As is his custom, Kyle Larson took the big money and ran.
Before he left Western Australia at the end of an all-nighter that spanned Dec. 30-31, however, Larson had established himself as the pre-eminent racer on a continent halfway around the world from his usual NASCAR haunts.
Roughly seven hours after he broke James McFadden’s heart — denying the Australian driver a sweep of the first High Limit International 410 sprint car events at extraordinary Perth Motorplex — Larson was high above Western Australia on a 5:10am flight to Sydney, hoping to make practice for the Tulsa Shootout on New Year’s Eve.
By then, Larson had claimed the richest prize in Australian sprint car history, $100,000 Australian ($62,000 U.S.) to win the main event of the three-day show in High Limit Racing’s first venture outside the United States.
By then, Larson had signed his last autograph, cracked his last Australian beer and sold his last T-shirt. After the flight to Sydney, the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion faced a 15-hour flight to Los Angeles and an impossibly tight 24-minute connection to Tulsa, Okla., hoping to clear customs and change airlines in the process.
That left Larson’s brother-in-law and High Limit co-founder Brad Sweet to assess his partner’s impact on sprint car racing specifically and motorsports in general. To Sweet, Larson’s presence transcends the term “generational talent,” a description often used to encompass his ability to drive any vehicle on four wheels faster than anyone else.
“Kyle is such a great ambassador for sprint car racing,” Sweet said. “Sometimes I don’t think he knows exactly how much he brings to the sport. He’s like a kid — he’s an addict to racing… He’s turned into a global star.”
It was no surprise to Sweet that Larson charged from a sixth-place starting position to win the High Limit feature by more than three seconds after overtaking McFadden in traffic with nine laps left.
“Kyle’s just so captivating — the fact that he does all the forms of racing he does and do it so competitively,” Sweet said. “He takes a car he’s never driven, and in three nights he wins the race from the third or fourth row.
“Nothing really surprises me with Kyle anymore. I’ve just learned to smile when he does it.”
At the 0.31-mile Perth Motorplex dirt track, Larson teamed with local owner/driver Jason Pryde, who sacrificed his own participation in the event to support the efforts of the American superstar.
Larson sold out of T-shirts on the first day, and Pryde arranged to have more printed. A second-day sell-out necessitated a third printing. Before Larson took the checkered flag on Monday, Dec. 30, only a half-dozen hoodies and two T-shirts remained.
Australia native Max Ball, his wife and two young sons all came to the track sporting Larson attire. Ball lives in Bunbury, rough two hours south of Perth and the home of Western Australian sprint car legend Dayne Kingshott.
Surprisingly, Ball and his family became fans of Larson not through his sprint car exploits but through the limited exposure NASCAR racing receives in Western Australia.
“I actually didn’t really know he raced sprint cars until late last year,” Ball said. “He’s fast right from the get-go. He picks up the tracks easily, from what I can see — yeah, he’s just a go-getter.”
By contrast, Larson is quiet and unassuming off the track. He agrees with Sweet’s contention that he doesn’t fully appreciate the breadth of his global popularity — but only to a point.
“I think I’m just a race car driver, and that’s most of what I focus on,” Larson said. “But there are times when I finally do open my lens a little bit more and can pay attention and see it.
“I just made a lap around here (the Perth Motorplex pit area, where any fan with a ticket to the race has access). There’s a lot of neon green (Larson’s colors in the No. 1K Pryde car). So, yeah, I realize that I’m a big deal, and a lot of people have seen me, and all that.”
Livery for the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Larson drives in the Cup Series also had a noticeable presence in the Perth grandstands.
“I’ve signed a lot of Hendrick stuff, and I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and say they’ve watched me at Daytona or Vegas,” Larson said. “There’s a lot of fans here who have been to the States for some NASCAR racing.”
Larson acknowledges he had a role model when it comes to competition in a wide variety of racing platforms.
“As far as growing the sport, I look at it kind of like when Tony (Stewart) was around doing it a lot and how I viewed him and how the crowds were when he was there,” he said. “It’s very similar now. So, no, he didn’t pass me the torch, but I feel like the torch is in my hands a little bit, which is a fun opportunity and something I take a lot of pride in.
“But at the same time, I just love racing, and I don’t feel like I’m any different than I was 10 years ago.”
Though Larson has built an international fan base, he doesn’t expect to overtake Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott in the voting for the NMPA NASCAR Most Popular Driver award — though he’s convinced he’s gaining in the grandstands.
In 2024, Elliott won the award for the seventh straight time, and Larson finished second in the sport’s only honor determined exclusively by fans.
“I think he wins that award by a landslide,” Larson said. “His fans — they vote, for sure. They know to vote. I don’t know, I think the popularity contest, or whatever you want to call it, is much closer than what the NASCAR award shows.
“I feel like when you look in the grandstands at a NASCAR race, it’s probably close to 50-50, I would say, between Chase Elliott shirts and Kyle Larson shirts. I think it’s cool for Hendrick Motorsports that the two most popular guys are racing for them.”
Larson says he doesn’t even bother to kid Elliott about the Most Popular Driver award.
“No, ’cause I think we all know that he’s going to win it every year anyway,” Larson said with a laugh. “So, there’s no point in competitive banter.”
Larson, as always, prefers to save the competition for the racetrack, where he takes a back seat to no one.
Footnote: Larson’s flight to Los Angeles arrived early enough for him to make his connection to Tulsa, where he practiced, attended the drivers’ meeting and celebrated son Cooper’s second birthday, all on Dec. 31 — the same day he took off from Perth, on the other side of the International Date Line. Larson is competing in four divisions at the biggest Micro race car event of the year.
By the time Larson landed in Tulsa, High Limit Racing already had announced a return engagement at Perth for 2025, with the winner’s share increased to $110,000 AUD (roughly $68,000 USD) and dates to be revealed later.
