Axsom tackles World of Outlaws in 2026

BARBERVILLE, Fla.: When Emerson Axsom decided to embark on a full-time 410 Sprint Car career, the goal was to excel and compete against the best.

Axsom’s had his share of good runs the last two seasons running a pick-and-choose schedule. So much so that car-owners Dale Klaasmeyer and Scott Petry made the decision to step up to a national tour.

Starting with this week’s DIRTCar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park, Axsom and the Klaasmeyer-Petry Motorsports team will be full time with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series. The 21-year-old driver will be competing for Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year honors over the 84-race schedule.

“I feel like there are two premier series that are pretty even, right now,” Axsom said. “I’m just happy to be in the position to be able to run a national series for a great team. My owners are big fans of the Outlaws, and they feel like this is what is best for the team and made it clear to me that they want to join the Outlaws.”

Said Petry, “We talked about it in the past, but Dale Klaasmeyer is the biggest part of this team, and he grew up wanting to be involved with the World of Outlaws. We kind of left it up to him, so that’s what we are going to do. I think there’s a lot of prestige being a World of Outlaws champion someday, and that’s kind of the direction we wanted to hit.”

A path to a national tour and the World of Outlaws was always the plan for this team. It’s why Klaasmeyer-Petry trekked around the country for two seasons, competing in 140 races against all comers.

It was about getting valuable experience, not only seeing different tracks, but also against stiff competition in central Pennsylvania and throughout the Midwest. Along the way, Axsom recorded three wins and added to his notebook.

Axsom turned heads. It’s why he was tabbed by KCP Racing to fill in for 17 races before heading back to Petry-Klaasmeyer and now back to the World of Outlaws circuit as a series regular.

“Just the fact that I got to see a lot of those tracks running a quarter of the season with the 18 last year, it helped out a lot,” Axsom said. “It didn’t work out, but it was still a big part of my career. I’m still thankful for that opportunity and just glad that I got to run a lot of those races.

“I think it helped a ton just getting my feet wet and not have a ton of pressure on me. There’s going to be a lot of learning curves, but we know what we are stepping into. So, we are just going to set some goals and work toward them over time.”