday Night
Thunder or the Hoosier Classic. They don't have to move,
and they can go enjoy other racing that's taking place
in and around the area, being over at the Indianapolis
Murar Speedway or you know other other tracks in central Indiana. Yeah,
I mean, and and for those that aren't aware of
the geographical area, I mean, we're talking about ten minute
(15:17):
ride over to the speedway, so it's very close, very doable,
and romping an uber car and shoot over there honestly
probably better than trying to get to the speedway and
then find park, you know, someplace to the car. So right, yeah,
I get dropped off at right up front there. I mean,
it's yeah, that's the best best of both worlds by
all means, because the camping thing, and I mean if
(15:37):
you try to stay close to the speedway, I mean
I did. I did hear you know, Doug Bolls and
I discussed it and he was talking about or I
was there when he was discussing, um about how you know,
the real thrill of of the race for a lot
of people were these relationships where they parked at people's houses,
(15:59):
you know what I mean. And uh so this this
deal here, I mean, it's it kind of reminds me
of when the NASCAR weekend would come in. You know,
we always knew that we were going Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
and then Sunday to the Big Track. And it's kind
of cool that this is bringing things like that back together.
(16:21):
Uh you know, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway needs Lucas Oil
Race Way as much as Lucas Oil Raceway needs the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It's the same fan, it's the same fun.
And you know, if we can make it affordable for
people to get to go and have some fun, I mean,
that's really what this is about. And I mean looking
at the talent that comes out there and comes out
(16:41):
of there is is pretty amazing. You're right. It really
is an extension of people have spent their lives. You know,
they have they have season tickets at the five for generations,
and they go back and they sit next to those
same fans, those same friends, and that they do they
develop into relationships and then the camping is kind of
the same way. And the Cooke lots. It's not uncommon
to see people that have camped there beside each other
(17:03):
for many, many years, and that's they're gathering that particular year.
I I remember going back to when I was a kid,
a young kid going to the twelve Hours Receivering. I
lived in Florida with twelve Hours Receivering and everybody would
line their their motor homes up or their campers, whatever
the case may be. And it was the same group
of people all the time. So it really does generate
um that camaraderie, if you will, of race fans. It's
(17:26):
it's a great atmosphere. After you know, the fans are
going to be hungry for it. Yeah, I think there's
a lot of pent up demand right for for racing
and motorsports, not only locally but nationally. We had a
lot of fans that just couldn't come in obviously for
May or August in the rescheduled Inde five hundred are
are clamoring to see pavement midgets again, right, So we
(17:46):
we think we're we've got something here with all three
of these events, but really with this this Hoosier Classic
and now having this this this massive hundred thousand dollar
Challenge out there. Um, you know it, it's it's gonna
be a off ticket to get for the fans that
might not be able to make the trip. Will they
be able to watch it anywhere? Yeah, so all three
of our events will be on flow Racing, So we're excited.
(18:09):
They've done a really nice job. They did a great
job with the night before. Um, but really yeah, they will.
They will give coverage all both days, green flag, the
checker flag and cover everything in between. Yeah. That's um,
that's exciting as well, so that they'll have a place
to watch it. And yeah, those guys do do a
(18:30):
nice job of bringing all the all the action at
home for sure. And that's one of the things I
was talking to Casey about. I said, you know, anybody
that was in the drag racing world, which of course
I spent a lot of time with the Lucas family
going drag racing, and you know where was our favorite
place every year? Brainerd? You know? And what was BRAINERD about? Well,
(18:51):
it was about the party, right, But it was interesting
all of the folks that were out in the zoo
as they call it, all the folks that are out
in the zoo, that was their vacation, and it was
unbelievable because they were vacationing with this friend and that friend,
and they were all motor homes or camping or whatever
it was they were doing. And uh, I told Casey,
(19:14):
I said, there is zero reason that that shouldn't go
on at this speed at at at Lucasville Raceway. And
you know the you know, listen, we jumped in with
the challenge. Let's get some more sponsors in there. Let's
build this thing up, Let's build the facility up, Let's
make things. I mean, it's an unbelievable place. I have
(19:34):
some unbelievable memories there of us racing, our teams, us
watching you know. I mean, I can't even remember what
year it was, it's probably nineties six or seven, Jack Sprague.
You know, the truck race there was probably the best
race of all of them. I mean, with the NASCAR Weekend,
the you know, the first the first Exfinity race which
(19:58):
is Bush Anyway race, that Toyota one was there with
Jason Leffler and they were with us in our suite
that we had there. So there's a lot of great
memories that we've had there, and and uh, you know,
we want to make a lot a lot more, And hey,
I'd be more than happy to split that with Cody
if I gave it to him at the end of
(20:18):
the night. Just by the way, I'd be happy to
split it with you too, So just a side note,
i'd even just go if you want. I'm really okay
with that one too. Hey, you brought up something that
is near and dear to all of our hearts that
have been in this industry for a couple of minutes,
but that Thursday Night Thunder deal to to bring it back.
(20:39):
Let's um expand on that just a little bit philisent
on on what's working there and doesn't have a chance
to grow because you said it's not gonna be a
full series, doesn't have a chance to grow. Yeah, So
we look at this as it's an annual tradition. We'll
call it the homecoming of Thursday Night Thunder. We want
this to be kind of the rallying point for all
of those folks have spent time out here, uh on
(21:00):
across the Thursday Night Thunder for the twenty plus years
it was out here to to always have that rallying
point to come back and celebrate it once a year.
So we're working on that right now with you know,
some special recognition of some folks that have you know,
certainly made a name for themselves under the Thursday Night
Thunder banner. We think that that will continue to grow
(21:21):
and we look at that as something that everybody can
circle on their calendar every year that we continue to
to to put effort behind. That's so exciting. I never
got to see thunders, so it's not going to be
I think it was over before you were born. I
mean I I remember sitting on the couch with my
daughter who was just you know, a couple of years
(21:41):
old at the time, and Thursday night, Man, you were
in front of the TV and you were you're watching
Daved Spain and you were watching the Best and Noble
track racing. You know, go at it. It was Larry Rice.
I think Larry Larry Rice, a late Larry Rice and
such a such a good friend for all of us here,
and um, you know, I remember sitting on the couch
and watching when a rich vogler you know, had his
crash and it was on Thursday Night Thunder. I mean
(22:03):
it was it was stuff that touched us, you know,
pretty deeply. And I mean I fell in love with
David Spain. We saw him everywhere all the time and motorsports,
but but it was Thursday Night Thunder where he had
that magical ability to make you believe that you were
there and that you were friends with all those drivers
as he would go down pit road and talk to
all of those guys, and of course just a magical
(22:24):
broadcaster and certainly honored to have the opportunity to work
with him a couple of times there at the Chili Bowl.
So yeah, it's it's a special event. As I said before,
to us that have been around and been able to
watch it. Certainly you Georgie, I know you've you've heard
about it your whole life, probably at least in your
racing life, and to have to have a little bit
of that magic come back would be very cool. Absolutely
(22:45):
one of the neat things. I had Terry Linger in
the office last week, and Terry was the producer right
of of Thursday Night Thunder, and he said, you know,
when we looked at it, we said, you know, similar
to what we've got here. We can create a studio,
bring everything and why are the place up? And we
can just create weekly content right and create I mean
(23:05):
let people know and understand and kind of follow the
trials and tribulations weekend week out of our drivers and
our teams here and create kind of that male soap opera.
And that's what Thursday Night Thunder was. Lucas won a
Raceway just happened to be the back you know, we
were the set for for that event. Uh kind of
weekend week out. It was very cool to to to
hear those old stories and we think, you know, we
(23:26):
want to celebrate that on an annual tradition. Yeah, Terry's
one of those silent names nobody at home knows about,
but he is um. He's put together and crafted some
of the most exciting motorsports events of all time. He's
been behind the scenes inside of the truck. I'm sure
he was just at St. Pete and cuts together the
the IndyCar races. And he's the reason I moved here.
(23:48):
I moved here to work for Terry Lingner and it
never ever happened. He's probably happy about that. He knows.
Actually we're still we're buddies. I really really like and
respect Terry, but it's super cool to hear he's involved
with it as well. Yeah, he's he's been a good
sounding board. We we kind of broached the idea he
was bringing over some of the Fast Masters stuff last weekend,
(24:09):
which is a kind of a story and in of
itself hilarious, hilarious story. I mean, that's an episode right there.
Oh my god. So being able to kind of share, hey,
here's what we're looking to do, and and you know,
he certainly has said, hey, you know, however, we can
help make this thing a great celebration. He's in so well,
I guess we might as well wrap this thing up.
I see Cody's over there, texting away. He's already working
(24:31):
on ride. So I've gotta I've got two or three man,
I gotta I gotta find that third car. I left
my phone in the hallway. I was trying to be prepared, right,
good stuff. Is there anything else that we missed here
that you want to talk about? Covered a lot of ground.
Now we're excited. We're excited to have drivers like Cody
uh take on this challenge and UH kind of see
(24:53):
where everything ends up on August thirteen and four, Cody,
do you need to make any Anatolis announcement? I do
out at this moment in time, just check. But right,
But I do need to say I want to say
thanks to to Casey and to t Rico for UH
their continued support of short track racing. I mean, this
is UM, this is a monumental thing UM for us
(25:13):
and and drivers like me and across the board and
these divisions UM to have a chance at something like this.
So UM, I know I've known Rico for for a
long time through support of of Silver Crown teams, UH,
support of the series and to the fat Heads I
wear a Fast Time Award especially be part of that
in the series. And to connect with Casey and and
(25:34):
all that he's done through Lucasoil Raceway. UM to to
revive a wheel series, the Midgets, UH sprint Cars, reviving
UH Thursday Night Thunder with the homecoming UM is really
special for UH, for drivers and race teams all throughout
these divisions and something that really gives us a lot
to look forward to, exciting stuff. So there you go,
(25:54):
Ladies and gentlemen, go to Fatheads dot com, Go to
Lucas Oil Raceway dot com, start planning your family vacation
and now they're gonna have a place for you to
camp and spend the entire week and catch your absolute
fill of some of the best racing you will see
anywhere on the planet. Exciting stuff. Thanks a lot Rico
for the support obviously in short track racing. Casey, thank
you very much for all of your hard work. I
(26:14):
know it's ah endless job over there at Lucas Oil Speedway.
I'm sorry Lucas Oil Raceway, so thank you very much
for everything you're doing. Best of luck in Cody, I know,
uh we can't wait to get to get going here
and Georgia, thanks again for all your year input. Okay,
we'll wrap it up. Special announcement and special edition of
The Skinny by the way, send it to all of
(26:36):
your friends who love racing. Get the word out so
we can get everybody here. Thanks for listening to this
episode of The Skinny. To watch the video versions of
all of our shows, please visit our YouTube channel, fatheads TV.
Be sure to check out all the latest son An
optical I wear at batheads dot com. Special thanks to
(26:59):
our answorship partners at Elliott's Custom Trailers and Carts. This
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