(October 19, 2025) — During the 2025 Kubota High Limit Racing banquet Grass Valley, California sprint car driver and series owner Brad Sweet announced he would be stepping away from full time sprint car competition.
Here are some takeaways from one of the most prominent drivers in the sport over the past decade stepping away from full time driving duties.
- Back in 2005 when Brad Sweet was just another talented California kid crashing on people’s couches trying to make his way up the racing ladder, I never dreamed we would be watching the start of a Hall of Fame worthy sprint car career.
Back then Sweet was best known for having a lot of potential and ending up on news reports all over the country including Good Morning America after a wild flip out of Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Indiana during Indiana Sprint Week.
After some NASCAR opportunities in ARCA, Truck, and Busch Series came about it appeared Sweet would just progress through the ranks similarly to other short track open wheel stars at the time.
When those opportunities did not work out combined with the opportunity at Kasey Kahne Racing to migrate from their USAC program to racing winged sprint cars, I figured Sweet would be successful, but not five World of Outlaws championships, two Kings Royal victories, and Knoxville Nationals title among his accomplishments.
Sweet also became a larger part of the sport starting the High Limit Sprint Car Series with his brother-in-law Kyle Larson with support from Flosports, being part of the promotional team at Silver Dollar Speedway, and being a partner in Kahne Screen Print.
That’s quite a journey for the kid I first met with a beat up pickup and small trailer that had just arrived in the Midwest from California over 20 years ago.
I have no doubt that Sweet’s accomplishments will eventually lead into eventual induction to the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum. Having a front row seat for Sweet’s progression through the open wheel ranks, it has been quite an adventure and happy to see it winding down on his own terms.
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2026 is going to be interesting to see how often, if at all, Sweet decides to compete. Drivers like Daryn Pittman have shown they can stay sharp enough with their skills to compete at a high level with solid equipment. Sweet’s growing commitments away from the track make it to where I can’t blame him if he didn’t compete often or at all in 2026.
I’m curious to see how Sweet being out of the race car changes the dynamic for High Limit and Silver Dollar Speedway. Both entities have great staff to manage operations on race day, which Sweet hasn’t been highly available for since the initial High Limit events shortly after the series was announced.
Having Sweet not competing on track at times will make things easier in certain ways on the staff. When controversial moments take place involving Sweet such as the situation at Butler Motor Speedway earlier this year when the feature ran one lap longer than expected, the optics are easier if the series owner is not one of the competitors involved. I’ve seen this throughout the years with tracks and series where the owner is involved with one of the cars or drivers.
I feel High Limit overall did a decent job of handling these situations, but it’s just easier if the possibility of them taking place is minimized or eliminated.
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Sweet continues what I feel is a trend we will see as the norm with driver retiring at a younger age from the upper ranks of the sport. Having kids in race cars at a very young age is not a new trend, my generation has basically grown up with it.
The difference between then and now is how serious the sport becomes for the most talented drivers at such a young age. Everything from quarter midgets, Junior Sprints, Micros, and even kids that get into sprint cars from age 14 and up in the lower classes is taken more seriously than ever.
The investment in those classes is higher than ever and with that comes pressure. Kids are also racing more frequently than ever before at a young age, and eventually there is a tipping point where they start walking away from the sport of winged sprint car racing earlier than the superstars of the past.
Drivers are starting to get off the road and cut back their schedules in their early and mid 40’s. Some of this is taking advantage of some of the opportunities, investing well, and diversifying their portfolios so they don’t have to race for a living at that age.
The days of seeing a Steve Kinser racing into his sixties or Sammy Swindell into his 70’s is rare, but I feel in the next decade seeing topflight drivers go much past 45-46 will become rare.
The lesson to be learned here is to enjoy the talents of your favorite driver while you can, because they may not stretch out their career as other drivers from decades ago.