Brad Sweet is preparing for something akin to an out of body experience on Thursday.
This will be the first time that a High Limit Racing event, the one he co-founded with Kyle Larson and FloSports, will take a green flag without him in attendance. It will also be the first time that Sweet will see a championship he is used to chasing move on without him in high pursuit.
This was also entirely his decision.
Sweet, the five-time World of Outlaws champion and inaugural High Limit champion, retired from full-time competition at the end of last season to spend more time with his family while also giving the management side of High Limit his full attention.
To anyone that has spoke to ‘The Big Cat’ over the past three or four years, there were signs. He spoke frequently about having more runway behind him than ahead of him. He talked about wanting to challenge himself as a promoter with so few things left to do as a competition.
But certainly, the crash at Eldora during the Kings Royal last year that left him concussed and bruised, was a factor as well.
“I think I had it in the back of my mind that I was always going to race full-time until I was 40,” the 40-year-old told Motorsport.com on Tuesday. “There were multiple factors that played into my final decision — my daughter getting a little older and High Limit launching a pretty serious franchise system with some serious players involved.
“Like, if we want to take this thing to the next level, is it really the right thing for me to be participating full-time?”
But yes, there were the injuries and the risk of further injury, all the while wanting to ensure that he could be present more as a father and husband. Those factors intersected with the business factors and now Sweet needs to figure out where he’s watching the season opening feature from on Thursday at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track.
“Oh, that’s a good question,” Sweet said. “I don’t know how I’m going to feel. Like, I’m already here in Vegas and am helping the track prep crew so I’m going to be more at ease than a lot of people realize because I’ve been doing Silver Dollar Speedway for a few years now and there are a lot of nights where I’m working and not racing.”
Sweet also operates Silver Dollar in Chico, California with Larson and Colby Copeland.
“I could have raced this week but I just don’t think that was the tone I wanted to set because I want to be in the trenches with the staff and let the stars be the stars,” Sweet said. “The next generation of drivers are coming and we have plenty of great storylines.
“I’m going to find the best places to fit in, wherever I’m needed, and I do think the track prep side will be where I can make the most impact on race days because I know what we need to do. We have a lot of fan engagement things and I want to be available there and just really try to grow this thing.”
Retirement is not even really the right word because Sweet is still scheduled to race 20-30 times in 410 Sprint Car competition in the Paul Silva prepared and Kevin Kozlowski owned No. W. That includes some of the biggest races of the year, including the Knoxville Nationals.
When Sweet stepped away at the end of last year, he did so with the full support of Kasey Kahne and NAPA Auto Parts, and did not really have any idea how much he would race or where. Silva offered the ride, and they’re both in California, and can race in a way that doesn’t strain what Sweet wants this year to be or what Silva has with Larson behind the wheel so it works.
“I think, not having this big 80 or 90 race schedule looming over my shoulder allows me to pick-and-choose what is best for myself but also keeps me rejuvenated or fresh when it’s time to go,” Sweet said. “I get to go to those races with a good team and do it at a high level because otherwise, I think I would be completely done.
“So we’ll see how this year goes. This is kind of a rebalancing year for me to figure out what works and what doesn’t work, figure out how to get better in all facets, for myself, my family and High Limit.”
Ultimately, Sweet is all-in on making High Limit one of the standards in motorsports and entertainment. It’s just that growth is kind of a nebulous concept because he wants everything to be better.
Better facilities
Better purses
Broadcast rights expansion
More teams
But is there one area that he thinks will be his focus more than anything else in this new capacity?
“It’s hard because, in business, the most important thing changes from day-to-day and week-to-week, month-to-month,” Sweet said. “But I would say we are focused on the fan experience and growing our audience.
“To me, that’s about fan engagement and increasing the entertainment value and making our product more appealing to a wider audience. I think dirt track racing has stunted its growth sometimes because maybe they like the smallness of the business and sometimes, some of the venues are not the most professionally ran events.
“So, over the next five years, anything that we brand High Limit with moving forward, we want it to look a certain way and be aligned with the people that have the same vision for the sport that we do.”
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