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Posted on 12/31/2025 2:15:49 AM PST by WhiteHatBobby0701
Tony Clarke drove “28 hours and two sleeps” to watch High Limit International at the Perth Motorplex.
The octogenarian from Adelaide hadn’t traveled to the capital of Western Australia since 1975.
But after viewing the inaugural sprint car event in 2024, Clarke was determined to witness the top dirt trackers in the world battle for bragging rights and a record $110,000 (AU) purse.
“I want to see Kyle Larson,” said Clarke, who keeps up with the High Limit co-founder and NASCAR Cup champion through FloRacing and local media channels.
Clarke is also fond of High Limit champions Rico Abreu and Brad Sweet. He follows the stock car exploits of Kiwi Shane van Gisbergen and Australian World Series Sprintcars champion James McFadden when he races Down Under and abroad.
Clarke is the ideal racing fanatic Perth Motorplex hopes to cultivate over the next three days and beyond, not just in Australia but around the World.
The interest following the breakout High Limit International has exploded over the last year—particularly with the return of Abreu and Carson Macedo after last-minute injuries kept them out of action in 2024.
Buddy Kofoid’s dominant Boxing Day win on Friday, coupled with Corey Day’s comeback from 28th to second, simply whetted the appetite for more USA vs. Aussie battles.
Chris Mitchell, marketing coordinator for Perth Motorplex, credits the partnership between the speedway, FloSports and High Limit for growing the event.
“It’s huge because of the marketing and network reach that FloRacing has by tapping into America,” Mitchell said. “There are so many American patrons who are going to come for this event, who are spending their hard-earned money on being tourists to our part of the world. It’s huge.
“But the reach to the whole industry, when everyone perks up and realizes what we have here, it's almost been like a poorly kept secret. We're tucked away in this little corner of the world, but now everyone knows what Perth Motorplex is.”
Larson’s star power is not lost on Mitchell either.
“When he finally came here and saw the venue and immediately rolled out the statement, ‘This is one of the best tracks in the world’—that plays on repeat in our office,” Mitchell said. “It's like the greatest thing we've ever heard, right?”
McFadden described High Limit International as one of the top three sprint car shows in the World. Day described Perth Motorplex as one of the top three dirt tracks he has ever raced on. Day’s team owner and Perth regular Callum Williamson is parlaying his exposure from last year’s event to a Pennsylvania dirt track residency next summer.
Neither McFadden nor Williamson has ever encountered so many fans circulating through the pits hours before the first green flag flies. The price of a ticket not only admits fans to the grandstands but offers the opportunity to be up-close-and-personal with their favorite drivers.
High Limit’s economic impact on the region is certainly noteworthy. With more than $3 million generated from the event, Perth Motorplex was awarded “Business of the Year” for 2025 by the Rockingham Kwinana Chamber of Commerce for Tourism and Hospitality.
“The outlook is amazing,” said Perth Motorplex General Manager Gavin Migro. “Our team investment has grown and it has had a direct effect on the community. It’s so exciting that people know that the Motorplex is here.
“And our partnership with High Limit has grown as well. That’s put a spotlight on us. It’s not lost on us the opportunity that we’ve got. We’re honored to be the current custodians of what we’re doing with it, so let’s keep growing it to be bigger and better.”
Migro is just getting started in the second of a three-year deal with High Limit, which he hopes will continue well beyond 2026. After increasing this year’s purse by $10,000—and having Larson helicopter into the infield to deliver the bounty—Migro plans to offer $20,000 to win for each of next year’s prelim nights.
“I’m overwhelmingly proud and excited about what the future can bring,” Migro said. “What Kyle and Brad (Sweet) and the team at High Limit have done to grow High Limit in such a short amount of time is really exciting.
“We think it’s endless what we can do and where we can keep going. We’re pretty sure it will go beyond the next few years, that’s for sure.”
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Australians have put High Limit International on a level higher than Australia's traditional sprint car meetings, the Australian Championship (Australians only - no Kiwis or Yanks allowed, which fans note dilutes the racing) and Grand Annual Classic (the latter is Australia Day in late January, a 60K AUD to win race that Speed Sport compares to golf and tennis "national opens" in Australia).
There is a giant void in motorsports since NASCAR is all but caput so maybe sprint cars are it. I love the series.
There is no off-season in sprint cars. Big races every month of the year. MTV hampered it by taking away live television in 2001.
The “SC” in “NASCAR” used to stand for “stock car”. LOL!
No stock cars are racing in NASCAR events, and haven’t been for many, many years. NASCAR is on the same level as the NFL, NBA, and MLB, it’s just advertising now and their events are just as boring.
A practical question: what to do with the many tracks? Daytona is famous for its 24 hour race, but most “rovals” are definitely -not- great layouts. Open wheels on ovals are exciting but kinda risky. Maybe this dirt sprint format?
The only “stock” cars from NASCAR Holdings Inc. races are in IMSA where you race GT3 sportscars bought from the factory in the GT Daytona class, GT4 in the Grand Sport class and TCR in the aforementioned class of their Michelin Pilot Challenge, and the Mazda MX-5 Cup.
I strongly believe if Ford and General Motors decide to get back into the compact sedan market, they could make a killing by having their sedans made with a $200,000 body in white version that’s caged up and ready for racing in TCR. Volkswagen, Hyundai, and Geely have TCR racers in many classes worldwide. Make $15,000 1500-2000cc engine sedans that form the base. Then make a higher version for $20,000, a luxury sport for $30,000, a trackday for $40,000, and a TCR for $200,000. The TCR cars would make the most money for the automaker. They do this model for the NHRA Factory Stock Showdown.
Stock cars lost their appeal with the transition to monoque chassis, which had been proven unsafe with the Thunderbirds of the 1960’s. That’s why today’s cars are built on a 1965 Ford Galaxie type chassis with a different front suspension. Real street cars are not safe for racing unlike back in the day. It was cheaper to build chassis just for racing and be safer. That’s how motorsport safety has become where no fatalities have been in a top-tier NASCAR series since 2001. In addition, no fatalities were made in the Gen 5 chassis era (2007-21 in Cup, 2010-present in O’Reilly).
Now Hendrick is taking what used to be Cup chassis manufacturing to build the Army M1301 ISV.
Now, the International Motor Contest Association has this problem with the IMCA Modifieds. The rules required a General Motors 1977-88 G Body chassis. As it’s harder to find any ladder frames from older vehicles left, the racing manufacturers are now having to make replacement ladder frames for IMCA Stock and Modified competition.
I vote for a series of self driving EV’s racing league.
I for one would LOVE to see Ford and GM get back into compact cars with an order list of engines that included high(er) hp engines. But, if they do get into compacts again it will be EV’s. EV’s in tiny form as Trump mentioned will be the future once a major company brings one to market.
Not EV’s but instead I say TCR. It’s global and you can go up against Europe, Korea, and China. TCR (2L turbo 4) is a global formula, similar to GT3 and GT4.
Compact EV’s would be too heavy. A TCR is required to be 2,789 pounds (1265 kg). NASCAR wants Ford and GM to be in Pilot Challenge TCR. Dealers want it. The revenue would be huge if you sell a few TCR body-in-white chassis and then you can take the profits and back the “loss leader” base versions they could sell. Make the big money on TCR and trackday cars, and they subsidise the base models for younger generations.
TCRs are challenging in race trim and nearly analogous to cars actual people could buy (e.g. Honda Civic R TCR has paddles; civ version besides of course comforts and street stuff has ye olde manual. Don’t mind manual per se but it’s demonstrably slower and the Honda is already styled futuristic rather than traditional).
The chassis must be stock (of course caged up)
The FIA announced the 2026 TCR three weeks ago, and the power of the Chinese Communist Party (tyre supplier Kumho) proved itself again.
This upcoming year, they have removed Tailem Band (South Australia, home of the 500km Supercars endurance round that’s a prep for Bathurst) and Monza from the calendar. Monza will be replaced by Paul Richard, Tailmen Band will be replaced by Chengdu in China. The final three rounds of the 2026 TCR World Tour will be held in the People’s Republic.
April 23-25: Ciudad de Mexico, Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez
June 12-14: Cheste, Spain, Circuit Ricardo Tormo
Valencia
July 4-5: Le Castellet, France, Circuit Paul Ricard
July 11-12: Vila Real, Portugal (street circuit)
October 2-4: Inje, South Korea, Inge Speedium
October 16-18: Chengdu, China, Tianfu International Circuit
October 23-25: Zhuzou, China, Hunan International Circuit
November 19-22: Macau, China, Guia Circuit.
Oh them. I completely forgot, being more interested in US races.
https://www.imsa.com/michelinpilotchallenge/imsa-michelin-pilot-challenge-2026-schedule/
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