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High Limit Racing: Allegations of cheating tarnishes reputation

Posted by AR1 staff

While NASCAR Cup driver Kyle Larson is in the midst of racing Sprint Cars eight consecutive days across two different continents and hemispheres, his High Limit Racing Series has come under attack for cheating.

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After getting schooled by the more talented Australian James McFadden two nights in a row, Larson will race in the $100,000 High Limit International finale on Monday night in Perth, Australia.

He will then hop on a plane the next morning in Perth and fly to Los Angeles to connect to Tulsa to compete in all four adult divisions of the Tulsa Shootout in Oklahoma — Winged A-Class, Stock Non-Wing, Non-Wing Outlaw and Winged Outlaw.

While High Limit Racing co-owner Larson is zigzagging across the globe, allegations that the series lets cheaters win races won’t go away.

Kevin Nouse, who served as High Limit Racing technical director for just seven months before being dismissed on June 17th, has questioned the series’ integrity with some explosive revelations that have shaken the Sprint Car world.

Claiming that he has the best interest of the sport at heart, Kevin Nouse wrote on social media, “It’s not my intention to damage anything concerning Sprint Car racing. I have nothing against High Limit Racing, the World of Outlaws, or anyone else.

“Sprint car racing is thriving and it’s awesome to see. However, enforcing the rules and having integrity needs to be just as important as any other thing they do. ‘Don’t bring it back,’ ‘quit looking for that,’ or ‘just let it go’ shouldn’t be in a series director or tech director’s vocabulary.”

The allegations first surfaced in January earlier this year, and even though the matter appeared to be settled, the former technical inspector raised them again.

Nouse took to social media this past week. In a series of tweets, the former High Limit Racing employee explained that he once found a 1.25” wicker bill in a driver’s top wing during a post-race inspection after he won the race.

Despite wanting to disqualify the participant, Nouse claims he was told by series director Mike Hess to let it go.

Another instance was when Nouse found an engine with two crank triggers even though the rule said only one is allowed, but was told to “quit looking for crank triggers.”

The technical director also confiscated an MSD box from a team, but according to allegations on social media, Nouse was told that he couldn’t take anyone’s MSD apart.

Sharing his intentions behind the controversial allegations, Kyle Larson’s former employee went on to say, “It has to do with integrity. As a fan, a driver, or an official, I want to be sure that the playing field is level, and the only way to ensure that is for these tracks and series to hire people with that mindset.”

However, the claims made by the former High Limit Racing official were swiftly refuted.

Nouse risks being banned from the sport for exposing the cheating, but he isn’t concerned about the potential repercussions of taking to social media, claiming, “This entire experience took away that passion and made me realize I’m fine without it.”

High Limit Racing co-owners Kyle Larson and Brad Sweet has distanced themselves from Nouse’s allegations by issuing a statement. It read, “High Limit Racing believes in a fair and equal playing field for all competitors. Any claims to the contrary are unjustified. We’re focused on the success of our inaugural international event and continuing to improve the sport of sprint car racing.”

Larson instead wanted to talk about his hectic schedule.

“Yeah, it will be a little bit hectic going back to get to the Shootout,” Larson told FloRacing. “Originally, I was going to stay here through the first and celebrate the new year here. I decided to go back on New Year’s Eve and be there for our youngest son’s birthday and that will also allow me to run all four classes of the Shootout.

“So yeah, early morning flight out of here on the 31st. My flight from Sydney to LA lands at 9:10 and I’m hoping, since I have Global Entry and all that, that I can get through customs and get to my American Airlines flight by 9:30 to Tulsa. I think I can make it work because those long flights tend to get in a little early. We’ll see. If not, I have another flight that gets in on time to run all the races. So yeah, tight schedule getting back, but it will be worth it and won’t miss out on any of the racing.”

And then on January 12, Larson will then be right back in Tulsa to spend a week racing the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals.