Kyle Larson Racing, originally Larson Marks Racing, is an American

sprint car Sprint cars are high-powered open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval or circular dirt or paved tracks. Sprint car racing is popular primarily in the United States and Canada, as well as in Australia, New ...

and

midget car racing Midget cars, also speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small with a very high power-to-weight ratio and typically use four cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on mos ...

team owned by NASCAR driver

Kyle Larson Kyle Miyata Larson (born July 31, 1992) is an American professional auto racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports. Larson is the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champi ...

. Fielding cars for

Shane Stewart Shane Stewart (born May 24, 1976) is an American retired professional racing driver. Winner of the 2015 Kings Royal, he last competed in the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and the All Star Series of Champions. Racing career A native of B ...

and later Carson Macedo, the team won over 40 sprint car races across multiple series between 2014 and 2020; Larson himself has won multiple crown jewel midget races driving for the team.

History

Sprint cars

In November 2013 the formation of Larson Marks Racing, co-owned by Kyle Larson and Justin Marks, was announced; the team hired

to drive it's No. 2 sprint car, primarily in the

World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series The World of Outlaws (often abbreviated WoO) is an American motorsports sanctioning body. The body sanctions two major national touring series. It is best known for sanctioning the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and the World of Outlaws Lat ...

, for a partial season in 2014 with a move to full-time WoO competition in 2015. Stewart won at

Eldora Speedway Eldora Speedway (nicknamed "The Big E", "Auto Racing's Showcase Since 1954," and "The World's Greatest Dirt Track") is a high-banked clay dirt oval. Located north of Rossburg, Ohio in the village of New Weston, Ohio, it features permanent and ...

in the team's second-ever start. In 2015, Stewart won the prestigious

Kings Royal The Kings Royal is a major sprint car racing event held annually at Eldora Speedway near New Weston, Ohio, United States. Regarded as one of the world's most prestigious sprint car races, it awarded a $175,000 USD winner's prize since 2019. His ...

at Eldora with the team; he went on to finish second in the World of Outlaws points standings, and during the 2015–2016 offseason was champion of the Winter Heat Sprint Car Showdown at

Cocopah Speedway The Cocopah (Cocopah: Xawitt Kwñchawaay) are Native Americans who live in Baja California, Mexico, and Arizona, United States. In the United States, Cocopah people belong to the federally recognized Cocopah Tribe of Arizona. Name The C ...

. After the 2017 season, Larson took full ownership of the team, renaming it Kyle Larson Racing and hiring

Paul Silva Paul Claude Silva (October 31, 1922 – June 12, 2014) was a phycologist, marine biologist, and algal taxonomist considered to be the world's leading expert in the chlorophyte green algal genus '' Codium''. Silva was also an expert in botanical ...

as general manager. After the 2018 season, Stewart departed to join CJB Motorsports, having won 35 times during his time driving for KLR. rookie Carson Macedo was hired as his replacement, and would win the World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year title at the end of the 2019 season, winning five races overall during his two seasons with the team. In October 2020, it was announced that Kyle Larson Racing's sprint car team would be closing operations at the end of the 2020 racing season; Larson cited difficulties from the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

as one reason for the closure.

Midget cars

In addition to its sprint car team, KLR fielded a No. 1K

midget car Midget cars, also speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small with a very high power-to-weight ratio and typically use four cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on m ...

for Larson to drive in selected events. The team began running in the summer of 2019, and planned to run an "off-season" schedule of prestigious races that winter, including the

Turkey Night Grand Prix The Automotive Racing Products Turkey Night Grand Prix is an annual race of midget cars. It is the third oldest race in the United States behind the Indianapolis 500 and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. It has been held on Thanksgiving nig ...

and

Chili Bowl Nationals The Chili Bowl Midget Nationals is an indoor midget car race that takes place in January on a 1/4 mile dirt oval track at the Tulsa Expo Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. NASCAR calls it the "biggest Midget race of the year". It is nic ...

. Larson won the Turkey Night Grand Prix for his fifth win in six starts with the team, and after reaching the

feature Feature may refer to: Computing * Feature (CAD), could be a hole, pocket, or notch * Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob * Feature (software design) is an intentional distinguishing characteristic of a software item ...

of the Chili Bowl Nationals eight times in twelve attempts without a victory, Larson won the event in 2020, his first year running for his own team. Returning in 2021 with his own team once again, Larson won again in 2021, scoring back to back victories in the prestigious race.

References

{{reflist 2013 establishments in North Carolina 2020 disestablishments in North Carolina Auto racing teams disestablished in 2020 Auto racing teams established in 2013 Auto racing teams in the United States Companies disestablished due to the COVID-19 pandemic Kyle Larson Midget car racing Sprint car racing