STEWART STOKED FOR $1M PAYOUT
Tony Stewart went to bed at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday after pulling an all-nighter at Eldora Speedway.
Stewart has $1 million to give away tonight and is determined that his track in Rossburg, Ohio, will be in the best condition possible for the return of The Eldora Million.
“I’m just thrashing,” Stewart told The Associated Press on Wednesday afternoon by phone, the sound of him moving from various trucks and tractors in the background. “We’ve only had two events so far this year because of weather, and we’ve got to get the track ready to give this money away.”
About 130 cars were expected in the night’s preliminaries. Tonight’s feature will pay a whopping $1,002,022 to the winner — the secondlargest purse in motorsports behind the Indianapolis 500.
Marcus Ericsson collected $3.1 million from a record-breaking total purse of $16 million for winning the Indy 500 on May 29; Ryan Blaney won $1 million for winning NASCAR’s All-Star race one week earlier.
The Eldora Million is a 101-lap dirt-track late model race run on a half-mile clay oval in western Ohio. On a per-mile basis, Stewart’s event will pay more than any race in the United States.
The winner will earn $19,842 per mile, more than three times what Ericsson earned at $6,200 per mile. Blaney earned $5,333.33 per mile.
Eldora paid out $1 million once before, in 2001 when the late Earl Baltes owned the track. Donnie Moran scored the $1 million payday.
Since purchasing the speedway in 2004, Stewart has aimed to match the prize.
“I said from the first day I took ownership of Eldora that we wanted to make Earl proud by continuing to push the limits of race promotion,” Stewart said. “I can’t think of a better way to honor their legacy than by bringing back The Eldora Million one more time for both our longtime drivers and fans, as well as a whole new generation who have only heard about it.”
The two nights of The Eldora Million are followed by two nights of the Dirt Late Model Dream. The four nights of racing — weather permitting — has created one of the richest open competition events in motorsports history, with posted prize money in excess of $1.9 million.
Soccer
The Women’s International Champions Cup will feature European teams Chelsea and Lyon, as well as Mexico’s Monterrey and the host Portland Thorns.
The annual club competition will run from Aug. 1720 at Providence Park, organizers announced
Wednesday.
All four teams earned a spot in the field because of championships in their respective leagues.
Portland is also the defending WICC champion.
Real Madrid has extended Luka Modric’s contract for another year, which keeps intact the midfield that helped the club win a record-extending 14th European title this season.
The agent of Gareth Bale offered the Wales forward to play for Getafe next season, the Spanish club’s president said.
Olympics
Eileen Gu, the California-born athlete who won two gold medals for China in freestyle skiing at the recent Beijing Olympics, has signed on to work for Salt Lake City’s bid for the 2030 or 2034 Winter Olympics.
The 18-year-old Gu was born in the United States to a Chinese mother, but competed for China almost four months ago and won two gold and one silver medal in Beijing. In explaining her choice, she often said she wanted to inspire young Chinese women.
Most basketball games at the Paris Olympics could end up being played a threehour journey outside the French capital, a plan that is facing criticism from the sport’s governing body.
Special Olympics
Six men who came to central Florida as part of the Haitian delegation for the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games have gone missing, according to a sheriff’s office.
No foul play is suspected and detectives are investigating their disappearance as an isolated event, the Osceola County Sheriff ’s Office said.
According to Special Olympics organizers, five of the men are not Special Olympics athletes, and one is an adult with an intellectual disability, WKMG reported.
WNBA
Ariel Atkins scored 19 points, Natasha Cloud
made two free throws with six seconds left and the host Washington Mystics held off the Chicago Sky 84-82 to avenge a loss Sunday.
Brionna Jones scored 18 points and Jonquel Jones
added 16 to help the Connecticut Sun beat the visiting Indiana Fever 88-69 for their fourth straight victory.
Also
South African boxer Simiso Buthelezi, who became disoriented during a fight and walked away from his opponent toward an empty corner of the ring while throwing punches, has died of a brain injury.