When teams go full time with a big series, they have to sign a contract. The World of Outlaws call it a platinum agreement. High Limit has their Double Down agreement. But have you ever wondered what's actually in those contracts? Good news, we are diving in today. Let's go!
It's Monday, February 3rd, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
Today's Daily show is being supported by Jeremy Elliott's sprintcarunlimited.com. If you are looking for in-depth sprint car coverage all season long, then look no further. Sprintcarunlimited.com has breaking news, commentary, regular podcast episodes, and a lot more. He covers the World of Outlaws, High Limit, regional action, and all the biggest races. Right now, when you use code "SCU2025" at checkout, you can get a year subscription for just $28. That's code "SCU2025" at checkout. It works out to about $2.30 a month for coverage and reporting you can't get anywhere else. That's 20% off the regular rate, and less than I pay for my subscription. I signed up way back in 2021. Make sure as well to check out the Sprint Car Unlimited YouTube channel. Jeremy has his daily 90 at 9 videos, the regular Deep Dive interviews, and he's launching a new show this week. Tuesday night at 7:30PM eastern, he's launching SprintCarUnlimited.com Live and will be taking your calls and questions. So make sure to check that out tomorrow night, Tuesday, February 3rd, 7:30PM eastern, Sprint Car Unlimited YouTube channel. Thanks to Jeremy and sprintcarunlimited.com for their support of this show.
If you want on track action today, Volusia is the only place hosting actual racing. After having Sunday off following the ASCS sprint cars being in town, DIRTcar Nationals gets going again tonight with the modifieds back on track. Modifieds are on center stage both today and tomorrow, and as I've said multiple times, the World of Outlaws season starts Wednesday. In previous years there had been a sprint car practice night in advance of racing getting going, but not this year. They are just jumping right into things. We'll talk a lot more Outlaw sprint car stuff around the openers as the week progresses. If you want to check out the modifieds tonight and are not headed to Volusia, you can watch live over on DIRTVision.
There are also late models hitting the track tonight with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series shifting to Ocala. But it's just practice. Racing gets going again starting on Tuesday. Lucas at Ocala runs through Saturday night, and then we won't see the series again until later in March. After Saturday night late model speedweeks will then close out during the final week at Volusia. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are DIRTcar sanctioned late model nights, with the Outlaw portion running next Thursday through Saturday. It will be busy run to the end of speedweeks for the late model teams, with really just one off day for those running everything. You'll be able to see practice times tonight over on MyRacePass, and check out guys on Twitter like Kyle McFadden for extra coverage.
The main topic I'm going to dive into today is these dirt racing full time driver series contracts. With the World of Outlaws you'll hear them referred to as platinum agreements. High Limit calls their guys high rollers. The focus today will be more on the World of Outlaws sprint car side because I've seen some of that specific verbiage, but a lot of these same ideas will apply to High Limit, and the two late model national tours. Teams and drivers sign a contract to be full time with a series, and in return that series provides certain benefits. Both sides are required to agree to certain stipulations, and if those things are not met, then the agreement can be nullified. For the World of Outlaws specifically, there are a few platinum team mentions in the series rulebook, but for the most part, most of their specific full timer rules are spelled out in the agreement itself. This agreement isn't public anywhere that I'm aware of, so don't expect to be able to find it with a Google search. The rulebook is available for anyone to see over at dirtcar.com/rules. A lot of the things you would find in the agreement are fairly basic and what you would expect. Some legal wording that is common to any contract, like indemnification, the state and locality that the contract is governed by, and releases. Pretty boring stuff. There are also clauses about teams being required to comply with the series rulebook, and that the rulebook can change at any time. Drivers and teams are also required to participate in all series events, barring any extenuating circumstances. There is a process for having excused absences, and hardship points are available. We've seen this come into play with driver injuries, and things like equipment breakdowns. Think about a team hauler stuck on the side of the road hours from the next race with no hope of making that night's show. It happens, and there is a process to make those situations as right as possible. All of that is spelled out in the agreement. Other standard stuff includes the series providing insurance coverage for races in the event of things like injury. With WRG specifically, if I remember correctly, any DIRTcar member is covered. It's one of the benefits for signing up. Platinum teams also get an allotment of free pit passes and DIRTcar memberships for the season. Those memberships would be used by team employees usually, and then the pit passes are for guests.
Moving on to provisions that are a bit less boring, let's talk other obligations that are placed on the teams. The first is appearances. Depending on the event type, drivers are required to participate in a certain number of autograph sessions. There are also other required appearances away from the race track. Think about media obligations, or sponsor events. Drivers must participate in a certain number of these as well, with the series coordinating all of that and working with the teams and drivers on when it's cool to do that. One that I wasn't aware of, is the requirement that teams stick around for a certain amount of time after the race is over. When possible, with travel not being an issue, cars must remain out and drivers available at the hauler for usually a period of 30 minutes after the checkered flag falls. The series will blow a release horn when that time comes to an end. Driver and team accessibility has always been a hallmark of short track racing, and I personally like that the series has included it in the agreement. Another interesting one is the practice and testing provision. At least on the Outlaw sprint car side, teams are not allowed to practice or test at the track coming up for a period of seven days in advance of that event without approval. I've talked before about sprint car teams testing being almost non-existent when compared to the late model side, and this would certainly limit at least some of that. Another big aspect of the platinum agreement with the Outlaws, and one that has been a regular toic of conversation, is the race restrictions placed on teams. We know that teams can stay in good standing and still race up to eight times elsewhere. If they want to participate in the exclusivity bonus money program though, that number drops to four races. We've seen some drivers take full advantage of those four races, and use them all. Examples include Carson Macedo, Gio Scelzi, and Buddy Kofoid. While others chose not to go all out. Donny Schatz is an example of a driver that didn't use his four freebies last year. He made just two High Limit appearances, the two Eldora nights during Kings Royal week. David Gravel also used only three. A question that comes up every year is whether or not races like the Capitani Classic and Front Row Challenge would be included as extra races, but the agreement states specifically they are not. Teams can race in those two events in addition to their four or eight races away from the series. One other interesting note is that if a race is postponed or cancelled, teams can ask to race at another event and have that not count towards the four or eight race count. Another stipulation of the exclusivity bonus is that teams must display the DIRTVision logo on the car and trailer in specified locations. They are also prohibited from promoting competitors to DIRTVision. There is a key qualifier here though. When they participate in races away from the series, they are allowed to mention other streaming and broadcast channels. Think about social media posts as an example. If Carson Macedo runs with High Limit at Eldora, JJR is allowed to say the race is on Flo. The final thing I'll talk about here is tow money. It's officially called the Winner's Circle program with the Outlaws, on both the late model and sprint car side. With the sprint car teams, they effectively get $500 for each race. If there is a multi-day event, they get the full amount for the first day, and then 50% for additional days. There is also additional tow money available for teams that are back on tour this year who raced full time last year. And new teams can get the added money if they stay past the middle of July. It's basically up to an additional $500. So for a single day show, that's $1000. We have covered those amounts before here on the show, and this tow money is in addition to the point fund, exclusivity bonus, purse money, and contingency awards. You can actually find a rundown of available contingency awards on the Outlaw website. One example is Hoosier. Teams who make the dash get 10 points per night. Once they get to 20 points, they get a free tire. So there you go, a higher level look at what is actually in one of these contracts, and what is asked from both sides, the series and the teams. When we talk about why drivers sign up with these series, it's all of these benefits that can make life on the road and the costs a lot easier. Unless a driver is winning all the time, it's tough to make up some of these costs when running a sizeable pick and choose schedule. But when a team chooses to sign up, there are going to be some tradeoffs.
That's the Daily for today. Hope you guys have a great Monday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!