Eldora Speedway celebrates 50 years of USAC sprint cars on its half-mile, high-banked oval on Saturday. Some memorable moments:

Hewitt sweeps 4-Crown: It’s considered the greatest USAC moment at Eldora Speedway. On Sept. 28, 1998, Troy’s Jack Hewitt swept all four features at the 4-Crown Nationals to set a record that may never be broken. For many drivers four feature wins in a season is an accomplishment. Hewitt had four in one night. He won the 20-lap UMP modified feature, the 30-lap sprint car feature, 25-lap midget feature and capped it with the 50-lap Silver Crown feature. He led 99 of the 125 total laps. “I watch the tape every now and then. You still can’t hardly believe it, but I look at it now and I don’t know what the plan was from the man upstairs, but he had a hand in it,” Hewitt said in 2008. “You don’t bang off the walls and rub wheels with the other cars and don’t have a flat tire or something like that. I was supposed to win all four. I just didn’t know what it was all about. I told them the only thing I did wrong was I didn’t play the lottery. It was definitely my night.”

Grand Larsony at 4-Crown: Kyle Larson, a 19-year-old from California, had never raced at Eldora before the 4-Crown on Sept. 24, 2011. He ended up stealing the show. Larson won all three USAC features, joining Hewitt as the only drivers to do so. Larson led all 25 laps in the midget feature, the final two laps in the sprints (30) and the last 46 laps in Silver Crown feature (50). “It’s just really cool. I didn’t think I’d win all three,” said Larson. “I felt like I’d have a struggle in the sprint cars and I did. I got lucky. It was a crazy, lucky night.”

Thanks a million: Wooster’s Jac Haudenschild, a fan favorite at Eldora, scored the richest win in sprint car history on Sept. 20, 2003, by winning the Mopar Million. The “Wild Child” topped a field of 138 sprints – including beating Stevie Smith to the finish by 10 feet – to earn the $200,000 payday out of a purse that paid a stunning $1 million.

24-hour Crown: It was the 4-Crown that didn’t want to end. Rain delays, an accident and damage to the Turn 3 catch fence caused the final checkered flag to drop at 6:40 a.m. on Sept. 23, 2006, nearly 19 hours after the program started the day before. A couple rain delays, including a heavy shower at 2:15 a.m. that red flagged the sprint feature for 2½ hours, didn’t faze many fans who stuck it out.

The Larry & Gary Show: From 1968-1971, Larry Dickson and Gary Bettenhausen waged a memorable battle. Dickson won the USAC sprint title in 1968 and 1970, with Bettenhausen winning in 1969 and 1971. Those duels also played out at Eldora. During a 15-race stretch Dickson claimed four feature wins and Bettenhausen two.

Fantastic finish: It’s perhaps the greatest finish to a USAC sprint championship in history. And it happened at Eldora in 1973. Rollie Beale was battling Lee Kunzman for the national points title when Beale’s chances took a major hit. Making hot laps during the first of two 50-lap features Beale’s sprint hit a rut and flipped. He quickly found a ride in a back-up car owned by Ron Kilman. Starting last in a car he’d never driven Beale finished seventh behind race-winner Kunzman. Beale’s motor blew after he crossed the finish line, forcing him to find a third ride. Defending USAC champ Sammy Sessions, then fifth in points, gave his ride to Beale. Beale again started last in a car he’d never driven and finished sixth. Kunzman finished second, but Beale held him off by 24 points.

Keeping up with Jones: Illinois driver Bubby Jones dominated Eldora from April 17, 1977, to June 2, 1979. Jones won six of USAC’s 12 races in that span. They never led to a national championship, though. In 1979, Jones needed a solid run to clinch the title. But he crashed on the first lap. “I screwed the deal up,” Jones said. “It was dumb. … We were four-tenths of a second faster than anyone else and I tried to win it all on one lap. I was gonna show ’em.”

The King, without the wing: Indiana’s Steve Kinser is best known for his 20 World of Outlaws winged sprint car titles. He also claimed the first sprint and Silver Crown wins in the inaugural 4-Crown in 1981. Ken Schrader won the midget race. Kinser returned in 1982 and defended his 4-Crown sprint win.

On a roll: It’s a record no one wants to be part of but on Aug. 6, 1997, USAC drivers set a record when 11 sprint cars flipped or rolled. The record has since been broken twice.

The No. 11 is No. 1: Dayton car owner Harold Beck was a long-shot to win the first USAC sprint race at Eldora. His No. 11 Beck Construction ride was underpowered compared to other teams. His driver, Kentucky’s Stan Bowman, was making his first USAC start as a licensed driver, going against a field that included Parnelli Jones, Johnny Rutherford, Jim Hurtubise, Don Branson and Roger McCluskey, among others. And Bowman was driving with hands burned the night before in a stock car race. None of that mattered on April 22, 1962. Bowman led 25 laps in the 30-lapper shortened by rain.