Henry Claims 2025 All Star Driver's Championship
FREMONT, Ohio (September 15, 2025) - When Sacramento, California's Kalib Henry woke up in a hospital bed earlier this year after a frightening crash while competing with the World of Outlaws, the 25-year-old wasn't sure what his racing career would look like. Over the weekend, Henry finally got some answers, and a championship with the oldest touring sprint car series in the country.
"It's been a season for ups and downs," Henry mentioned after Saturday's All Star Circuit of Champions finale at Fremont Speedway. "Two months ago, I was in the ICU, not really sure if I was even going to able to finish the championship. Which was probably the toughest position I've ever been in." Henry followed up thanking those who supported him this year, "If it wasn't for family, my girlfriend, and everybody I have backing me, I wouldn't be able to get where I'm at this weekend."
Henry claimed the All Star driver's championship by 28 points over Cale Thomas but the Racers for Life, No. 101 team, fell just short to Thomas and the Rudzik Racing team in owner's points***.
"We obviously would have loved to win both championships but one is better than none," Henry mentioned. "We just had some really tough nights and none of them were really our fault. Driveline issues at Lincoln and I-96, and then a part failure at Wayne County a couple weeks ago. You take those things on the chin, and you keep going."
Henry started the 2025 campaign with a change at crew chief, bringing in Andy Potter to turn the wrenches and the duo quickly hit it off. Henry would claim the season opener at Fremont, driving from 13th to the win. They carried that momentum east against the Pennsylvania Posse finishing the highest among the All Star regulars at Williams Grove and were running in the top-5 at Lincoln before the driveline gave out in the early stages of the race.
Ohio Speedweek challenged the 25-year-old driver of the Running Boxers Farm, Valvoline, C&H Veteran Enterprises, West River Trailer Sales and Service, Butlerbuilt Seats, Birchard Financial, Triple J Towing, Pub 400, No. 10. In seven nights of racing, Henry captured just four top-10s and achieved his best finish of the week with a third at Eldora. Henry finished sixth in Ohio Speedweek points.
After a fifth-place finish at the end of June at Michael's Mercer Raceway, Henry and Potter found their grove once more. Independence Day weekend brought a fifth-place finish at Stateline before taking home their second win of the season at Latrobe Speedway the next night. Henry made appearances with High Limit Racing at Florence and Fremont Speedway before traveling to Attica Raceway Park on July 15th with the World of Outlaws for the Brad Doty Classic, where things would come to a grinding halt.
On the last lap of the Last Chance Showdown, while battling for the final transfer position, Henry made contact with another competitor, which sent the No. 101 machine wing and cage first into the catch fence before ricocheting back to a stop on the racing surface. Henry was attended to quickly by Attica and World of Outlaw officials before being removed and transported via medical helicopter to a toledo area hospital. Henry would be released from the hospital several days later and would spend the next several weeks recovering.
With the All Star points lead in the balance and his health improving, Henry elected to return to racing on August 1st with the All Stars at Hartford Speedway. On that warm summer night, Henry made a statement, winning a race long duel with fellow All Star competitor Devon Borden to take home his third All Star victory of the season. Still wearing some of the battle scars from the July crash, Henry celebrated what he called, 'his most emotional win yet'.
The win kickstarted a series of top-10s for Henry. After a ninth-place finish at Wayne County, Henry tallied a second at Bloomington, and third at Paragon. When the series traveled to I-96 Speedway, Henry had worked his way into the top-5 before a driveline failure brought the night to an end. Not discouraged, Henry rallied the next night at Waynesfield Raceway Park to bring home a fourth-place finish.
Labor Day weekend brought a return to Attica for the first time since the accident and with the championship battle heating up, the team struggled to get the results they were looking for. Henry took home a 10th and 12th place finish Friday and Saturday night, respectively. Things got even worse at Wayne County to end the weekend when a parts failure inside the cockpit of the Henry's No. 101, resulted in the team finishing the night scored 24th.
When the time came to answer the call though, Henry and Potter delivered. September 5th's visit to Freedom Motorsports Park saw Henry claim his fourth All Star win of the season. The duo followed that up with a fifth-place finish at Mercer, which set the stage for Fremont's All Star championship weekend.
Entering Friday night with a 29-point lead over Thomas, Henry just needed to finish within six places of Thomas's 49X to secure the championship with an appearance at any given moment in Saturday night's program. Things looked grim early on, however. Henry qualified 14th in his group and was unable to transfer to the feature event from his heat race. A spirited drive from seventh to second in the B-Main, gave Henry the swing of momentum he was searching for. Albeit starting 22nd in the feature event, Henry quickly worked his way through the field to find himself just outside the top-10 before halfway. Using a series of restarts and green flag runs, Henry swiftly moved to ninth, then eighth, and before the end of the 35-lap affair, Henry had passed Thomas en route to fourth place finish.
When Henry took the green flag for qualifications on Saturday, he formally secured the All Star driver's championship. The team's focus now was on the owner's championship and a Jim Ford Classic victory, a race that Henry finished just one spot short a year ago in. Henry and Co. qualified fifth in their group, won the heat race, and finished third in the dash. On Fremont's slick racing surface, feature action saw Henry struggle to find grip early and fall to fifth before finding a groove around lap 20 and driving to a fourth-place finish. When the dust settled, the No. 101 Racers for Life team had fallen 13 points short in the owner's points battle.
Despite this, Henry has now etched his name into racing history as a series champion with the All Star Circuit of Champions, where he joins the likes of Bobby Allen, Fred Linder, Jack Hewitt, Frankie Kerr, Dale Blaney, Kenny Jacobs, Chad Kemenah, Aaron Reutzel, and more.
On his new champion title, Henry could only say, "I've worked my whole life to get here and to be able to finally standing here, it hasn't quite sank in yet."
Henry and the No. 101 team will finish the 2025 campaign at Eldora Speedway with High Limit Racing at this weekend's 4-Crown Nationals.
***Cale Thomas missed the first All Star race of the season. Trey Jacobs piloted the Rudzik Racing 49X to a 10th place in that event.
2025 Season Stats
39 Races / 4 Wins / 16 Top-5s / 25 Top-10s
Next Events
September 19th - Eldora Speedway - High Limit Racing
September 20th - Eldora Speedway - High Limit Racing
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Media Contact
Zane Scott
Zane Scott Media
zanescottmedia@gmail.com
Photo By: All Star Circuit of Champions/Facebook