It’s qualifying day for World Finals at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Dirt Track and Brad Sweet is a busy man.
The soon to be five-time World of Outlaws champion is walking from one side of the pit area to the other. It’s a little hard to keep up with him. The topic du jour is no great secret after last week when Sweet and Kyle Larson made it official that they had purchased the All Stars Circuit of Champions from Tony Stewart.
His peers have questions. Sweet, while answering as many of them as he can, publicly says he cannot entirely respond until a little while longer.
For one, he has a 50-point advantage over David Gravel to protect over the next three nights. Becoming a five-time World of Outlaws champion is still a really important goal but then comes building the series that has become the talk of the industry over the past 15 months.
The High Limit Sprint Car Series he founded with Larson is now the second largest in the discipline and they have aims to become a true national tour alongside the World of Outlaws. It’s a dynamic that will soon change the landscape of an entire discipline.
The acquisition absolutely creates an air of competition, World of Outlaws versus High Limit and DirtVision versus FloRacing, but Sweet truly believes they can grow Sprint Car racing holistically in creating an alternative national series.
“We are going to try to be good stewards to the overall ecosystem of the sport,” Sweet told Sportsnaut. “We are trying to think about, with every move we make, the ramifications and small things that could hurt the sport in the short term — things we need to learn and evaluate.
“We need to make sure we don’t hurt the sport.
“We want to create sustainability for the teams, help drivers get to the next level, create value in sponsorships. We just have a lot of desire and passion for Sprint Car racing. If we just stay true to ourselves and the goal, I think the outcome will be great for the sport.”
Naturally, World Racing Group, which operates World of Outlaws, doesn’t view the challenge in the same altruistic light as Sweet and Larson. Brian Carter, the CEO of the sanctioning body, says World of Outlaws intends to show the industry that it will continue to be the discipline’s standard bearer as it has been for over four decades.
“We have the best package,” Carter told Sportsnaut. “We have the best tracks. We’ll have the best roster and we control our own destiny with our broadcast partners, with CBS and DirtVision.
“In having all of that, those pieces together, we can focus on an objective and modify that as we need to when presented a competitive threat. Those things give us a significant advantage, not only the 44 years of operating and the brand awareness and loyalty, but it gives us an infrastructure that I think people may underestimate at this point.”
It’s important, once again, to understand fully what this is all about.
At the same time, FloRacing has been on an acquisition binge over the past three years, one that has also included the rights to NASCAR regional and touring events. FloRacing has the rights to USAC, the All Stars and High Limit but effectively wants to have the most prestigious Sprint Car series within its catalogue too.
If not the World of Outlaws, it has turned to its partnership with Larson and now Sweet to build a commensurate series.
In addition to the legacy and established platform compared to World of Outlaws, High Limit also lacks the national star power to be perceived as a competitive 1b. That is why Sweet has made his pitch to the industry and has everyone waiting to see what the schedule, purses and full-time contingency package looks like.
Shark Racing won the non-sanctioned Eldora Million in July with Logan Schuchart and team general manager Bill Klingbeil says two things are most important when it comes to deciding where to race next season — economic viability and the level of competition.
“Car owners in most motorsports aren’t making money,” Klingbeil said. “You know the expression, I’ll make you a million dollars if you give me two million, so the whole decision is about, ‘where can we race the best?’
“We want to race with the best. What makes the World of Outlaws the best right now is that you’re racing against the toughest competition night after night and that’s what makes fans tune in and come to tracks all over the country.
“We don’t need to dilute that product. We don’t want a fan to have to decide, ‘let me look at this schedule and look at this schedule’ to figure out where the best is racing.”
And that’s the biggest concern and challenge for Carter. He worries that this split, if it comes down to it, could confuse fans if talent starts getting evenly distributed. That’s both a selfish and big picture concern for the man who oversees World of Outlaws.
While things could change once the schedule and financial package is released, it seems like most current World of Outlaws platinum teams are committed to staying on the tour in this first year with an alternative.
Kasey Kahne Racing, which fields cars for Sweet and Kahne, are committed to High Limit. The biggest wild card, if he can be convinced to run the full tour, would be defending series runner-up Rico Abreu who has successfully run a true outlaw schedule the past couple of seasons.
True outlaw is dirt vernacular for a driver that doesn’t run a full season for any series or track but instead goes where he can make the most money on any given night. Abreu intends to remain a true outlaw in 2024.
“Yeah, for the most part,” Abreu said. “I’ve never really raced for a championship between the High Limit thing this year, just the 12-race schedule, which fit right into my schedule without altering anything.
“That was really convenient for us to get to all 12 races as we were on the road to either a World of Outlaws race or an All Stars race and it really worked for our schedule. I don’t see much change for me there.
“I want to see what the World of Outlaws present all the drivers and I want to see what High Limit presents all the drivers before I make a decision at the end of the day. But I’ll ultimately be a true outlaw and just keep building this brand that I’ve built in the Sprint Car industry.”
So even if Abreu isn’t part of a full-time national schedule, he does seem very much interested in the mid-week championship within a championship concept, which has a lot of value to Sweet too as Larson can race for the full points deal that way.
Could we see a High Limit midweek championship within the larger national championship?
“Obviously, I don’t want to spoil any of the announcements but I will say that I think we would all be fools to ignore the fact that Kyle Larson is a part of it and what he brings to the table with those midweek races,” Sweet said. “The midweek races, the viewership that we got, the at-track experience and atmosphere was big.
“I don’t want to spoil exactly what our plan is, but you know, I definitely think you’re going see some midweek racing incorporated into the bigger picture of what we announce here soon.”
When asked about the changing landscape, veteran driver and now team owner Jason Sides sarcastically said ‘yippee,’ a reference to some of the expected infighting but he is generally optimistic.
“They’re putting some pressure on the Outlaws to step up their game and competition can be a good thing for everyone,” Sides said. “I think next year will be better for everyone compared to the past couple of years.
The owner of the 7s is also in the wait-and-see category.
“We need to see the schedule side-by-side, the economics, the number of races in the Midwest compared to maybe going out west and how that works out for you and your sponsors,” he added.
While both schedules are still TBA, signals are pointing that both series are going out to California and they could come back-to-back, so these are very much a pair of national tours. The All Stars Circuit of Champions contested most of its events in Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Another byproduct of the upcoming split is that World of Outlaws will have a new champion for the first time in half a decade with Sweet contesting the full High Limit Series schedule instead. The likes of David Gravel, Logan Schuchart and Spencer Bayston have been trying to unseat him for five years.
Would a championship mean as much if it doesn’t come against Sweet? Schuchart says it’s a factor.
“Yeah, it could for sure,” Schuchart said. “For 10 years, we’ve been on the tour and winning any race means you beat the best of the best. When I’m retired and done racing, I want wins on the World of Outlaws to be remembered as wins against the best teams in the country.
“If you see half the guys go High Limit and half stay with World of Outlaws, we could see those conversations. Right now, since I started racing World of Outlaws, the best teams race with us. They win the most crown jewels and the champion is the best Sprint Car driver in the world.
“If it gets split up, it might not mean as much, so we’ll see about that.”
On the other hand, Abreu believes that both tours will see their respective ‘cream rise to the top.’ He believes that the opportunity will create new challenges and additional stars on both platforms, not too dissimilar to Dirt Late Model racing.
“There will be teams that flop from the Outlaws to High Limit and elevate that series,” Abreu said “You know Brad and Kasey will split but what about (Carson) Macedo and (David) Gravel, (Sheldon) Haudenschild, the passion they have had for being on the World of Outlaws?
“It’s been their dream from day one to win a World of Outlaws championship. But what happens when a driver wants to win that championship but a team owner feels like High Limit makes more business sense? What about Donny Schatz, with 10 championships in 27 years? He’s been so committed to World of Outlaws but there has been frustration from Tony Stewart towards World of Outlaws and their decisions.
“So, it’s going to be really interesting when it gets to February and when it’s time to pick a side and to see which drivers and teams go where.”
Brock Zearfoss, who has driven his family owned car in the World of Outlaws the past three years, says the upcoming split will have one of two outcomes.
“It’s either it will drag the sport apart, and make it too diluted, or it’s going to bring more money to the sport and elevate it,” Zearfoss said. “I hope it’s the latter, because we want to race for more money and a team like ours really could use the extra help. It’s a touchy subject right, but I think everyone involved on both sides are trying to make Sprint Car racing better, it’s just how do we get there.”
The one thing Sweet says hasn’t gotten brought up enough is that he feels committed to growing Sprint Car racing in ways beyond increased purses or awareness for teams. He says High Limit wants to be part of safety innovations and facility renovations.
Sweet says the national tour version of the High Limit Series is about his role in the sport beyond his eventual retirement, whenever that might be.
“I think you get to a point in your career where you start thinking about the next chapter, and I feel really accomplished with everything, no matter what happens this weekend, whether I win my fifth or I don’t,” Sweet said. “I felt very accomplished after three to be honest.
“It’s hard to contend for these championships year in and year out so I’m just proud that we’ve been in this spot for five years. I have a five-year-old daughter, a family and a lot of things that excite me just as much as driving has in the past.”
The hardest part, both sides concede, is that the relationship between Sweet and Carter has been impacted to a certain degree because how does business not get personal when so much of this industry is the result an entire life’s body of work?
“So much of what Brad has achieved is because of the World of Outlaws,” Carter said. “We’ve contributed to his success and he has contributed to ours. He has been a great champion but there are just some things that we talked about when he said he was doing just 12 races that didn’t come true.
“That part is hard to swallow.
“But in the end, it’s my job to create opportunities for everyone in Sprint Car racing and we’ve created a huge opportunity. They’re going to take advantage of what we built.
“And candidly, anyone who invests in Sprint Car racing is going to benefit us because we’re in the lead, and we’re going to continue to promote the Greatest Show on Dirt. When you’re looking for the best Sprint Car show, people will still believe that is the World of Outlaws. That’s my job.”
Sweet says none of this is an attack on WRG and points out that there has always been two marquee tours.
“I think, anytime in business, business is a little bit cutthroat at times and you have to differentiate between business decisions and personal feelings,” Sweet said. “Just to be clar, this isn’t a personal attack on World Racing Group, Brian Carter, (WoO series director) Carlton Reimers.
“Like, I have the utmost respect for everything they do and they’ve done and there is no denying that FloRacing and DirtVision are two competitors fighting for viewership and streaming subscribers.
“But we view it as we’ve simply bought the All Stars and there have always been two series that co-existed in this ecosystem. We felt like, if we wanted it to grow any bigger, it wouldn’t be a good idea to try to start a third one.”
An immediate byproduct of the changing landscape is that it appears increasingly unlikely that what used to be the All Stars Circuit of Champions, now an expanded High Limit Series, will join the World of Outlaws as part of the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway in February.
“I don’t know how that will work now,” Carter said. “I have not been approached for a date. We have had All Star shows since I’ve owned Volusia Speedway. My expectation for the fans is that we’re going to create a show, and I don’t know entirely what that is, and we’ll probably have Outlaws show there but I haven’t been approached for a date for the All Stars.”
He says that is an unfortunate part of this changing landscape, that the World of Outlaws and what used to be the All Stars probably will not be working together as closely.
“We’ve always had a working relationship because of the history with all of the families that have been involved from the Emicks to the Lynches, the Millers and Guy Webb, Tony Stewart’s contributions.
“There is a great legacy there that I’m afraid may not be completely thought out on how this is going to exist going forward.”
Is there a version of this story where Carter believes both tours can grow and coexist together?
“I don’t know what the landscape looks like in five years,” Carter said. “My job is to make sure that World Racing Group and the World of Outlaws community, fans, drivers, tracks and everyone associated has something to look forward to well into the future.
“As it relates to anyone else or coexisting, we’ve had a schedule and we’ve been doing this for a long time, we’ve got good programs, we’ve done the right thing for the right reason for all these years and that will prevail,” Carter said. “As long as they can figure out how to do that within the balance of the sport, they’ll prevail too.
“I just don’t know how that works for them.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.