MOORESVILLE, N.C. — With the World of Outlaws and the High Limit Racing series each making plans for the new season, winged 410 sprint car racing will have two national tours for the first time since 2006.
While it is probably a little over dramatic to call this a “split” or a sprint car racing war, it has certainly provided a lot of intrigue as both series prepare to start their schedules in Florida during February.
The industry and fan base have watched closely as both series assembled their driver lineups, but the two organizations have also gone head to head over race tracks and personnel.
Many longtime World of Outlaws race tracks now appear on the High Limit Racing schedule, while the fledgling sprint car organization that ran 11 races in its first full season during 2023, has also raided the World of Outlaws staff as it prepares to expand to 60 races.
Track officials, scorers and announcers who previously worked for the Outlaws will run the High Limit route in 2024 after being wooed by series co-owners Brad Sweet, Kyle Larson and FloRacing.
At this writing, 11 drivers and teams had signed with High Limit Racing, while nine had inked paperwork to chase the World of Outlaws title.
The High Limit drivers are Brenham Crouch, Jacob Allen, Spencer Bayston, Cory Eliason, Kasey Kahne, Justin Peck, Corey Day, Rico Abreu, Zeb Wise, Sweet and Larson.
Led by 10-time series champion Donny Schatz, the lineup of Outlaws regulars includes Logan Schuchart, David Gravel, Brock Zearfoss, Bill Rose, Landon Crawley, Noah Gass, Sheldon Haudenschild and Giovanni Scelzi.
Only Allen, Bayston and Sweet jumped from the Outlaws to High Limit. Shark Racing will compete in both series, with Schuchart remaining with the World of Outlaws and Allen jumping to the High Limit series.
Notable winged sprint car drivers who have not yet committed to one group or the other include longtime WoO regular Carson Macedo and his Jason Johnson Racing operation, James McFadden, Tyler Courtney, Brent Marks, Noah Gass, Buddy Kofoid, Emerson Axsom, Parker Price-Miller, Tanner Holmes, Ryan Timms, Cole Macedo and Sam Hafertepe Jr.
Six tracks, led by Ohio’s Eldora Speedway, will host events sanctioned by both series, while longtime World of Outlaws stalwarts such as Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway, Silver Dollar Speedway in California and Washington’s Skagit Speedway appear only on the High Limit calendar. Ohio’s Wayne County Speedway, which hosted High Limit this year, is on the 2024 Outlaws schedule.
Numerous tracks that didn’t host either tour this year, dot both series calendars.
The World of Outlaws ran its first race in 1978 and will begin its 46th season Feb. 7 at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park.
Twice in the past, rival national tours were launched with the United Sprint Ass’n hitting the track in 1989 and the National Sprint Tour rivaling the Outlaws in 2006. In both cases, disgruntled World of Outlaws team owners spearheaded the new tours. But neither the USA nor NST returned for a second season.
High Limit Racing was created in 2022 for similar reasons, which primarily centered around the distribution of streaming video earnings to the teams from DIRTVision, the sister company of the World of Outlaws, which broadcasts all of the series’ events.
WoO officials increased purses and point-fund money for 2023, while also loosening restrictions that limited its contract teams from competing in events not sanctioned by the World of Outlaws.
Spurred by FloRacing’s desire to have more high-profile winged sprint car events on its network, Sweet and Larson chose to expand to an extensive nationwide tour for the coming season and started acquiring assets and hiring staff. They also began signing drivers and teams in preparation for a Feb. 12 opener at Florida’s East Bay Raceway Park.
High Limit is most certainly better positioned for success than USA or NST were thanks to FloRacing offering needed operating capital.
Sweet and his team are clearly preparing for the long haul. Sweet announced during the PRI Trade Show that the series will copy the charter system used by the NASCAR Cup Series and award 10 High Limit Racing charters prior to its 2026 campaign.
The top-five teams in the 2024 standings will be awarded charters, with the top-five teams in 2025 that did not earn a charter the previous season earning the final five.
Beginning in 2026, the series will forgo tow money and point-fund money for its teams and instead share 50 percent of the streaming revenue with the 10 charter teams based on where they finish in the standings.
The World of Outlaws continues to offer its Platinum program to its team, which awards various benefits through the course of the season.
Both tours offer similar race purse structures, while the High Limit tour has its 11-race Midweek Money Series that boasts handsome paydays.
There are three $100,000-to-win races on the High Limit schedule and at least four events on the 86-race World of Outlaws slate that pay $100,000 or more to win, including the $250,000 top prize at Huset’s Speedway’s High Bank Nationals.
On the sponsorship front, NOS Energy Drink is the title sponsor of the World of Outlaws, while High Limit has yet to land a primary marketing partner. NOS will sponsor cars running full time in both series, with Sheldon Haudenschild on the Outlaws trail and Chris Windom committed to High Limit.
A third NOS-supported driver, Tyler Courtney, has yet to commit to either series.
While he will run his 28th consecutive season with the World of Outlaws next year, Schatz acknowledges having two series is a tremendous “opportunity” for racers to learn if they have what it takes to contest a national tour.
The 2024 season will be a year of opportunity for everyone involved in the World of Outlaws and High Limit Racing – and there’s more than money on the line.
