NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — So here we are at the crossroads, where once again two sprint car entities have squared off to battle for national supremacy.
The High Limit Racing series has served notice that they intend to challenge the World of Outlaws as the premier sprint car series in the world.
This challenge could play out in many different ways. The Outlaws could prevail; High Limit could prevail; a compromise might prevail; or perhaps we discover that sprint car racing can support two major touring series, such as in late model racing with the Outlaws and the Lucas Oil series.
As the wagons are circled, allow me to offer a heartfelt word of advice to the officials, teams, tracks, manufacturers, media and most of all the fans: Go easy on the emotional investment here.
We’ve seen all of this before. Glance backward just a few years to the civil war that engulfed Indy car racing from 1978 to 2008, a 30-year off-and-on battle that ripped the guts from a once-thriving segment of motorsports.
With the launch of the Indy Racing League in 1996, the political and ideological bickering was taken to a whole new level. Passions became so inflamed that it is difficult today to describe the level of vitriol. It was father versus son, friend versus friend and brother versus brother.
People came to truly hate those who supported the opposing side. We witnessed lifelong friendships destroyed, simply because of which racing series someone preferred.
If all of this sounds utterly senseless, we’re on the same page.
It’s easy to understand the passion of those who made their living in the sport. If you were employed by a team in one series, of course you were emotional. Your living was at stake, after all. But what is most memorable is how fans chose sides and then spent untold hours and massive amounts of energy hating on the other side.
They’d rush home from work and log in to message boards, where they would blast everything related to the enemy. They spent hours researching data, manipulating photos and propaganda, desperately trying to prove they were right. Night after night, month after month, year after year.
In the end, people never really stopped arguing; they simply grew weary and disillusioned and faded away.
Ultimately, nobody won. In fact, it was just the opposite: everybody lost.
Frankly, describing that era today is almost embarrassing. Yet there is a strange and unsettling sense of déjà vu as posts on social media in recent weeks resonate with, “My series is better and your series sucks.”
Here we go again.
Am I concerned? You bet I am.
The thought of a poisonous environment similar to what we saw with Indy car racing is deeply troubling. We’ve got to avoid that. At all costs.
Capitalism is a great thing. That’s at the core of this new scenario; two business entities are fighting for customers, clients, sponsors and viewers. Business rivalries like this play out every day in America. It’s a natural outgrowth of our freedom, and our way of life.
In the meantime, there is absolutely no reason for us to choose sides and fight amongst ourselves. If you think one series is best, cool. If you have the idea of supporting both series, cool. Above all, view anyone with a different opinion as a fellow racer, worthy of our respect.
It’s great that we’re passionate about our sport. But we can’t allow our passion to boil over and turn us into someone and something we don’t want to be.
Been there, done that. And please trust me on this: It wasn’t worth it.
This story appeared in the Dec 20, 2023 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
