KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Kyle Larson, the NASCAR champion and generational American racing talent, knelt on the floor of his dirt racing hauler and began wiping long-caked mud off his racing shoes with a white cloth.
When the task was done, Larson laced the shoes, zipped a red and blue race suit covering his black fire-retardant underwear and walked toward the winged sprint car waiting just outside the hauler’s rear door.
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“I haven’t raced one of these since September,” Larson said to a nearby friend, flashing a wry grin. “Let’s see if I remember how to start it up.”
That was no problem for Larson, who has fired the engine of an open-wheel dirt car thousands of times before. But there actually was a significant startup challenge for Larson on this night: A new sprint car circuit he co-founded called the High Limit Racing Series, a bold and ambitious concept that intends to reshape and elevate the form of racing Larson has loved for a lifetime.
“Who knows where it could go?” Larson said, glancing toward a bustling Lakeside Speedway pit area crammed with 56 cars. “I hope fans can appreciate where our hearts are at, trying to grow grassroots racing.”
The “our” refers to Larson and series co-founder Brad Sweet, Larson’s brother-in-law and the four-time defending World of Outlaws sprint car series champion. It is Sweet’s latter title that has raised eyebrows in the dirt world: The Outlaws, long unchallenged as the premier sprint car series in the world, are witnessing their top driver start a new circuit while still racing full-time.
Imagine if LeBron James announced he was starting a new basketball league with some of his fellow superstars, all while promising to improve on the NBA experience. The headlines, drama and politics involved would be eye-opening.
But High Limit is less LIV Golf and more “The Match,” for now. The inaugural season of Larson and Sweet’s series is only 11 races with all midweek shows, while the Outlaws schedule is largely weekend-based and has 87 races.
“I don’t view this as competing against them,” Larson said. “We’re not scheduled on top of them at all. I don’t see a reason to feel threatened, but I can also understand where some of that may come from.”
The creation of a new sprint car circuit with some star-power backing has certainly drawn the attention of Brian Carter, CEO of Outlaws owner World Racing Group, who said he is keeping a close eye on High Limit. Carter praised the success of High Limit’s Lakeside show and said he hopes the series can be a “net add for everybody.”
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“They stated to you they’re not looking to create something competitive; OK, so let’s figure out if it works together,” Carter said. “If it becomes competitive, my position will change.”
But Carter and World Racing Group have already had to make one concession to quell some restlessness among the driving corps: Allowing World of Outlaws drivers to race in the High Limit events on a limited basis.
Last fall, when High Limit had what was essentially a soft launch race, Sweet and his colleagues were not allowed to participate. That’s because full-time Outlaws drivers and teams are part of the series’ “Platinum Member” program, which has historically meant they cannot run any sprint car races outside of the Outlaws unless they want to forego a variety of benefits.
Platinum teams are eligible for the season-ending points fund, nightly bonus money, free pit passes and $500 in “tow money,” which essentially covers their travel costs for showing up to the races. The Outlaws’ regulars also can set up their merchandise trailers in the fan zone at the track, while part-timers like Larson must find a location off property in order to sell any T-shirts (which can be a lucrative side business to help drivers supplement their race winnings).
That approach, Carter said, is vital to the Outlaws’ business model. It not only ensures all the Outlaws’ stars show up for each race but also retains the strength of the brand.
“Over time, exclusivity has been a critical component to make sure you have the best product when you come to town,” Carter said. “We can’t confuse race fans.”
But in December, World Racing Group made what Carter called a “significant compromise” after High Limit was created. For the first time, the Outlaws could race in up to four events in other series during 2023, so long as the races were not held within 100 miles or 48 hours of a scheduled Outlaws date.
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To a man, every Outlaws driver plans to use two of those four exceptions on July’s Eldora Million, a non-sanctioned race that will be the richest in sprint car history (the winner gets more than $1 million). The Million is a two-day show, which World Racing Group determined counts as multiple uses of the exception; however, officials also had to waive the 100-mile/48-hour rule because there are Outlaws races at Eldora in the days following.
That leaves two chances to run with High Limit, and almost every full-time Outlaws driver chose the season opener in Kansas as one of their picks. When a midweek race pays $50,000 to win (and almost every other Outlaws show on a Tuesday or Wednesday would pay $10,000) it was no surprise to see teams flock to the Lakeside track.
Accordingly, the pit area was brimming with all of the world’s top sprint car drivers. Larson and Sweet raced, of course, along with 10-time Outlaws champion Donny Schatz and nine of the current top 10 drivers in the Outlaws point standings.
Enjoy the first High Limit highlights of 2023!@ShaneStewartRcg’s Heartland of America Showdown pres. by @TeamTrackhouse didn’t disappoint on Tuesday.
A packed house at @Lakeside_Spdwy saw three different leaders & three drivers advance 10+ positions.
— High Limit Racing (@HighLimitRacing) April 12, 2023
It was impossible not to draw comparisons between the two series, and it made for a hot topic in private conversations. Drivers love what Larson and Sweet are doing, of course. By making noise about larger purses and proving — hopefully — that the business model can work, there’s a hope the Outlaws will inject more money into the payouts as well.
“We think the reason our purses weren’t getting higher is because there wasn’t enough competition,” Sweet said. “World of Outlaws has exclusive rights to their drivers and don’t let their drivers go race other (sprint car) races, so there’s no incentive. Our concept is to acknowledge there is a huge audience watching this thing.”
Sweet is referring to the ever-growing audience of sprint car enthusiasts who pay big money to watch the races on streaming platforms (which is typically the only way to view them). DirtVision, which is owned by the Outlaws and shows all their races in addition to other events, charges $300 for an annual subscription; FloRacing, a competitor that broadcasts a variety of other racing series, costs $150 per year.
High Limit decided to partner with FloRacing to show all of its races, and Sweet said he and Larson’s business model can work based on both the streaming and ticket revenue.
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“Promoters are only going to pay the purse,” Sweet said. “It’d be like Dana White only paying the (UFC) fighters off (ticket sales) from the arena; imagine the fighters not getting the pay-per-view money.”
Larson’s involvement is a crucial factor. Because he grew up in the dirt ranks and never neglected his roots while achieving NASCAR stardom and the 2021 Cup Series championship, the 30-year-old is the Pied Piper of Dirt Racing. Wherever he races and whatever kind of dirt racing he chooses to emphasize — be it sprint cars, midgets or late models — the dirt fans follow.
FloRacing does not disclose its viewership numbers, but in a statement said both the Lakeside race and High Limit’s inaugural event last fall were “highly-viewed and top performers on the FloRacing platform.” And in person, there was a surprisingly large crowd on hand to see Outlaws regular Gio Scelzi win $50,000 — the largest paycheck of his young career. After the race, it took roughly one hour for some fans to get out of the parking lot.
He pulls into @Drink_Victory Victory Lane and celebrates the biggest win of his career!@GioScelzi and @KCPRacing win $50,000 at @ShaneStewartRcg’s Heartland of America Showdown pres. by @TeamTrackhouse.
What a way to open the High Limit season!
— High Limit Racing (@HighLimitRacing) April 12, 2023
“Us doing this wasn’t trying to get the Outlaws to raise their purse,” Larson said. “If they do? Then yeah, that’s awesome. That’s better for the teams, and if we were a factor in it, then we did something good for the sport.
“But putting pressure on them is not at all on my mind. It’s really trying to benefit the drivers and the teams and even the fans by giving them more races to go to and more content to watch online.”
Standing trackside watching it all unfold was Justin Marks, the innovative owner of NASCAR’s Trackhouse Racing who formerly co-owned a sprint car team with Larson in the latter’s early 20s. Marks, who sponsored the race through the Trackhouse name, marveled at Larson’s evolution over the last decade.
“For so long, he was just a kid who drove race cars and that’s all he wanted to do,” Marks said. “The change in him is the growth and accumulation of knowledge to get to the point where he’s passionate about doing something like this. Now he’s starting to understand what dirt racing needs and he’s understanding the power of his brand and how he can use his role in the sport to build something that improves the sport of dirt track racing.”
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Marks said Pitbull, the global music icon and Trackhouse partner, has taught the team owner about using star power as part of an investment. The most effective celebrity investors don’t just put their money into a project, Marks said; they understand what they can personally bring to make the project more successful.
“Justin Marks can’t do his own series; Kyle can,” Marks said. “He puts his name on it and people want to support it, because he’s a dirt racer who loves the sport, made it big and now wants to raise the game for everyone.”
Larson will race full-time in the series as one of 26 “High Rollers” who have committed to run every event. They are eligible for a season-end points fund ($120,000) with the champion receiving $30,000. But Sweet, along with the other Outlaws regulars, can only run one more race. So the 38-year-old brother of Larson’s wife, Katelyn, will be spending most of the High Limit season in a managerial role.
Sweet has a grand, long-term vision for High Limit. He and Larson have talked about taking the series global and potentially holding events in places like Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Europe. They want to create mega-races that become crown jewel events for sprint car drivers.
That’s important to their sport because dirt racers do not get salaries; rather, they make a living off race winnings and merchandise sales. And it’s not a lot of money relative to other professional drivers; when a NASCAR driver wins the $1 million All-Star Race prize, he’s typically already getting millions in salary that season. But even $50,000 is a huge number for sprint car drivers, despite competing in a much more dangerous and thrilling form of motorsport.
“We’re not greedy — we really, truly are doing it for the betterment of everyone,” Sweet said. “The drivers are risking their lives out there, and they need to get compensated for it if the money is there. We would like to build a series that’s way more sustainable and transparent for everybody.”
Dirt late models, which have roughly the same level of popularity as winged sprint cars, regularly offer bigger purses and have no limitations on where drivers can compete. The top late model driver, Jonathan Davenport, won more than $2 million last year.
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But the winningest sprint car racer, Brent Marks, won $642,000 (per sprintcarratings.com) while putting together an independent schedule. Sweet won $312,000 en route to his fourth title.
Carter, the Outlaws chief, said the difference in how sprint cars and late models are treated is based on the respective series’ roots. Whereas sprint car drivers could make a living in one series, the two top dirt late model circuits don’t have enough races to keep drivers from running the other and must coexist despite being in competition.
“Neither one of the two series is enough to support the teams, necessarily, without supplementing from the other,” Carter said.
When Larson began dabbling in late models a few years ago, it opened his eyes to the bigger purses and midweek crowds, which he believed could be replicated with sprint cars. So Larson brought the idea to Sweet, and the two decided High Limit could be the answer to injecting new funds into the sprint car world.
“You see the (midweek late model) crowds and they’re still every bit as big, if not bigger, than a weekend show,” Larson said. “That’s when I was like, ‘Why couldn’t this be successful?’ Midweek races can be risky, but if you can promote it well and have a good car count, fans are going to figure out a way to get here.”
Competitors eyeing what they see as a fair share of the money flowing through racing is an increasing trend. Larson, along with NASCAR’s Christopher Bell, decided to skip this year’s Chili Bowl Midget Nationals after the prestigious event refused to raise its tiny purse (the winner of the six-night, 350-car event only receives $10,000). And in NASCAR, race teams are currently in contentious negotiations with the sanctioning body over how to divide billions in media rights fees.
Marks said he has an appreciation for Larson and Sweet deciding to do something about their concerns instead of just complaining about the lack of fairness.
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“Racing is healthy,” Marks said. “There’s a lot of people who show interest in racing, but in a lot of cases, it’s a very antiquated economical model. Competitors are starting to push back a little bit and explore new ways to push the industry forward. I have all the respect in the world for that.”
2023 𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐃𝐔𝐋𝐄
To learn more on the 12 race schedule and insight regarding the non points race @TulareRaceway, read here —>
— High Limit Racing (@HighLimitRacing) December 15, 2022
(Top photo of Larson at Lakeside Speedway: Jeff Gluck / The Athletic)
