Performance Racing Industry Trade Show
Flo-Lucas Oil combo is 'another step forward'
Rick Schwallie during a PRI Trade show interview. (FloRacing)
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Dec. 11) — Rick Schwallie has spent more than two decades — nearly half his life — working with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, so he has the cachet to know what’s good for the national tour.
And in the wake of Thursday’s announcement that FloSports has acquired the Lucas Oil Series, the circuit’s longtime director was in a noticeably upbeat mood while mingling on the opening day of the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show.
“I’m excited,” Schwallie said in an interview Thursday morning with FloRacing general manager and DirtonDirt founder Michael Rigsby. “I’m excited for what the future really holds. I’m excited for us to be partnered together (with Flo). And I really feel that Lucas has been a powerhouse in our sport for a long time, and I think Flo is too. You’re gonna combine those two, and I’m excited for that.
“I mean, that’s my initial gut reaction — this has a lot of potential to be really special and I look forward to that part.”
Schwallie, 47, joined the tour in March 2005 when Lucas Oil Products purchased the NARA DirtCar Series and relaunched it as the Lucas Oil Series. He had been a photographer and official with NARA and stayed in that position with Lucas Oil, where he rose in rank to become the series director in April 2016.
With FloSport’s purchase of the series three years after the Austin, Texas-based digital media company landed its broadcast streaming rights, Schwallie will remain at the helm of the tour. In fact, all eight of the Lucas Oil Series’s full-time employees will continue in their roles, including Schwallie’s wife, Ashley, who serves as administrative manager, assistant director Jeremy Shields, technical director Kenute Mausehund and longtime series announcer James Essex.
That continuity in staff — along with Lucas Oil signing a multiyear deal to remain the title sponsor of the series — makes FloSports’ takeover of the tour especially pleasing to Schwallie.
“It was very important that we’re not in a rebranding phase here,” Schwallie said. “Everything stays the same — the wraps on the trucks will stay the same, the logo’s the same. Really, for just an initial reaction, there’s not gonna be much different that the common fan would even notice a difference.
“I guess more for me, I just really want to make sure that we convey that Lucas Oil has been very supportive of grassroots racing and they’re gonna continue to be. They’re still gonna be a major part in our whole program and what we’re doing. I’ve been there for 21 years, I’m very grateful for what they’ve done for me and my family and what they’re going to continue to do (as a sponsor). They didn’t have to do all that, but they stuck with us for the foreseeable future and they’re supporting us.”
Schwallie said much of the transition occurred behind the scenes before the industry-rattling news was announced. Now it’s business as usual for him and his team as they churn toward the season-opening stretch of Georgia-Florida Speedweeks racing that kicks off Feb. 19 at All-Tech Raceway in Ellisville, Fla., though the extra possibilities that will open up with FloSports’ media resources and other racing connections have him anxious for the future.
“In the short time that we’ve know about this, that the change is gonna happen, obviously the support staff at Flo has been tremendous,”Schwallie said. “They’ve (done) all it took to get everybody on board with our staff, and keeping our staff intact, and that was an important first layer for them.
“But I’m ready to get past that. I’m ready to get to the good stuff and what we can accomplish together.”
Schwallie can envision collaborating with other FloRacing properties, including the Kubota High Limit Sprint Car series, which FloSports owns a stake in, and USAC open-wheel circuits.
“Our mindset has been in overdrive here for a few days,” Schwallie said. “It’s very overstimulating, it’s exhausting, mentally exhausting, but yet as we get past all the first-layer stuff and we can dive into other things … I love going to High Limit races — I’ve been to quite a few, I went to Las Vegas last year — and I love learning from other segments of the sport, and I feel like this opens that up even more.
“I really feel like you’re only gonna see two subtle changes. If you were receiving a check from us, the (name) at the header of it will change. And really, the logo that’s on the door of the semi trucks and the DoT numbers are gonna change. That’s really the only subtle differences you’re gonna tell.”
The Lucas Oil Series name remains, which Schwallie sees as a key fact in moving the tour to a new era with FloSports. The ties to the late Forrest Lucas, the entrepreneur who founded Lucas Oil Products and was such a benefactor to all motorsports before his death in August at the age of 83, will stay strong.
“It’s been no secret that Lucas Oil has kind of migrated away from other divisions and other areas, so it would feel uneasy I think if they continued to show those signs and not be involved,” Schwallie said. “But yet they stay involved with us, they believe in this entity. And we’re also in a really good spot with FloRacing that we can grow this for many years to come, so it’s more securing for me than it’s ever been.”
That feeling of the Lucas Oil Series being in solid hands after some uncertainty, however slight, about its future filtered out following Forrest Lucas’s passing was mentioned by several people close to the series.
“Obviously there’s pros and cons to everything,” said Hudson O’Neal, the 2023 Lucas Oil Series champion. “But Flo obviously has a big outreach on the Late Model world with their FloRacing Night in America Series (which will continue in 2026), and Michael Rigsby and Ben Shelton and everybody that's a part of FloSports all the way to the top, you know, they have a lot of experience in Dirt Late Models and dirt racing as a whole as well as a lot of business sense to bring something new to the table.
“Rick Schwallie and everybody staying is big, and Rick, he’s very, very passionate about Dirt Late Models and about the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. I think they're gonna do big things, so we’re really looking forward to being a part of it next year and I think it’ll be on the up and up.”
Ray Cook, a former Lucas Oil Series regular who now operates multiple regional series in the Southeast and serves as the technical director for the FloRacing Night in America Series, see potential for growth with FloSports assuming ownership of tour.
“Basically that series has been solid for years, so it’s another step forward,” Cook said. “Everything Flo’s done in this sport has been good as far as I know and they’re solid, and it just keeps (the series) solid to where you don’t have to worry about it.”
The same idea was offered by Ricky Thornton Jr., the 2024 Lucas Oil Series champion who’s been the tour’s most prolific winner over the past three seasons.
“I think it’s good,” Thornton said. “I feel like our sport’s on a trajectory of going up and I think Flo’s gonna help that.
“I got to talk to Schwallie a little bit earlier, and it sounds like all the people there are staying, which was kind of my main thing. Obviously I feel like with Rick and Kenute and Jeremy, they’ve all done a really good job as far as making sure our sport’s headed in the right way. I think any time a company switches hands like that you really don’t know, but I feel like with Rigsby and everyone at Flo, they’re gonna make sure that they’re doing the right thing.”
Earl Pearson Jr., a four-time Lucas Oil Series champion who transitioned to a part-time official’s role with the tour in 2025, was just glad for the circuit he loves will roll on with a bright future.
“Flo is just doing so many different things, you know, with the TV packages and just on growing the sport even a little bit further than where it’s at today,” Pearson said. “And the good thing with Lucas Oil, look how many years they’ve been involved, and moving forward they're still gonna be involved, so I think that's a great thing, I mean, for both sides.”
Editor’s notes: Michael Rigsby and Kyle McFadden reporting from Indianapolis; remote writing and editing by Kevin Kovac; DirtonDirt is a division of FloSports.
