MOORESVILLE, N.C. — The All Star Circuit of Champions brand will be on hiatus next season and the popular Ohio Sprint Speedweek summer series will be operated by the FAST Series.
According to High Limit Racing co-founder Brad Sweet, the brand will be put on the sideline in 2024 to allow its new owners to focus on launching a new national series.
The All Stars has operated since 1970 racing winged sprint cars primarily in the Midwest. The series was owned by Tony Stewart from 2015 until it was sold to Sweet and series co-owner Kyle Larson last month.
Since High Limit purchased the All Stars, fans, promoters and racers on the regional level have been concerned about how the loss of the series may impact winged sprint car racing on the local and regional level.
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Sweet was asked about the situation during a media teleconference on Wednesday.
“We were aware when we did this deal that there was going to be a void created, and maybe some upset people,” said the five-time World of Outlaws champion, who will also race with the High Limit series next season. “We want to assure them that we are not forgetting the history of the All Stars.Â
“The All Star name is still there, it is just tabled for 2024 at this point just so we could focus on trying to get the High Limit Racing series off the ground.”
Still, Sweet acknowledged there is currently no path forward for the series.
“We do not have a clear and concise answer on what we are going to do with the All Star brand, but we have it on our list of things to do or in our mind that if the opportunity presents itself or that we feel like for the overall health of the ecosystem of sprint car racing, to bring it back is the right move, then we will,” Sweet said. “We just need some time to focus on what we are trying to do right this second.”
While High Limit will sanction some of the previous All Star events, the 42nd annual Ohio Sprint Speedweek will not be among them.
“We are going to outsource Ohio Speedweek,” Sweet said. “The FAST Series is going to take over Ohio Speedweek in 2024 and we are going to support them and try to help them take that and run with it and, hopefully Ohio fans and drivers will still get to compete in that week and the fans will enjoy that tradition that they have had for many years.”
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Sweet also maintained that High Limit officials are interested in talking to any race track promoter who previously worked with the All Stars.
“If promoters are not reaching out to us, we may be under the impression that they don’t want a race, but it seems like we have talked to just about every track in the United States,” Sweet said. “I’m not sure, obviously, we want to have a lot of the big events that the All Stars had. I think we announced some of those dates that the All Stars have had in the past. We are certainly open to conversations from every promoter that wants to have a race whether it fits into our schedule in 2024 or in the future.”Â
Sweet also discussed a working alliance with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series.
“Obviously, with Lucas Oil Late Models being on Flo, Rick Schwallie has been a decent mentor for us and some of the things we talked about as a partnership is that it’s an alliance, we are kind of together on our scheduling and being aware where each other are at, exploring doing some of these events together” Sweet explained.
“We have the announcement coming with the schedule, so we don’t want to let the cat out of the bag, but I think you will see multiple events with the High Limit Sprint Car Series and the Lucas Oil late models on the same track on the same weekend.”