TAMPA, Fla. — After an offseason filled with immense anticipation, the inaugural nationwide campaign for High Limit Racing is set to begin on Feb. 12-13 at East Bay Raceway Park.
For racers, the “Battle at the Bay” will pay $10,000 to win, $1,000 to start on Monday and $15,000 to win, $1,500 to start on Tuesday.
It’s the first of 59 scheduled events for High Limit Racing, which will pay an overall points fund worth $1,000,000 with $250,000 going to the champion of the series.
Let’s look at some of the top storylines entering the season opener:
The High Rollers
With 17 full-time competitors, the chase for the inaugural High Limit Racing National Championship and the battle for the five High Stakes Charters will be intriguing to follow all season long. The quick basics for each High Roller:
• Rico Abreu (Rico Abreu Racing No. 24)
• Jacob Allen (Shark Racing No. 1A)
• Spencer Bayston (CJB Motorsports No. 5)
• Tyler Courtney (Clauson-Marshall Racing No. 7BC)
• Brenham Crouch (Crouch Motorsports No. 1)
• Corey Day (Jason Meyers Racing No. 14)
• Cory Eliason (Ridge & Sons Racing No. 8)
• Kasey Kahne (Kasey Kahne Racing No. 9)
• Brent Marks (Murray-Marks Motorsports No. 19)
• James McFadden (Roth Motorsports No. 83)
• Conner Morrell (Marc Dailey Racing No. 28M)
• Justin Peck (Buch Motorsports No. 13)
• Parker Price-Miller (PPM Racing No. 9P)
• Brad Sweet (Kasey Kahne Racing No. 49)
• Tanner Thorson (Rod Gross Motorsports No. 88)
• Chris Windom (Vermeer Motorsports No. 55)
• Zeb Wise (Rudeen Racing No. 26)
TRIUMPHS IN TAMPA
Of the 17 full-time High Limit competitors, three are former winners at East Bay. Most notably, “Sunshine” Tyler Courtney has dominated at the Tampa, Fla. one-third-mile lately — sweeping two All Star Circuit of Champions shows last year and winning a third the year prior. In five starts, the Clauson-Marshall No. 7BC has led 72 of 120 laps and his worst finish is fourth-place.
Cory Eliason, now driving for Ridge & Sons Racing, has won in 360 competition and with the All Star Circuit of Champions in 2022. A trip to East Bay means Parker Price-Miller, running his own No. 9P, returns to the site of his first-career sprint car victory – which came in 360 action over the likes of notable names Rico Abreu, Christopher Bell, Greg Hodnett and Danny Lasoski back in 2014.
NEW TO TOWN
Three High Limit full-timers — Corey Day, Spencer Bayston and James McFadden — will be making their first appearance at East Bay Raceway Park, heading into the two-day “Battle at the Bay” with no previous experience at the Tampa track.
McFadden, however, will be unable to compete in the opener as he faces travel issues back from Australia. Dominic Scelzi will take his place aboard the No. 83 entry.
THE CHAMP IS HERE
After topping the 11-race mini-series last year, Kyle Larson and Paul Silva have planned to hit 25-plus High Limit events in 2024, including the Midweek Money Series. The iconic No. 57 with the Hendrick Motorsports superstar at the wheel will contest the opening seven events of the High Limit season – including both days at East Bay Raceway Park, where the duo dominated an All Star Circuit of Champions show in 2020.
It’ll be a busy week for “Yung Money,” who will be on some sort of race track every day from Monday through Sunday. It begins with High Limit Sprint Cars in Tampa on Monday-Tuesday, then Daytona 500 activities for NASCAR from Wednesday-Sunday in his HendrickCars.com No. 5.
STARTING STRONG
With the World of Outlaws officially opening the 410 sprint car season this week at Volusia Speedway Park – two hours east of Tampa’s East Bay Raceway Park – many High Rollers are taking advantage of the full-time freedom to bank some extra cash and turn some crucial laps.
Through the opening four nights of action, the High Rollers have earned eight of 12 podium spots – including a 1-2-3 sweep in Friday’s feature led by Courtney, Abreu and Brad Sweet, who also won Wednesday’s race. The likes of Justin Peck, Brent Marks and Kasey Kahne have also finished inside the top-10 at the Barberville, Fla. half-mile.
OUTSIDERS TO WATCH
Expecting roughly 40 cars in attendance on Monday and Tuesday, the 17 High Rollers will be joined by a strong cast of outsiders hoping to sweep in and steal the loot.
Among those names are Anthony Macri, Danny Dietrich, Austin McCarl, Aaron Reutzel, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Ryan Timms, Cap Henry, Christopher Thram, Dale Blaney, Devon Borden, Davie Franek, Dylan Norris, Tim Shaffer and plenty more.
Danny Smith, a 2015 National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee, will also be in action with his famed No. 4 – creating a full circle moment for the legendary racer, who also competed in the first-ever Winternationals at East Bay when the track opened in 1977.
A NEW FORMAT
The event format at East Bay will begin with drivers seeded into Flights A/B for Capitol Custom Trailers Qualifying. Flight A times will set heats one and two with Flight B setting heats three and four. The lineups will be straight up, other than the quickest qualifier in each heat being inverted to start fourth.
In Heats, the winner and the transfer with quickest qualifying time will move to the FK Rod Ends Dash. The top five are in the A-Main with all others going to B/C-Mains with the fastest non-transfers being put on front row of the B-Main.
If the winner of a heat race comes fourth (the fastest transfer), they will guarantee themselves the best available position in the dash redraw. The A-Main lineup is set straight-up via dash finish (1-8), heat race finish (9-20), and B-Main transfers (21-24).
Another unique aspect, being a two-day show, the top-four finishers from Monday’s preliminary A-Main will lock-in to Tuesday Heat Races – bypassing qualifying and automatically assuming the fourth-starting spots in heats, as if they qualified 1-4.
As far as championship points, the point-scale is as follows: 77-72-68-65-63-61-59-57-55-53-
THE LAST DANCE
Sadly, this week marks the final Winternationals ever held at East Bay Raceway Park – scheduled to hand over the keys and cease operations following the season. Monday and Tuesday’s High Limit Racing doubleheader will be the final major 410 sprint car event in track history, and then next weekend from Thursday-Saturday they’ll host the final edition of the well-known King of the 360s event.