SpeedFreaks: Biggest Motorsports Show On The Planet

Five-Time Formula Drift Championship Team Owner Steph Papadakis is a longtime Friend of the Freaks. Team titles came in 2007 and 2008 with Tanner Foust and 2015, 2021 and 2022 with Fredric Aasbo. He visited with the crew at the PRI Show in Indianapolis where it was "difficult" to get Steph to do some "bragging" about his deep racing resume. But he surrendered finally! Listen...

Three-Time NHRA Top Fuel Champion Antron Brown won his titles in 2012, 2015 and 2016. He won the biggest weekend in NHRA drag racing, the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, for the second straight year in 2023. As of the end of the season, Brown had 74 NHRA wins to go along with a second year of team ownership. It's that effort to build his team and business that kept Antron working hard at the Performance Racing Industry show in Indianapolis. He barely had time to talk with his friends, The Freaks. Listen...

2015 & 2016 Chili Bowl Winner Rico Abreu told The Freaks ha had to make a difficult decision this year. He'll miss the 38th running of the Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa while he goes racing in Australia, something he's wanted to do for several years. Abreu visited with The Freaks at the PRI Show in Indianapolis. He explained missing one of the biggest events of the early motorsports season. And how he'll be racing Sprint Cars in the High Limit Series next season, creating a busy schedule for the championship driver. Listen...

Six-time 2023 NHRA Top Fuel Winner Justin Ashley returned to The Freak Nation while working the aisles at the PRI Show in Indianapolis. Ashley's six wins had him the points leader heading into the final six-race Countdown to the Championship. But the momentum stopped and Ashley finished fourth in the final points standings. It was a tough end to the promise of the regular season. And it leaves Ashley to reconstruct where the season stumbled when it mattered most. Listen...

2022 NHRA Rookie of the Year Camrie Caruso had another strong regular season in 2023. She won a race in Phoenix and won the NHRA Pro Stock Call-Out races, a prestige win without points toward the championship. But the strong showing for her team brought on a full season sponsorship from Tequila Comisario that came on for eleven races in 2023. That sponsorship expands to the full season and brings enough resources to develop a new chassis and race car for Caruso. Could mean even better results in 2024. Listen...

Guests: The 2023 FREAKIES!, 2023 NHRA Top Fuel Champion Doug Kalitta, NASCAR Xfinity Las Vegas Winner Riley Herbst, Open Wheel Showdown Promoter Davey Hamilton, Jr.

For nearly every one of our 23 years The Freaks have honored the best in motorsports for the past year. This year we remember our Race of the Year, our Driver/Rider of the Year and our Freak of the Year. We've honored the largest names in motorsport in the past from Travis Pastrana, to Ken Block, to The Daytona 500 and the Supercross Finals. This year we look back into our memories, the racing headlines and the spotlights that have brightened Victory Circles around the globe to come up with The Freaks' brightest headlines of the year. At least those in our mind! Ladies and Gentlemen! The 2023 FREAKIES! Listen...

2023 NHRA Top Fuel Champion Doug Kalitta won his title in Pomona after six years of finishing runner-up in the category. But, now, Kalitta is the King of the Hill in the fastest class in all motorsport. Doug is a long time Friend of the Freaks so it was especially great to congratulate a friend on gaining a championship. Doug told us about halfway through the season he looked at his team and got the comfort that it was a championship effort. He told us how he came to that conclusion. Listen...

NASCAR Xfinity Las Vegas Winner Riley Herbst doubled down on that victory with a win in SCORE Baja 1000 (winning his class, and 8th overall), which spanned from La Paz to Ensenada, totaling 1,310 miles. Herbst and his father Troy Herbst fought their way to victory. Herbst drove the middle section while his champion father Troy started the race for the first time in six years while devoting his time to his son’s NASCAR career. Another third-generation Las Vegas desert racer Jordan Dean, 25, finished the race. Listen...

Open Wheel Showdown Promoter Davey Hamilton, Jr. came into The Freak Nation this week while he was painting walls and solving hundreds of issues getting ready for the richest pavement sprint car show, the Riskon360! Open Wheel Showdown for Winged Sprint Cars at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Aaron Willison of Langley, British Columbia, Canada led wire-to-wire for the $50,000 US payday, the largest in pavement open wheel history. Willison dominated the final 30 laps for a 4.882 second advantage at the checkered flag. Santos finished second followed by tenth-starting Hamilton in third. Listen...