National Tours in 2017

[Bubstr]

From what I'm reading, some think Midwest regional racing is second class racing. If you deduct the travel expense, most would be ahead dollar wise to race regionally in the Mid West. It's not easy pickings, but there is a lot of money up for grabs. There are more 5k and 10k races just during Hell tour than most areas have all year.Six a week for a month. This does not include The other sanctions and unsanctioned races. Then the tours come threw for more money Why do you suppose Moyer, Mars and Birky came back to regional racing, just to name a few?

[Highside Hustler25]

More money, provisional to some of the biggest races, access to more and higher profile sponsors, and probably most importantly for someone trying to make it to the next level of racing (NASCAR) is the exposure. I think it would be decidedly harder to land a big time financial backer, or be noticed by a NASCAR team if on the average Saturday night you are running for $3k at some little track in the Midwest. At least the LOLMDS and WoO shows get National Exposure for every race through DoD, and lots of other racing news outlets, etc. Another thing to gain would be business for the family company, there is a reason why all of the House Cars run a National tour. People in PA don't even see any Pierce chassis at all that often, let alone one winning all the time. If he wants to sell more chassis outside of the Midwest they will eventually need to start racing often in other areas as well. Just my .02 on the matter.

Thanks,
Jeff.

As successful as Bobby has been, you don't see many guys in a Pierce chassis around here the way you would expect. Not sure why. Their have been a lot of guys try them but few stick with them. Unzicker and Weaver have hung on and Rich Bell ran very well in one last year but with the success Bobby has had, you would think more guys around Illinois would be wheeling one. Don't know the answer.

If Pierce were to run one of the top series, he'd be a threat every night. His only problem might be consistency.

[W2Racing09]

I just wanted to make a list of the drivers for each tour in 2017 that I will update over time. Right now this is just the 2016 Drivers minus the ones we know for sure are not planning to run the series at this point. Please post to let me know if you know for sure of a driver planning to run, or planning to drop off.

LOLMDS DRIVERS
0 - Scott Bloomquist (Sweet/Bloomquist) [House Car]
1 - Josh Richards (Rocket)
39 - Tim McCreadie (Longhorn) [House Car]
5 - Don O'Neal (Club 29)
28E - Dennis Erb Jr (Club 29)
15L - Darrell Lanigan (Club 29) [House Car]
1 - Earl Pearson Jr (Longhorn)
20 - Jimmy Owens (Rocket)
777 - Jared Landers (Sweet/Bloomquist)
75 - Colton Flinner (Rocket)
4 - Bob Gardner (Longhorn)

LOLMDS Dropped from Tour
6 - Jonathan Davenport (Longhorn)
15F - Steve Francis (Black Diamond)
B5 - Brandon Sheppard (Rocket)

LOLMDS Possible Additions
15F - Steve Francis (Capital)

World of Outlaws DRIVERS
1 - Brandon Sheppard (Rocket) [House Car]
25 - Shane Clanton (Capital) [House Car]
7 - Rick Eckert (Longhorn)
21JR - Billy Moyer Jr (Victory) [House Car]
18 - Eric Wells (Longhorn)
1* - Chub Frank (Victory)
3S - Brian Shirley (Longhorn)
99JR - Frank Heckenast (Capital)
14M - Morgan Bagley (Black Diamond)
91 - Tyler Erb (Rocket)
2C - Joey Coulter (Rocket)
99B - Boom Briggs (Victory)
18C - Chase Junghans (Capital)
93 - Donald Bradsher (Longhorn)
99 - Devin Moran (Rocket)
44 - Chris Madden (Longhorn)

WoO Dropped from Tour
76 - Brandon Overton (Capital)
1 - Josh Richards (Rocket)
C9 - Steve Casebolt (Rocket)

WoO Possible Addition(s)
116 - Brandon Overton (Longhorn)
16 - Tyler Bruening (Capital)
22 - G.R Smith (Rocket)
15F - Steve Francis (Capital)

Moved Chris Madden from WoO Possible Additions to World of Outlaws DRIVERS.

Thanks,
Jeff.

[Snake X3]

RE: Pierce on tour - I'd much rather see Pierce run WoO than Lucas...and I say that as a Lucas fan. I'm already much more interested in WoO than ever, but if they had Clanton, Sheppard, Madden and Pierce running each week plus all of the others? That would make for some good shows and take the series up another notch.

I don't know if it makes sense for him to run a tour though. Maybe running a tour would be impossible for him with his father running the chassis biz or maybe he just doesn't want to be out on the road. I'm sure they're smart enough to decide what works best for them. There is plenty of money out there to run a schedule like he has in the past and he ran most of the bigger races as it is.

RE: NASCAR - I think any driver would like the chance to run NASCAR, Indy Car of F1 but I don't know if that's Bobby's ultimate goal. I'd like someone to ask him. Like Zach51 said, NASCAR is like the top open wheel divisions now...no sponsorship = no ride. Would running the World Finals help him get more attention from NASCAR types? Maybe, but unless they have sponsors it doesn't do him much good. Getting a ride with a non-charter team wouldn't allow him to showcase his talents and there are tons of asphalt drivers that are even younger than he is that are already playing the NASCAR game. Pierce is 20 now. In Today's NASCAR time will pass him by pretty quickly. It ain't like it used to be when guys wouldn't get a chance until they were in their late 20s or older. The only older rookies you see now are the ones that are buying their rides.

RE: Pierce chassis - Could Pierce handle servicing as many customers as some of the bigger builders? Much like with the Moyers, to grow the business and be successful as a larger chassis builder I'd think it would require Bob stay at the shop to service customers and Bobby being out there giving his dad the info to do that. Even without running a national tour Bob is on the road with Bobby all the time. I think he'd be hard pressed to keep pace. I'm only guessing. I don't know how big their operation is. I would think part of the reason there aren't more drivers in a Pierce chassis is they aren't ready for production on that scale.

[Highside Hustler25]

It really makes no sense in Bobby running a National tour unless he picks up a MAJOR sponsor. Their is just to many big paying shows around Central Illinois to pass up. He made a lot of money in 2016 without traveling to far.
Bobby took home $150 G in wins alone just racing around home. That's not counting the 100G he won at the World and N/S. Also not counting 11 - 2nd place finishes. That's really good money for not running a tour. I'd guess they pocketed close to 300 G's running pretty much regional with some crown jewels thrown in the mix.
Again, a major sponsor could change all of that.

[PushinTheLimit]

I'm surprised Pierce doesn't already have a major sponsor on his car.

[Josh Bayko]

I'm surprised Pierce doesn't already have a major sponsor on his car.

Major sponsors aren't particularly common in DLM racing.

[PushinTheLimit]

I agree, but with his age, ability and connections... just surprised a big one hasn't come calling him yet.

[Josh Bayko]

I agree, but with his age, ability and connections... just surprised a big one hasn't come calling him yet.

Regional racers aren't going to be high on a potential sponsor's list of drivers to sponsor. Bobby is fantastic, but he's regional. He isn't going to be in front of nearly as many eyes as, say, Josh Richards or Brandon Sheppard.

[Pennsboro23]

There's a rumor going around my area now of a driver that's going to be taking his talents to Lucas next year. I don't want to say much more than that until I get confirmation that it's true. If it is, I can't wait to see it. He's been deserving of a big time ride and run a national series.

[Josh Bayko]

There's a rumor going around my area now of a driver that's going to be taking his talents to Lucas next year. I don't want to say much more than that until I get confirmation that it's true. If it is, I can't wait to see it. He's been deserving of a big time ride and run a national series.

Jared Hawkins in the Hudkins ride?

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

Jared Hawkins in the Hudkins ride?

They will do good if all Lucas shows are at Tyler.

[Pennsboro23]

They will do good if all Lucas shows are at Tyler.

Lol, Jared's good mostly everywhere he goes. Look how well he ran last year at Lawrenceburg and Ponderosa, before mechanical problems. First time ever seeing those tracks and was mixing it up with the leaders.

[MasterSbilt_Racer]

Lol, Jared's good mostly everywhere he goes. Look how well he ran last year at Lawrenceburg and Ponderosa, before mechanical problems. First time ever seeing those tracks and was mixing it up with the leaders.

Not a knock on the driver. There is something sub par about the team.

[W2Racing09]

Not a knock on the driver. There is something sub par about the team.

Are they running new or mostly new equipment? I was having a convo with someone at Tyler last season and they were talking about the team and how they had been running some older Bloomquist cars. I seem to remember an article about them acquiring one of the Sweet/Bloomquist cars though so I'm not really sure what to believe. All I know is trying to run a National tour with cars from 2011 or 2012 is probably not going to work well unfortunately when most of the guys are putting new stuff together again even during the season to replace the new stuff they started the season with.

Thanks,
Jeff.