When some of the tension subsides, David Gravel wants to lean into World of Outlaws versus High Limit Rivalry.
The way he sees it, there is no reason why races featuring the stars of both national tours racing against each other at various points of the summer can’t have the same kind of competitive rivalry that the Outlaws versus the Posse in Pennsylvania has.
Or the Outlaws versus California.
“I loved it when we went to Lernerville and took that High Limit money,” Gravel told Sportsnaut during the Chili Bowl of the $50,000-to-win race held in September. “I hope to take more High Limit money next year.
“I feel like in the future once everybody gets all this tough play sorted out, have some challenge races — High Limit versus World of Outlaws. Have a rivalry. Them versus us. Lean into that because there’s never been a direct competitor to the World of Outlaws before. Not really. That’s kind of cool from a standpoint that it creates a rivalry.”
To his point, things are a little too fresh right now, with five-time World of Outlaws champion Brad Sweet joining forces with brother-in-law Kyle Larson and FloRacing to create a second national tour that has poached several teams and front office personnel.
Gravel doesn’t get suckered into the more toxic narratives and chooses instead to look at the potential positives that the new landscape could create. During the off-season, he has brought drivers from both series on as guests on his YouTube channel and has tried to promote everyone in the interest of Sprint Car racing.
“It’s going to be exciting,” Gravel said. “Both rosters are going to be good. I think there will be even more great Sprint Car races every weekend no matter what you’re watching. We have a really good core of guys still. We have some young teams and drivers with a lot to prove.
“Logan (Schuchart), me, Carson (Macedo), Sheldon (Haudenschild), we’ve proven we can do it week in and week out.”
Gio Scelzi?
“Yeah, but again, that’s a second year but those five I named, we’ve been here five plus years doing this,” Gravel said. “Gio will be in the mix too. He’s uber talented. There is enough talent to go around but what we’re struggling with is race tracks and car owners.
“I feel like we really need to go to quality facilities and hopefully we gain some new car owners with the extra money that’s coming into the sport.”
At first blush, Gravel and Big Game Motorsports, which is owned by Huset’s Speedway owner Tod Quiring, seemed like such obvious bets to remain on the World of Outlaws tour but did they ever have the conversation?
“A little bit but I’m in a unique situation in that I haven’t won a World of Outlaws championship,” Gravel said. “I don’t know that Brad Sweet would be doing what he’s doing now if he wasn’t a five-time World of Outlaws champion.
“Like, if Donny (Schatz) was a 15-time champion and Brad had never won it, I think that becomes a different story. For me, I really want it on my resume to be a World of Outlaws champion.
“It’s something really important to me and Tod is building some really big events at Huset’s, more than ever. It’s going to be very interesting to see how these next three years go because I think a lot is going to change.”
Gravel says he’s a World of Outlaws guy and will always support the series in some capacity, and who knows what the future will bring, but he’s entirely focused on winning that championship he has chased for the better part of a decade.
And with that comes the red elephant in the room.
Without Sweet, Gravel becomes the de facto championship favorite, but would the championship be worth as much if it didn’t run through The Big Cat? The obvious answer is that Steve Kinser and Sammy Swindell both bolted the Outlaws in 2006 for the upstart National Sprint Tour.
Who won his first Outlaws title that year? Some guy named Donny Schatz, who has since went on to win nine more.
“I could care less because Brad knows I’m more than capable of beating him night in and night out and he is capable of beating me on any given night,” Sweet said. “I think we’re very equal. The difference, I think, is that he’s been with (Kasey Kahne Racing) for 10-plus years.
“You look at our stats this past season. I think I have better stats but I had three DNFs. He had zero. He flipped the car and grinded the wall at Devil’s Bowl and he finished the race. I blew a tire and I couldn’t get back out there.”
At times, there was accused bias in favor of Sweet, which never made sense he was leaving to start his own series and Gravel called it a case of bad luck.
“It’s a matter of did it happen before or after halfway,” Gravel said. “Does a blown tire rip half the car apart? He flips and breaks nothing in the rear end. I blow a tire and rip the whole rear suspension off.
Gravel is adamant that he has a ton of respect for Sweet and vice versa.
“Of course, in the worst way, I want to beat him fair and square when we’re racing together and maybe we’ll race together again someday. He went his way, made a business decision, and the World of Outlaws championship pays more than the High Limit championship.
“It’s a very elite club and right now, a World of Outlaws championship is worth more today than a High Limit championship. In 10 years, that might be different. Today? Every Sprint Car driver wants to be a World of Outlaws champion.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.