Eldora Speedway

Motorsport venue
Name = Eldora Speedway
Nicknames = The Big E
Auto Racing's Showcase since 1954
Time = GMT-5
Location = Rossburg, Ohio
Coordinates =


Image_caption = Eldora Speedway from overhead
Capacity = 17,905 (permanent)
Owner = Tony Stewart
Operator =
Broke_ground =
Opened = 1954
Closed =
Construction_cost=
Architect =
Former_names =
Events = Prelude to the Dream
World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series
USAC Sprint Car Series
Miles_first = True
Layout1 = Oval
Surface = Clay
Length_km = 0.804
Length_mi = 0.5
Turns = 4
Banking = Turns: 24°
Straights: 8°
Record_time = 0:12.707
Record_driver = Craig Dollansky
Record_team = Dollansky Racing
Record_year = 2002
Record_class = World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series

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.

print Prelude to the Dream

In 2005, Stewart added the "Prelude to the Dream", a Sprint-sponsored race with visiting Sprint Cup stars driving borrowed World of Outlaws 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 World 100 in September, when the makeup race was scheduled) 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 heldFact|date=July 2008, 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.

IROC

Stewart hoped for an International Race of Champions event to be held at Eldora in 2007, even refusing to take the $1 million prize that came with his winning the 2006 season title, in exchange for an event to be held at his track. However, IROC went on hiatus for the 2007 season due to lack of sponsorship. IROC is selling their equipment and it appears to have suspended operations, although this happened once in the early 1980s for three years before reappearing in 1984.

USAC 4-Crown Nationals

Since 1981, the 4-Crown Nationals have been 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. The three USAC classes race on Saturday night, and the UMP Dirt Modified race is now run on Friday night with the World of Outlaws Sprint Series, as both UMP and WoO are owned by World Racing Group, so Stewart had the two World Racing Group sanctioned races on one night, and the United States Auto Club races on Saturday night.

Additional reading

* [http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/headlines/cup/06/06/prelude.dream.eldora/index.html "Racing on Eldora's dirt path special for big-time drivers"] at NASCAR.com, Retrieved June 6 2007
* [http://www1.raceweekonline.com/anm/templates/template4.aspx?articleid=1446&zoneid=11 "Stewart's Prelude coming soon"] at [http://www.raceweekonline.com Race Week Online] , Retrieved June 3 2008

External links

* [http://www.eldoraspeedway.com/ Eldora Speedway website]