LEBANON, Pa.: For as long as I’ve been around dirt-track racing — 47 long years — scrutiny has always flourished in and out of the pit area.
Sitting in the grandstand for 22 of those years, fans threw around rumors and conjecture about drivers they didn’t like. They still do. I saw a different side of it when I peeked behind the curtain as a media member, but the fans have always been consistent.
Tell me if you’ve heard this one before … “He is cheating or that team is cheating.” Sound familiar? It’s common, especially with the social media surge that has engulfed this sport.
Now that High Limit Racing has entered the Sprint Car mix, it’s heightened. Especially with a large group of fans in a tizzy over Brad Sweet and Kyle Larson sharing part ownership in the new national series.
The conspiracy theories have been ridiculous, at best. Still, it’s a slippery slope. I’m not wild about owners competing in their own series, but I understand it because of the money being pumped into the sport and the lack of people who want to start such ventures to grow the sport.
It’s a dilemma. One that I don’t envy Sweet, Larson, or even FloRacing, for taking on … because it seems facts don’t matter, and it’s too easy for some people to jump to the absurd.
Things didn’t get any easier Thursday night when High Limit visited New York’s Outlaw Speedway. Sweet got the win, but when he was pushed across the scales, series officials failed to verify his weight. The only thing that fans saw was the FloRacing drone showing a crew member looking at the numbers, a common practice weekly across the country.
It came as no surprise that the streaming video and still shots picked up steam on social media like a runaway locomotive. And it didn’t matter that Sweet and the High Limit brass were in the way. The conspiracy theories started flying like a swarm of angry bees.
Let’s deal with the obvious … I would bet my life savings that Sweet wasn’t light at the scales. He has five World of Outlaws championships, owns a racetrack, and now owns a series. There is no way he knowingly jeopardizes that by comprising his, or his team’s, integrity.
Then there is the logical side. The race at Outlaw went non-stop, and according to some people in the pit area, there was very little tire wear. Being light would’ve have been difficult under those two conditions.
But that doesn’t really mean anything, here. This is still a bad look and further adds to people’s speculation of fairness. And unfortunately, in this current weird world where simple mistakes don’t happen — note the sarcasm — perception is reality.
There is another side this conundrum. People aren’t exactly lining up to inject large amounts of money into this sport, both from developing a series to luring new sponsors to pay the freight.
Sweet and Larson have taken on this challenge. They have rewarded Sprint Car racing with some higher-paying shows and a point fund for drivers who otherwise would probably be regional racers.
The good is there, present and accounted for. The problem is that High Limit purchased the All Stars and is a viewed as a threat to the World of Outlaws. Both have pissed some fans off and made Hight Limit the Evil Empire Part II, but even the staunchest detractor can’t diminish the prize and point money up for grabs to the regional and national teams.
Next time you want to go on social media and tear apart High Limit like the moon landing, take a breath and look at the earnings for the year. Sure, Sweet is at the top, but there are guys under him who would be making a lot less money if things remained status quo.
Tyler Courtney is one of those guys. He is second in the nation with just north of $136,000. Corey Day has also crossed the century mark and wouldn’t be getting exposure as the hottest young talent in the country. Those are just two of the things that have happened because of High Limit, and I’m sure there are more.
Some will say I’m shilling for High Limit. Hey, why not lump me into the conspiracy. Better yet, maybe, I have a Brad Sweet sweatshirt in my closet. Sorry to disappoint, it’s not that interesting. And before we go to the World of Outlaws and some of their indiscretions, I’ve said good things about them, too.
It’s about being fair. Also, I tend to I look at the big picture and realize that it’s OK to be uncomfortable, sometimes. That’s how progress is made life. You have to go against the grain to succeed and get things done.
As I said earlier, I’m not wild about competing in your own series, but after looking at this thing in totality, I get it. The grand plan is to make Sprint Car racing better and expand the footprint, and even though there are going to be mistakes along the way, the good can outweigh any of the bad.