Larson says merger possible between High Limit, World of Outlaws sprint car properties

A merger one day between sprint car properties High Limit Racing and World of Outlaws is possible, according to High Limit co-founder Kyle Larson, following what High Limit believes was a good start to its nascent series in 2024. This year marked the inaugural campaign for High Limit, which Larson — the star NASCAR driver — co-founded alongside champion sprint car driver Brad Sweet and media company FloSports. When asked about a potential merger with World of Outlaws, Larson said “I think that’s a thought probably — it’s at least a topic that we’ve talked about as something that could potentially happen down the road, and I’m sure even World Racing Group has probably had that run through their minds as well. I don’t think we’re to that point yet but hopefully whatever happens will be for the betterment of the sport.” Sweet, who won the championship of High Limit in its first year, said this year “showed that you could have two different leagues competing at the same time with both having high-level talent and entertaining in different regions of the country as long as we weren’t on top of each other, oversaturating markets.” He added, “I felt like (World of Outlaws) had a very successful year and we had a successful year.”

Digital streaming network FloSports said its FloRacing platform averaged around 100,000 unique streamers an event and 2.5 million viewers over the course of the season in aggregate for High Limit races. Tractor maker Kubota served as title sponsor. Two of those High Limit events were among FloRacing’s Top 10 most-watched events of the year, according to the company, which was founded in 2006. Larson, Sweet and FloSports say they’re trying to professionalize and improve sprint car racing with High Limit, with moves like introducing a charter system for team owners and ending events before the wee hours of the morning for fans. FloSports co-Founder & CEO Mark Floreani told SBJ of the first season: “It could not have gone any better. … We had an average of over 100,000 people watching over the 52 races, and that translates to basically 40 hours of watch time per person, and from starting from basically scratch … it’s pretty amazing.” He said High Limit is a sustainable and profitable business after the first year, but it’s unclear whether the series owners will look to turn a profit in 2025 as they have several investments planned for the second campaign.

SKY IS THE LIMIT: The series is expanding its schedule next year to 61 events at 36 facilities across 20 states in the U.S., and it’s holding its first international event in Australia this weekend. Floreani said the goal of High Limit “is to grow our sport and obviously there’s competition and World of Outlaws is a great property. We love the World of Outlaws. We’re not trying to push out the World of Outlaws.” He added: “We’re trying to build a sustainable, profitable product for everyone involved, best product for our fans, and every day that’s what we’re trying to do. It’s how do we make the on-track experience better, the production better, how do we grow this sport and that’s what we’re focused on every day. … We are trying to grow the pie, not own a larger percentage of the same pie or shrinking pie.” Larson had a big 2024, becoming more of a mainstream star in motorsports by competing in IndyCar’s Indy 500 race for the first time, while continuing to compete full time in NASCAR’s premier Cup Series and appearing in High Limit races, among other events. He is involved with the business side of High Limit but tries to delegate most of the day-to-day workings to the staff, FloSports and Sweet. Larson believes Year No. 1 “went really well – based on public perception leading into the season, I think there was a lot of new fans who were skeptical of how we would blend into the ecosystem and all of that.” But he felt that “throughout the first couple months, the momentum kind of shifted our way and fans could see how passionate we were and how great our shows ran and how exciting our racing was, and those are the two biggest elements to pleasing people.”