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Kings Royal hits a milestone
Happy anniversary, Kings Royal!
The Kings Royal — one of the country’s top sprint car events — celebrates its 25th running on Saturday, July 12, at Eldora Speedway in Darke County. It’s one of those ‘don’t miss’ events and judging by the crowd, few do.
In honor of the silver anniversary, I’ve come up with a By The Numbers list to celebrate. Starting with the first of Steve Kinser’s six wins back in 1984 to defending champ Donny Schatz’s blistering run in 2007, here’s what the Kings Royal has given us:
1 — Drivers who have competed in all 24 Kings Royal features (Steve Kinser)
2 — Drivers making their first Kings Royal features in 2007: Chad Hillier and Lucas Wolfe
3 — Combined Kings Royal wins by the Blaney brothers: Dave (2) and Dale (1)
4 — Kings Royal features run by Brad Doty
5 — Kings Royal feature appearances by Jack Hewitt, the last in 1994
6 — Kings Royal titles won by Ohio drivers; number of drivers named Kinser who have made the feature
7 — Years since Mark Kinser won his Kings Royal title
8 — Kings Royal feature appearances by Craig Dollansky
9 — Kings Royal titles won by Indiana drivers, tops among all states
10 — Best finish by Jack Hewitt in the first Kings Royal
11 — Finish by Danny Lasoski in the 2007 Kings Royal
12 — Feature appearances by Donnie Schatz before winning the Kings Royal in 2007
12.707 — All-time track record at Eldora, set by Craig Dollansky on April 13, 2002
13 — Consecutive Kings Royal features made by Joey Saldana, the second longest active streak after Steve Kinser (24)
13.043 — Track record for the Kings Royal, set by Joey Saldana on July 20, 2002
14 — Finish by Jeff Gordon in his only Kings Royal feature appearance in 1988
15 — Times Steve Kinser has finished first, second or third in the feature
16 — Greg Wilson’s finish last season, a career best
17 — Years since two-time winner Doug Wolfgang made his last Royal appearance
18 — Best finish by Rich Vogler (1984)
19 — Finish for two-time winner Sammy Swindell in his last Kings Royal feature in 2005
20 — Most feature appearances without winning the Kings Royal (Kenny Jacobs)
21 — Years since Jac Haudenschild won his first title
22 — Lowest finish by Steve Kinser (1986 and 2004)
23 — Spots Dave Blaney moved up from 1994 (24th) to 1995 (1st), the largest one-year leap for a winner
24 — Finish by Chad Kemenah in 2003, his only finish outside the top 10 in six features
25 — Milestone running of the Kings Royal, which started in 1984
35 — Laps led by winner Donny Schatz in 2007
52 — Drivers that tried their luck at the Kings Royal in 2007
140 — Drivers that have made the A-Feature in the Kings Royal at least once, dating back to 1984
50,000 — Winner’s check for winning the Kings Royal
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By ron coleman, crew cheif
July 14, 2008 12:05 PM | Link to this
garry loney sweeps moler raceway park friday, july 11th, taking the flag and leading every lap to the finish. Garry drove his 600 mini wing sprint in a commanding lead giving the crowd quite a show. On july 5th, loney swept waynesfield raceway park in wapokaneta, leading every lap till almost flipping when he drove into a dirt rut with three to go.keen took the flag for the win, but what an amazing finish.