USA TODAY International Edition
NASCAR Dirt not a little secret anymore
Eldora’s surface makes truck race hit with drivers, fans
A good race excites drivers — even when they aren’t driving — as much as it does fans.
Case in point — last July. Sprint Cup driver Carl Edwards was riveted by the drama unfolding on his television as Darrell Wallace Jr. and Kyle Larson raced frantically in the closing minutes of the Camping World Truck Series event at Eldora Speedway, a half- mile dirt track in Rossburg, Ohio.
“I’ve been watching races since I was 2 years old,” Edwards said. “For that one, I was standing up in my living room, screaming at my wife, ‘ Get in here and watch this!’ I was a full race fan at that moment.
“That is what stock car racing is all about. That was as good as it gets.”
Edwards isn’t alone in forming testimonials for truck racing at Eldora. As the third annual event approaches, anticipation again is high for one of the year’s featured truck races, the only dirt- track appearance on any of the three NASCAR national- series schedules. The 1- 800- CAR- CASH Mud-Summer Classic is scheduled for Wednesday at Eldora.
The first truck race at Eldora in 2013 was the first NASCAR national- series event at a dirt track since Richard Petty won the final Cup race on dirt in Raleigh, N. C., in 1970.
Eldora, owned by Sprint Cup driver and team owner Tony Stewart, was spruced up for the
first race. Its reputation as one of the nation’s top dirt tracks was solidly in place, thanks largely to the work of track builder- promoter Earl Baltes.
The racing, in the inaugural event ( won by Austin Dillon) and last year ( won by Wallace), has been notable, and the format, with a series of heat races followed by a segmented feature, has been a hit. The unique nature of the race — short, fiercely contested and, most of all, dirty — has been a winning formula.
The buildup to the inaugural race brewed excitement, but there also was a hint of anxiety. What if the track surface didn’t hold up? What if the featured race turned into a boring parade? What if the trucks weren’t suited to the facility?
All of those concerns vanished on a rather magical night, as Dillon held off Larson for the win and old pro Norm Benning, 61, forced his way into the feature by outdueling Clay Greenfield for the final advance spot in the last- chance race. Stewart was so impressed with Benning’s wild ride that he bought Benning’s truck to put on display at Eldora.
“I guess the shocking thing was that we didn’t expect it to be as good a race as what it was,” track general manager Roger Slack said. “It was great racing and a great show. I think for it to have been as well- received as it has been by non- dirt- racing people, those are the big surprises. It’s been a good thing for short tracks. It helps dirt racing.”
Dillon said Eldora was special because of Stewart, Slack and the more than 200 employees and volunteers who make race day go.
“Tony and his guys do a great job of preparing the racetrack,” Dillon said. “If you talk about going to other dirt tracks, you really have to have the right people there running it and knowing what it takes to get a dirt track right to be racy.”
Eldora’s success has not led NASCAR to add other dirt- track events to its national series. Part of the reasoning, NASCAR vice chairman Mike Helton said, is a second dirt race would eliminate Eldora’s unique status.
“One of the things we’ve learned over time is not to take something unique and exceptional and try to replicate it so much that it’s not exceptional anymore,” Helton told USA TODAY Sports. “The other thing when it comes to Eldora is that there are very few facilities that can host an event the way Tony and his crew does.
“But it does give us an example of how you can think out of the box on different things. That does still hold true. Eldora is very unique, very exceptional. We talk about it all the time and use it as an example because it is unique.”
Slack and his staff have made significant changes at the facility. A new 8,700- square- foot building that includes a media center, a medical center and a concession area has replaced an old conces- sion building in the infield.
Stewart and Slack have been careful, however, to respect the long history of the track, which opened in 1954, and have attempted to retain much of the charm that has made Eldora a dirt- track capital for decades.
“When we tore down the building in the infield, people were upset,” Slack said. “You can’t change anything around here without people noticing it. Everything is a delicate balance between tradition and change, so you have to be really careful.
“Earl wasn’t afraid of changing things, either, as long as you do what’s best for the speedway.”
The track also has new tirepack barriers on three inside walls, and two sections of the inside wall have been extended to make openings in the wall smaller and safer, Slack said.
Dump trucks put 400 loads of new clay onto the racing surface in November and December. The new surface should hold more moisture and make racing “extremely fast the entire night,” Slack said.