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Hunt the Front series adds serious contenders, could we see High Limit races in Australia this year? | Daily 1-29-2024

Brad Sweet and Kyle Larson have talked sprint cars expanding internationally, but could we see High Limit outside the US as early as this year? We'll talk about it, plus the Hunt the Front series field adds some heavy hitters, Sam Hafertepe's sprint car plans and more. Let's go!

It's Monday, January 29th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.

Back at the beginning of the month, in the leadup to the Wild West Shootout and the Chili Bowl, we did a daily show where we talked about Kyle Larson spending some time late in 2024 or into 2025 down under racing sprint cars. The topic initially came up with Michael Rigsby in regard to Larson possibly not running future Wild West Shootouts. In interviews that followed, I believe with FloRacing and maybe Matt Weaver if I remember correctly, Larson talked a bit more about those plans to head to Australia. He mentioned probably not going for as long as some of his counterparts, guys like Brad Sweet, and Rico Abreu, and Carson Macedo spent multiple weeks there this offseason. We would potentially see a much shorter window, and also Larson wants to do it with Paul Silva. That would mean a similar situation to like what we saw this year with Rico, where they ship cars and equipment down there, instead of partnering up with another team. There is obviously significant cost that comes along with that, and complicated logistics that need to be worked out. If you watched my first episode of the Rico Rundown, you know that the planning for his deal started very early in 2023, and equipment was shipped right after the Knoxville Nationals. It's been a few years since we saw Larson race down under, so with multiple other options, like the Chili Bowl and the Wild West Shootout, why is this happening now? Well, let's connect some dots. Late in 2022, as we learned more about the plans for the initial midweek High Limit schedule, international expansion of sprint car racing was something that was talked about by Larson himself on an episode of the LoudPedal podcast. He mentioned possibly bringing sprint car racing to Europe in the future. And in April of 2023, Jeff Gluck reported in a piece for the Athletic that that Sweet and Larson had quote "talked about taking the series global and potentially holding events in places like Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Europe." At the moment, if you wanted to expand the High Limit brand internationally, the best place to start would be somewhere there is already a healthy sprint car community. Australia would certainly fit that mold. There were rumblings from some friends down under that while Brad Sweet was there this season to race Western Australia Speedweek, he was also researching potentially promoting some High Limit shows there next year. They would obviously need tracks and sponsors on board, but that talks were under way. If that is indeed the case, having Kyle Larson there with the Silva 57 would be a massive fan draw, and him going now could be a big clue as to this being in the works. You grab all the American guys who are down there already, including Brad, probably Rico, Larson, we saw Eliason this season, all of those guys have High Limit ties. Maybe James McFadden, Brenham Crouch, Justin Peck, and you put them up against the Australian stars under the High Limit banner. Since it will be the offseason, the Outlaw guys would be available as well, like Carson Macedo. Obviously they wouldn't be points races, but a chance for the High Limit brand to expand internationally, guys can sell merch, and have some offseason sprint car content on FloRacing. This wouldn't be the first time that an American series sanctioned races in Australia, as it's something the Outlaws have done before. And during the Boundless days, Paul Kruger and his staff had plans to sanction shows in places like Brazil and South Africa. The first full season of High Limit starts exactly two weeks from today at East Bay, and the focus will very much be on how things progress with it. But this international expansion is something to keep an eye on for later in 2024 and into 2025.

Over to the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series, their season doesn't start until the middle of March at the Talladega Short Track, but they continue to add more full timers to their roster for 2024. We already knew about Sam Seawright and Clay Harris making commitments. Harris actually looked solid with Lucas at Golden Isles over the weekend, making both features. Those two, plus Joseph Joiner, will be joined by several names announced in recent days. That includes Jackson Hise and Cameron Weaver joining the rookie class. Hise is a young driver from Florida, and Weaver is the son of late model driver Randy Weaver. He'll be driving the Henderson Motorsports car out of Tennessee. Also joining the series full time will be past Southern Nationals champion Carson Ferguson. The North Carolina driver pilots a Longhorn owned by Donald and Gina Bradsher as a teammate to Tim McCreadie. He should be in the mix for the championship all season. And back on Friday we learned that Ashton Winger has committed to the full tour for this season, already owning the title of winningest driver in series history. Winger is no stranger to touring late model series, having won with both the Outlaws and Lucas in his career, along with the Summer Nationals. And just today, it was announced that defending champion Josh Putnam will return to try and go back-to-back. Putnam brings the series to eight total that have been announced, but some other names were leaked by the Hunt the Front guys on YouTube, including Bo Slay, Dalton Cook, Trey Miles, and Stacy Boles. So that would push the field to 12, with potentially more on the way. The guys also mentioned that they expect to see Jimmy Owens, Brandon Overton, Spencer Hughes, Ethan Dotson, and Wil Herrington at their shows often through the season. The boost in purse money and added point fund and benefits seem to be attracting some big names to this tour in it's second season.

This past weekend down at Volusia, we saw Sam Hafertepe run well in the 360, picking a win, and three total podiums. I had been asked if he was a candidate to possibly sign with High Limit this season, and while that won't happen, we will still see him a bunch this season across the sport. Thanks to a piece late last week from Bryan Hulbert, we know that Hafertepe will run the bulk of the ASCS National Tour in 2024, and fill in the rest of his nearly 100 race schedule with 410 action split between High Limit and the Outlaws. His full schedule is available over at sam15.com. Hafertepe has the ASCS championship five times in the past, and with him scheduled to miss just four races, if he can stay hot all season, he could very much be in contention for title number six. Hafertepe and the Hills 15 will be in action for all the sprint car shows down south, including the Outlaws at Volusia, and High Limit at East Bay and Golden Isles. The ASCS season starts March 1st at South Texas Race Ranch.

That's it for the daily show today. If you want some racing to check out tonight, UMP modifieds hit East Bay live on FloRacing. There is also the season finale for the iRacing World of Outlaws Sprint Cars live on DIRTVision and YouTube. Aiden Forster is in the driver's seat for that championship. The Lucas late models will be at Ocala tonight for practice, with racing getting going on Tuesday. Make sure to stop by dirtrackr.com/watchtonight to see the full streaming schedule.

Hope you guys have a great Monday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!