| The Big E Auto Racing's Showcase since 1954 | |
|---|---|
 | |
 Oval (1954–present) | |
| Location | Allen Township, Darke County, nearNew Weston, Ohio |
| Coordinates | 40°19′07″N84°38′02″W / 40.31861°N 84.63389°W /40.31861; -84.63389 |
| Capacity | 30,000 |
| Owner | Tony Stewart (2004–present) |
| Broke ground | 1953 |
| Opened | 1954 |
| Architect | Earl Baltes |
| Major events | Current: World of Outlaws Kings Royal (1984–2019, 2021–present) World 100 (1954–present) Former: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Eldora Dirt Derby (2013–2019) Superstar Racing Experience (2021, 2023) Super DIRTcar Series (2016–2017, 2019) Prelude to the Dream (2005–2012) |
| Website | http://www.eldoraspeedway.com/ |
| Oval (1954–present) | |
| Surface | Clay |
| Length | 0.500 mi (0.805 km) |
| Turns | 4 |
| Banking | Turns: 24° Straights: 8° |
| Race lap record | 0:12.599 (David Gravel, Jason Johnson Racing, 2020,All Star Circuit of Champions) |
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Eldora Speedway (nicknamed "the Big E", "Auto Racing's Showcase Since 1954," and "World's Greatest Dirt Track") is a 0.500 mi (0.805 km) high-bankedclay dirt oval. Located north ofRossburg, Ohio in the village ofNew Weston, Ohio, its website claims capacity for 22,886 spectators in the permanent grandstand, and unlimited admittance for the grass hillside spectator area.[1] The permanent grandstand and VIP suite seats make it the largest sports stadium in the Dayton, Ohio-region according to theDayton Business Journal.[2]
Originally constructed as a 0.250 mi (0.402 km) semi-banked clay dirt oval by track founder and promoterEarl Baltes, Eldora was enlarged to a 0.375 mi (0.604 km) length and later to the "half-mile" standard required by the United States Auto Club (USAC) for national championship events featuring the stars of the Indianapolis 500.
The track currently hosts events like the Kings Royal, theWorld 100, and Stewart'sSuperstar Racing Experience. From 2013 to 2019, Eldora hosted theNASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series'Eldora Dirt Derby. In 2013, the Dirt Late Model Dream and World 100 expanded from one-day shows to full three-day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday race weekend programs which have proven to be hugely popular. The Kings Royal followed suit in 2016.
Eldora Speedway New Weston, OH, was built in 1954 by Earl Baltes, a prominent area bandleader with no previous racing experience. Born on April 27, 1921, in nearbyVersailles, Ohio, Baltes had stumbled onto a race at New Bremen Speedway and was so impressed by the big, enthusiastic crowd that he decided to build a race track.
Baltes had purchased the Eldora Ballroom from "Ma" Shoes two years earlier, offering weekly dances and musical performances. Eventually, Baltes curtailed the musical performances as the track grew more successful.
The track was constructed as a quarter-mile as it opened in 1954. Two years later, Baltes expanded the track to a three-eighths-mile, and in 1958 the track was expanded to the present half-mile length.
The track hosted the sprint cars of the United States Auto Club for the first time in 1962 and quickly became one of the favorite venues for the series.
In August 1965, Orville Yeadon won the first Eldora 500, featuring 33 sprint cars running 500 laps. One year later, Larry Cannon won the Eldora 500, and in 1967 Don Nordhorn won the Eldora 500, the last time the race was contested. Baltes was promoting several other tracks by this time, and the 500-lap race fell by the wayside.
In 1971 Baltes shocked the racing fraternity when he held the inaugural World 100, offering an unprecedented purse of $4,000 to the winner. Bruce Gould ultimately won the race. The event is widely considered the birth of the modern "dirt late model" type of racing, which today is one of the most popular forms of racing on America's short tracks.
When theWorld of Outlaws sprint car series was launched in 1978, Baltes recognized the promotional potential of the group and quickly booked several events at Eldora. It was a key partnership for the fledgling series, giving them much-needed credibility and momentum. In October, Eldora hosted the season finale where Steve Kinser captured the inaugural WoO championship and was proclaimed "King of the Outlaws." In the years that have followed, Eldora has remained a mainstay venue on the WoO circuit and annual King's Royal race.
While the pit wall bore "Home of the Sprint" for many years, Eldora started as a track for "jalopy" cars, then "new cars/stock cars", which eventually into the modern-day dirt late models. In 1971, Baltes posted a $4,000 winner's purse for the "World 100" which many racers and fans thought was a misprint in the advertising. Promising to raise the winner's share by $1,000 every year, the World 100 annually attracts the largest field of dirt late model racers globally. It is Eldora's largest attended event of the season. The 2017 event paid a record purse of $425,800 and attracted the largest crowd in the history of Eldora Speedway – while Eldora does not typically release attendance figures, the winner's share of the Tony Stewart Foundation 50/50 raffle (often an indication of a short-track's attendance as they are sold by hand for $1 per ticket) on that Saturday night was over $38,000.
In the late 1970s, as the crossover between the stars of Indianapolis and USAC dwindled and the era's super-modified cars began to decline, Baltes took notice of a brash Texas promoter named Ted Johnson organizing a "band of outlaw" sprint car drivers racing for larger purses and, in most cases, with aerodynamic wings on their cars. Eldora's high-banks became Ohio and the midwest's home to the World of Outlaws, and, in 1984, Baltes pulled off another one of his firsts when he announced the '$50,000-to-win Kings Royal." In recent years, the event has grown into a three-day extravaganza offering over $385,000 in prize money and awards with regional satellite events in the week leading up to it.
Longtime USAC official, car owner, and sponsor, Johnny Vance of Aristocrat Products in Dayton, Ohio, approached Baltes in 1980 about trying an event in 1981 featuring all four of USAC's divisions in one show and called it the "4-Crown Nationals". At the time, USAC sanctioned the champ cars (a/k/a silver crown), national sprint cars, national sprint tour, and a stock car division similar to NASCAR's Grand National Division. The event was a success and celebrated its 37th running in 2018. It has seen several different iterations over the years. It has not run every year, having been wholly rained out/not rescheduled and replaced by the Mopar Million. When USAC dropped its stock car division, they were replaced by dirt late models, and as the World 100 grew, the late models were replaced by the UMP modifieds. As interest in the event waned, the World of Outlaws was added for a Friday show. USAC's remaining three divisions raced solely on Saturday.
The event is currently enjoying a renaissance with a weekend full of activity consisting of the World of Outlaws on Friday, USAC's three divisions plus the Tezos All Star Circuit of Champions sprint cars on Saturday, vintage car displays, and three days of racing for 300 USAC .25 midgets competitors and their families at Little Eldora. The 4-Crown Nationals has hosted two of short-track racing's most impressive performances: Jack Hewitt's sweep of the three USAC divisions and UMP modified feature in one night and Kyle Larson's sweep of the three USAC divisions (there was not a fourth division that night).
In 2001 Baltes held the "Eldora Million", his defining achievement as a race promoter. Offering a $1 million prize to the winner, the race remains by far the richest short-track race in history. Donnie Moran captured the event and the top money, and was christened "the Million Dollar Man."[3]
Three-timeNASCAR Cup Series championTony Stewart purchased the speedway in late 2004 from Baltes. Upon his retirement, the state of Ohio honored Baltes by renaming Hwy. 118 "Earl Baltes National Highway" from Ansonia to the south to St. Henry to the north.
In 2011, Stewart hired formerCharlotte Motor Speedway vice president of events, Roger Slack, a protégé of the legendary promoterHumpy Wheeler, away from World Racing Group where he had served as executive vice president of the new event promotions department since 2009. Slack leads Eldora's day-to-day operations as general manager and speedway promoter. The historic racing oval has continued an aggressive capital improvement program with state-of-the-art luxury suites atop the turn three area. At the same time, fans also enjoy live coverage and replays of the on-track action via the large video board in turn two. Additionalcatch fencing,attenuators, a widened pit road, a dedicated helipad for Premier Health's CareFlight and Infield Care Center providing on-site facilities for Level 1 Trauma and ER staff are recent additions to benefit both fan and competitors in recent years.[4]
The Kings Royal is one of the biggest sprint car races in America. It paid $50,000 to the winner until the winner's share increased to $175,000 in 2019. The Kings Royal is typically run in July and sanctioned by theWorld of Outlaws Sprint Car series. The race draws a large field of cars each year and a capacity crowd of sprint car fans from around the globe.
Earl Baltes promoted the richest paying sprint car race in the country. The Historical Big One paid $100,000 to win, which was unprecedented for sprint car racing. The race was held from 1993 to 2003. The race returned in 2022 as part of the King's Royal week.[5] The 2023 edition was rebranded the Eldora Million for its $1,002,023 winner's prize.
The Dirt Late Model Dream is a 100-lap race that has been run annually every June since 1994. The World Racing Group currently sanctions it. The race is noted for its prize money, worth $100,000 for the winner.
The 2013 Ferris Commercial Mowers Dream featured a revised format which provided two full feature race programs on each of the preliminary nights (Thursday, June 6 Winners: Josh Richards, Matt Miller; Friday, June 7 Winners: Matt Miller, Dennis Erb.) 2013's $100,000 Dream winner Scott Bloomquist claimed victory in short track racing's richest event for a record-setting sixth time.
The 2001 rescheduled event featured the "Eldora Million", which paid an unprecedented $1,000,000 to winner Donnie Moran.
In 2020, the "Dirt Late Model Stream Invitational" was the race weekend's title as Dream week was heldbehind closed doors because of theCOVID-19 pandemic, and only paid $50,000 to the winner because it was only available withan iPPV viewing package as there were no spectators. While Billy Moyer has ruled the World 100, Scott Bloomquist has ruled the Dirt Late Model Dream with eight $100,000 victories.
For 2022, the "Eldora Million" returned as a separate feature with a slightly increased prize of $1,002,022.
From 2005 to 2012, Stewart added a Wednesday night undercard, thePrelude to the Dream, aNextel-sponsored race with visitingNASCARNextel Cup Series stars driving borrowed UMPLate Models.Kenny Wallace won the first Prelude to the Dream and a total of $50,000 toKyle Petty's Victory Junction Gang Camp.
The race was canceled because of rain in 2006. 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. Combined, "Prelude" events have attracted more than 40,000 spectators to Eldora Speedway.
The 2007 race returned to the Dirt Late Model Dream feature in June. It featured both a live audience andpay-per-view coverage. Eldora Speedway again donated all proceeds from the coverage to Victory Junction. TheNASCAR on Fox crew ofMike Joy,Darrell Waltrip,Dick Berggren,Matt Yocum, and producer Pam Miller were on the broadcast staff as well asNASCAR on TNT booth analystKyle Petty.Carl Edwards held offKyle Busch andJeff Gordon to win the 2007 event and celebrated by doing his trademark backflip off of his car onto the dirt. Eldora Speedway donated over $800,000 to the charity.
In 2008, theNASCAR on Fox crew of Joy, Waltrip, Berggren, Yocum, and producer Pam Miller returned to the track to call the event for HBO Pay-Per-View along withNASCAR on TNT's booth analystKyle Petty. Twenty-three thousand fans attended the race this year as they watched 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 2009 Prelude to the Dream was set to benefit military charities after track owner Stewart picked up US Army sponsorship on hisStewart–Haas Racing Sprint Cup team—The Wounded Warrior Project, Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, Operation Homefront, and Fisher House. Eldora Speedway canceled the 2009 Prelude to the Dream on June 3 because of persistent rain. Once again, a makeup race, the "Prelude to the World," was run on September 9 and won by Stewart.
The 2010 Prelude was won by 6-time Cup championJimmie Johnson. Johnson's car was prepared byClint Bowyer.
On June 8, 2011, Bowyer won the 7th Prelude to the Dream. The HBO pay-per-view revenues from the race will go to four children's hospitals in: St. Louis, Dallas, North Carolina, and Atlanta.
In 2012, the race was extended to 40 laps. Kyle Busch won the 8th Prelude to the Dream, the final running as the event became theEldora Dirt Derby, a NASCAR-sanctioned national race.
| Year | Date | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | June 8 | Kenny Wallace |
| 2006 | Sept 6 | Tony Stewart |
| 2007 | June 6 | Carl Edwards |
| 2008 | June 4 | Tony Stewart |
| 2009 | Sept 6 | Tony Stewart |
| 2010 | June 9 | Jimmie Johnson |
| 2011 | June 8 | Clint Bowyer |
| 2012 | June 6 | Kyle Busch |
The World 100 is a 100-lap dirt late model race, and is considered one of the most prolific racing events of each season. It is traditionally run on the weekend following Labor Day in mid September.
Bruce Gould won the inaugural World 100 (September 1971). Billy Moyer leads the headlines in the history of the race with 6 World 100 championships. Following Moyer are four-time champion Donnie Moran and three-time World 100 champs Larry Moore, Jeff Purvis, and Scott Bloomquist. Defending World 100 winner Brian Birkhofer joins Jimmy Owens as the only other racers with more than one win in the prestigious race.
In 2013 Eldora Speedway re-formatted the track's two most prestigious dirt late model races (The World 100 and The Dream) and offered added opportunity and value for competitors and spectators with an expanded schedule of three full nights of competition. Based on the spectacular racing frenzy provided by June's Ferris Commercial Mowers Dirt Late Model DREAM, September's version of the 47th Annual World 100 was as advertised. The 2014 World 100's Thursday and Friday (September 4–5) formats featured full racing programs, including Twin Feature races each night. Then, on Saturday, September 6, the action featured a full complement of preliminary heat races and showdown qualifying events prior to running the 2014 World 100. The feature race was not without controversy as Scott Bloomquist, who had taken the lead, was penalized and sent to the tail for having a plexiglass window net inserted into his driver-side window. Bloomquist stormed through the field and won the 2014 World 100.
The 2022 edition has a winner's prize of $55,000. In addition, the winning driver and owner earn a pair of coveted globed trophies.
The 4-Crown Nationals is the track's late September race card. From 1981 until 2006, the event featured four different races on one night:
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.
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On July 24, 2013, the track hosted theNASCAR Camping World Truck Series raceMudsummer Classic.[7] Though the track does not have anySAFER barriers, NASCAR Director of Safety Tom Gideon stated that the track meets NASCAR safety guidelines.[8]Austin Dillon, the 2011 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors truck series champion, driving the No. 39 truck, won the inaugural event, beatingKyle Larson,Ryan Newman,Joey Coulter, andBrendan Gaughan. Several dirt track and Eldora veterans took part in the event, includingDave Blaney, racing alongside his sonRyan, and Truck Series veterans, including Dillon, racing alongside his brotherTy,Ken Schrader, andRon Hornaday Jr.
After being canceled in 2020 due to state restrictions on large gatherings in response to theCOVID-19 pandemic,[9] the Derby was removed from the Truck Series schedule in 2021.[10]
TheSuperstar Racing Experience (SRX), a stock car series co-founded by Stewart, raced at Eldora in 2021.[11][12] Stewart himself won the event.
As of June 2025, the fastest official race lap records at Eldora Speedway are listed as:[13]
| Category | Time | Driver | Vehicle | Event |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sprint Car | 0:12.599 | David Gravel | Sprint Car | 2020 All Star Circuit of Champions |
| Late Model | 0:14.761 | Brandon Sheppard | Late Model | 2018 World 100 |
| USAC Silver Crown | 0:15.334 | Josh Wise | Silver Crown Car | 2005 4-Crown Nationals |
| Midget Car | 0:15.801 | Mike Hess | Midget Car | 2004 4-Crown Nationals |
