Episode 22 - Matthew Dillner

Episode 22 – Matthew Dillner

Senior Producer, FloRacing | Storyteller of Short Track Racing

In Episode 22, Brad sits down with Matthew Dillner, Senior Producer at FloRacing and one of the most recognizable storytellers in short track racing today. From producing The Dale Jr. Download during its rise, to his work with Dirty Mo Media and the Lost Speedways TV series, Matthew has helped bring the stories of racers to life for fans across the country.

Now a key voice and producer for FloRacing — including announcing at Bowman Gray Stadium — Matthew has spent years telling everyone else’s story. But this time, the spotlight flips.

Brad and Matthew dive into his journey through motorsports media, the passion that fuels short track racing, and what it’s like being behind some of the most impactful content in the sport. From behind-the-scenes moments to personal perspective, this episode is all about the storyteller becoming the story.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey guys, I'm Bad Brad, and welcome to another episode of Driving Fast and Taking Chances. Today's episode is brought to you by Rocket Donkey. Rocket Donkey Rodeo Apparel, leather awards, all kinds of great stuff, whether it's rodeo, whether it's racing, Rocket Donkey.com. Check them out right here in beautiful downtown Welcome, North Carolina. My guest today, Mr. Matthew Dilloner.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

Quite a segue.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Man, hey, great to have you. From the donkey to the donkey. We have. We've been trying to get together on this deal for probably about a year. It has taken a little while to get you, but finally you were able to make it to the world-class studio here in Welcome, North Carolina. Everybody says Daytona World Center Speed. Hogwash. It's welcome. We have a stoplight, a whole stoplight.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

I don't know which way you came in. You may have come through the stoplight, but here you are. I yeah, I'm I mean, I went by Ralph Brinkley's uh shop. Oh yeah, I mean that's my favorite when I when I ranch off on 52 there. Yes. I always I do two things coming up to Bowman Gray. I always wave at, you know, the the Paul Bunyan or whatever it is at the uh the Bill's truck stop there. Right, yeah. You know, wave at him because he's tied to the pole waving. And then I always give a little nod when I go by Ralph Brinkley's uh shop there because that's uh modified royalty right there.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Fun history that you may not know. So the building that we're in, we're in the everybody in this area knows this is the Lacey J. Miller building, right? Okay. So are you familiar with a former modified racer by the name of Greg Sachs?

SPEAKER_02 1:30

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

Come on, Matt. I'm just giving you a hard time.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

I know I'm probably the Ernie Willsburg number five, Superman, Greg Sachs, a 1982 Stafford Motor Speedway Track Champion.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Dang, look at that. So Greg Sachs actually ran some NASCAR stuff, some bigger. Oh, yeah. So do you remember the year that he went to Daytona and absolutely dominated?

SPEAKER_02 1:49

Oh, yeah. That uh that that awesome car.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

That car was built in this building. Bull crap. By the people who owned this facility the whole deal. That was the Donnelly's. Yes. Yes. Because of that car and that deal, there is a whole section of the NASCAR rule book that was written as a result of that car. But you were actually in that facility, man. No way. Yes, cool. Yeah. Uh Lacey was the first guy to really do like legit machine work and all that. And our facility, man, we're like four phase, 660 in here. This thing used to be full of C and C machines. We came in and made it a fire suit shop, man.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

So I know, like, uh, you know, that he was from Mattituck, and my family's origins, you know, my great-grandfather came over from Poland, uh, farmed in South Hold and Kutchog, uh, which is neighboring towns to that. So, you know, uh the the North Fork farmland potato farmers of North uh New York, uh Long Island, New York, that's that's he's right in that circle.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Yeah, a lot of people think as soon as they think New York, everybody thinks Manhattan, you know.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

We weren't allowed to as kids. Hey, by the way, we weren't allowed as kids. Mom and dad had this thing, and they were like, when we were traveling for races, we were never allowed, Brad, to say we were from New York.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Oh, wow. Long Island, we're from Long Island, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

You were from Long Island, New York, because people think you're city folk. And I went the furthest thing from it, no.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

No, not in close. I was uh two weeks ago, was in uh Syracuse for the trade show, and I actually stayed a little bit south of there, out in the country. Yeah, cool little Airbnb. Scott's country, man. Man, there's dairy farms all around. It's like I take pictures that the rivers are the best and I send it back. I stayed uh really look to close to Lake Itasca or Itasco or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

Oh, there's like 20,000 lakes there. It's like Mr.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Absolutely beautiful. I actually had to go over to, I went to Niagara Falls one day, but I actually had to go to Watkins Glen, Seneca Lake, absolutely one of the most beautiful. It's like you're in Ireland or something. It's amazing. It's amazing. But everybody thinks, you know, Manhattan, which for me, you know, that's where I learned how to tailor. That's where I went to school. We used to have a showroom. That's kind of where I learned apparel and training. How did you dream of that? Yeah, garment district. So yeah, for many, many years in the city. So it's funny because the our trucks would show up and they would have a 40-foot trailer and they couldn't back down our alley because our alley's 10 foot wide. They're an eight and a half foot semi. And they're like, well, we can't get in there. I'm like, move. I'd put it in the hole every time they're like beard. This is crazy. And uh, it was great working in the city because I had always wore khaki pants and a blue shirt. And buyers.

SPEAKER_02 4:07

I don't see you as a khaki guy.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

Buyers. I used to have to dress up all the time. Uh, you've seen me at PRI coat and tie. So yeah, buyers would come in just to hear me talk because you know I had a cool southern accent. So it was great. But yeah, no, New York, there's there's and you know what? My friends like uh super tight with Jimmy and the Zacharias family. They're like, dude, we would love to vote Manhattan as a separate state, yeah, just so it doesn't affect what we do the rest of the state. Oh, yeah. Taxes are crazy up there. But anyway, tons of racing up there, and that's where you got your start. Yeah. Like you guys were weekly, home track, Ice Lip Speedway. Yeah, you guys were all over up there. What was the seed? What got the fire burning for you and Bob?

SPEAKER_02 4:45

It's easy. It's my dad. My dad was a racer before we were born, and uh mom worked in retail, you know, a lover. She's you know, what did she sell? Uh she worked at AS, so which was like uh kind of like Dillard's down here or belt. Right, so anyway, uh, and then dad worked uh, you know, not a very, you know, fun job, uh cleaning gutters, repairing gutters, roof repair. Somebody's got to do it right, clean up jobs. We had 12 lawn accounts, we shoveled driveways, we did just anything junk removal. We we were like, we did everything we could to make money to get on the road to race.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Y'all were like Sanford and Son minus the junk.

SPEAKER_02 5:21

We just didn't have the truck with the junk. Dad took care of his truck real nice. But that's what we did. Dad raced before we were born, before we were born, stopped racing and put food on the table. Sure. So when he did that, though, he kept on bringing us to races, and that just grew and grew and grew from ice slip to we would we would go three and a half hours on a Friday night. Three and a half hours we would drive through Manhattan and all that, up around into Connecticut to go to Stafford Motor Speedway on Friday nights. Dude, staff. And sometimes I do it in the back of a pickup truck.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Nice. Well, that's back when riding the back pickup truck was safe. It was safe. Three and a half hours overnight. It was safe then. Man, I'm gonna tell you what, some of the best races that I've seen. I don't know what they call them. They they look like real street stocks or Monte Carlos and Camaros and stuff. Dude, I love watching Stafford on Friday night. Dude, they get it on.

SPEAKER_02 6:05

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

And I will tell you, man, my Hey, look at plug on flow. Yeah. Uh one of my one of my heroes actually picked up a dominating SK win last year. I'm a Max Zachcom hero, man. I love that guy.

SPEAKER_02 6:17

Max is great. He's hardcore. Him and his dad, you know, they're just good people.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Top shelf, man.

SPEAKER_02 6:21

I'm actually uh and then him to uh do what he did at Wall Stadium and just to see how happy he was. Yeah, like that was like good for him.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

He's just great people. It was funny, uh, not this year, but last year, he was uh Newsom Earner, you know, we're all down there for for you guys who call speed weeks. For us is speed month because we're there for a whole month, all the other crap with the dirt, but anyway, I see him over there. I'm like, hey man, what are you doing? He goes, I'm signing in. I was like, cool, how many guys you got? He's like, one, two, three, four. I said, cool. I said, back away, I got this. So she wouldn't take my cash. They they you NASCAR doesn't allow you to pay with cash, so I had to pay with a card or whatever. He's like, dude, I didn't expect that. I'm like, man, make sure you got some decals on there. He's been super loyal. Guy probably sends me 20 customers a year. That's great. How do you not love Max? And here's the thing there's never controversy surrounding Max. Everybody loves him, man. You know, so great, great people. But so anyway, uh, I slip you're at Stafford. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

Uh and then Bob got a my brother Bob, you know, who you guys probably know from TV uh for years. Uh Bob got our job, he got grounded. So when you have him on the show, you'll have to have him tell the story. But his stories are a little different than mine sometimes. He's getting older. So, you know, he's not, which is I just get younger. Yes. But uh, but uh he got grounded. And uh when he was grounded and in trouble, he he wrote an article about a race. And when he wrote an article about this race, they sent it in to Lenny Salmons, and Lenny Salmons called and he was like, Lenny was like, Hey, you know, we need to speak to Bob Dilner. My dad is Bob Dilner Sr. He was like, Yeah, that's me. That's me. What's up? He goes, Man, this uh article you wrote, you know, we'd love to be good. Yeah, we'd love to have you come write for us. And my dad started chuckling. He's like, Well, okay, that was that's my son. He's like, Well, let's get him on board. And he's like, Well, there's a problem. Yeah, he's only 14, 15 years old. So, wait, wait, what? What? Yeah, then Lenny actually got a fake ID for Bob. He couldn't cover the New Jersey races, but got a fake ID so we could get in the pits and interview drivers and do stuff. That that made us a two-day, two race a weekend family and carried us to sometimes a three-race a week family, and then carried us up and down the east coast and all different places in the northeast. And we just went in a pickup truck. Yeah, I'm not talking cab and a half.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

No, like pickup truck.

SPEAKER_02 8:24

No, I'm talking like my dad put a rug in the back and we finally got a cap.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

When we were kids, there was no cab and a half.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

Oh man, exactly. Yeah, and then it was so much fun. I thought I was rich. Yeah, I mean, we had a rug, we had blankets and pillows, and we had a little cheap boom box that could we play our cassettes. I thought I was loaded rich, like we were camping, like nobody's business. We go camp at Thompson up by the graveyard, and my dad built this bunk thing that went across uh from left to the right side of the truck, and I would sleep on the top, my brother would sleep on the bottom, and then my mom and dad would sleep long ways. Wow, and everybody was in there, everybody in the back of a picket. Like, so I thought I was rich. I was like, this is cool. We're camping with ballers, and like now I look back and I'm like, oh my god, my wife would never go for that.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

No, she would be pissed if you were in an RV. The generator was too loud. Mine too, so don't feel bad.

SPEAKER_02 9:18

I had her camping in uh at Speed Weeks one time. We were rent, we would rent Tony Rains, his good friend of ours. We would rent his uh bus for Speed Weeks, and you know, that was like luxury. It's like, oh my god, some of the best times of my life. Uh Speed Weeks uh doing that. But I wouldn't think of doing half the things we did as a kid. And but you know what? I I'm so thankful for it because my Saturdays and Sundays and Fridays and Saturdays and Sundays, I grew up with my family, right? You know, and and I grew up in racing.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

And you and you knew where you were gonna be. That's all I want to do. You had your racetrack friends and family, just 100% different deal, man. 100%.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

I mean, your racetrack friends, your racetrack family, that's you know, you have a family, I had a great family, you know. I still do. Uh but you know, your race racing friends are more of a family at times. Sometimes sometimes you know they're nothing against your family, but yeah, yeah. You know, like I I I think I've told you before, like when my dad died, um, my racetrack friends and family were there for me just as much as my regular family. And it's like it just blows your mind and opens your your eyes to what's you know great about the sport, you know.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

You know, we all beat on each other, run over each other, we talk trash this, that, and the other. But when when the crap hits the fan, that group all comes together, man. We had uh, I don't know, did you see the Ronnie Bassett episode?

SPEAKER_02 10:33

No, I didn't watch that one.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Man, you gotta watch it. It's a great you gotta watch it, man. And Eric will even tell you, Ronnie Bassett and I both sat here and cried. Yeah, he they lost a son very early. A lot of people don't know that they lost a son. And Ronnie Bassett and I at the time were arch rivals. This episode brought to you by Jeff Hill Trailer Sales in Modoc, Indiana. Jeff Hill Trailer Sales.com has got everything you need cargo, utility, stacker, full blown race trailer, whatever you need, Jeff and his crew will get you taken care of. Jeff Hill Trailersales.com, check them out today. And Ronnie Bassett and I at the time were arch rivals.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 11:09

Arch rivals, right? And uh it was the first time I remember a lap of silence at Bowman Gray and they pushed that car around with that little wreath on there. Man, I cried like a baby. My wife cried like a baby, man. It was just a tough, tough time.

SPEAKER_02 11:20

But what's one of the most beautiful things that that Bowman Gray does?

SPEAKER_00 11:23

It just brings the community back together. And no matter how you felt about Ronnie Bassett, in that moment, your heart hurt for him. You love that man, you love that family, you love what was going on. I just don't know that we get that level of emotion always in all of our sports all the time. One of the things that I noticed, like uh, especially like we see this now with some professional sports players taking a knee when the national anthem this, that, and the other. So my daughter rodeos, right? Yeah. Obviously, obviously I've been in racing. Here's the cool thing I love about racing and rodeo that national anthem plays. Every hand is over every heart, everybody stops, even the little kids are not playing, they're standing quietly, reverently on the fence. Man, it's just good to see that level of patriotism and that the adults and the children are being taught the same thing all the way through. It's pretty inspiring to see.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

We don't see that. I've always said if you can't love, if you can't love God and fear God, and if you can't love your country, you know, I mean, those are two things that should be fundamentals of how you raise your children. So um, you know, and if you do those and then teach them how to respect women, how to respect their moms. Absolutely, you know, uh that's the foundation.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

Fundamentals for everything. I saw last year, dirt track promoter in Texas, a couple didn't stand up for the national anthem. When the national anthem was over, he went over to the back straightaway, gave them both their money back, and asked him to leave. He said, if you don't have the if you don't have the dignity and the respect to stand up for the national anthem, I don't want you here. Don't even come back. So let's talk a little bit about broadcasting. So I met you and your brother back in the RH2 days.

SPEAKER_02 12:56

Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

I was the radio guy, Newsom Earners Speedway, Speed Weeks, had never even heard of you guys. Y'all had just started this thing called Speed 51. Yep. And uh y'all came down to the infield. I had this gargantuan monolith trailer down there that had a big living quarters in the front, the shop in the back. We were busier than a one-legged man, a butt kicking contest. You guys came in, and I think the first interaction we had, you guys asked about scanners or something because y'all didn't have a way to listen. They were like, Man, do you have a frequency list? Or how I was like, Cool. So I hooked y'all with some scanners and stuff. And y'all had like backpacks. It was you and Bob and somebody was with you. Jeremy Trout. Jeremy, Jeremy.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

And uh, you guys look like y'all had backpacks, like y'all are gonna summit Mount Everest and not stop. And Bob said, Man, is there any way we could leave our stuff with you while we go around and do our stuff? And I didn't know y'all. And I'm like, man, I mean, I guess, but I don't really know. I don't need anybody to get in there. He's like, man, if it all gets gone, that's fine. I said, well, just stick it in the living quarters and work it out. We weren't staying in the living quarters. We had a condo at the beach, but that's where I met you guys for the very, very, very first time. How many, how many years ago was that? I couldn't even tell the beginning of the 2000s.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

I don't think 2001, 2002, something like that.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

I don't think my kid was born yet. She's 22. Yeah. So I don't think my kid was born. But yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

You know, and um, you know, everything you've done there, obviously, and the success and the empire you've built here is we are gonna be able to keep the lights on one more week.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

That's always been our goal.

SPEAKER_02 14:17

But no, I am I'm not gonna lie to you, I'm proud of you of as far as what you built and all, you know, because you and I have known each other for a long time, but then we grew apart too. Sure. So where we didn't really talk, right? And I had this uh, we talked about this recently. I had this feeling that you didn't like me, and I think you had the same feeling about me, which is so damn funny to think about.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

A while I didn't, you know what? Remember, I told you I said I had something I want to talk to you about. I'm gonna just air it out here on the podcast, right?

SPEAKER_02 14:41

That's what that's what we're here for.

SPEAKER_00 14:42

So you guys, we we made a gentleman's agreement in New Smyrna that year. I was gonna take care of all your radios, this, that, and the other. And three weeks later, y'all made an announcement you went with race electronics.

SPEAKER_02 14:50

Oh, really? And if you'll remember for I don't remember any of that. So that might have been like something that Bob was working on.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Not to hold a grudge, but unless you spoke to me, I didn't speak to you for 20 years. Not one time. And then let's go to the racetrack and like, yeah, I'd go talk to you, and you'd like to. And I'd like everybody.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

And you'd be like Brad, and you'd like you, yeah, and you'd be cool. But then it was like, man, I never got the warm and fuzzies from you. And I was like, man, I kind of like that guy. What doesn't he like me?

SPEAKER_00 15:14

I was still a little bitter about it. You know, I got my vindication on the RE deal though. Maybe you know, because I was in the radio business. You know, here's the thing about it.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

I'm friends with all those guys too. They're getting a great.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

I was young and dumb, man, full of piss and vinegar, the whole deal. Sean Waddell.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

So was I back then.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

Sean Waddell and I, God, we probably talked three times a week, man, all the time. Uh, we saw a bunch of the guys down at uh I love Waddell the uh World Championship at um Charlotte. They're like, hey man, if we can ever do anything for you, blah, blah, blah. It's just crazy. You know, I think my contention there wasn't racing electronics. My contention, honestly, was Bruce. Bruce has been gone for what, 20 years now. So why am I still pissed about that? So yeah, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 15:49

But well now we're sitting here, so that's the thing about racing. You know, you don't make enemies in racing because enemies eventually get together and you know, or people that have odds on the racetrack, right? Oh, you you you know you're a racer. Yeah, you know, I'm I was a tick turret of a racer myself, but like, you know, when you race and you get into it with somebody, you hate them or you can't stand that person. But then, like 40 years from now, yeah. You know, four years after the fact or ten years after the fact, you your paths cross and you realize, well, that's a just a human being just like me.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Yeah, for fun. Sometime ask Bert Myers how well we got along when we raced many stocks with each other. Oh, probably. We hated each other's guts, man. I mean, hated each other's guts. And uh it was funny because I drove my first modified for Brent Elliott, God rest his soul. Yeah, wow. And um, we showed up to Concord, which I had actually won several late model races there. Yeah, and the tour hadn't been there in like 15 years. Well, we show up on Thursday, and I'm not the fastest car. I am by far the fastest car. Nice. Well, I mean, I had recent laps there. I know you could get through the trial wide open. I mean, you just barely burp it going into one, and I'm in a brand new Troyer, good motors, sticker tires, extremely well funded, and I've never wrecked a modified. So, dude, I got I got balls so big, two grocery bags wouldn't hold them. So we show up on Thursday in practice, and man, we're just like, I mean, we're like six tenths up on the field, and they're like, Who, who is this guy? So uh I remember uh Brent coming over to me after uh practice Thursday night, and he goes, Talk to your buddy over at the scales. I said, Who's my buddy? He goes, Bert. And he goes, Oh, really? I said, I don't think we're really buddy. He goes, Yeah, he told me. He said, first thing he asked me, is that the same Brent Smith I raised four cylinders with? And he said, Yeah, yeah, I think it is. And he goes, Ooh, that might not be good. Long story short, my first modified debut, we show back up on Saturday, we get ready to go out and qualify. Car won't start. Well not crank. Can't figure it out. So uh we got it figured out. We started 26 is all I used to start in a smart tour. Brent begged them. There were 27 cars there. I'm number 27, I don't qualify. Begg them to let me start last. In about 24 laps, I drove it from dead last to like 11th. On the outside, on the next lap, I find out how far you cannot drive a modified into the corner with worn tires. And we totally lost a race car. It all went downhill from there. But that's okay. It was a good time. I had a lot of fun racing. Time to race Concord, man. I mean I did get to race Concord.

SPEAKER_02 18:12

Mine was only in a street stock, it wasn't in a real race car like you. Yeah, but that what that place was just.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

Oh, I have a north south short. I have two North South shootout disqualifications as well. Oh, you do? I finished second in a heat race, and we came in. We had so much prep on the tires that it had a lip about six inches. And we pulled up, we pulled up, and Robert Pettit looked and he goes, Do you want me to just disqualify? You may put a derometer in those tires. So, man, I'll just take the DQ. So we run the LCQ and started dead last and won it by straightaway. So obviously I knew the tires they were gonna check. So he gets ready to take the air cleaner off. I said, That probably won't be necessary. He goes, That bad? I said, That no-go gates may bend a valve, it's gonna go so deep. He said, just take it on the truck. So, yeah, man, you know, I'm from Bowman Gray. Sometimes we have been encouraged to color in the gray areas. Really? Sometimes we have Bowman Gray, really? I don't I never I never would think that.

SPEAKER_02 19:08

Anybody at Bowman Gray would push the envelope with a rule or like on the track, ever. I don't know that's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

I don't think it's for lack of rules. I think it's sometimes misinterpretation of enforcement. How about that? That was really diplomatic.

SPEAKER_02 19:25

It's just, yeah, it just it just something happened. I didn't hear what you just said.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

Misinterpretation of enforcement.

SPEAKER_02 19:30

Hey, I look at it this way, you know. I'm not gonna lie. Like when I when I ran the Legends car that day at uh Bowman Gray, first time I got to race at Bowman Gray. Um yeah, we had Packer in it. We were we were cheating. And I I still sucked. Uh isn't that embarrassing when you when you're cheating? When you steal somebody else, dude. That was terrible. The Legends car. I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, man. What the hell am I gonna have to prove, you know? But uh, but you know, hey, if it's up to the racers to uh push the envelope, that's absolutely same as don't fault them.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

So I meet you guys speed 51. Speed 51 goes crazy, websites out there, you guys are jamming, rocking, rolling. Yeah, boom. Then I see Bob with a microphone, man. He's doing NASCAR stuff. I see you start that.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

That all came before Speed 51. Okay. So, real real quick, um, Bob and I uh moved moved down. He moved down a year before us. We had a show up in the northeast. Okay. I mean, I didn't I worked in people talk about oh, trying to I meet these people that want to get started in racing, they want to get paid right off the bat. Don't they all? Like I yeah, I got I worked three and a half, four years before I got paid. Sure, you know, and worked for five years having our own show in the Northeast before, you know, and then that doing that, we started doing stuff for TNN, just giving them stuff. Yeah, and they hired my brother. Right. And then a year after they asked me if I wanted to move down and have a job. So we worked in TV from you know, uh, I mean, the first year, man. I'm covering indie car races, NASCAR, LHRA, IHRA, uh TNN the Nashville Network, yeah, man. I was working for World Sports and then Wheeler TV and then then uh totally NASCAR craziest moment, okay. Uh I'm down there for a year or something like that, and uh I'm on the road at Texas. Remember the cart race where they were going so fast they had to cancel it. Yeah, people are blacking out.

SPEAKER_01 21:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:16

I get a call. Actually, I'm sitting there getting gear together, and my uh my reporter gets a call and he says, Hey man, we gotta talk. I'm like, we gotta get out there and get shoot practice, and he's like, No, we gotta we gotta talk. He goes, What I'm like, what's the matter? He's like, they just canceled TNN race day. That was our show. I'm like, wait, what? Like, yeah, we gotta come in on Monday and uh I think we're gonna be all getting fired. Like, oh my holy crap, I just moved down there.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

So we're sitting there, we get gathered in on a Monday, Monday or Tuesday, into a boardroom. And it's like everybody sits here and here's a list of your names, you go in order, and when you're done, you go back to your desk and you're either cleaning it out or you're staying. Uh nobody's to leave this room. Okay. And we're like, I'm sitting there, like my eyes hovered. And uh my brother's like six before me. And I noticed I didn't see him coming out of the room. I didn't see anything, and I was getting nervous. So I kind of snuck out of the room I wasn't supposed to. And I went by and I I look where his office is and I see his head down on the desk and he's crying.

SPEAKER_00 22:19

Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

And he had just found out like a week before he was having his second baby. And I was like, oh my God, I surely I'm gone. So I go back to the room and I'm like about to cry myself. And I got brought in and they're like, Yeah, we're keeping you. And I'm like, wait, what? Like, I'm nowhere near at this point in my career, nowhere's near my brother's level of anything. You know, I'm a tick turd compared to him at this point in my career. And I'm like, oh my God, you know, so then they move me over to totally NASCAR. So then I work with Totally NASCAR, then get hired by the network, and then blah blah blah blah blah 20 years late, 20 years working in Cup. But during that time, uh, that Bob went over here and started freelancing and working for TNN on their ASA broadcast. And I'm over here working totally NASCAR. My brother and I are itching to work together.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

And my brother keeps on calling me at night. Hey man, I saw you were putting together a website for your friend. Like, yeah, I'm just learning how to do it. I like to have tools, I'm a tool belt. Yeah. And uh he's like, let's do a website. I'm like, nah. So then he calls me back the next day. Hey man, let's do like this racing news website. I'm like, nah. And then he keeps on calling me, and finally it's like, all right. So that's how Speed 51 started. And basically we did a short track news website covering ASA, World Records, all that. Yes. And and it was just me at night, you know, when I was done, you know, working, we would work overnight, you know, and that's how it started, man. So like the cup job came first, and we're weird. We worked our asses off in cup to have a job in short track racing. Right, right. And Eric Messer has heard me say this before. The reason I'm grateful, not the reason I'm grateful, the reason I'm so grateful about what I do right now in my career is I am paid I am paid, I make a living for my kids and my wife and my family in short track racing. How many people get to say they do that?

SPEAKER_00 24:08

That's a very, very strong.

SPEAKER_02 24:08

I work in the cup for 20 years, man. Just to try to have be able to afford to have a short track job. Right. You know, and now I work in short track racing. Like, like I they tried to lure me back in uh about a year and a half ago to the cup side, and I got a really cool offer, and I'm was working with Flow. I I know you guys probably have never heard this at Flo, but whatever. Um, and it's like I didn't I didn't go. The money was great, you know, the money was great, but it was like, no, I've worked my whole life to be right here. You get what you got and where you're at. God, I'm an idiot if I don't realize how special it is. Yeah, you know, and I'm like, no, I'm I'm good where I'm at.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

Man, that's that's magic right there. And it's great to hear you say that. Peace of mind is way better than that selling.

SPEAKER_02 24:51

You never have you never have too much peace of mind, and we're always looking over our shoulders. Absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 24:56

And I I know the flow guys love you. So um obviously, you know, I'm very involved with the uh Han family and uh Chili Montalls shootout. Um you've seen me there a lot. Oh, yeah. And I'm actually in their skybox during most of the events. I help them with a bunch of the sponsorship stuff and work with Blake and this, that, and the other. And not this year, but last year, the owner of Flow was actually in our skybox.

SPEAKER_02 25:14

Mark Florida, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

And he he he was like, Hey guys, this part of the show brought to you in part by easy sponsorships.com. If you're looking for sponsorship for your race car and running into dead ends and closed doors everywhere, check out ezponsorships.com and learn from the super sponsor man, Claude Hagerty. He will show you how to find money to go racing. I told him where I was talking about, oh, you know Matt Dillner? And I was like, Yeah, I know Matt. He's like, Oh man, he's like, Oh, he's a really good guy. I'm like, Yeah, yeah, actually he is. He said he's a strong broadcaster, man. We were really, really honored to have him on the thing. So it was really cool to hear like the guy who's your boss's boss's boss say he knew Matt Dilner. That was pretty freaking.

SPEAKER_02 25:53

I mean, you know this. You know, you could be the most talented guy in the business. Look at what you've you've built here. You know, look at the quality of the fire suits and the you know, the customer service and the things that you got going on here. Not trying to blow smoke up your butt. But like uh, we do love smoke. Smoke and mirrors. Um, I love smoke and mirrors too, but like, you know, yeah, I do a good job at what I do. You know, I work my ass off at what I do every day I can. I I will grind, but you're only as good as your reputation, you know, and it goes back to you know, losing my job at NASCAR. Sure. You know, when I lost my job at NASCAR, um, I was crushed, man. You know, I was the lowest I've ever been in my life. You know, I here I am. You know, I've I've said this to a few people. Here I am in the um I'm in the hospital. My little girl is about to be born. It's uh five days before Christmas. And I just get had my little girl. Two days before that, I lost my job in NASCAR. Wow. And here I am in the hospital, not knowing how I'm gonna pay the bills, how I'm gonna feed this new little mouth. And it's a few days before Christmas. My in-laws are in town from Kansas, and I just lost my job. I was the lowest a man could be. Lowest a man could be. And then a few people came around and racing, you know, like Andy Sice was like, Hey, you know, hop in the truck with me. I know you need a gig. Maybe you could go down and do some stuff with me and Arca. We'll try to get a few hundred dollars here and there together to give you, but maybe you can use it to network. And I'm down there, and and Mike Davis calls me with Dirty Mo Media, and he's like, Hey man, I want to talk and I want to offer you something. And I'm like blown away. Because it was weird because it's like four months before that. I went to Mike just on a whim, because I don't respect Mike, sure, and I listened to their podcast for the first time, and I'm like, man, this is damn good. Yeah, really. You know, that was back when Mike was doing it, and Dale would just do his little thing into the cell phone, they'd interject it. I'm like, man, you got and I was like, Hey, you got a few minutes? And I gave him a few ideas. I'm like, you got something cool here. I'm a fan now.

SPEAKER_01 27:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:51

Well, anyway, fast forward, Mike calls me, and then I get home from that architecture, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. calls my phone. You know, he and I have like had a history of like he loves the lost speedway stuff we did. Right. Yeah, yeah. Uh, you know, before the TV show. We're talking about lost speedways, yeah. That was really cool. Yes. But it's like Dale calls me and I'm like, what the heck? And my wife looks at me like, what the heck? And uh he's like, hey man. You were like, you were like, decline. No, no, decline. I'm like, oh, okay. I'm like, hey dude, what's up? And he's like, hey man. He's like, uh, I heard Mike talk to you. I'm like, yeah. He goes, man, I really want you, I really want you over here. I really think we could do great things together. And I'm like, I I know we can. I'm like, can you just give me a day? He's like, yeah. And I'm like thinking about it. And at that time I had had an offer from another big, big race team. But I'm like, man, would that would that owner of that race team call me? Right. They all called me personally, and I I said yes. And I stayed there for five years, and they are like still to this day. I mean, I tell people all the time I do not hide it. I tell people go out of my way to tell people how much I loved Junior Motorsports and Dirty Mo Media, how much that Mike Davis and Dale and Amy and Kelly and LW treated me like family. And I hated leaving there because that loyalty factor is so important to me. Um but I I had to make the move, and it was like I hated it's still to this day. I go back there and visit just because I love I love that.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

The whole the whole crew is great, and the things that they I've run through a wall for them right now. The things that they are doing for short track racing is epic, man. And all of them have great history. Obviously, Lil Lee, everybody knows what he did racing. Kelly raced LW, probably one of the best modified racers we ever had in the South.

SPEAKER_02 29:37

It doesn't get the credit for it.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

Yeah, absolutely. Well, it depends on who you talk to.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

We actually had uh Well, you can't ask like Bert.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

No, you definitely can't ask. Give me tell you who to ask. And it was crazy because the year, one of the years that LW asked Andy Size. No, one of the years that LW won the championship, IMC'd the banquet. Oh, yeah, okay. At the hall form. No way. And um, you know who will tell you? The same guy that LW said was the hardest competitor he ever ran. You know who it is? Jay Foley. Oh, wow. Jay Foley will tell you in his Southern Virginia, bro. He said, LW, hottest man I ever raced. And if you ask LW, LW says, out of everything I've been and everywhere I've been that year, I remember his acceptance speech. He said, you know, um, that was the year he met so-and-so and this, that, and the other. He goes, but I gotta tell you, the hardest guy I've ever raced in my life is Jay Foley. He says, Man, he says the resources, what that guy does and how he does it. He said, Jay Foley. He said, And Joe finished second to him in points. And I don't think LW beat him by many points that year, but yeah, they actually absolutely had their act together. But LW's great guy.

SPEAKER_02 30:38

Great guy. The whole family is good people, man. I mean, even to this day, if I see him like on the grid, I went out to the ARCA grid and then the Xfinity uh O'Reilly grid, and uh Amy came right up to me. Hey, how are you doing this and that? It's like, you know, people say all they want about certain people, like they'll say, you know, I've heard so many people saying, Yeah, you know, it must be tough working for Kelly. She's a hard-nosed business person. I'm like, yes, she is. She is a badass.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:02

That's what makes her successful. That's what makes her successful. They are incredibly shrewd in their business and very, very bundled. But that's how you get ahead.

SPEAKER_00 31:10

You make money.

SPEAKER_02 31:11

But at the same time, as a human being, how she treated my family and treated my wife and my kids when they were around and things like that means more to me than the paycheck. They understand the people relationships, which means a lot more than those hundred dollars.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

100%.

SPEAKER_02 31:26

So um, but yeah, leaving leaving them to go to Flow was a tough thing to do. But Flow was cool too, man. So how did the flow thing come about though? Like, how did that all go down? They call me up, Rob Blount, uh, who's with Flow, you know, he covers a lot of cars tour and stuff, kind of made the connection. And they called me up and I kind of turned them down. And then the second time they called me and and asked, uh, they, you know, I was like, okay, we can meet, you know. So we did like a little Zoom meeting and stuff, and and we went back and forth on some some you know, numbers and things like that. And um, one of the things I said is like, hey, you know, two things. I'm like, uh, this Bowman Gray thing is very important to me.

SPEAKER_00 32:02

Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

Can I keep this? Yeah. And they were like, yeah. I'm like, okay. I'm like, that takes care of it. And you're a staple, man. We expect to be able to do that. That takes care of that for me. My car.

SPEAKER_00 32:11

You turn that on because I think there is a couple weeks that you're not able to be there. Yeah, typically. And it's like, um, this is crazy. So I own two race cars there, a couple race teams, right? But one of the things that you don't see is me at the racetrack on Saturday night. People are like, Where are you at? So uh I You listen to me. I do listen to me. You poor thing. So my my Wi-Fi reaches out to my dock at the lake. No, and I sit on my dock at the lake and I watch the broadcast because I get all of the very hot stuff and all the stuff. You know, Billy's text me because you know, Billy, Billy runs our program, the whole deal. But Saturday mornings, I never miss a Saturday morning. There are multiple Saturday mornings. I get in the car and shake the car down, just make sure, you know, hey, plus, you know, it's one of those things I just want to see if I still can. You know what I mean? So I get out there and drive. Like the last race of the season, I drove Billy's car, my car, and Justin's car all in Saturday morning rap just to see if I still could. It's like, yeah, it's pretty cool, you know. Uh, but no, I don't actually, I don't, I don't like the crowd. I don't like sometimes the things that go with it. And it's hot. And you know what's not hot? The lake out by my fire pit with the TV. So it's great. But yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

So but but but but you know, they they call me to go back from that. They call me, and that was very important to me was the Bowman Grace. Absolutely. Um, and then the other thing was I will not leave Dirty Moe in a bad position. I will never give them two weeks' notice. Right. That ain't happening because I helped, I I'm not responsible for it, but I helped build it right from where when I came in to a different point, and I was proud of that. I took pride in that because I loved it.

SPEAKER_00 33:39

More to you than just a job.

SPEAKER_02 33:40

Well, it meant more to me from uh because of it, uh, because of the fact that I got let go for the first time in my life in anything before that. So you want to talk about motivated? Oh, yeah. Like I had something to damn prove. And like Mike and Dale actually gave me the ball. They didn't just say, okay, you know, here's your position, here's your role. No, they gave me a football and like let me run. Like, and I made mistakes, sure, but but I owned every single mistake that I made, and they gave they made plays for me. And uh like I said, I'm not leaving this place in any bad position. So I gave them, I think it was a two-month notice. Nice and helped train very trained people. Yeah, well, because I told Mike and he agreed too, like, you know, I I'm I'm gonna I want to leave there better than than it was. I want it to be better after I leave. So that's why like people, I hate people come to me all the time. Oh, it's it's different without you, which I love. I appreciate that. Well, sure. Oh, it's not the same without you. I'm like, yes, it is. Yes, it is. You know, they've got the secret sauce, it has nothing to do with me. Right. You know, like, yeah, I helped it, obviously.

SPEAKER_00 34:47

It'd be great to have Matt Dilmer fans of come on, man, it's gotta be. But at the same time, it's like I'm still a fan.

SPEAKER_02 34:52

I still listen to this stuff, I'm still a huge supporter of it, you know, like thick or thin, you know, and that's because when somebody's there for you, right, you know that's absolutely, absolutely what matters.

SPEAKER_00 35:03

So, uh, and you mentioned what you uh I'll interject. One of the things you said is when you make a mistake, you own it. I hear I hear that on the broadcast. You'll call a guy the wrong name, the wrong division or whatever. And it's crazy because you'll immediately see the stuff start blowing up. That's so and so, and that's the wrong division, this that and the other.

SPEAKER_02 35:19

And then I know what I get uh Kyler Keply and Kyler Staley. I can't stand, I don't know why. Like I know them both. You know, it's not like some name and number on a sheet.

SPEAKER_00 35:28

Both of those kids have worked for me. I confuse them to this day, so I don't feel bad. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 35:32

Oh, and trust me, at Bowman Gray, you get called out if you pronounce a uh town name, Germanton. Okay. I've been going to Bowman Gray forever, sitting in that grandstand. Germantown. Germanton. And then from Germanton, North Carolina, okay? And then by God, I say Germanton, and I get roasted. It's Germantown. No, it's not. But then other people know it's Germanton. And I'm like, okay, you guys all settle it up.

SPEAKER_00 35:55

How long did it take you to figure out how to say Pov Town?

SPEAKER_02 35:57

Oh, it took me over, it took me like still. Yeah. It's two residents together, yeah. Uh Kenny Dixon pulled me aside, the who I then call the the mayor of Pofftown. Yeah. Um to this day I can't say it. So I just say P Town. Yeah, Pov Town. But uh, you know, he pulled me aside and gave me a lesson. But you know, that's Bowman Gray, man. You ain't gonna get more passionate fans. I mean, the competitors are passionate. When you make a mistake, they will let you know it. I've had instances going back to last year where somebody called me out for something and I'm good with it. Yeah. They like to call you out on Facebook. Oh, yeah. And then they they like to tag your employer. Digital courage. They like to they like to tag your employer, which I think is a different kind of special.

SPEAKER_01 36:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:47

Because I would never go to uh, you know, if I got a problem with Eric Messer, I'm not gonna blast him on Facebook and then tag you in it. Sure.

SPEAKER_00 36:55

But he takes Eric takes enough, but chewings in ridicule. It's like, oh my god, the idea of the day from Brad, here he comes again. You you know Eric's favorite season? What? The season that I'm not here. Carry on. Yes, all right.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

So but think about think about it, like you gotta be able to take it. Yeah, like if you're gonna work at a place like Bowman Gray Stadium, you have to have thick skin. So I deal with things different. I, you know, there's two ways to embrace haters. You ignore it completely, right? Right, or you embrace it and you play with them. Sure. You know, like I'll get on there and they're like, oh, that guy sucks. Flow racing at flow racing, should get rid of him. And then I get on underneath and I'll be like, Yeah, man, that guy's terrible. He's the worst. You know, but then there's some competitors that'll complain about something maybe you said wrong.

SPEAKER_01 37:42

Right.

SPEAKER_02 37:42

You know what I do? And these guys know that are listening, you know. One of them, I went right to them at the track, morning practice, first thing. Dealt with it. Eye to eye, sorry about that. Full respect full respect. Sure, you know. Um, the other one, I got their number through some people and called them right up on a Sunday. Spent my Sunday getting yelled at on the phone. Yeah, but I am not going to not uh own up to any mistakes. Sure. And I'm going, I'm there to serve. It's just like in church, right? You serve people. Yeah. I'm the broadcaster, I'm serving an audience and I'm serving a pit area. That's right. And it's like I'm not gonna be perfect, but I'm sure as heck in a try. And then what if I mess up, I'm gonna own it and then I'm gonna deal with it directly with the competitor, with the fans, whatever it is.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

I've also done this long enough to know there's it's impossible to win an argument on social media. You can't if you win, you lost. If you lost, you you lost. It just there's no way to, you know, and part of that is is they're just gonna be people that are they're just unreasonable, unfortunately. And yeah, you know, I found out you can how to make everybody happy. You ready? Half of them while you're here, the other half when you're gone, but they'll eventually all be happy. You just can't do it all at the same time. What I have found is you can piss them all off at the same time, though. That's pretty easy, yeah. 100%.

SPEAKER_02 38:56

But the thing is, it's like boom and gray, it it isn't about me, right? It isn't about uh the PA announcer, you know, Randy Pullium and I just talked about this yesterday. Yeah, where it's like it's not about us. We're there to present the show. The show has nothing, the show can go on without us. Steve Burns, I got to a really good chance as a young brash. You know, we talked about being brash and cocky in our young age, um, know it all. Yeah, you know, that was 22 years old working in the NASCAR Cup series, making good money, and you know, instead of saving money, buying steaks and going out to the clubs and and partying and all that stuff. And I thought I knew it all. And what an idiot I was. And I just am so blessed that I got to work with really good people throughout my journey.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

And one of them was this episode brought to you by Bassett Racing Wheels. Whether you're looking for a 15-inch inertia wheel, rolled edge, armor edge protection, whatever it is that you need, D-O-T-I-M-C-A, Bassett Racing Wheel has you covered. Bassett Racing Wheels is the leader in short track wheels nationwide. BassettWheels.com for all your racing wheel needs.

SPEAKER_02 40:00

I just am so blessed that I got to work with really good people throughout my journey. And one of them was Steve Burns. And Steve Burns one time literally sat me down and he was like, Matthew, I you know I love you. He was but I'm gonna just tell you something right here. And he gave me an example of something I did. And he was like, I want you to know this sport went on without Dale Earnhardt. It could go on tomorrow without you. And I was like, probably stung a little bit dead. Holy gravity. Like, because you think you're you think your S doesn't stink. Yeah, you know, sometimes when you're a young kid and you're successful, and it's like I'm no, I'm a nobody.

SPEAKER_00 40:32

I had I had that exact same situation at New Summirna Speedway. Really? Probably around the year that we met. So uh Terry, Terry Roberts was a general manager. Remember Terry and Liz? Terry comes down there in the black Daytona pickup truck and he goes, I need a huge favor. I said, What's wrong? He says, Marlin has laryngitis. That was their announcer. Okay, he said, Ben Dodge does the modified, but Marlin always adds color.

SPEAKER_02 40:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:56

Can you add color?

SPEAKER_02 40:58

What a dumb question.

SPEAKER_00 40:59

Can Brad Smith Well, I've never I've never done that before, Terry. He's like, dude, you talk to everybody. Just go up there and do it. So I go up there and they introduce me to Ben Dodge. And uh he meets me. And to this day, Ben Dodge is convinced my name is Kenny. And I don't know how that happened, but I'm Kenny, and that's okay. So he said, uh, Kenny, how here's how we're gonna do it. He says, I'm gonna cover the front straight away. I'll call the starts and the restarts and finish. He says, You'll cover everything from the exit of turn two to the center of three and four. The rest of the racetrack will be mine. And he says, I need you to leave a little bit of suspense. And I was like, okay, cool. So man, we're about halfway through the race, and there's a big pile up on the front straight away, right? And uh, I'm a modified racer. I mean, I race modified, so I know it's torn up, right? So I'm like, yeah, and you know, uh Ben's like, you know, this would be a good time for you to kind of interject some of your uh some of your modified experience, you know. So I'm like, yeah, this looks like this car is this, that, and the other. And I talked about what appeared to be broken, you know, is that something can be repaired? And he shuts my microphone off and he goes, You never say that kind of stuff. You have to leave some suspense. I told you to leave suspense, Kim. Oh, yeah. So it was great. I I got to announce with Ben for a couple of nights there or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 42:11

And uh one of the most underrated announcers in the history of the spring. Really? Ben Dodge and Rust Out in the Northeast were just absolute classic voices.

SPEAKER_00 42:18

But what's crazy about Ben is, you know, I only thought Ben was just an announcer. Dude, that guy's a promoter. He's a sponsor team. He's helped people find I had I had no clue until way after the fact, but I got a chance to announce with him. I never got a chance, I never got a chance to announce with you. We got to make that happen sometime, somewhere. Yeah, that would be cool. I've announced I know. Yeah, but how can you go from Ben Dodge down to me? You know, Ben's almost retired, so you know you're on the way up, he's on the way out, you know, whatever.

SPEAKER_02 42:43

We just texted the other day. So, you know, you know, these when Bob and I got to announce the King of the Modifieds together. Yeah, that was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 42:49

I did watch a broadcast. That was awesome. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, dude, I hit the Don't leave me hanging. I try to hit flow. Uh, there's certain things that I watch. Obviously, I don't try to miss the same stuff. The smart stuff is pretty important to me. I don't watch as much of the cars tour as I did because it's always seemed to conflict with something else. Obviously, anything going on, I own a micro sprint team in Oklahoma and Tulsa. So uh anytime Nathan, their stuff is gonna be on there, and then obviously, you know, shootout, chili bowl, all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_02 43:15

So yeah, King of the Modified's getting to do it with uh Bob was uh I don't I don't I don't do many of those smart races as far as on on the air. That's Bob's deal. Yeah, no, he loves it. SPA gig and and um you know he's still looking, you know. The funny thing is he's looking for work in the sport, he's been looking for sport for a while, and I don't understand it, man. Uh he's gonna get something. You can't sure you can't hold somebody down that's that talented. Right. Um, but I'll tell you what, like I have I think I got it all figured out, right? I do Bowman Gray, and I think I do a good job of it.

SPEAKER_00 43:46

No, no, we agree, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 43:47

And I don't mean that cocky. Like I I I worked my ass off, and I've got people around me that I've surrounded myself with, you know, uh like Justin Mincy. Uh he and I are really good.

SPEAKER_00 43:57

Dude, what a freaking historian.

SPEAKER_02 43:59

What a great dude.

SPEAKER_00 44:00

If you want to know how many lug nuts were on Ronnie Clifton's car the night of its 78th win and what he ate for lunch, Justin Mincy freaking knows, dude. He's like, no, actually, that's not. You'll see. He's gonna be like, yeah, the lap, the track record that year was a so-so. That's actually not true. It was but he's very diplomatic about it. And I've told him, ask him. Justin Mincy, if you're watching, I hope you are. Oh, he's watching. I have told him a million times write a book, write a book, write a book. I will pay for the book. It would be, it wouldn't, it might not be as fun as the Lost Speedways thing. But let me tell you what, the Bowman Gray history, dude, we can have novels about it, man.

SPEAKER_02 44:37

We have so much fun, he and I, because uh, you know, I I you know, I hire him to to do some stuff, and and um, but we've become friends, so it's become a lot more than that. And now we're kind of working on some side projects together, you know, statistical things and working collaboration because you can't get anywhere in this world when you try to keep it all to yourself. No, you know, and like if I can do stuff to help him and he could do stuff to help me, and we're working on some cool projects, I'll just tell you that. Awesome. Uh, some of them that have to do with Bowman Gray that I think uh could be game changing in in the long term. Awesome. Um, and uh, but you know, getting to work with with Bob, you know, their King of the Modified, like I think I've got it all together, right? Like, I think I'm pretty good at what I do, and then I come in that role and I kind of take a back seat to Bob, right? Because I'm I'm the secondary announcer, sure. And I'm watching the way he's doing things, and I'm not just saying this to kiss my brother's ass, but like I'm watching the way he's doing things, and I'm like, holy crap, I never even thought of it that way. Or I'm watching the way he's navigating, doing things, and I'm like, my God, it's so easy to work with him because it's like I'm working with like I'm I'm the the girl holding on to the guy and the being led, yes, being led, and he's got everything like, and I'm like, I go to commercial and I'm giddy and I'm hitting his arm, and he's like, What? I'm like, I'm like, man, that was that that was cool. What you did there, blah blah blah. And he's like, Okay, I'm like, yeah, man, this is you gotta understand, this is cool for me, man. Plus, plus, he's my brother, I love him. Yeah, you know, so man, like I can't express how much fun uh doing that race is, and that race is really important to me on a personal level, too. Uh, the King of Modified's because and rich race too 20 grand to win, 20 grand to win, and like richest tour type modified race, you know, last year and this year, it looks like. And and um the South has uh took a hit for a while on Southern Modified.

SPEAKER_00 46:27

Let's just agree, like, but you gotta admit, Chris Williams has sacrificed life and limb, man. Yeah, man, smart.

SPEAKER_02 46:33

But like things again Caraway took care of modified racing for so long, sure, but it was starting to dwindle, okay, with the exception of the stadium. So touring modified racing was just going and thank God for what they're doing now. Yes, and then there's a group of people working with them trying to elevate it as well. And um, it's it's awesome. It's just awesome, awesome because I love modified racing and I never will get it out of my soul. And to see the South uh be so successful is only gonna do one thing, it's gonna raise the bar for whether it's the Monaco Tri-Track series or the ROC tour. Absolutely. Um, the NASCAR Wheel and Modified Tour, which which is beloved to me because like I I remember the first year of it being so excited going to all those races. Yeah, and um, it's only gonna raise the bar. And if we can raise the wheel and modified tour, we can raise Monaco and we could raise weekly racing at Stafford, and we could raise this, we're all gonna benefit from it. I'm not trying to sound like a politician here, Dilner Smith, you know, 2028 or whatever. But but that is the damn god.

SPEAKER_00 47:40

I appreciate your vote.

SPEAKER_02 47:41

Yes, yes, you know, when I was a kid, all I wanted to do is two things in my life. Number one, be a race car driver. Then we all I was a terrible one. Uh, number number two, be the president of the United States of America.

SPEAKER_00 47:54

So you still got plenty of time. How old are you? Um, yeah, 50. 50. You got now. You got 30 years left. You don't, you never know. You never know. So uh you briefly touched on lost speedways. Yes, sir. What was the inspiration for that whole deal, man? And what an awesome project.

SPEAKER_02 48:10

Uh inspiration was emotion. Uh, I've been asked this question a lot. And I used to, you know, just equate it to Isolip Speedway and then starting the Facebook stuff and mapping. I have this Canadian friend of mine, Kyle Rizaki, races demo derbies and figure eights up in Canada. And uh, we'd started collaborating on a map together. And then we brought in Bobby Marcos, who's this rock star, literally, uh, who's just a gentle, beautiful human being, and we all became friends and this molded together, and we're doing cool things on the internet and and photos and posts and and gaining traction. And then Dale Jr. comes in, and then next thing you know, we're doing a show. But for me personally, it all goes back to ice lip. It goes back to the emotion of islip, it goes back to the fact that uh my first how do I say this? My first loss in my life wasn't an aunt, it wasn't an uncle, it was a racetrack. Wow, it was 1984, it was my first real loss. I came home that night and I remember being I remember every detail. And like I love talking about this, as you can tell. Um I remember every detail of that last night. I remember everything. I remember my dad picking me up and putting me in the back bed of the pickup truck. I remember feeling the dew on the tailgate. You know, I remember seeing the lights disappear when we pulled out of the place and around the junkyard. And I remember going home and my mom putting her hands on my shoulders and saying, Hey, uh, are you okay? And I was like, Yeah. And I went to bed and I cried myself to sleep. Literally cried myself to sleep. And it's like, that was the first loss I ever had in my life was losing ISO Speedway. And it left an indelible, like a it left a scar, you know, that never has full like scars heal, right? But you still got a scar on your arm, right? Or you nick your head as a kid, you still got the scar. Absolutely. That scar will never leave me. And that birthed my love of nostalgia, my birth, my love of history, my appreciation for appreciating when you're at Christmas with your grandma and grandpa, you know, God rest her soul. But I remember sitting at Christmas and just like taking a step back and just trying to re-look at things and soak things in and remember them and enjoy the what will be nostalgia someday. I got all of that that 100% can attest to losing Ice of Speedway. You know, lost speedways, everything about it for me goes back to that.

SPEAKER_00 50:41

What is that country song, Don't Blink? Because it just goes by so fast. It really is the truth, man. And I think so many times we're living in a moment that is a paramount, an epic moment, a moment that we'll never forget. And we're so caught up in it, we don't realize we're living it. And we look back a day later, a year later, 10 years later, and you go, Golly, I didn't realize how freaking awesome what was happening in that moment really was, man.

SPEAKER_02 51:06

That's why that's why losing ISLIP, I started doing that at my family uh get-togethers, or when we were at a racetrack, soaking certain things in, you know, because you just, you know, I never know the next time I'm gonna go to Mahoning Valley and sit down with uh Freddie Kraft and Mike Herman Jr. and Tony Hirschman and Ricky Knapp and whatever and sit in the stands after eating some kibasa down the road at the Polish joint and watching, you know, young little Austin beers in a mini stock. Like those things now I look back at and I'm like, man, I'm so glad there were moments in that night that I would sit there and go, man, this is cool.

SPEAKER_00 51:37

One day. One day. So you just mentioned Mike Herman Jr.

SPEAKER_02 51:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 51:41

Mike and I were go-kart rivals. No way. He used to sign in as Mike the Snake Herman.

SPEAKER_02 51:47

I never knew the snake.

SPEAKER_00 51:48

And my dad would sign me in as Brad the Mongo Smith.

SPEAKER_01 51:53

Oh, I'm gonna rap.

SPEAKER_00 51:55

We were we were uh we were when we were little kids, I mean little kids like 10, 11, 12, 13, we race go-karts like Tyrose right down the road, North Davidson go-kart track. I ran against uh Mike Jr.

SPEAKER_02 52:05

Yeah, you know when I first met him, I didn't like him.

SPEAKER_00 52:07

Two of my two of my I didn't like him because my dad told me I wasn't allowed to like him, right?

SPEAKER_02 52:12

So I just remember like two of my two of the people that I consider like really close friends now. You know, uh both of them are in my wedding, is Mike Herman Jr. and Donnie Leah. Oh, yeah. And both of them I couldn't stand when I first met him. And boy was I wrong. Yeah, you know, like because Herm had this little bit of swagger to him, this little bit of, you know, when he was on that TV show with CMT, he had this little, I don't want to say attitude because we all have a little persona to us, right? You know, people criticize me, people criticize you, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 52:40

I had it on the Madhouse too, man.

SPEAKER_02 52:41

So yeah, I mean, but it's like deep down inside, what a freaking great person. Great, you know, and then Donnie Leah couldn't stand that SOB, dude. Yeah, here's this rich kid, right, coming in with the dealership money and all this and buying Frank Wiglerola's car. And who's this kid? Yeah, judged him. What an idiot for judging people I am. Man, what a man.

SPEAKER_00 52:59

You know, but then you get to know him, you get to know him, and I'm like, man, this guy is. We got to we got to work with Donnie for a lot of years, yep, did all his communication stuff, got to be really good friends. We were actually in at uh Newsom Burna one year, and they needed a four-wheeler bad, and they didn't have a vehicle to drive. He's like, Hey Brad, can you roll me up town to buy a four-wheeler real quick? So we went up and picked up this four-wheeler. And now they always treat us well, fed us, got to meet his dad, got to meet Don. They're just uh they're great folks. Every now he and I are still social media fans. He'll he'll he'll send something out, man. Just good people, man, and just rock solid.

SPEAKER_02 53:29

And I hate to see that she's not just too like uh, you know, he wants to get back in it. So really, yeah. So I think he will. So uh he's been going through some stuff right now.

SPEAKER_00 53:37

Got a Craftsman truck series win with Randy Boss. One of the greatest finishes in the history of the Craftsman Truck Series right there.

SPEAKER_02 53:43

And then uh, you know, uh, you know, yeah, he's just a good dude. I was just talking to him the the other day.

SPEAKER_00 53:47

He's heck of a modified wheel man, unbelievable.

SPEAKER_02 53:50

I mean, I'll tell you what, if you want somebody that's gonna push the button and go, absolutely. So, but uh but yeah, actually. Yeah, absolutely. Like how many times, you know, like you and I, we talked about our differences. Sure, you know, we we can assume things about each other because we we're not communicating.

SPEAKER_00 54:08

We don't ask, but as soon as you communicate and it's like, oh I didn't know that. I didn't know this. Same thing with Donnie.

SPEAKER_02 54:12

Like here I am having this preconceived notion, you know, and that preconceived notion probably comes from the fact that I came from nothing. Sure. So and it's so easy to judge somebody that they have a different path than yours, right? And it's like just because this person had a different path to get there than you doesn't mean as a human being, they're a bad person.

SPEAKER_00 54:30

Yes, yeah. Somebody was trash talking Jade at New Smyrna to deal with Dunny Wilson. Yeah, so and I was like, man, here's the person. Here's the deal. Don't be mad because she was born into the family that she was born in, who had a passion to do what she's doing, and she's chasing her dream. You know what? Just work a little harder. Well, I won't have this opportunity, bro. Here's the thing, man. Not everybody does. You know what? There is there are people who are born royalty, they didn't choose who they were born to, it just happened to show up. Yeah, it is what it is. So, yeah, you hear that stuff all the time, man. And it drives me crazy. You know what? Life's not fair, racing's not fair, opportunities are not fair, business is not fair. You know what? You make the best out of the situation that you can, and you can either sit there and complain, or you can just dig harder and keep digging and make it out of the same way.

SPEAKER_02 55:11

I could lose my gig with, I hope not. I could lose my gig with flow tomorrow. Absolutely. And man, that would suck. You know, it's like a dream to to work in short track racing. But, you know, I learned something big working for NASCAR. And when I got let go, like of like, okay, well, that next opportunity you get, damn dig. Right. Give them, don't give them a reason to let you go. Right. You know, make sure you keep keep on grinding, you know, so so it's it's like a player that gets put into a lineup that isn't a fourth, uh, isn't a first line hockey player. They're on the fourth line, they're digging, they're scrapping, they're working harder than everybody's gonna be. They're hitting people, they're winning face-offs, they're doing the little intangibles that that make them to where you get you can't take them out of the lineup.

SPEAKER_00 55:54

Correct, because they're working harder. What was that uh the rental car company a few years ago? We're number two in the rental car business, we try harder. It's like, dude, I want to rent from them, you know?

SPEAKER_02 56:02

It's like because you're trying harder. I thought you were gonna say number one in the number two business.

SPEAKER_00 56:05

That's Tommy Neal. That's our buddy Tommy Neal. Yeah, you know, he's in the septic business. So on the back of his truck, it says, Don't wait till it backs up. And he's got another one that says we're number one in the number two business, and then uh no turd, too big, too small, we bust them all. Oh, yeah, he's got them all. He's got multiple trucks. Uh there's a there's a saying or a tagline I've heard you say, give back to the sport what you put in or what you take out. I've heard you say something like that.

SPEAKER_02 56:27

Yeah, there's a lot of people that take from the sport, you know, and and once again, I I'm you know, I try to be a good person, and sometimes we're I'm I fall short, you know, and I judge people. Every single one of us as a human being does. But if you're going to take from the sport, like I've built my whole entire life around this sport, you know, so it's like I don't have enough money to sponsor a race car, I don't have enough money to um to own a race team or whatever. But I can use my talents, my abilities to influence certain areas and do things in the shadows to make certain things happen. Um you you you don't you can't just come to the sport. I don't care whether you're at Bowman Gray or you're at a high limit and covering things or whatever that I'm doing or in cup, you can't just come with your handout. Because if you come with your handout and they fill it up and then all you do is take it and you don't put back in, that's a to me, that's a true sign of your character. And why are you in the sport? Are you just here to make money? Sure. Okay, we're all here to make money, we're all here. I've got to feed two kids to at least make a living. And I don't think you've got to put the kids through, you know, like we all gotta do it, but at the same time, put back into the sport.

SPEAKER_00 57:41

Absolutely. Fair enough, man. And I think a lot of people don't put back into the sport. A lot of people don't contribute. Um, really good friends with Jim Bernheis with laser chassis. You know, he does Appalachian Mountain Speed Week up in Pennsylvania. And uh, we were talking about a particular racer last year. A situation came up. They had well, they had eight nights, they had six rain outside tough week, right? And uh they had cut a race short, and Jim, everybody in the entire field had agreed to accept an abbreviated purse. Yes, just because of what was going on, except for one guy. And he's the guy who has the biggest voice in that area by far. So Jim's like, so he just asked him, he said, uh I mean just ask you this. He said, if I could give you the 5,000 for the win tonight, but we knew that the racetrack would close tomorrow and never open up again, or you could take an abbreviated purse and we could come back and rake here race here next year. What would you do? The guy said, pay me my five grand. Ouch. It's like, man, it's like, how can somebody that can say that about the thing that we love like we love it?

SPEAKER_02 58:45

And I asked Jim, I was like Also because it's easy come, easy go. It's easy come, easy go. You look at like like uh who would have thought that we'd be in the position we are right now at Greenville Pickens?

SPEAKER_00 58:54

Oh, it's very true.

SPEAKER_02 58:55

Who would have thought, who would have thought 15 years ago when we're 20 years ago when we're sitting in the grandstands and have a driver's meeting with you know John Freeman and uh Bubba and some of the big names that were involved in in back then they were kids, yeah. Uh in when the K and NE series was there and and Pack in the grandstands, who would have thought at that time that we'd be in a situation where we're literally fighting to just try to keep that property alive because the developers the developers are are like uh like Pac-Man right now. Sure. They're every little dot man, they're trying just one dot, one dot here, one dot there, and they're they're they're putting the vice on the place. Sure. And and it's uh it's lost so much hope uh until recently. And now, like, you know, it's kind of like the dumb and dumber thing. So you're saying there's a chance. There is a chance, you know, and like I I told some of the people that are really passionate involved in that uh that deal. There's a group of people that are really, really loyal and passionate to that racetrack. And I'm I'm not a local to there, you know, and I'm like, you know, I'm like, here's an example like Myrtle Beach, when it got so heartbreaking. It sucked, right? Any track when we lose it sucks, right? But they they were so quick to tear the place down. You know, yes, the writing was on the wall, it was it was gonna be gone. But if they weren't so quick to tear it, tear it down when the soul tests were failing, and you then that buyer backed out, we could have still raced there for a few more days. For a while, yeah. So, like you never know, you just have to keep something at least alive and keep it to where there's a chance. You never know who could come in and save the day, or it might be it might not work, but you tried.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:35

Did any of us ever dream we'd see stock cars in Northworksburg again? Any of us?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:39

No, no, I remember being that day uh there that day with uh Dale and Mike and all of our dirty mo guys and volunteers and tab boy, and people came down and we cleaned up the place. And um we were standing there and I remember I remember Marcus and somebody brought up the question of like Dylan, you think this place could actually still hold a race? And I was like, Yes, but do you want my honest opinion?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:06

This portion of our show brought to you by Woodleaf Raceway Park right on Facebook. Check out the world's greatest dirt go-kart track with a focus on kids and family. They have ungo-karted go-kart racing. Jeff Freeman and his staff work tirelessly to make sure your kids are safe and having a great time. Check them out on Facebook at Woodleaf Raceway Park.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:30

Somebody brought up the question of like, Dylan, you think this place could actually still hold a race? And I was like, Yes, but do you want my honest opinion? And they were like, Yeah. I'm like, I I think it might be too far gone. You know, I walked into turn one and I went like this against a wall, and the concrete was sort of all crumbling. And I was like, Man, it's sad to say, but I may my best judgment would be probably not. But we learned a good lesson, yeah. That don't ever count out something. You know, we've talked about before. Like when you get told you can't do something, just make sure. Yeah, watch out. Okay, something happened, things happened in motion, yeah, and the impossible happened. Absolutely. And now we're racing there again. And I'd be damned if I'm gonna miss a freaking race there. All star race. Anytime they have a race there, I'm gonna freaking be there. They race tricycles there. Because the the bottom line is if you're not there, you're a poser. Absolutely. Okay, if you're not there, you don't really love the sport because I don't care what they run there. If North Wilkesboro holds a damn race tomorrow, every single person should be there because that's a win for us. Yeah, for all the people that complained about that that we were forgotten about, and and this sport went on without us. And you know, this is the biggest victory for the little guy ever. Absolutely. Okay, and yes, Marcus Smith saved, you know, really in a way that saved, you know, some of the Smith legacy. What a great legacy in the sport. But it was kind of tarnished with what happened at North Wilkesboro, not all to their fault, right? But but what an incredible turnaround. Now, Marcus Smith, Bruton, all of them have this the the community loves them again, and everybody loves North Wilkesburg again. And the feels when you walk into that place feels magical. Holy crap. I know I sound like I'm being whimsical, but I walk into the Christmas morning. And it's not fake, it's just like it's just awesome, you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:24

And what an incredible job that has been done, but it's it's it's done, but it's not redone. So much of the history is still there. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:34

Well, we we've seen that in ballparks, you know, and I've had this conversation with Marcus before, too. You you see in ballpark uh architecture, you know, Camden Yards changed architecture in ballparks forever. Okay, because everything was the round, you know, concrete deal, and then everything's glass and mirrors and shiny and new. Racetracks went through that. Chicagoland and Kansas, they all look alike and shiny new and mirrors and just modern. And Camden Yards came in and changed the architecture of ballparks forever. They captured what was great about baseball and that love of nostalgia and Americana in the steel and the brick. Right. And and they made Camden Yards look like it was 150 years old, but it was modern. Right. And now, if you look at ballparks, most of them have taken that path of let me build something that that looks like you know, it was back from the 1920s, but it's modern. And and Marcus Smith did that with North Wilkes. And it looks great, it's freaking awesome. It's one of the coolest things in our sport. I don't think it gets enough credit. It does not get enough credit. You know, when I go there for smart, I walk in and I'm so happy. I get there as early as I can. I'm so happy just to friggin' walk in. Um, and I, you know, I wish everybody, I hope to God that that doesn't fade because you know, good things, you know, people kind of fade a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:57

But you know, the the nice thing is they've left a lot of the nostalgia that was there. Brand new asphalt, pits are state of the art, lighting is incredible. Oh gosh. PA system. I mean, like the things that the things that need to happen happened. Yes, and we still left enough of Wilkesboro there. Wilkes County is still there. You know what I mean? It's still the passion, the moonshine still runs over that place. You know what I mean? So it is uh unbelievable. When they did that first event, we went up there, we were up there for the week for we took a safety trailer up there, and it was amazing to see. We just we really couldn't believe it was going on. I will say I was a little heartbroken, the dirt didn't get put down. I can't lie because you know I'm a dirt guy. But uh man, just to see what absolutely happened there and then what transpired moving forward as all star race there, NASCAR within modified races there, cars tours there, and the racing there has been great.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:49

I've only missed it's only gonna get better too with the pavement.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:52

I've only missed one event that they've had there so far and uh all star race. And uh man, what a what a show. It's been it's been Really, really good for sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:01

Yeah, that's one of those feel-good ones, man. I mean, that's that's something that you know, like I said, King of the Modified has a very special meaning in my heart. Sure. Uh, North Wilkesboro. I didn't grow up in North Wilkesboro. I watched the modified races and read about them and speedway scene and area auto racing news and speed sport and all my whole life. And like I'm a modified guy, dude. And so North Wilkesboro is like down here, man. It's like North Wilkesboro, Bowman Gray Stadium, Franklin County, and Martinsville. Yeah. Those were like, you know, growing up as a northerner, those were like the the gods of modified racing, you know, like of like places that you had to go, you know, that were real modified places. So you know.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:40

Um, is there anything else we need to cover with him that you know of? And is there anything else that you want to talk about before we get out? Is there anything else you want to cover, Matt?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:52

Real quick, I think we should, we didn't touch on it. Um, but I really think we had a good short, we just gotta keep it short uh conversation about uh Bowman Gray's passion. Oh, okay. Because that that Nick Wall thing when you brought it up, I did I I it just flicked something in my brain.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:08

And I don't know if it'll go in here, you'll need to figure out how to drop it in. But so uh Matt, one of the things that you guys get to do with flow, and obviously you're the we know you now as the voice of Bowman Gray. I know Randy Pullium is the voice of Bomberg's. No, he is, but you're the voice of the flow broadcast. Uh-huh. And uh we talk about passion and racers, and uh probably one of the best teasers, trailers, whatever you want to call it, is the Nick Wall, Nate Gregg incident. I don't know how many views that's actually had, but I know that y'all still use it as promo to this day. I remember I was in California. Are you not entertained?

SPEAKER_02 1:07:38

I don't even know why how it came out, but holy crap, it was like I felt like I was in a Roman Coliseum, dude.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:43

But man, that was that episode or that incident itself just made everybody realize how passionate it is. And I know there was trash talking, y'all are not real racers. It's a boxing man. I one of the best uh phrases that I heard, I almost made a t-shirt that says this motorize wrestling. I did like that one. So yes.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:02

I know Jeff Bunton would love that one, but you know, like, yeah, that the all these things that happen at the stadium, you know, like we've said before, good publicity, bad publicity, it's all publicity, but like that whole thing, man, got me fired up, you know. And at first, you know, I don't in particular really like that stuff. Sure. I mean, I don't think there's anybody that really wants to see see that, but then like my good friend Freddie Kraft, okay. Uh Freddie and I sparred pretty big.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:28

Um he makes colorful comments, I think, sometimes just to get a rise.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:31

Yeah, and he does to get a rise out of me because he knows that I really love Bowman Gray that much, that it means something to me. But like, you know, we we're we're respectful about it, but we agree to disagree. And him and some other people, you know, there's some people, there was one quote that came out uh that sticks out of my brain, and it said, These guys are a bunch of clowns, they're not real racers.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:50

I remember seeing that.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:51

And the biggest thing that I think is two things, and I said this one once on a dirty mo podcast. I said, Really? So they're not real racers, they're a bunch of clowns. So is Bobby Allison a clown? Is Curtis Turner a clown? Well, no, no, they're not clowns. I'm like, they did the same damn thing in the infield one night after wrecking each other, yeah, and that they had to be separated, the police were down there, they had to they were doing a demo derby in the infield. So you're gonna sit here and say that Nick Wall and Nick Gregor a clown or that they're clowns then. Yeah, like okay, and the other thing is they're not real racers. Okay, listen, I get it. Bowman Gray ain't for everybody, sure. Okay, and I got a bunch of friends that can't stand it. Daytona isn't for everybody, yeah. Stay away then. It's fine. We don't we don't need you in particular, but like stay away. It's not everybody's cup of tea. But to say that those guys are not real racers is the biggest bunch of crap I've ever heard in my life, Brad, because uh I love this. Like that night was like, ah, you couldn't go to sleep. I went and got sheets and I get home. I think it's like two, three in the morning, and I can't even go to sleep. I'm like, ah, this is the most crazy thing, right? And I'm laying in bed and I get a text message and it's a picture from inside the Greg's shop. And they not only have the car unloaded, some people wouldn't even load the car to the next day and maybe start taking it apart and bring it to the chassis guy. No, these guys have literally taken the body off and they have cut off the rear clip and they got this thing sitting up there and they got the rear clip off, and they're working on this thing at three o'clock in the morning. So tell me again that these aren't real racers. These are the most hardcore SOBs, these are real racers, hardcore racers. So take that, you know, these people that say that they aren't real racers, it's the most uneducated opinion I've ever heard in my life. You can say these are racers in the style that you do not like, but to say they are not real racers is the biggest bunch of bull crap I've ever heard in my life. I agree. I agree with that 100%. And that's 100% a great example. It's Bobby Allison, Curtis Turner. It's it's working on your car Sunday, Saturday night after the races till three, four in the morning to get it done. I mean, that is the epitome of what a hardcore racer is.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:07

Commitment. And that's the thing about it. Those guys are committed. And we talk about the passion of it. I mean, here's the thing about it. If the average racer went home and his refrigerator went out, he would be pissed beyond belief, right? Scrap all week to figure out how to get refrigerator money. Well, you let a motor blow up. I got a$40,000 bullet in next week, no questions asked. It's crazy. And it's funny. Somebody asked me one time, I said, how much does it cost to race? And I said, All the money that you can come up with plus 20%. And they go, the 20% sponsors, right? I said, no, no, no. That was included in all the money you can come up with. The 20% is that magical money, that extra side hustle, like for your dad cleaning out one more set of gutters. You know what I mean? For whoever painting accounts. Absolutely. Polly Hartwick, you know what? They they mowed 19 more lawns this week to get one more set of tires, whatever it is. It's that level of commitment is what makes our sport great from short track racing. It is, I'm going to be there, the sacrifice. We miss birthday parties, we miss anniversaries, we miss weddings, we miss all kinds of things we probably shouldn't miss because we love that right there. We want to crawl through that window and we're willing to sacrifice damn near everything in order to do it and do it when we want to do it. You just don't see that everywhere. That's why I love rodeo with my kid too. Same thing, man. It's the ropes and reins to join the pain. Thing they call rodeo, right? It's absolutely, man. You know what? They are committed. Those people understand it takes a little more. Uh, Ted Christopher, God rest his soul, for some reason took an interest in me when he came to the South Modified Racing. And we were at North South shootout, and that was uh after my uh my notorious disqualification he raced. And he walks over the car, and you know, Teddy walked on his toes. You ever know his?

SPEAKER_02 1:12:40

Oh, yeah, tippy toes.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:41

And he was eating his apple. And he goes, So he got bounced, huh? I was like, I didn't even let him bounce me. He goes, Yeah, that's pretty bad. And I was like, Yeah, he goes, You were fast though. And he goes, How did it feel to drive the car that fast? Because he says, you know, normally you guys don't have to get after it like that. I said, you know, I my heart was racing. I felt like I was on a while, I was out of breath the whole deal. So we started talking about stuff. And he reached in my car, you know, the start button? He goes, You know what that button's called? And I was like, it's the on button or the starter. He goes, Nah. I said, It's the I don't know, I mean, the push button? He goes, He's that's the commit button. I said, the commit button. He said, if you're not committed to leave here today without this car and possibly your life, don't ever touch it. He didn't say nothing else. He just turned around and walked away, and I was like, I never thought about it like that. But he's exactly right. The level of commitment it takes to do what we do, what you broadcast, what you're involved in, where we're at, it's almost borderline insanity. Like we probably shouldn't do what it is that we do, but the love of the game is so much we can't stand it.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:38

If you don't take that racer mentality to your business here at Velocito or me at Flow Racing, if I'm in Vegas covering a high limit race and sure and Schure and Burger's walking off the track pissed off, and and I gotta hustle over there and get a soundbite from them stuff. If I don't take that racer mentality respectfully, but if I don't take that race racer mentality to my approach, to what I do, then I'm I'm gonna lose.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:02

Absolutely. Absolutely. You gotta be there and it is the commitment. It's you gotta be you gotta be willing to do it. And you see the guys. There's a guy who's a killer. You know what? I got two guys, three guys to drive for me. One of my guys has won pretty much everything you can win in a fendered car at Bowman Gray. He's really content right now, running somewhere between fifth and tenth place every week. Said something to my wife one day. I was like, Yeah, you know, man, I really thought about putting this guy in the car and that guy in the car, this in the car. She goes, Let me ask you a question. How many of the people in that division wear your suits? All of them but one. Uh what would it take to make your car the fastest car there? I said, arguably it is. Just my pilot currently does not push it to that limit. She goes, Well, let's just say that you put so-and-so in the car and they go out there and they win every week. They spin people out, wreck people, this, that, and the other. How many people wear your suits now? Probably none of them. She said, You know what? Finishing eighth is a beautiful thing. And I was like, Yes, and you know, the guy driving my sportsman car is probably one of my best friends on earth. He's my Jim's also my yard guy. He's been mowing my grass for 30 years.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:03

What a great story, too. Hung out, dumb stuff.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:06

And a lot of people don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:07

You know, Jim Survivor.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:09

And that was the whole deal. I saw him there, you know, he was there, port a calf, man, down to about 60 pounds. He looked terrible. I said, Jim, I didn't say if. I said, when you get better, what do you want to do? He said, Bradley, I'm gonna drive a race car. I said, You get your ass better, and I guarantee it's gonna happen. Sure enough, we made it happen.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:24

And he works his ass off with the tires, you know, with Hoosier when he works for him. Like that guy, and that guy, that's a worker, somebody that can put in.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:32

He can drive for me forever. And if we ride around the back, we ride in the back, whatever it is. Now, I do have a young kid coming along, got some passion. You know, our micro sprint team, guys got some passion, but you know, tell me about him. The old 14. So uh Jaden Cordil. Uh, if anybody in the South knows anything about go-kart racing, he's won like 9,382 races. Drove for Todd Miller, he's driven for a bunch of guys. A lot of people know Jaden. Jaden's gonna get an opportunity this year.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:56

Uh what is he gonna get in? Where's his next step from go-kart street? It's not good.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:59

Yeah, we uh under we put no uh at stadium. Oh, really? And we've put together a uh very, very, very top-level car. We actually bought a car that's won the 50 lap race, it's got a pole, it's got a couple other feature wins over there. We've gone through it. Billy Gregg and those guys are making it top shelf with Jaden.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:13

Well, if it's with Billy too, and you like you're gonna make sure he was working on it.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:16

It was uh it was at the chassis.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:18

I don't like about Billy. You make sure all those kids work on their own.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:20

So that's a deal. Is uh once Jaden's out of school, he dad drops him off. He's gonna be there three days a week. Nutt and bolt and learning oil changes, the whole deal. Absolutely. So he's gonna be there. Um, we're really excited about that. And then uh we're optimistic we're gonna get another kid in some this year. Mason Hicks, another go-kart, but also an ATV standout.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:38

Really?

SPEAKER_00 1:16:39

Uh really talented kid. He's 17, a little older than Jaden. Jaden's only 14, just turned 14. I can't confirm or deny that he may or may not have practiced a car somewhere at some point, uh, and was actually faster than my driver and had never driven anything with a clutch in his life. He didn't know a cloud clutch works. He don't have a driver's license. So I gotta know how to clutch.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:56

Well, these kids don't grow up just doing stick shifts. Help. I lied. The first time I was in a race car, I lied. I didn't know how to drive stick. Yeah, my uncle was like, Hey, you know how to drive manual transmission, right? I'm like, uh-huh. Like I completely freaking lied about it. And I got in there and it was a the uh Thunder Roadster. Yeah, so it's like just like Leddins car, it's that different uh clutch deal, like a motorcycle deal. So where you have to put some rev to it and then let out as opposed to.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:19

How time did you stall it? I stalled it like three times.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:23

I stalled it three times, and I had my head down, and my uncle comes up and I'm like, oh my god, he's he knows me. And he comes up to me, he's like, hey man, you know, this is different than a normal clutch. You have to do this. I'm like, oh yeah, that makes sense. I knew how a clutch worked. I've been around recently my whole life, and I just used it.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:39

You haven't used it, right? Yeah, Justin actually walked with Jaden last year all the way up to the track and got him out on the track. He went out first practice, went ahead and put a Darlington stripe on my car. Car had no marks on it at all. You know, you know, and it's crazy because you know, my car, I have no decals at all on my car. None, not a single sponsor. I have tons of people that help me, but it's like, and it really ain't about the decals, what you do, the business you send us. I don't even have my own decal on there. But um, he put a little Darlington stripe on it, and he was the same lap times as my driver. That's all. He's been racing. Second practice, we go out, he's three tenths than my driver. Really? And he jumps out of the car, and the first thing he says is, K may go faster. I was like, what? So I was like, Yeah, kids gap, kid's gap.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:16

We're gonna have to offline talk about it so I could prep for this season. But hey, I know we're not on hour 14 here of our I gotta ask you a question because I uh we connected recently. Uh more more, you know, we haven't really talked much over the last 15 years. Sure. But um the one time I got to race a mini stock, a stadium stock, yeah, at Bowman Gray. Do you remember that?

SPEAKER_00 1:18:42

Vaguely. I know it happened, but I don't remember the details.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:45

Because I I I could have sworn you had something to do with uh somebody that was in the field. I know somebody was pretty mad at me at the end of the race because I wrecked them. I was wondering if you knew who it was.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:57

Wow, what year did you run?

SPEAKER_02 1:18:59

Oh, jeez. Oh man, now that's gonna put me on the spot. 2008, maybe something like that. But I wrecked a crap, I I pushed somebody into the turn and dumped them, and and and I remember under the caution, everybody was welcome to Bowman Graham.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:13

Oh, it was great, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:14

Like, well, this guy wouldn't go, and I went to go to the outside of him, and I looked in my mirror real quick, and I'm like, oh crap, I'm gonna get freight trained. Right. So I drove into the next turn. I didn't lift until I wanted him to lift, and he lifted like just past that flag stand. Sure. And I lifted his shit up and excuse my French and turned his ass around. And I got well, I was getting flipped off all the way around the place. And I'm telling you, you were number one. I'm laughing my ass off in the car. I'm like, oh my god. I never had a spotter before, too. Sure. He's like, shut up, dude. We're getting back to go to green. But anyway, uh, race is over, and my spotter says, Do not get out of the car when you get down there. We'll be down there at ASAP. I'm like, okay. Like, oh crap. So I pull in and this guy's beating on my hood. And I'm like, oh crap. So I get out. This is not good. And it was the guy's dad, and he's like, You son of a. I'm like, what are you talking about? Ah, you dumped my son like B. I'm like, who was your son? Like, and he wouldn't make any sense. So finally he's like, You dumped him in turn one. I'm like, oh, and he goes, He's going for um, you know, the A and B division, he's going for points to be in the A or whatever. I'm like, Well, I said the wrong thing. I said, Well, if he really wants to make it to that division, tell him not to lift at the flag stand. Yeah, and that didn't go over well. That went over like a fart and that was not popular, was not a popular thing to say, and that guy was even more mad, but I th I could have sworn maybe that, you know, it was you. Somebody told me recently that maybe you had a guy that worked for you or something that was also in that race.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:39

So, I mean, obviously, I've I've been involved over the street. I've always wondered who that was. I felt bad. I've been in I've been involved since August of 1973. Jeez, that was my first trip to Bowman Gray. I was on the front seat of the Goodyear tire truck. My mom had to work night shift and my dad had to work, but my dad didn't have the heart to tell my mom that he had to work. So he took me to the racetrack, bassinet. So they passed me around the pits. So I was in Phillip Smith's pit for a while, I was in Pudding's pit for a while. So that's great. That was my first time.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:09

Did you get some of the peach ice cream as a little bit of a little dab peach ice cream?

SPEAKER_00 1:21:14

Probably did, Delgate. So I uh I got passed around, but it's no telling who it was because I've had so many that have worked with and for us and through the years.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:22

I'm just jealous of you. Like I didn't grow up here. Why? I'm jealous because it's like I love Bowman Gray so much, but I I'll never be and it's okay. I grew up at Ice Lip, I loved I Slip. I slip Bowman Gray reminds me in Bowman Gray's ways.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:37

Bow McGray's home, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:38

Yeah, it reminds me of what uh what I lacked when I went away, the bowl ring, the modified jet fighters in a gymnasium. Sure, you know, the bowl ring, the the red and white walls, and the the aesthetics, it's just freaking beautiful. Um, and bowman gray is that for me. Yeah, but I'm I'm not you. I I didn't grow up at Bowman Gray Stadium.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:56

You wouldn't want to be me, man. It's okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:57

No, I I wish I was shorter. Clothes would fit better.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:59

But Bowman Grove, Bowman Gray was just like, I mean, it was fun. Like my dad and Pudden were extremely good friends. My dad and Philip. So I got accused when I ran modified, I got accused of being either kin to are you kin to Philip or Don? I'm not kin to either one of them they're going, but you're a Smith. And I'm like, Yeah. And you race Modified. Yeah. And you're not related to them. Aren't you from Kernersville? Uh not from Kernersville, not related to either one of them, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:20

So uh just but those people that lived their life and grew up at Bowman Gray, like I have such a respect for them, you know, because it's like it's so cool, man. I'm I'm a guy that just came in in the late 90s, like really my Bowman Gray story started in like 2000, 2001. Sure. And um, and so it's been 25, 26 years, but still, you know, like I I love that place. Um, I love that place almost as much as any racetrack as I ever have in my life. And it's not because I announce there, right? It's not because I race there. Everything goes on. Every that place is so absolutely special to this sport that it's hard to put into words, you just gotta experience it.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:58

I get all the time when I, you know, I travel to a ton of racetracks. I mean, I'm in Spoon Supernational. I'm totally list. I got my bucket list on my phone, and that's on there. I'm in Oswego, I'm everywhere. But uh people promoters ask me all the time. I put on, I used to put on a couple of events here and they go, What's the magic of Bowman Gray? And if there's anything that I could say about Bowman Gray and why it works, it has three things going for it. Most racetracks will never have. Location, location, location. It is easy to get to, it's convenient. Yeah, but then what happened to Lanier? Hold on, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Uh Lanier, I don't think Lanier's, I mean, dude, it's in the it's across from Road Atlanta. It's not in Atlanta, it's not in commerce. You really have negligible demographic there. It's far enough off. We can make all the reasons in the world.

SPEAKER_02 1:23:43

City limits, it's different different.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:45

Yeah, we we're we are we are almost in downtown Winston's side. We are almost and we are absolutely in the city limits. There are humans that live less than a thousand feet from that racetrack. Like humans who sleep in their houses on Saturday night. That's why we have a curfew. But it's the same program that we've been running since 1948. It's consistent. We're done at a fair, early enough hour. We don't compete with high school and college football at the very end of the season, a wee little bit. We don't start too soon. So you're not freezing to death at the end of April. We're always off July 4th. That is a sacred holiday for beachgoers in the South. And the Penalus family. Guess what? It works. Yeah. It works. And here's the thing: as a racer, it pays horrible. If you won every division on Madhouse Scramble Night, if you won one of the modified races, the sportsman race, the street stock race, the mini-stock race, you'd barely take home$1,000 to win all the classes. It it there is no financial reason from purse that you would ever go. It's the easiest place in the world you'll find a sponsor. It's the easiest place in the world to find fans. It is the easiest pits in the world to get into. Our pits are paved. Everything is well lit. There's just no reason not to go. And everybody's like, well, the racing sucks. You can pass on the outside, just take a set of balls. And if you don't have them, shut up and don't come back. It's perfectly okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:05

Those same damn people that criticize it, they're the first ones to buy it.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:09

I will never, ever come back to books. Dude, I've I have quit Bowman Gray 50 times and I'm back every single time. So yeah, absolutely, man. It's uh you're not wrong. It is a special place. Uh a crappy night, we're gonna have eight, nine thousand fans. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:24

Uh man, would what you name a track in America that would love to have eight nine thousand fans on. Well, that would be a that would be a make it or break it night for them.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:33

Promoters asked me all the time. How do they get so many fans there? I just tell them we've been doing the same crap since 1948. It's in the same location. It's downtown. Tickets are cheap. I don't know what to tell you. And and here's the thing about it. Now I don't think all the racetracks understand. We're competing for an entertainment dollar. It's no longer everybody's not there to see good racing. I'd say half the fans are there to see good wrecking. I'd say the other half of the other half are there to see the good fighting.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:57

Social.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:57

Then the social, then to see this person, that person, the kids that are walking around on the concourse, all the other pieces that go with it. There's so many, it's it could be a soap opera. There's so many elements to the story every Saturday night of what's going on that you just don't get everywhere that you go. You just don't. Yeah. It's a magical place. You're not wrong.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:13

Heck yeah, man. I can't wait. Now you got me fired up for 2026, too.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:17

We're close, man. We had a practice, had one practice, got another practice coming up, man. It's got all crazy.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:21

I'll be there for the I think it's a Thursday night practice.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:23

Yeah, we got a Thursday night. I think they do two Saturdays, the Thursday, and then we have the two day, the Friday. Yeah, the Friday Saturday. I'll be there for both of those. So that'll be coming up.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:30

That's where I get my own hotel. I just find a little cheap hotel and stay uh stay there.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:35

And there we are. We'll talk off air about that hotel thing. Might be able to fix you up. Um, but uh and about your kid.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:40

We will run in some.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:42

Absolutely. We'll talk about that.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:43

Thank you, by the way. Thank you for listening to me. And also thank you for uh I love I hate when people hold opinions of you. And I'm so glad that we actually got to talk about that, yes. Because it's a good lesson to maybe somebody out there that may have something going on with their family member or a person in racing. You never know, man. So um from this point forward, no, you got somebody on your side.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:04

My infamous question, I ask everybody when the candles are blown out and the last chunk of dirt lay there, what do you want people to remember about Matthew Diller?

SPEAKER_02 1:27:29

My dad. My dad had a banner hanging on the back of the crowd. I don't know why something to me as a kid. ABC seven because the world wide world of sports carrying that race and uh sorry. uh said on it, we try hard. You know, and it's so silly. You know, we try hard. It's not some big win-win for the Gipper speech, right? Uh but I'm a person that loves history and nostalgia and I don't have a huge racing history. You know, uh I didn't get to see dad race. But uh that slogan when when I had an RC car, I put it on the back of it. Uh when dad passed, I made these little stickers and I, you know, had his little race car on there. You know, uh it's my screensaver on my phone always, you know, uh it's my dad's car, you know. Um you know, he's a great human being, a great man. Um but it said we try hard, and like everything I've done in my career, I may not be successful. Uh you may not like me. It's okay. Um I'm not for everybody, just like Bo McGree ain't for everybody. But one thing that when I'm in the dirt, at least you could say I tried. You know, and I tried hard. Everything I did, um, I tried hard. So um, and I get that from my dad.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:06

If uh if you happen to uh cross the racing rainbow bridge before me, and they say if any of Matt's friends want to say anything, I'll just pop up real quick and say, You tried hard.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:16

Yeah, I'll add it. Sometimes I crashed and burned, sometimes whatever, but that's life, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:21

Just uh can't crash if you ain't trying, brother. Yep, exactly. Absolutely. Matt Dilner, thanks for being on the uh podcast today, man. Uh man, maybe we'll get together post Bowman Gray season, talk about the highlights, the lowlights, the midlights, and all the stuff that went on there. Wish you all the best success in the world with all your broadcast stuff. Hopefully, we can get Bob to come on the show and um hopefully by the time we get him on here, his schedule is so thick with all of his broadcast engagements, it'll be difficult to get him on, just like it was to get you on here. But uh, man, really enjoy the friendship, camaraderie, man. It's uh fun to uh learn from you guys and see what you guys are doing. Appreciate the passion for the sport and really excited to uh call your friend, uh colleague, and have you on the show, man. We really appreciate that.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:02

Thank you, buddy.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:02

Guys, that's gonna do it this week for driving fast and taking chances. If you need race car wheels, there's only one company to get them from. It's Bassett Racing Wheel. Asphalt or Dirt, IMCA, NASCAR modified, asphalt stock, car mini stock. Anything that you need, Brian, and the great guys at Bassett Wheels have got you covered. Bassettracingwheels.com. The best in the business. Guys, that's gonna do it this week for us. Drive fast, take chances.