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Eldora Speedway
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Eldora Speedway, also known as The Big E and Auto Racing's Showcase since 1954, is located near Rossburg, Ohio. Eldora is a half-mile clay oval with an estimated seating capacity of nearly 20,000. It hosts such races as "The King's Royal," "The Dirt Late Model Dream," "Chevrolet American Revolution Weekend," and "The World 100." The World 100 annually attracts over 200 dirt late-model racers, while the Chevrolet American Revolution Weekend originally featured four races in one night -- midget, non-winged sprint, Silver Crown, and dirt modified, with drivers earning a special bonus should one driver win all four races.
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Encyclopedia
Eldora Speedway, also known as The Big E and Auto Racing's Showcase since 1954, is located near Rossburg, Ohio. Eldora is a half-mile clay oval with an estimated seating capacity of nearly 20,000. It hosts such races as "The King's Royal," "The Dirt Late Model Dream," "Chevrolet American Revolution Weekend," and "The World 100." The World 100 annually attracts over 200 dirt late-model racers, while the Chevrolet American Revolution Weekend originally featured four races in one night -- midget, non-winged sprint, Silver Crown, and dirt modified, with drivers earning a special bonus should one driver win all four races. Owner Tony Stewart split the dirt modified race to the previous night in order to match that race with a winged sprint car race when both races were sanctioned by the same organisation.
NASCAR driver Tony Stewart purchased the speedway in late 2004 from Earl Baltes, who built the speedway from the ground up in 1954. Stewart hired promoter Larry Kemp to head the day-to-day operations at the circuit.
A new Daktronics LED scoreboard and billboards were added off Turn Two, to be more visible against the setting sun. Additional catchfencing and a new caution light systems were added for safety. Stewart said he hoped to add a large-screen video board instead of the standard scoreboard.
The Dirt Late Model Dream
The Dirt Late Model Dream, currently a United Midwest Promoters late model sanctioned-race, has been run annually since 1994 (except in 2001 when a million-dollar purse race was run instead) in June. The race is noted for its prize money, worth $100,000 for the winner.
In 2005, Stewart added a Wednesday night undercard, the "Prelude to the Dream", a Sprint-sponsored race with visiting Sprint Cup stars driving borrowed UMP Late Models. Kenny Wallace won the first "Prelude to the Dream" and a total of $50,000 dollars was donated to Kyle Petty's Victory Junction Gang Camp.
The race was canceled because of rain in 2006, and Tony Stewart won the makeup race, the "Prelude to the World," a reference to the September World 100 late model race (it was now scheduled for that weekend), and celebrated his win by climbing Eldora's new catch fence and jumping into the crowd of fans. Both "Prelude" events combined have attracted more than 40,000 spectators to Eldora Speedway.
The 2007 race returned to the Dirt Late Model Dream feature in June, and featured both a live audience and pay-per-view coverage, with all proceeds from the coverage again being donated to Victory Junction. The NASCAR on FOX crew of Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip, Dick Berggren, Matt Yocum, and producer Pam Miller were on the broadcast staff as well as NASCAR on TNT booth analyst Kyle Petty. Carl Edwards held off Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon to win the 2007 event and celebrated by doing his trademark backflip off of his car onto the dirt. Over $800,000 was donated to the charity.
In 2008, the NASCAR on FOX crew of Mike Joy, Darrell Waltrip, Dick Berggren, Matt Yocum, and producer Pam Miller returned to the track to call the event for HBO Pay-Per-View along with NASCAR on TNT's booth analyst Kyle Petty. 23,000 fans attended the race this year as they watched track owner Tony Stewart win the 4th annual charity race. At the end of the race, the Tony Stewart Foundation donated $1,000,000 to the Victory Junction Gang Camps.
The World 100
The 36th annual World 100 was held on September 9, 2006. The race has been said to be one of the greatest dirt late model races ever held, as in the last 25 laps the top 5 cars raced feverishly for the lead. The race was won by Jacksonville, Florida's Earl Pearson, Jr. as a total of 195 cars tried to make the 28 car starting field.
Chevrolet American Revolution Weekend
From 1981 until 2006, the 4-Crown Nationals were a historic part of the track's September race card, with four different races on one night:
- USAC Midgets
- USAC Sprint Cars
- USAC Silver Crown
- UMP Dirt Modified
In 2007, Tony Stewart changed the format to a two-night format renamed Chevrolet American Revolution Weekend, owing to the ownership of the United Midwest Promoters being owned now by the World Racing Group. The new format has the World Racing Group sanctioned cars on Friday and the United States Auto Club sanctioned cars on Saturday.
Friday:
- UMP Dirt Modified
- World of Outlaws Sprint Series (winged sprint cars)
Saturday:
- USAC Midgets
- USAC Sprint Cars
- USAC Silver Crown
Additional reading
- at NASCAR.com, Retrieved June 6 2007
- at , Retrieved June 3 2008
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