SRX, Skip Barber sale falls through, lawsuit impending

With the summer set to wrap up, race fans might have noticed that the Superstar Racing Experience was not tearing it up on short tracks in recent weeks. As it turns out, the series’ acquisition by the Skip Barber Racing School has fallen through, and SRX leadership said Monday that they intend to sue the school’s operator Anthony DeMonte and DMS Apex Holding.

The Skip Barber Racing School, a racing and driving academy founded in 1975, announced in March that it had purchased SRX. The school had been wroking as a logistics partner of the series since the inaugural season in 2021, being responsible for overseeing transport and maintenance of its cars between races.

Although SRX, including then-CEO Don Hawk, signed off on it at the time, it claims the school had failed to complete the deal by the deadline of 30 April. Instead, the school had allegedly not made the required payments despite having all but confirmed the purchase.

“On March 13, 2024, Anthony DeMonte executed an Asset Purchase Agreement (“Agreement”) on behalf of DMS Apex Holding, LLC d/b/a Skip Barber Racing (“Skip Barber Racing”) to purchase the SRX Superstar Racing Experience series (“SRX”),” begins a statement from the series. “The Agreement stated that the parties would close the transaction on April 30, 2024. The Agreement also stated that the transaction was to be private and neither party would announce the transaction without the prior consent of the other party.

“Contrary to that, and without Superstar’s consent, Skip Barber Racing and DeMonte issued a press release falsely stating that they had acquired SRX. In fact, DeMonte and Skip Barber Racing have failed to pay any amount of the purchase price or otherwise fulfill their promise to close the transaction. Consequently, contrary to their false public statements, Skip Barber Racing did not purchase and does not own SRX or any of the series’ assets.

“We have filed a lawsuit in Rowan County, North Carolina against Skip Barber Racing and Mr. DeMonte seeking full damages for their breach of the agreement. Meanwhile, we will continue to explore strategic options as it relates to the future of SRX.”

The school and DMS have yet to respond to the matter. DeMonte also recently had suits filed against DMS from equity firms and money lenders Summit Capital Funding, Luqidibee and Fundamental Capital.

In January, SRX announced the 2024 season had been “postponed” due to “market factors that have proven too much to overcome.” Ryan Newman won the most recent championship in 2023.

The series was co-founded by Tony Stewart and Ray Evernham. Stewart raced all three seasons before the reported sale to Barber, while Evernham has long separated from the series to focus on other projects like the International Race of Champions.