Less Knoxville Is More & Kokomo Drops Droop

1. Droop Rule Experiment at Kokomo

The unified rules of super late model racing didn’t last one season, as the XR Super Series announced it would be dropping the controversial droop rule at Monday night’s Kokomo Nationals event and beyond.

📰 𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍: After detailed research and discussion, we will no longer enforce the droop rule in 2022. We hope this adjustment will lead to a competitive and entertaining product for the fans and racers. pic.twitter.com/70AATSNpey

— XR Events (@raceXR) September 13, 2022

The droop rule, which limits travel in the rear of a late model, has been criticized in dirt racing circles for its perceived lack of competitive racing in the top ranks of super late models. Jonathan Davenport has dominated the year with an Eldora Million victory and a handful of crown-jewel late model races in August, while Chris Madden and Mike Marlar are right behind him. The 2022 season has seen the trio prove to be leagues above all competitors in super late model racing.

Now, will this rule change make a difference? There are some doubts, and Kokomo Speedway is hardly the place to test it. There is no issue with XR and Kokomo opting to try something different with rules, but the reality is Kokomo is a tight bullring of a racetrack. If the change is truly going to impact super late model racing, it’ll take a race being run on a half-mile to know if the droop rule change is actually capable of slowing down 2022’s “big three.” 

And whatever the result of this experiment ends up being, I sincerely hope the unified rules stay unified for the 2023 season. It does super late model racing no favors to have major tours return to 2021, when different cars had to be utilized on different tours to deal with droop rules.

2. Knoxville/Pittsburgh Get Race Distances Right

Another rule change that surfaced this week was the announcement that two major Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series races had their feature distances shortened, with the Knoxville Late Model Nationals and the Pittsburgher A-mains cut from 100 to 75 laps.

Latemodel Knoxville Nationals A Main only 75 laps now @AlwaysRaceDay pic.twitter.com/Yw2e6oxVuU

— Jay Barker (@The_RealJTB) September 12, 2022

Those that have read this site back in my NASCAR days know that I have a real problem with race distances being cut without a corresponding reduction in ticket prices. But in dirt racing land, where there are no live pit stops and…