Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

I predicted in 2025 that the King's Royal would be the first crown jewel event to fall into the High Limit series hands.  It didn't happen in 2026.  In 2025, the World of Outlaws announced they would be returning as the sanctioning body for the King's Royal within days of the event.  Then, it briefly disappeared from the 2026 schedule, before returning later on in the season.  Hmmmm.  Sounds like some pretty intense negotiating had taken place.  

This year---no announcement from the World of Outlaws as they had in the past years right after the event.  It was almost always one of the first events placed on the schedule.  Eldora has announced the dates.  The World of Outlaws made a quick post that said "Start the Countdown to the 2027 #King'sRoyal."    But, nothing on the schedule. 

Many are saying "so what?"  They don't follow the sanctioning body's rules anyways.  (I wish they would, but that's a different discussion)  It's just "show up" points.  I don't know what the WoO would do if the High Limit took control of this race.  I know what I would do if I owned the business that just got one of its highest viewed/streamed races taken away from me.  I'd schedule against it.   I'd take my series to the West Coast, and I'd schedule a series of races culminating in a $200,000 to win race.  Somewhere where the car count is not going to be influenced by Eldora.  I definitely would not let the competition take one of the highest viewed weekends and turn DV dark.  

Not saying the WoO doesn't get the KR back for 2027.  Just saying--it was a bit on the weird side last year, and this year, there's nothing from the WoO.  As soon as the HL gets control of the first "crown jewel" the real fracture begins, because we've seen nothing yet.  

You leave out option #3. What if Eldora decides to go the Knoxville Nationals route and runs their own race, letting WoO tag along? Eldora really has nothing to gain by paying a sanction fee for their big races to any series. The sanctioning bodies need Eldora more than Eldora needs them.

Scheduling a race against a premier event out of spite seems suicidal. The big races have been built up over the years. It's about the race, not about whose sign is hanging on the fence.

Before I respond, let me be clear---I AGREE 100% with your last statement---at least for the fan.

Eldora is in a pickle.  With streaming involved in this now, the dynamic has changed.  Eldora and Knoxville do their own thing regardless of who is on the banner--HL or WoO.  But, which streaming service is used for these events is the biggest factor in today's day.  Who gets to promote the race before, during, and after on social media is also huge.  It's not 1990 anymore.  It might be for guys my age or your age, but not for the next round of fans.  They get the news 24 hours before I even see it.  How money is made is so different right now and having a presence is very important. 

Would this move be suicidal?  Likely.  But lots of businesses took drastic measures when they have felt threatened, whether it worked out, or not.  And while it might be about the race to us as fans, and not whose sign is hanging on the fence, I dare you to tell executives and investors from either series it makes no difference.  For them, it's ALL the difference on whose banner is on that fence. 

Gonna be fun.  Unless they merge, there's gonna be so much "fun" coming.  Is a 70 car Knoxville Nationals in our future?  It is if there's a 30 car King's Royal due to one sanctioning body scheduling against it.  Boycotts have been silently happening already over this past season.  They will become public if this starts getting ugly.  

Let's hope I'm wrong and the KR is a WoO event in 2027. But Tony already pulled his car off of the WoO tour.  Last year's King's Royal was followed with an immediate press release that the WoO would be back as the sanctioning body for the 2026 KR.  Then it is removed from the WoO schedule.  Then, later in the year, it reappears.  Now, crickets from either side.  I'm no Nancy Drew, but does this sound a bit suspicious?  And if it does happen, and the WoO doesn't get anything scheduled in 2027 against the HL King's Royal, and their drivers use their free pass to run the KR, don't think for a second they aren't trying to put something together behind the scenes to make up for a tremendous amount of lost revenue and exposure. 

For me personally, I don't watch the King's Royal most years because the format is dumb in my eyes.  I'm more worried about the implications this all has on the rest of the sprint car world.  The race itself?  I'll watch Tuesday through Friday.  Saturday is not a must watch for me.  

The trick, and I have no clue how you would make this happen, would be for Eldora, Knoxville, Williams Grove, etc to get both sanctioning bodies and both streaming services there at premier races. Let them compete to put out the best online package. 
 

That would make for a smoother transition for the inevitable merger. (Oops! Did I say that out loud? )

A thirty car Kings Royal? Idon't think so. If either HL or WOO don't show up for $200.000 to that many more locals from across the country will be there and the fans won't notice the two tenths of second difference in speed. AS far as who streams it Flo or Dirt most will just click on a different icon on their device. Corporate sponcers may change some but if the same number of people are veiwing they will be there. A merger, I don't see that. If thirty car from a sactioning body show up few locals will even try and that will take away alot of interest. I don't see the problem with two major sanctioning bodies. I don't understand the hate of some fans for either of them. 

  It is sort of like here in Pa.. Port royal has had 410's for their fair opener for ever. This year they gave it up to allow Lincold to have that date alone. All that did was make the fair dead on opening night and only 24 sprint car teams got paid to run a feature instead of 48.

Car count would definitely suffer if one series or the other was a no show.  $200,000 to win means nothing to guys that would never win that $200,000 over either series top guys. 

I've gotta disagree with you on that. I think that $200,000 to win and the toughest teams are taken out of the equation would probably be the incentive for a lot of local and lower budget teams to show up. In that particular case, $100,000 to win with an extra $100,000 spread out back through the field might do wonders.

Whether the fans show up might be the bigger issue. Wasn't it Mansfield Ohio that tried a big-dollar non-sanctioned race right after the Knoxville Nationals for a couple years?
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It's a different world than it was when I was chasing races.  I'm content to have two streaming channels as long as they're still fun to watch.  There has been some great racing with a variety of weekly tracks and series I like to watch.

Tonight I just watched Cam Shafer, one our local drivers, just won one of the non-wing qualifiers.  Jake Kouba locked into the Feature as well.  The support class is some winged deal called High Limit.  �

Stan Meissner

you know the whole FS1, Amazon Prime connection with HL and Flo

Could it be there is something cooking with DV and another large media/sports network provider for the WoO?

Hopefully we don't have to find out.  But, let's do a hypothetical.  Let's say the HL or WoO boycotted the Knoxville Nationals.  What driver is not already there that would have a legitimate shot at winning that event?   I can think of zero.  I think the $200,000 to win means absolutely nothing when it comes to other regional or local cars signing in.  This race is an expense for almost every single car that doesn't have a high dollar sponsor footing the bill.  With both series in attendance, there are maybe 15 cars that have the potential to win that race.  Take either series out, now you have 7-10, depending on what series leaves.  I don't know how adding cars to the bottom of the roster changes this.  

You got keep in mind that the Kings Royal is not really an Outlaw race anyway. Just as the Tuscarora Fifty is not really a HL race. They let HL run the first two nights but Sat. night it is Port Royals rules and knoxville is Knoxvilles rules.  Remember the terrible foremat? Neither HL or WOO are going to schedule against it. There are some things that are just unwrtten rules. Just as nobody is going schedule against the Knoxville Nationals. Most of these big races The sanctioning bodies are allowed to attach their name to it but the race is going on with or without them. Neither sanctioning body is going to boycot Knoxville. What are they going to create that their drivers want to win as much as Knoxville? 

Correct on neither actually being an Outlaw or HL race.  BUT, huge difference for whoever gets the streaming rights, and the promotional rights.  That's almost everything right now.  

Not around here in Ohio. Eldora is one of the hardest on engines and you will not see anymore locals run that show than what already do. 5 at most and that being extremely generous. The money that they could "potentially" make does not compensate for the money that they will lose running that event. A lot of Ohio teams are already on shoe string budgets and it makes more economic sense to run the weekly track series and races vs going to run at Eldora. Multiple people from various local teams have told my son and I that running 1 race at Eldora for them is the equivalent of 2 maybe even 3 races at Attica, Fremont, Atomic, or Wayne County. 

Mansfield did run a race during the Knoxville Nationals I think around 17' or 18' (different management) but it was not the Big Dollar race that you are thinking which was the $100k race that Shaffer won. We were at the Knoxville Nationals that year, we had friends at Mansfield, they called us during the show and said it was not well attended. We also went to the $100k race that they had that was unsanctioned and I am not sure if that was a big money maker for the track. Plus it was quite deceptive as well as the winners share was the big $ amount. Everything 2nd and below I believe paid less than all other big money races. 

I'd also add the Husets High Banks to this list.  The 4 day format they run easily lends itself to utilizing both sanctioning bodies and that has to be heavily talked about this upcoming year as the Dirt Cup will now be the week before.

I think it's possible that the Kings Royal isn't with the WOO within 3 years.  We already know how Tony feels about the WOO, and has a driver with the HL. 

The Nationals has ran in the past without the WOO title. Dirt Vision will not give up Knoxville, and if that day happens, FLO would buy out DV. 

Keep It Real