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Ashton Torgerson & Shark Racing Taking on WOO in 2026 as Rookie

Ashton Torgerson Taking Talents to World of Outlaws in 2026 With Shark Racing | World of Outlaws

Welcome to the show. The bigs. The greatest show in sprint car racing. You know you never handle your luggage in the show, somebody else carries your helmet bag. It's great. You don't wheel pack before hotlaps, the tracks are like cathedrals, the hotels all have room service, and the pit lizards all have long legs and brains. 

Interesting, no commentary from the High Limit @$$ kissers....

Name calling doesn't help discussion, you Big Maroon! :)

H-L is losing one car/driver. Is that such a big deal? How many H-L wins does Ashton Torgerson have? Was the 1a a full-timeH-L team in 2025?

Bummer. I was hoping they would run a true outlaw schedule again. 

A

I don't see this lasting past - say - 4th of july, but good luck to all involved

Racer X

I'm curious, why do you think that?

The WoO 2026 lineup looks very tough right now with the commits and assumed commits.  

Word is Jason Johnson Racing is waiting to see what kind of package the outlaws put together this year before deciding what to do. Thats a big hitter to contend or not to contend with.

If the WoO had lost another car I guarantee you we would've heard it.    And for the record Murphy, I prefer Big Idiot...

I see what you're saying, and it makes sense.

I checked the record for Ashton Torgerson and the 1a racing High Limit in 2025. Torgerson raced 18 out of 50 races-maybe. The H-L website is a little tricky to interpret. Maybe he only made the feature 18 times? He had 2 top-5's and 4 top-10's, finishing 18th in driver points.

Torgerson looks like a good, up and coming. young racer. I expect him to go far. Right now, he's not a H-L star, and him going to WoO doesn't seem like such a big deal.

And for the record, I would have accepted Big Dummy as well...;)

I don't have a dog in this fight, and have not been the biggest fan of some of what HL is doing, but the 1a was not a HL car this year....and if I remember correctly didn't make the full tour the year before, as Jacob basically went off the road during the season.

The thing that I was thinking about the other day was how amazing it is where Shark is now.   I know they didn't have the best results the last year and a half but they have two established teams on National tours, have won many races, including a $1 million race, and are continuing on, even after the death of Bobby Allen.

I was at Volusia in 2014 (I think it was 2014) after Allen announced he was taking the two cars on the road after having a little success with Logan in PA (Jacob was a backmarker most of the time still).  I remember wondering why he would do such a thing.  I remember that first night where they went out for warm ups and at least one the cars wouldn't even fire.   I was embarrased for them and thought they were on a fool's errand: that they wouldn't even make it to the Spring California swing before giving up the ghost, and returning to PA and lick their wounds.   How wrong I was, and with the backing they now have, they built two solid touring teams from basically nothing, and are so well established that even when their patriarch, founder, and driving force has died, they can keep on keeping on.  Godspeed Bobby, you proved me very wrong.  

Good Luck to Shark Racing and Torgerson in 2026.

I wish one of the many websites and podcasts would have Jacob on and ask this question.  You, Jacob needed a break from the grind of racing on the road in 2023.  You said it was to mentally taxing and the schedule was to grueling.  And 2025 you ran a pick and choose schedule so you could be home more with your young family.

So why are you, Jacob, going back out on the road?  Won't you have even more responsibilities being the crew chief and the owner? Won't you need to be the leader in getting cars and engines swapped out?  Making sure the logistics are all in place? And all the other duties to run a traveling sprint car team.   It could be said you are taking on a more stressful role with the team than when you were just the driver.   So, Jacob; are you more mentally prepared for the road this time and all your extra work and responsibilities?  Is your family going on the road with you?  If so, that is great, but I have to ask was your partner on the road with you when you had to take a mental/physical break in 2023?    Won't it in some ways be more stressful for her to be on the road with a toddler?  I  just think some of the fans would like to know how this time being out on the road with more responsibilities is going to be different than the last time for you?

I wish some journalist would ask all  these questions and even more.  It should make a person question how will he be able to handle being on the road now with more work and stress.  He is now the owner and crew chief.  He should be the first one up and working on the car in the morning at the hotel.   I am sure he had a lot less on his plate when he drove.  Now he has more.  We shall see.

I still don't get it the haters of H/L...why does it bother you so much that there is another touring group with good cars in it.

Whose better is an opinion and we all know about opinions

getting to see good cars race is such a bonus

WOO left my track ( Lernerville ) so i only get H/L so far its been good racing  and thats all i care about

I have both dirtvision and Flo

so iam loving it.....you should try it too...lot more fun than bitching about whose better

Yea. As in post about young lions. Macri won the Kings Royal, Kofoid Husetts, Timms Knoxville, Day Gold Cup & Sheldon Grove National. Three of them are not full with either sanction And none the won the points in either. So who is best is opinion no matter how you cut it.

I don't have any direct knowledge, so this is a guess based on how I would feel.  Jacob choosing to hang it up on the road coincided with his marriage and birth of his first child.  I can speak for myself, and not anyone else.  If I were kissing my wife and baby each time I strapped into a machine as dangerous as a sprint car, I would have to call it quits.  Nothing against anyone who does it, I just couldn't do it.  Don't know if these feelings factored in on his decision, or if he truly needed to get off the road, but it is entirely possible he didn't like the fact that he could come back hurt, or even worse not come back at all when they are counting on him.  

I could be wrong, as I know that's not the racer's mentality, but maybe that was his thinking and the rest of what he said was just a means to him getting out of the car.  

Several thoughts on this,

-I agree with what egras says above about family and danger

-What Jacob does with his life is really not the business of any fan 

-Maybe Jacob is better suited to be a team owner than a driver

-Perhaps being on the road with a teammate-Uncle Logan- makes it easier

-Maybe he just changed his mind

If in fact Jacob was the crew chief this past season maybe that is his calling rather than driving. That car was fast all season the driver just trouble putting complete night together. Maybe that will come with more experience but I always heard that you should winning regularly where you are before moving up.

The incentive to exclusively follow the WOO is the only way someone who can just make the A be able to race. Ashton can be fast but consistency is what it takes to survive. Dont know if there will be more than 12/15 teams. Right now Rico David and Buddy will be tough with Logan Sheldon Carson Sunshine Aaron and 10 others that can win a feature under the right scenario. Add Day and Larson shapes up to be exciting season and really good at the Nationals Eldora and Hussets when the purses are much larger.

I think you absolutely nailed the first 2 sentences.  Everyone is so captivated by the "$------ to win" headline, that they forget the teams need to add up 12th place money, tow money, and sponsorship dollars and end up in the black.