FORT WORTH, Tex.—The cliche that everything is bigger in Texas is tough to challenge, particularly in the world of motorsports.

From the incomparable A.J. Foyt—dubbed “Super Tex”--and “Lone Star J.R.” Johnny Rutherford in open wheel to the Labonte brothers, Terry and Bobby, in NASCAR, Texas has enjoyed its share of champions.

This weekend, the next generation of Texas racers will compete with Kubota High Limit Racing in the Stockyard Stampede at The Dirt Track and Texas Motor Speedway. 

Three High Limit full-timers—Aaron Reutzel, Brenham Crouch and Chase Randall, along with local standout Sam Hafertepe, Jr., are testing their talents on the 0.4-mile clay oval.

Reutzel smoked the field in practice and qualifying on Thursday night. He topped the Dirt Draft Fastest in Hot laps with a time of 13.699 seconds. His lap of 13.197 seconds earned the driver of the No. 87 Ridge & Sons Racing sprinter the Capital Custom Trailers QuickTime for the fourth time in 2025.

Unfortunately, the 34-year-old from Clute, Texas, lost power while running third in Heat 1 and was forced to start 19th in the 25-lap feature. Despite considerable difficulty in making passes, Reutzel gained eight positions during the main event. With two HLR victories, he is currently tied with defending champion Brad Sweet for most wins on the tour.

Reutzel’s love of racing started early in Southeast Texas, where his father raced micros. He followed that path in micros initially at Gulf Coast Speedway in Alvin, Texas.

“There was a lot of dirt racing down south for quite a while,” said the driver, who grew up an hour south of Galveston. 

Reutzel quickly graduated from his local track to the ASCS Gulf Series before moving to the national tour and then All Star Circuit of Champions.

Over the last decade, Reutzel has earned three All Star titles (2018-2020), the 2020 Ohio Speedweek championship and 75 wing victories—including three with the High Rollers. His most prolific venue is Knoxville Speedway, where Reutzel has 27 track wins.

The secret to his success? 

“Our cars have been really good this year,” Reutzel said. “But years of racing helps.”

Since the inception of High Limit, Reutzel has been drawn to the revamped sprint car series, where he has found a home.

“I really like their vision,” Reutzel said. “They really take care of their owners and their drivers. They’ve got a really, really good deal going on.

“You’re only as good as who you race around. And when you don’t race with these guys, you kind of lose your racecraft a little bit because they’re on a different level. Luckily, I’ve been able to pick it back up real quick. I don’t think we’re a quarter of the way in and we’re in a good spot. There’s only more good things to come.”

Chase Randall’s quest for High Limit rookie honors hit a high note on Thursday with a season-best fourth-place result at Texas—his second top five on the HLR circuit. The 20-year-old from Waco was 13th in qualifying and started eighth after finishing third in Heat 1 in the No. 9 Randall Racing ride.

“It’s been my dream to race sprint cars at the highest level and ultimately to win a sprint car championship,” Randall said. “I feel like I’m in a great spot to start that. It’s all about getting laps now and putting myself in the best position for the future.”

Randall started racing quarter midgets in Austin at age five. By eight, he had earned the moniker “The Quickest Chicken,” a connection to his sponsor and father’s business, Bush’s Chicken. To expedite his progress, the family started competing in POWRi throughout Texas and Oklahoma. At 15, Randall scored his first ASCS wing 360 sprint victory at Lake Ozark Speedway. Three years later, he won the 2023 track championship at Knoxville, Iowa, also in the Wing 360 class.

“We moved to Knoxville, Iowa, my first or second year racing Sprint cars, to gain better experience with sprint car drivers and for me to race at tracks I would go to,” Randall said. “That kind of slowly progressed my career into the national stage of racing sprint cars where I am now with High Limit.

“It’s been a great time getting to travel the whole country and seeing a lot of cool tracks.’

Of the four Texans competing in HLR this weekend, Brenham Crouch is the youngest at 19, and the only driver to have competed in all 60 races since the series’ inception in 2023. 

From his hometown track, Lady Luck Speedway—aka West Texas Raceway—in Lubbock, Crouch’s curiosity for racing grew while watching his father race winged 305 sprint cars and non-wing 360 race cars. The third-generation racer started with go-karts and progressed to micros, midgets and eventually sprint cars.

Like many up-and-coming open-wheel drivers, Crouch moved to Indiana to pursue his racing ambitions. He was 14. 

“I’m just trying to get my feet wet with guys of this caliber,” Crouch said. “Just trying to get up to speed and prove that I belong.”

Crouch collected the 2022 POWRi National Midget championship followed by the IRA Outlaw Sprint Series title in 2023.

His best High Limit feature result has been ninth twice—most recently on March 28 at Central Arizona Speedway, where Reutzel picked up his second win of the season. In the first of two Stockyard Stampedes, Crouch finished 15th on Thursday.

Sunnyvale’s Hafertepe Jr. prevailed amongst his Lone Star brethren on Thursday, scoring his first podium finish with High Limit in his first start of the season. With home just an hour east of the TMS Dirt Track—and an off weekend for his regular tour (the American Sprint Car Series)—it was the perfect opportunity to cash in on High Limit.

“They have good money on the line, so we figured we’d come out and give it a try,” Hafertepe said.

Hafertepe won five consecutive American Sprint Car Series titles from 2016-2020. His ASCS victory last month at Salina Highbanks Speedway in Pryor, Oklahoma, tied the 39-year-old racer with Jason Johnson for second most all-time wins in the series Wing 360 division with 79. 

Not only does Hafertepe hope to top Johnson for second in the all-time win category, but his sixth ASCS title would also break the tie for most championships with the late Ragin’ Cajun. 

Hafertepe’s racing dreams started more than three decades ago in karting. 

“Every young kid has admirations—or at least a lot of kids back then had admirations of NASCAR,” Hafertepe said. “Jeff Gordon was the new kid on the scene. He was pretty dominant when I was watching NASCAR. He was the guy that got me interested in racing and wanting to do it at a high level. 

“That’s what we wanted to do, and sprint car was a stepping stone along the way.”

Hafertepe honed his skills at North Texas Motor Speedway in Royse City and advanced to Devil’s Bowl in Mesquite—both of which have since closed down. 

Although he continued to follow NASCAR, including the Labonte’s from Corpus Christi, after getting a taste of dirt track racing, Hafertepe was hooked.

“There wasn’t really any one driver that sent us down that path,” Hafertepe said. “We had a couple of bigger names—Rick Ferkel, Johnny Suggs from Mesquite, Texas—that kind of paved the path for me. 

“I grew to love sprint car racing, stayed in it, and made a career of it.”