
Herm and Schrader break down NASCAR's newly announced post-season points system...that seems a little familiar
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Herman Schrader
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Herman Schrader
Herman Schrader The Dirty Mo media platform from the middle of America in St. Louis, Missouri, starts right now. The following is a production of Dirty Mo Media. I'm looking at Kenny Schrader right now.
Kenny Schrader
He had a drinker on the show.
Herman Schrader
I mean, yeah, you. How in the world did we agree to do a podcast?
Kenny Schrader
I like spending time with you.
Herman Schrader
That makes me happy.
Kenny Schrader
Well, it's all about making you happy.
Herman Schrader
We're always honest.
Kenny Schrader
We don't know that we're not in trouble already. And sometimes truthful. What makes you think you're not a little different?
Herman Schrader
You're weird and Schrader.
Kenny Schrader
We're in three different time zones, Herman. This is not the middle of America. We got a. We got a 9 o', clock, a 10 o' clock and 11 o' clock going on here.
Herman Schrader
And you're always gone. So I blame it all on you. Where are you at now?
Kenny Schrader
We've raced the last two nights in Casa Grande, Arizona, the Wild West Shootout. We've still got Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And then we gotta turn around, head home so we can go to Florida.
Herman Schrader
Hey, I watched you race Sunday night. Hell of a run you led for a long time. And somebody that. I thought you were good.
Kenny Schrader
Yeah, we were okay. We weren't as good as Buzzy Adams. Young, young son that drove around us with four or five to go and took off. But it wasn't bad. We were. We were a lot better than we were. Had mechanical problems first night and it buried us. We had to start 16th in a B. You know, that's a. That's real close to not starting and deciding to abort. And we just, we decided to run. We run seventh. Didn't Have a yellow. So last night was a little better.
Herman Schrader
Okay. And we're gonna speed this up because we got a really big show today and we need to make some room. Okay. So I was at the dirt car awards ceremony and picked up my, my little Missouri Illinois regional championship and fifth in the nation. And so my family went with me for the first time ever. That felt strange. Kim said she was going. My daughter went and it went really good. So. Yeah, so Kenny's out in Arizona racing. I went up to the banquet award ceremony in Springfield, Illinois. Okay, what about our man Deets? What'd you do?
Alan Dietz
Well, I stayed at home. I watched football all weekend, my kids basketball game, and two other things I noticed. First off, Schrader last week said there was a lot of forehead. So we, we eliminated some of that forehead, all three of us this week. And the other thing is, I don't know if you saw it. Well, you were there. I didn't know you were also at Weber Valley this weekend. Kenny, did you see that? Yeah, Weber Valley Speedway.
Herman Schrader
Okay, so guys, here's the deal. We all know for, for people that don't know, Weber W E a B R is AI generated. We interviewed out. We interviewed Mr. Weaver W E a V e R. We interviewed him on Kenny Conversation. It is satire about dirt racing and it's so close to the truth that it's scary. And so it's very funny. And he said that I won a motorhome race this week.
Alan Dietz
No, it was funny.
Kenny Schrader
Did you know, did you know he didn't do that?
Herman Schrader
No, I did not know he was going to do it, but I went along with it and I said, honored to get one of the biggest wins in history. And it pokes fun at dirt racing and rightfully so. Hey, do you like it, Kenny?
Kenny Schrader
They have, they have a. Tell everybody. I mean, it's a, it's a, it's a Facebook page.
Alan Dietz
Yeah.
Kenny Schrader
And, and yeah, it. They got some funny stuff on there.
Herman Schrader
It's good stuff. Okay, everybody, listen. The moment you've all been waiting for. I'm not gonna, you know, over sell this, but rightfully so. For years, everybody has been very upset with NASCAR in the way that we have been awarding points for the championship format. And I want to thank nascar because everybody knows we do this on Monday and Allan will edit this up and this will air on Wednesday. And Steve o' Donnell was very nice to us to let us know. And here we go. Okay, I'm. I'm gonna read this to Mr. Kenny Schrader and Alan Dietz. And Kenny, you're gonna have your first crack at it. So right now, Herman Schrader, we're going. We are going to announce the new format. Hell, hell, I'm nervous. Okay. All right. This was from Steve o'.
Kenny Schrader
Donnell.
Herman Schrader
Steve, thank you. He is the president of nascar. After a year of industry meetings, we tried to find a balance of those that wanted full points and some sort of playoff. The key was to make sure that we continued to reward winning but also rewarded consistency throughout the year. So we landed on the following. Okay, here we go, everybody. This is the new championship format. And Kenny Schrader will be first to comment. Here we go. During the year, we will go 26 races, and then we will have a 10 race chase wins, and they're worth 55 points versus 40 points that we had in 2025. So let me clear that up. If you win this year, you get 55 points. Verse 40 last year. So there is only one set of points. That is very key. There is only one set of points. That's why the wins are worth more. Okay, 16 drivers make the Chase. They felt that if they had more drivers, that there would be more interest. And that's what Steve said to me in this nice text. More drivers. More interest. Your driver will not be left out. Kind of like we saw in 2025. All right, now here's what you need to know. When we get to the Chase, the field will be seated as follows. If you go in first, you're at 2100. Second is 2075. So the. So the guy going into the Chase will have a 25 point advantage. Remember, 2100 is the first. Second is 2075. That is a 25 point advantage if you are number one. Okay, third, it goes down to 10 points. So third is 2065, second is 2075. After third, everything goes down by five. And Steven, press this. There is no more win and you're in. Okay, so, Kenny, you get the first crack and whatever you didn't understand. I can keep reading.
Kenny Schrader
Okay. We always. We always did start with 16, right? Well.
Herman Schrader
I don't.
Kenny Schrader
Yeah. Went 16 12, 8, 4, and then the championship.
Herman Schrader
Okay, let me stop right there. Okay, we would. We would. Yeah. Okay. But they're gonna knock. They're gonna knock themselves out because now we're going to. We're taking full 26 races, and it's those total accumulated points now. No more knocking out and getting to the last race.
Kenny Schrader
I like that. So if. If someone went and no disrespect, because I'm a big fan. But winning some road course races is fine as long as you're in top 16 points when it's, when it's time.
Herman Schrader
Bingo. You just, you just cleaned it up right there. In other words, the top 16 go all the way, you know, so yeah, you'll knock, you'll knock yourself out. By the time you get to the last race of the year, it'll be up to you.
Kenny Schrader
Well, one of those, one of those last lap wrecks and the 12th place car wins Daytona 500, which happens and it'll continue to happen. It's just the way it is. Won't put you in the Chase. So I like, I like that, you know, no winning, you're in. If you're 16, top 16 points at the end of 26 years or in the 26 races, you're in the Chase. That's great. I like that change. Far as separating them by how many points and stuff. Even saying those points I think just makes it confusing. But if you're first, you get a little bonus. If you're second, you get a little more bonus. Third, you get a little more bonus. So I like that, I like that when they're, that they're awarding more points for the wins, that stacks you a little higher. When you go into the playoffs now, do we still eliminate cars?
Herman Schrader
You know, you eliminate yourself because we're going. The final 10 races are all just points, straight up points. So you eliminate yourself.
Kenny Schrader
Yeah, you just, you're just too far back to have a chance of winning. Right. So, you know.
Herman Schrader
Right, right. And I know if you're, go ahead.
Kenny Schrader
If you're fourth in points going into the last race like before, you're not on an even keel. If you get, if you're two points too many points back to possibly make up, you're not going to win championship. So I think they did, I think they did good. Sometimes when we throw all those numbers out, you know, it makes it a little more confusing. I don't care about the numbers. If you, if you win an in win, you're not in, that's okay. I'm good with that. I didn't have a problem with the other points with the way they did it. I didn't have a problem with that. But for everybody that does and if they think that that was something that was hurting our sport, this is still some excitement and it's back a lot more traditional.
Herman Schrader
Okay, we'll keep talking about this a little bit more deets. I'm going to serve you one up. That is Big Mark Martin was on coffee with Kenny and Mark Martin said there's only one other point system that I would approve and this was it. So to Kenny Schrader, I'm going to serve this one up to Alan and you probably are just now learning about this. NASCAR has Mark Martin on site. He is part of the press conference and Dale Jr. So Dietz, if the fans don't like this, they're going to have to blame Mark Martin and Dale Jr. What, what do you think of that strategy by NASCAR?
Kenny Schrader
Dietz?
Alan Dietz
Well, I think that they, you know, we talked about a, a new commissioner and maybe having Dale Jr. Or Mark Martin do it. And I still think that, you know, it sounds like they're going to have them in some sort of capacity in an advisory role. And, and I think that's the way to go. You know, it's like Schrader said, I think, I think the Bob Lanford points were the best personally, but I think this is the best combination of the two to where you can, to where you can have a playoff. But still it, it includes the entire season. You know, the fact that guys were making the, the playoffs and they weren't in the top 30 in points was ridiculous. That was a loophole that I think has gotten eliminated now and it sounds like to me. So if you win, you get 55 points. If you finish second, is it still 30?
Herman Schrader
40, 40.
Alan Dietz
Okay.
Kenny Schrader
Yes. Okay.
Alan Dietz
So that makes a big difference.
Herman Schrader
Let's let me clean this all up for everybody. I might have made a mistake by telling you all the points. Let's forget about points. We're going to go 36 races. But a, after 26, we're going to go 26 races and we're going to take the top 16 drivers and we're going to have a 10 race and then, and it's, that's it. And, and you know, the last 10 races determine your champion. But when we go into those last 10 races, the guy that has done the best all year, number one, he gets a 25 point advantage going into the last 10 races. Then second is 25 points back, third is 10 points back, then it goes down by five. So it's, we all are talking to ourselves and by the time Daytona rolls around, it's very simple. And we all are just now learning this news as the Herman Schrader show starts. I think we all understand it right now, don't we Kenny?
Kenny Schrader
I, I do. If you do the best all year, you're going to win championship, right? Very similar, very similar to the, the way it used to be. But we still have a quote kind of playoffs system. But you eliminate yourself by, by not four races. Won't eliminate you. The first four races. You're having a problem. It'll put you in a hole. Yep. But you still got, you still got. Well, it was three races and then we'd cut first three races. Won't eliminate you. You can put yourself in a hole but you're not eliminated. Now if you kick ass the last seven races, you still win championship. Yeah. So I like it and I do think that, okay, I'm a big fan of nascar. I mean anything I got in my life basically is, you know, NASCAR is pretty much responsible for and years spent there and they got a lot of smart people and if they're going to listen to Dale Jr. And Mark Martin that are two of the, I think the most level headed guys in our, in our industry that understand this sport and really love it and not just the finances of it and all that but you know what makes it great, what makes people want to turn it on tv, what makes people want to spend their money to go watch it. They're going to listen to them. I got to give them a big attaboy for that. I think that's a good move.
Herman Schrader
Hey, this is Dylan Hart Jr. And for the latest Herman Schrader gear you need to go to shop.dirtymomedia.com We've got plenty of options for everybody and we're adding new stuff all the time. So go to shop.dirtymomedia.com.
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Herman Schrader
I'm going to serve something up for. Let's do this for. For you, Kenny. We can include Allan for sure, because Allan, you see racing from a different lens, you see it from the TV side. So your opinion is big. All right. NASCAR has already done all these things and we did talk about it a little bit, but we got more to add on. Okay. You know, so many people are saying we want the old NASCAR back. So since our last Herman Schrader show, let's go through it and we're going to add three more on. Okay. We started out NASCAR going back to the good old days. The hell yeah. Commercial. That's one. Sadly, you know, I don't like saying this. They wanted Steve Phelps gone. He's gone now. Number three. We knew the championship was coming. I know this is going to sound funny to all of you, but it's, but it's, it's. It is reality number four. Fox TV is going back to reality shows. They're Ram Trucks. You know, they said, listen, you know, Kenny Schrader show with Alan Bestwick and Mikey on Mondays. That was good. We had NASCAR 360, which I was involved in. But Ram in conjunction with Fox TV is going to do a reality show like the Gong show where they found Kurt Bush. So Ram in conjunction with Fox tv, I think it's like six shows. They're gonna find that next Kurt Bush. And when we laugh about it, that's where they found Kurt Bush was the Gong Show. So that's another one going back to the good old days, getting that, that feel back, you know. And then last night during the NFL games, NASCAR returns back to country music. Miranda Lambert is going to do the pre show. And I think dad just sends a message, you know, they're. They're not going to the rap. They're not.
Kenny Schrader
I mean, it.
Herman Schrader
Listen, it's a softball, but we. Let me see. Let's count it. Hell yeah. Commercial 1. Phelps 2. Championship 3. Ram Reality 4, 5 changes like you said, Kenny, were not even the middle of January. Kenny, what do you think about all those changes already?
Kenny Schrader
I think it. I think it's good, you know, making a ton of changes won't probably change anything overnight. We're just trying to change the direction, you know, and if we're trying to put a little more growth into it. But I think, I think it's the right way, the right changes. Now. The only thing is I'm not in the generation, you know, that is out there now. I mean, I've, I'm 70. My generation, we've. They've either like it and they still watch it, or no way, we're not gonna watch it no more. We got, we're trying to get those kids. So I don't know, I just think it shows again that, hey, they're not just going to sit there and ride this thing out and see what happens. They're full speed ahead to make changes and do what they can to, to try to put the energy back.
Herman Schrader
Let me serve this one up to you, because you're on the TV side. You, you been a producer, you've done this for a long time. Two things I want to hear from you. What do you think about this massive effort by FOX tv? Dana White, it's his production company from ufc, he's producing it. What do you think of this big RAM reality show? The first time will be live at noon on Fox. And then what do you think of the big effort to bring back country music for the, the pre show? Miranda Lambert? What those two. What do you think?
Alan Dietz
Well, I, I love what Ram and, and Coligan and Fox are doing. I thought that Gong show was great. And, you know, there were even other guys on the Gong show like Matt McCall and, and other guys that ended up getting opportunities out of it, you know, first as drivers and then, you know, for him as a crew chief. You know, something you, you want things to be, to be, to happen kind of naturally. People don't like being pandered to, so you're gonna have to kind of fight through that just a little bit because people kind of are like, oh, now you.
Herman Schrader
Yeah, don't, don't insult my intelligence. I hear you. I hear you.
Alan Dietz
Right, right. And, and, you know, Steve Phelps had to go because what he had texted about children was exactly what a lot of people thought NASCAR thought of them anyway. Not just children's, just everybody else. But, you know, my kids are of that generation that Schrader talked about. And, you know, whether or not it's real country music or not, which me and my boys get in that argument all the time. When you look at Morgan Wallen and Jelly Roll and Post Malone and guys like that, it is a fusion of, of country music, pop, and even rap. And, and I think there's a natural way for this to happen that, you know, people can look at it and, and say, okay, this is kind of with the times. But it's also, you know, that stuff's really popular now. If you think about it. You look at it. So I, I think these are good moves. And like you said, I, you just don't want to get in a situation where you are insulting people's okay.
Herman Schrader
And I'm going to clean it all up for 20. For 20 years, everybody. We forgot about the older fans. NASCAR made a mistake and they forgot about all the older fans and they went for the new ones. It failed miserably on the forefront now, you know, behind the scenes, you know, Steve Phelps might have done a really good job with international affairs and hardcore business, but listen up, the fans, they don't see that stuff. They see what's in front of them. So I think this is a good move because it is cool to be old again right now and because that, that's, that's the message that NASCAR has been served up. And so that, that's what I think and I think we're all saying that. But let's remember why we're here. We're in this position because we forgot all the old people. And Schrader's right. I'm 62, he's 70. Our generation's all but going right now. Not, not because they want to be, but. What do you think, Kenny? I see you.
Kenny Schrader
Well, I think any, I think, I think most of any generation that is watching NASCAR are the people we could try to cultivate in the fans could give a heck. Less about international affairs.
Herman Schrader
Dale Junior's always said that they don't.
Kenny Schrader
Care about NASCAR and international, it doesn't go together. I mean, you couldn't get a more redneck, one region southern sport to start with. And now international. We're not there. I'm sorry, we're not international. Old guy's opinion. But the Miranda Lambert deal, I saw that last night. I mean, and I'm not a music person, but I, I know who she is, but I'm not a music person. But they, you know, however many months ago, they announced the super bowl halftime and here you get, I guess one of the biggest franchises, the Dallas Cowboys. That's Jerry Jones, right? I mean, he's, he's, he's throwing a fit, you know, so it's like, I'm pretty sure we don't have any cup owners that are going to be throwing a fit over bingo, you know, so, yeah, you know, hey, I've always been a fan. We, we make mistakes. And one problem we have. And, and I know NASCAR has now, like any big company, you skip, you get too many people in the room. I guarantee it. I can, in my mind well, it don't make it. There's too many people in the room. You get. There are too many, many opinions.
Herman Schrader
Well, I personally believe NASCAR has made all the right moves and, and they are going to get back to where they need to get back to. You know, listen, the glory days. I'll admit we're never going to get back to250,000 people in the grandstands, but we sure can try. And I think everything that they're doing right now with Dale Jr. And Mark Martin standing by their side, the hell yeah commercial Phelps is gone. The championship format matters now. It matters. It's all about points and consistency. The Ram reality show and Miranda Lambert, all of those. There's not one bad move and I like it. So. Okay guys, anything else on that before we go to the next big one?
Alan Dietz
It goes to what you were saying and, and I'll be brief with this, but I was sitting next to Jim Hunter one time at Chicago and you know, I knew he was from South Carolina and was the president of Darlington Raceway and all this stuff. And I, I sat down and I said, you know, I gotta be honest with you. I've been kind of upset with would you personally for the last five years. And I said, I said, how could anybody in their right mind move to Southern 500 away from Labor Day weekend and of all people, you. And he was smoking a cigarette and he looked down and he said, they don't listen. They don't listen. And it goes back to what you said. Too many people in the room. And when he said that to me, I said, I really appreciate you saying that because I said, if they don't listen to you, they're not going to listen to anybody.
Herman Schrader
Yeah, good.
Kenny Schrader
Just, just a couple years ago, I remember I wasn't there, but when, when they had Southern 500. I don't know when it is now. Is it still Labor Day weekend or no one ahead? When I had it on Mother's Day weekend, they, they didn't. They used to have in the last three or four years have the.
Alan Dietz
Yeah.
Kenny Schrader
Southern 500.
Alan Dietz
And personally I thought that was the killer because that was a death nail the race on that weekend.
Herman Schrader
Well, look at Kenny right now. He. Our Kenny Schrader is confused. So that tells you all you need to know. And me too. I don't know. I can't. Okay, let's end this. Let's end this like this. We got to get our times. I mean, what happened? I mean, I know tv, I get it. But we got to work really hard. I mean, we used to race at one o' clock for 30 years straight. And you know, these football games are, are beating us so bad because we know they got the game at noon and then the other game at three. And that's just the way it is. We don't know what time these races start anymore. That's our next thing we got to get working on. And I understand NASCAR has very little control on that because we're getting $1 billion a year from TV and they're going to slot us and they got to work with nascar. But listen, a lot of good, everybody, a lot of good. That would be my next. You know, we're getting a lot right now and I'm very thankful. But I would like to see some type of consistency like where everybody goes, oh yeah, the race starts at one. And that's just what, that's it. And you don't got to worry about it.
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Kenny Schrader
Why?
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Herman Schrader
Okay, deep breath everybody. This one is. I always think of both of you when we come up with this. But there is a. We, we touched on this. We touched on this on the last Herman Schrader. But now we got a bigger piece of the pie. There's a phenomenon raging out there in the racing world that I did not see coming. You know, but once again, the stock market is hitting record highs. We're over 40. Who would have ever thought that businesses would be trading at over 49,000 on the Dow Jones Gas? I mean, here In Missouri, the gas is like $2.00 and $0.25 to $2.45. National average of 275. So with that, we are seeing some of the biggest car counts in racing history. Kenny Schrader, where you're at, I know you know this. I'm going to serve this up to you. 163 race cars at the Wild west shootout. 2,000 cars at the Tulsa shootout a week ago. 371 cars for the Chili Bowl. And the ARCA test was looking really strong. So, Kenny, what. What did I miss? Why is the car count so big everywhere at the start of this year? Breaking records.
Kenny Schrader
It's breaking records by just. Just a little bit. Just a little bit. They always had 150 cars out here. Somewhere around that, Tulsa went up some. The ARCA test. There won't be all those cars when they go back down for the race because a lot of those cars had. There's cars that had six drivers. They had three tested Friday. They had three tested Saturday. So I don't think we've got a big deal going on there. What we have is just like, it's been. It's not a problem, but there's no big deal where we got a ton of more cars. All these.
Herman Schrader
When you look at the Chili bowl entry, you know, they're promoting it as 400. I go on Google, of course, I'm going to go to the Chili Bowl. I'll be there. They start this, you know, Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night. When you see right now, we're 371 entries. You're a racer. Is this anything new or is it just me?
Alan Dietz
Well, I. You know, it. It definitely is. The economy's definitely got something to do with it. And, you know, just in my neck of the woods, you know, I was at Dylan last weekend. In November, they're going to have the Legends car asphalt Nationals there. And people that know swear that they think there's going to be 500 Legends cars there. With it being back on the east coast and this past weekend at Citrus county down In Florida, the Uara Sportsman Pure Stocks and Crown Vix race, there were almost 100 cars between just those three divisions. I think what is really going on is when you look at all those divisions and all those series and all those racetracks, they're being run very well. And I think you couple that with the economy, and I think that's why you're seeing a lot of the cars.
Herman Schrader
Okay, well, we'll keep our eye on this, Kenny. We'll Keep our eye on this. I just, I see it. I, I Here, let's put it this way, it's not going down, it's going the other way. And I guess you and I are trained to go, oh, there's a hundred, 150 cars at a Wild West Shootout. And I guess I'm so in tune with racing, when I see 10 or 20 more cars, I'm like, wow, that's a couple more heat races. And you know, you and I are racers and I'm just, you know, that many more cars. I've noticed when you guys go racing out there, that track is really burnt up and that's there's just so many more cars on the track. Okay, everybody, here we go again at the end of Herman Schrader. We promised you that we would talk about IHRA in the racing industry. This is big news, and here's why. And I'm going to serve this up to Kenny Schrader and Alan Dietz. IHRA has been bought out here. I got my notes. Let me give you all this, okay? Because I am going to have Scott Woodruff, who's the point man at ihra, I'm going to have him on Kenny conversation because a lot of people upset. All right, the owner of IHRA is Daryl Cuddle of Durana Hybrid, and he's in the electronic business. A lot of people feel like he's buying Rockingham, he's buying Heartland Motorsports park, he's buying Memphis, he's buying Maple Grove, Milan Dragway, now Durana Dragway. They feel like he's buying all this for data centers. They feel like he's gonna buy all this stuff, run it for a little bit, and they feel like he's gonna crash all this on purpose and turn everything into the new chat GPD and the AI. Now leave it up to me to just in your face, right? I just said what everybody's thinking. Am I a bad guy? No, I just said what everybody's thinking. So the purses are huge. They're bigger than big. And everybody's like, this guy's gonna burn himself out like JD Stacy did. Woody is there. He's the point man. They're gonna have IHRA Outlaw Nitro series. They're gonna have Top Fuel, Funny Car Pro Mod. They're also going to have IHRA Small tire BR series. Means like little cars. That's going to be another series. The little cars are going to go down the the track, then they're going to have a short track oval series and they're basically Going to use the old Bush grand national rules. Okay? This guy is coming in like a tornado. Kenny Schrader, give me your thoughts.
Kenny Schrader
Oh, boy.
Herman Schrader
Just say what you think.
Kenny Schrader
Yeah, well, a friend of mine owned ihra and he sold ihra. And this. I mean, it sounds great. I'm not. I'm not happy with any of it. Because when you have one, one. One person that does all this. Well, when that one person changes his mind because there's nothing here, nothing we've talked about that is going to make any money or even pay for the facility that it bought. This is all money just went out. And the purses, well, you can't pay that purse. You can't even come close. But we'll see. But when. When the mess is all gone, then where are all these facilities? They're. They're temporarily shut until someone comes back in. I don't know. Hopefully it has a fabulous ending. I don't like anything about it.
Herman Schrader
That's a point well taken. And we'll do a Kenny conversation with Woody. And I've got it geared up to ask that deets. Go ahead, Kenny.
Kenny Schrader
They're new. They mean, you know, they ran some races last year, however many, and, you know, they didn't make money. They lost a lot of money in that, which is okay. They have money to lose. And right now, all we know for sure is what they say they're going to do. I mean, I'm very much a bottom line. Okay. All right. Maybe. Maybe we did get all these facilities bought. You know, I mean, that's court record. I guess you can go in, see if they're actually all bought. And if they are, all these races, all we know is what they say they're going to do. You've been involved in this. Just start a short track series. Just start a series, put some officials here, put a tech guy together, see how that. See how that works out for you. I mean, it sounds really good. We'll see.
Herman Schrader
Well, listen, I'm not putting words in your mouth. You're. You're who I'm going to listen to because you owned i55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway for 30 years with Ray Marler.
Kenny Schrader
You.
Herman Schrader
You own to Macon Speedway. You own Paducah. So you are.
Kenny Schrader
Well, we owned.
Herman Schrader
Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, you're good at counting money. Let's put it that way.
Kenny Schrader
You.
Herman Schrader
You know what's up. Okay, deets, as a PR guy, as a TV guy, when you see a J.D. stacy. So for everybody that doesn't know J.D. stacy, years ago Came in and, boy, isn't that a. Isn't that a story? JD Was basically. Had a big piece of equipment and he rented it to all the coal mines and made it killing. And the piece of equipment, I believe was owned by the Dutch or, or somebody over the. Over the pond. And, and J.D. had all this money and I think he had eight cars in the Daytona 500. And they all said J.D. stacy on them. And then one day, J.D. was gone. Deets. Do you. Do you think this new ihra, can it stand the test of time?
Kenny Schrader
No.
Alan Dietz
I'll give you another example, too. When Steve Dale bought the Rex Robbins as.
Herman Schrader
Oh, God.
Alan Dietz
And they started taking them to speedways and this and that. The next thing. And then the next thing, you know, it's.
Herman Schrader
You just hit a nerve. You just hit a nerve. Yeah, I am asa. That's my. Yeah, that's how you define me.
Alan Dietz
And that's a fact. I mean, that's the fact how that happened. And, you know, I've worked with series and worked with tracks and, and in different roles and, you know, you don't just. And I know they're going to say, oh, we've been working on this for years. They've not been working on this for years. They came out with this, you know, late in the fall, and they're like, we're going to do this next year. And I can just speak on the oval track part of it. Not the boats, the dragsters, the trucks, every other thing they're trying to do. It's like Kenny said it. The amount of money that. That they're going to lose don't even make sense. And I'm not even counting the amount of money they're going to lose on these racetracks. The thing I don't understand is, say you do buy all these properties for data centers. Why don't you just turn them into data centers to start with instead of going through all of this crap and leaving all this wreckage potentially. Because I'm just going to tell you, and I may be wrong, and I may regret saying this because it may knock me out of a job one day, but that stock car series is going to be an absolute cluster. You know what I mean? It is going to be a disaster right from the beginning.
Herman Schrader
Okay, well, we'll see. Everybody, I will say this. I was shared an analysis, Kenny Schrader and myself, and last night I finally read it all, and there's a lot to it. And, you know, I don't want to. I'm always in your face, but I have a line that I draw with myself and I went as far as I wanted to go and I said what everybody's thinking. So I think that's as brave as I get. We do know a little bit more and, you know, we'll see how it goes. We're going to talk to Scott Woodruff. Woody. You can find that on Kenny Conversation and we'll see what Woody thinks. I love Woody.
Kenny Schrader
He.
Herman Schrader
He was with Jegs and he was the point man at JEGS for guerrilla marketing. He marketed the heck out of Jegs and now he's the point man at ihra.
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Herman Schrader
Why?
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Herman Schrader
Here we are at. At our time that we're trying to stop, but we just can't. We. We got to go again. This one just keeps popping up. This damn Nashville fairgrounds, guys.
Kenny Schrader
It.
Herman Schrader
It won't. It just won't end. And our buddy, Bob Sergeant. Kenny, you and him are partners. Bob Sergeant loves the fairgrounds. He's putting on about six races a year down there. And the reason I bring it up is Adam Stern. Go ahead, Kenny.
Kenny Schrader
I mean, they run. They run some more races than that, but go ahead. I didn't mean to interrupt.
Herman Schrader
No, no, you're fine. I just wanted to let everybody know that Bob Sargent is Kenny Schrader and myself's friend. But Kenny and Bob are tight, so they are still trying to get NASCAR there. And Adam Stern, who I really look up to, does great reporting. And when I looked at Adam Stern over The weekend they're still going at it. And the city of Nashville is determined to destroy the fairgrounds and just get rid of it. When you go there right now, it's like, where the hell are they going to park anybody? There's zero parking. They can bus them in. We see this done at Wrigley Field for, you know, the Cubs. People come up out of the subways. I mean, I guess you don't have to have parking. People can park a mile away. You can bust them in. Kenny, what is your thoughts? What. What's going on here with this Nashville fairgrounds?
Kenny Schrader
I'm not on top all that, but I know, you know, you just Google Earth. There's no place to do anything anymore.
Herman Schrader
Right.
Kenny Schrader
It was great. It's a shame. It's a shame that it is in the shape it is now, the racetrack, the shape it is in now. We have a beautiful facility with a lot of acres that was going to have a dirt track and a drag strip and everything at the new facility. And it's been. Been supported with good crowds for the cup races there. So I'm sorry. They can milk that and talk about it all they want, but I. You know, that's just my opinion. I don't. I don't see it happening. I don't know why we'd care about it happening other than tradition. It'd be neat. Well, they're going to have some big races there this year. They got the CARS Tour coming, besides the All American race and everything. So, you know, it still has a function. But I don't. I don't see anything big happening there. Bigger.
Herman Schrader
I'm going to give my opinion before I give it to you, Dietz. I don't want to love anybody that don't love me. And it's very. It's very clear that the mayor and everybody at Nashville does not love my friend Marcus Smith. Marcus Smith owns SMI Speedway Motorsports Incorporated. Marcus owns Bristol, you know, Charlotte, you name it. They. I don't think that they don't like Marcus. I just don't think they want racing right there. So if you don't love me, I don't love you. Smash the damn racetrack to smithereens if that's what. Let's. Let's move on. Let's go. You know, we got a nice concrete oval out there. There's land out there. There. There is. You know, we got grandstands. We got great parking out there, so let's move on. But whatever. I hope it. I hope it keeps going, but I. I'M just aggravated by it all for the reasons I just said.
Kenny Schrader
Deets.
Herman Schrader
What. What do you think?
Alan Dietz
I think you both are exactly right. You know, it's like people keep bringing up Greenville Pickens and they're like, oh, we can park around it or a factory or whatever, right up to the right. I mean, it's dead. And Nashville, you know, I grew up near Myrtle beach, and from the late 90s on, we knew that Myrtle Beach's time was limited as the town just came farther and farther out around it. And it. And it didn't get enough people that it made any sense for it to keep going for the amount that they could sell that land for. And the fact that that track lasted to 2020 is a miracle. You know, Steve Zacharias and Bob Lutz and the guys that kept it going.
Herman Schrader
Oh, Luts.
Alan Dietz
They kept it going that long. But. And it's going to be the same way with Nashville, I think. I think that Bob Sergeant, he's probably the best guy to. To prolong it as much as possible, but, I mean, it's. His days are numbered, I would think.
Herman Schrader
If you want to know about Bob Sargent, Everybody go to YouTube, go to the Little Hourglass. Just put Kenny Wallace, Bob Sargent. We have a great Kenny conversation with. With Bob Sargent, and he is Kenny Schrader's partner and a good friend of mine. And NASCAR recognizes Bob Sargent. Bob, really? What all is he up to? Kenny? Just a shout out to Bob Sargent.
Kenny Schrader
Well, he's promoting, I think seven or eight ARCA races this year. NASCAR ARCA races. He promotes the Rockingham weekend. He has promoted the Milwaukee weekend. He was involved in promotional team at the Knoxville Dirt Truck race. He. He's definitely. He is a NASCAR promoter now. I mean, he brought back. He was responsible for. I mean, him and a group, but he was responsible for making the Rockingham comeback happen. Yeah.
Herman Schrader
So Bob likes Nashville. More power to him. And I just said what I said. I just. If you don't love me, I don't love you. But Bob's. Bob's milking it till the very end. There's no doubt it. Kenny.
Kenny Schrader
Yeah, but Bob is not the one pushing for the. Yeah. Cup revival at Nashville. That's all. That's all smi. Bob's running the. Running the track down there, has the lease on it and is running track for. For all the other racing.
Herman Schrader
Yes. 100% deets. Here we are. We're trying to do our best. You know, I texted you. Did you get my text about jokes? I'm like, you Sometimes I. I got my. Look here, everybody. See this little thing I got here? It's a little stand. And when you see me always taking my head and looking this way, there's so much information on our phones, so. Oh, you. You do have jokes.
Alan Dietz
Whether or not you sent me that.
Herman Schrader
Text or not, I. Oh, Kenny. He's on it now.
Alan Dietz
Yeah, I know the drill. All right, you ready? Three quick bad dad jokes again. Okay? Did you hear. Did you hear about the wig thief who escaped from prison? Police are combing the area to find him.
Herman Schrader
That was good.
Alan Dietz
Okay. Second, I wondered why the baseball was getting closer and closer. Then it hit me. And here's the last one. Where do surfers go for education? Where does surfers go for education? Boarding school.
Herman Schrader
Board a surfboard. Good stuff. Well, all right. That was big news. I am excited, everybody. I'm full. I'm full of spirit. And we'll see. We'll see the fans reactions.
Kenny Schrader
Of course.
Herman Schrader
It is Wednesday, and NASCAR made their announcement on Monday. All right, Kenny, tell everybody. I know you're out in Casa Grande at Arizona. What's in your future?
Kenny Schrader
More circles. More. Just more circles. Wednesday night, Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night, and then 24 hours of straight down the road to get home so we can load up different cars and go to Florida and make more circles.
Herman Schrader
I love it. I. I will be. Let me see. It's Wednesday right now, everybody. I will be at the Chili Bowl Friday and Saturday. It is the first 40th running of the Chili Bowl. Kenny. Or not Kenny Schrader, but our partner, Tony Stewart. Tony is the grand marshal. This Friday and Saturday at the Chili Bowl. I'm going to go down there with my daughter Britney because she loves the boats, Chad boat and that whole family. My daughter Brittany is an open wheel girl. So my daughter Britney and Brody, we're going to go down to the Chili Bowl Friday and Saturday. And then like Kenny Schrader, I will be at the dirt car winner nationals at Volusia starting on right here, January 29, Thursday. And it, Kenny Schrader and myself, our last race will be on February 7th. So I will be driving Nick Hoffman's car. Kenny will be down there and excited about the dirt car nationals at Volusia Speedway. And I'll be watching you every night there. Kenny, I know right now it looks like you're second place. You got Joey tuning on that thing.
Kenny Schrader
We're gonna make some more changes. We'll get it better.
Alan Dietz
Unfor.
Kenny Schrader
Unfortunately for us, everybody else is going to work on their stuff, too.
Herman Schrader
Yeah, for sure. You're chasing one guy. Okay, Deets, what about you? I think everybody's revving up right now. We got Bowman Gray stadium here in a couple weeks at the end of this month. We're already deep into January. Right now it's Jan. It's Wednesday, January 14th right now. So two weeks, I think we're at Bowman Gray. What's going on down there around the Charlotte area? What about you?
Alan Dietz
Well, for me it's, it's quite, you know, kind of until you get into February, you get a couple of races and then March, it'll really pick up. So I'll, I'll be coaching my kids football team and going to his basketball games. And I think what, it's not this weekend, but next weekend is the 24, right, at Daytona.
Herman Schrader
Oh, thank you. And we talked about that last week. Yes, the Daytona 24 is coming up. Great, great memory right there. The Daytona 24. Wow. So much racing. Okay, everybody. As I say, it's always a reminder if you want to see Kenny Schrader's pretty face, he's got his federated hat on. And like deets say we've all covered our foreheads up. You can see them on the dirty. Look, you look good, Kenny. There you go. Oh, we got an owie.
Kenny Schrader
What's your number?
Herman Schrader
Yeah, you hit something. I do it all the time, Kenny. My, my family says I should wear a helmet inside the garage.
Kenny Schrader
Yeah.
Herman Schrader
Okay. If you want to see Herman Schrader, you can see it in two places. The Kenny Wallace YouTube show. If you want to see us, if you want to listen to us, go right there. The Dirty Mo Media podcast. Until the next Herman Schrader show, we'll see you next time. Goodbye, everybody. Check out Dirty Mo media on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram.
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Why? What's happening?
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All that at Walmart.
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Check the calendar. Saturday, January 24th.
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Host: SiriusXM, Dirty Mo Media
Date: January 14, 2026
Guests/Regulars: Kenny Wallace (Herman), Ken Schrader, Alan Dietz
This episode is a landmark for NASCAR fans: Kenny Wallace, Ken Schrader, and Alan Dietz react in real time to NASCAR’s official announcement of a new championship format for the Cup Series. The trio delivers their signature blend of candid storytelling, industry insight, and irreverent humor while breaking down the big news. They also discuss the state of American motorsports—from record amateur car counts to questions about IHRA’s future, plus a segment on the controversial Nashville Fairgrounds. The episode is punctuated with personal racing updates, reflections on "old-school" NASCAR, and some classic dad jokes.
Kenny Schrader [09:39]:
“One of those last lap wrecks, and the 12th place car wins Daytona 500—which happens and’ll continue to happen—it just won’t put you in the Chase. So I like that... No 'win and you’re in.' If you’re 16, top 16 in points at the end of 26 races, you’re in.”
Alan Dietz [41:49]:
“That stock car series is going to be an absolute cluster... It is going to be a disaster right from the beginning.”
Herman Schrader [23:50]:
“For 20 years, everybody. We forgot about the older fans. NASCAR made a mistake and they forgot about all the older fans and they went for the new ones. It failed miserably... It is cool to be old again right now.”
Kenny Schrader [14:49]:
"If you do the best all year, you’re going to win the championship, right? Very similar to the way it used to be. But we still have a quote kind of playoff system..."
Dad Joke Segment [52:50]:
For fans, this episode is must-listen material—come for the breaking news and unfiltered reaction, stay for the stories, insider takes, and relentless midwestern wit.