UPDATE: This article has been revised to show that Brad Sweet has confirmed that Ohio Sprint Speedweek will be contracted to the FAST Series.
Yesterday was a monumental day for sprint car racing. High Limit Racing officially announced that they are going national and removing the All Star Circuit of Champions tag. The new series is designed to be a direct competitor of the World of Outlaws and will be doing more travel compared to the past schedule of the All Stars.
Before the announcement, a lot of comments were being made about how the new series needs to maintain the regional angle and continue building off of what the All Stars were known for. When it was announced that they would be going with a more national angle, mixed reviews started popping up all over the internet. What would happen to the local tracks and teams in Ohio? Will they still have an Ohio Speedweek? How many times will Attica be on the schedule? Some of those questions were partly answered, but others remain a huge question mark.
High Limit announced that they would continue sanctioning an Ohio Speedweek, but little details were provided. (We now know that High Limit is contracting Ohio Sprint Speedweek to the FAST Series. What this truly means is still unconfirmed). We know that they will be visiting Eldora and Portsmouth, but that’s about it. After viewing the concerns and opinions of different fans and teams online, I decided to dive deeper into the impact that the All Stars had on the local Ohio teams and tracks in 2023.
A common concern that I came across was that there will be less of an opportunity for the local teams in Ohio to benefit from a touring series coming to town. In 2023, the All Stars held 14 races in Ohio (not including rain outs). The average car count for these races was 40. Obviously, some of the larger races at Eldora and Portsmouth increased the average slightly, but even standard All Star shows at Attica and Freemont were drawing over 35 cars. For the full season, the average car count for a standard All Star show was 36.4. In total, the All Stars held 45 races in 2023. That means that a third of the season was held in Ohio. I think it is fair to say that this is a number that will decrease with High Limit in 2024.
What wouldn’t be fair to High Limit is assuming that they will ditch Ohio and the impact that the tracks and teams would have on the series. They announced that they would be running somewhere around 60 races in 2024. Will the additional races mean more room for a big Ohio swing to go with the national schedule? It’s not out of the question. Ohio Speedweek could mean that at least seven tracks will be on the schedule to go with the already scheduled Eldora and Portsmouth events.
Another opinion that has been thrown around is that High Limit will just be another World of Outlaw series coming to town and give the local drivers little to no chance to win or even run top five. While the driver roster has not been released, this is a fair opinion to have. Last year, the All Stars only had a few full time teams that were at every race. The uncertainty of who was going to be in attendance each night likely prompted local teams to show up and compete because their chances of making a profit with the All Stars were probably higher than ever. Let’s face it, the All Stars we’re at their weakest point last year outside of Zeb Wise and Tyler Courtney.
However, let’s take a look at who was taking money from the All Stars last year. The argument can be made that the rich are just going to get richer with High Limit, but wasn’t that already happening with the All Stars? Even with a lack of full time competitors, some of the wealthiest sprint car teams were still the top earners with the All Stars in 2023. The graphic below does not include point fund money, just earnings from races.
Yes, this includes the full schedule, but the top 15 spots are occupied by some of the teams that have the most funding in the country. Every time the All Stars held a high paying event, the best drivers and teams in the country would show up. Over half of the races on the schedule were won by Zeb Wise, Tyler Courtney, Rico Abreu, Brent Marks, Kyle Larson and Cory Eliason. I know that the local teams and drivers are not showing up to these events expecting to win, but most of the money was being gobbled up by the top teams.
Now, let’s look at the impact that the All Stars had directly on teams that primarily competed in Ohio. Most of these teams are Ohio based and run in weekly competition. The best finishing Ohio local was Craig Mintz, who picked up a win with the All Stars early in the season. Mintz ran 10 of the All Star events and was able to pick up three top fives and six top tens in those races. Cale Thomas competed in the most All Star races out of the Ohio regulars with 15. Cap Henry was the most consistent Ohio regular with the All Stars, with an average finish of 11.3. Full transparency, these drivers are some of the top funded local sprint car teams in Ohio. Both Thomas and Henry were able to compete in some races outside of Ohio as well. Let’s look at the full picture below.
Based off of the top 15 earners from the Ohio regulars, teams and drivers made an average of $8,400 over the year. That number is skewed, as the top earner made nearly $16,000 more in earnings over the 15th earner. So let’s say on average, the All Stars paid out around $5,000 to most local Ohio teams. Will that opportunity diminish with the High Limit takeover? It’s not out of the question, but I think the impact will be lesser than we think.
Regardless of the sanctioning body, the top teams and drivers are going to show up when there is good money on the line. Statistics show that these drivers and teams are going to take most of the money. The real issue is payout through the field. Some of these local drivers can consistently make the show against good competition, but they are limited in where they can finish. High Limit announced that they will have a higher purse than what the All Stars had, so this does open a door for these local teams to profit similarly. Will the competition be harder? Probably, but I don’t think the chances of making the show will significantly decrease.
Another point to focus on is that even if the High Limit roster improves compared to the All Stars, that likely means less full time drivers for the World of Outlaws. That means that an Outlaw show in Ohio will become easier to qualify for when it comes to local teams. The Outlaw schedule is unreleased, but it does sound like they might have some more races at Ohio tracks not named Eldora. If the Outlaws slightly increase their presence in Ohio and High Limit slightly decreases theirs, then the local teams, tracks and drivers will still have an opportunity to benefit.
It remains to be seen what will happen with High Limit and Ohio, but I do think that they can make the schedule work. They would be foolish to glaze over the high car counts and fan interest that exists in Ohio. I don’t see a world where there is not at least 10 Ohio races on the 2024 High Limit schedule, which would be just four less races than the All Stars held in 2023. Is there still a need for a more regionally focused sanctioning body? I would say yes, but the national series are the ones that are going to put fans in the seats and help the tracks profit. If the tracks profit, they can do their part and hold larger local shows. It’s a messy situation, but I don’t think all hope is lost for the local guys just yet.
If the void cannot be filled by High Limit, Ohio’s FAST Series for 410 sprint cars could step up. The series has proved to be successful, holding 18 events in 2023 with 14 different winners. The FAST Series has an average car count of 26.8 in 2023 and even held a $10,000 to win event at Wayne County. Will we see someone step up and grow the FAST Series? It could already be happening…
Who knows what that really means, but I would love for it to expand further into Pennsylvania and incentivize the Posse to compete. I have no doubt that a Posse vs. Ohio series would be successful with the right sanctioning body and it would create a ton of fun for the local drivers and fans. If there is a need to grow regionally, this is the way.
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