By Brian Walker
TAMPA, FL – February 10, 2024 – After an off-season filled with immense anticipation, the inaugural nationwide campaign for High Limit Racing is set to begin this Monday and Tuesday, February 12-13 at Tampa, FL’s East Bay Raceway Park.
For fans, tickets are still available for purchase at https://bit.ly/4b1Ov3N. Keep in mind, if you pre-purchase a Reserved seat you can claim a free pit pass upgrade at the track and you will be entered for a chance at the DURST Dice Roll.
For racers, the “Battle at the Bay” will pay $10,000-to-win, $1,000-to-start on Monday and $15,000-to-win, $1,500-to-start on Tuesday. It’s the first of 59 scheduled events for High Limit Racing, which will pay an overall points fund worth $1,000,000 with $250,000 going to the champion of the series.
As the exclusive Live Streaming Partner, FloRacing will broadcast every High Limit Racing event and bring hundreds of hours of original content to fans at home. If you’re not a FloRacing subscriber, you can become one today at http://www.floracing.com/HighLimit.
Let’s look at some of the top storylines entering the season opener:
THE HIGH ROLLERS: With 17 full-time competitors, the chase for the inaugural High Limit Racing National Championship and the battle for the five High Stakes Charters will be intriguing to follow all season long. The quick basics for each High Roller:
Driver, Age, Hometown (Owner, Number)
– Rico Abreu, 32 y/o native of St. Helena, CA (Rico Abreu Racing #24)
– Jacob Allen, 29 y/o native of Hanover, PA (Shark Racing #1A)
– Spencer Bayston, 25 y/o native of Lebanon, IN (CJB Motorsports #5)
– Tyler Courtney, 29 y/o native of Indianapolis, IN (Clauson-Marshall Racing #7BC)
– Brenham Crouch, 18 y/o native of Lubbock, TX (Crouch Motorsports #1)
– Corey Day, 18 y/o native of Clovis, CA (Jason Meyers Racing #14)
– Cory Eliason, 32 y/o native of Visalia, CA (Ridge & Sons Racing #8)
– Kasey Kahne, 43 y/o native of Enumclaw, WA (Kasey Kahne Racing #9)
– Brent Marks, 33 y/o native of Myerstown, PA (Murray-Marks Motorsports #19)
– James McFadden, 34 y/o native of Alice Springs, NT, AUS (Roth Motorsports #83)
– Conner Morrell, 19 y/o native of Bradenton, FL (Marc Dailey Racing #28M)
– Justin Peck, 25 y/o native of Monrovia, IN (Buch Motorsports #13)
– Parker Price-Miller, 25 y/o native of Kokomo, IN (PPM Racing #9P)
– Brad Sweet, 38 y/o native of Grass Valley, CA (Kasey Kahne Racing #49)
– Tanner Thorson, 27 y/o native of Minden, NV (Rod Gross Motorsports #88)
– Chris Windom, 33 y/o native of Canton, IL (Vermeer Motorsports #55)
– Zeb Wise, 21 y/o native of Angola, IN (Rudeen Racing #26)
TRIUMPHS IN TAMPA: Of the 17 full-time High Limit Racing competitors, three are former winners at East Bay Raceway Park. Most notably, “Sunshine” Tyler Courtney has dominated at the Tampa, FL 1/3-mile lately – sweeping two All Star Circuit of Champions shows last year and winning a third the year prior. In five starts, the Clauson-Marshall #7BC has led 72 of 120 laps and his worst finish is fourth-place.
Cory Eliason, now driving for Ridge & Sons Racing, has won in 360 competition and with the All Star Circuit of Champions in 2022. A trip to East Bay means Parker Price-Miller, running his own #9P, returns to the site of his first-career Sprint Car victory – which came in 360 action over the likes of notable names Rico Abreu, Christopher Bell, Greg Hodnett, and Danny Lasoski back in 2014.
NEW TO TOWN: Three High Limit Racing full-timers – Corey Day, Spencer Bayston, and James McFadden – will be making their first appearance at East Bay Raceway Park, heading into the two-day “Battle at the Bay” with no previous experience at the Tampa track.
THE CHAMP IS HERE: After topping the 11-race mini-series last year, Kyle Larson and Paul Silva have planned to hit 25+ High Limit events in 2024, including the Midweek Money Series. The iconic #57 with the Hendrick Motorsports superstar at the wheel will contest the opening seven events of the High Limit season – including both days at East Bay Raceway Park, where the duo dominated an All Star Circuit of Champions show in 2020.
It’ll be a busy week for “Yung Money,” who will be on some sort of race track every day from Monday through Sunday. It begins with High Limit Sprint Cars in Tampa on Monday-Tuesday, then Daytona 500 activities for NASCAR from Wednesday-Sunday in his HendrickCars.com #5.
STARTING STRONG: With the World of Outlaws officially opening the 410 Sprint Car season this week at Volusia Speedway Park – two hours east of Tampa’s East Bay Raceway Park – many High Rollers are taking advantage of the full-time freedom to bank some extra cash and turn some crucial laps.
Through the opening three nights of action, the High Rollers have earned seven of nine podium spots – including a 1-2-3 sweep in Friday’s Feature led by Tyler Courtney, Rico Abreu, and Brad Sweet, who also won Wednesday’s race. The likes of Justin Peck, Brent Marks, and Kasey Kahne have also finished inside the top-10 at the Barberville, FL ½-mile.
OUTSIDERS TO WATCH: Expecting roughly 40 cars in attendance on Monday and Tuesday, the 17 High Rollers will be joined by a strong cast of outsiders hoping to sweep in and steal the loot.
Among those names are Anthony Macri, Danny Dietrich, Austin McCarl, Aaron Reutzel, Sam Hafertepe Jr, Ryan Timms, Cap Henry, Christopher Thram, Dale Blaney, Devon Borden, Davie Franek, Dylan Norris, Tim Shaffer, and plenty more.
Danny Smith, a 2015 National Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee, will also be in action with his famed #4 – creating a full circle moment for the legendary racer, who also competed in the first-ever Winternationals at East Bay when the track opened in 1977.
A NEW FORMAT: The event format at East Bay will begin with drivers seeded into Flights A/B for Capitol Custom Trailers Qualifying. Flight A times will set Heats 1-2 with Flight B setting Heats 3-4. The lineups will be straight up, other than the quickest qualifier in each Heat being inverted to start fourth. In Heats, the winner and the transfer with quickest qualifying time will move to the FK Rod Ends Dash. The top five are in the A-Main with all others going to B/C-Mains with the fastest non-transfers being put on front row of the B-Main.
If the winner of a Heat Race comes 4th (the fastest transfer), they will guarantee themselves the best available position in the Dash redraw. The A-Main lineup is set straight-up via Dash finish (1-8), Heat Race finish (9-20), and B-Main transfers (21-24).
Another unique aspect, being a two-day show, the top-four finishers from Monday’s preliminary A-Main will lock-in to Tuesday Heat Races – bypassing Qualifying and automatically assuming the fourth-starting spots in Heats, as if they qualified 1-4.
As far as championship points, the point-scale is as follows: 77-72-68-65-63-61-59-57-55-53-51-49-47-45-43-41-39-37-35-33-31-29-27-25.
THE LAST DANCE: Sadly, this week marks the final Winternationals ever held at East Bay Raceway Park – scheduled to hand over the keys and cease operations following the season. Monday and Tuesday’s High Limit Racing doubleheader will be the final major 410 Sprint Car event in track history, and then next weekend from Thursday-Saturday they’ll host the final edition of the well-known King of the 360s event.
EXTRACURICCULAR FUN: Continually focused on improving the at-track experience, High Limit fans will notice several fun tweaks to the nightly program. It begins with Fan Fest, a 30-minute slot following Qualifying and before Heat Races where the pits will open for everybody. During this time, you may find your favorite driver signing autographs at his merch trailer, you could watch how teams work on the cars, you could play games in the midway, and much more.
Bringing fans closer to the stars of the show, you’ll hear songs selected straight from the High Rollers as they DJ the race night – at East Bay, you’ll find out what music Jacob Allen likes. The DURST Dice Roll is back and bringing money to the fans now, offering a pre-sale ticket buyer the chance to roll the dice and if the driver in that starting spot wins, they’ll split that many thousands of dollars. The ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems Hot Seat allows fans to ask drivers whatever questions they want during the Dash draw – you may submit your questions at https://bit.ly/3HFQAVN.
Make sure to follow @HighLimitRacing on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram to stay up-to-date with series information including news, event updates, ticketing information, and more.