Jonathan Davenport was one of racing’s biggest winners in 2022
I am going to begin this piece by answering the question posed in the article’s title. I am not a believer in setting the bar too high, so no, I do not believe the 2022 season did that at all. Once something has been achieved once, it can be achieved again, and even improved upon beyond that. Anything else is a step backwards.
The 2022 Dirt Late Model racing season made strides never before taken by this sport. More money was paid out not only to race winners but throughout the fields of many races. Streaming put this version of motorsports in front of the eyes of more people than ever before. There were large crowds at many of the bigger events. The stars long known to the enthusiasts who have followed the sport for years became known to many more new followers. And finally, there was one single race that paid more than many of racing’s more well known contests.
Let’s start with the money. For only the second time in history, a Dirt Late Model race paid $1,000,000 to its winner during the 2022 season. Although NASCAR no longer publishes the amounts paid to its winning drivers, it is likely that very few of their races last season offered a payout as large as that earned by Jonathan Davenport for taking the checkered flag ahead of the pack in the Eldora Million.
But it wasn’t just the winner’s share of race purses that saw increases last season. Many events on all levels boasted of larger payments to all who were able to start the feature. Further, virtually every series, whether it be on the national or regional level, offered more money than had previously been the case for those who finished highly in the final standings.
There wasn’t just one big race in 2022, there were scores of them. More features than ever before paid $20,000-to-win purses with several offering up $50,000 or even $100,000. Many of the events sanctioned by either the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series or the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Late Model Series saw boosts in payouts. Also, most races sanctioned by the Castrol FloRacing Night in America Series and the XR Super Series fit into the category big paydays for competitors.
And those big races, for the most part, drew big crowds. A number of venues saw record numbers of people flow through the gates when they hosted their top events.
Streaming of dirt races has greatly proliferated since 2019 and that continued in 2022. The Covid pandemic revealed that there was indeed a market for those broadcasts and now virtually any race a fan might want to see can be watched live on a television, a laptop, or a small screen device. There are now series that are geared primarily as much around the selling of subscriptions as the selling of grandstand seats.
With the coverage came notoriety for the tracks, series, and drivers.
The sport’s top drivers such as Jonathan Davenport, Brandon Overton, Tim McCreadie and Bobby Pierce are now known by far more people than was the case one year ago because of the additional exposure received by the sport due to its big paydays and the availability of live streaming. And it doesn’t hurt that well known outsiders such as former NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson has taken an interest in Dirt Late Model racing which, in turn, brings media coverage that puts the names of his competitors on racing-based websites and in publications that might have previously only focused their attention on NASCAR.
To show how much more known the stars of the sport have become, Scott Bloomquist was even invited earlier this year to be a guest on the highly popular Dale Jr Download podcast with Dale Earnhardt Jr.
All of that mentioned above either happened in or was expanded during 2022. So yes, the expectations were set extremely high for 2023 and beyond.
But as I said at the beginning, even when things are going really well, there is always room for improvement. So where could that improvement come in a sport that is seemingly on the rise?
One issue that surfaced on multiple occasions throughout the 2022 season was that races were being run in which the leader was never passed. While sometimes one car leading all 50 or even 100 laps is just something that happens because that car and driver are just that “hooked up”, it is not something that should happen frequently. Following several races this season the second and third place finishers, during their post-race interviews, would mention aerodynamics, track conditions, or some other element that prevented them from being to catch and pass the front runner.
Aerodynamics and track conditions are both things that can be addressed by either the series in question or the track owners/promoters for the purpose of creating better racing.
Another area that everyone involved in the promotion of dirt racing needs to address is that of regional and local racing. While the bigger shows have tended to do well over the past couple of seasons, some regional and local events have struggled. As stated before, the national tours have streaming services dedicated to them while regional and local racing may not get as much attention. Further, many fans who are already paying monthly subscription fees to one or more of those services may opt to stay at home and watch a bigger race rather than go to their local track.
Somehow, the promoters, streamers, and the competitors need to find some way for the rising tide to lift all of the boats and not just the big ones. But therein lies the rub as those entities are, at least to a degree, competitors with each other on some occasions while at other times they are working together.
Yes, 2022 was a banner year in many ways for Dirt Late Model racing. But no, the bar was not set too high. Not only can the sport continue to add to its successes but it can also seek out ways to improve and work on those areas that may yet be lagging behind.
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