There will be some who disapprove, saying NASCAR is boring and doesn’t need to bring its racing to Eldora’s historic high banks. That’s fine. That’ll just make room for others who’ll pack the half-mile oval with crowds that will rival — and possibly surpass — the World 100 and the Prelude to the Dream. We’ll get our first sense of just how big this is when ticket sales start at 10 a.m. on Jan. 5.
As for me, I’m hoping in honor of NASCAR’s visit that Earl Baltes will display his concrete cast of Bill France’s footprints and tell the story about when he drove down to Florida for the Daytona 500 and asked France if he’d step into that wet cement for Baltes. He did, of course, adding another NASCAR connection to Eldora lore.
That three-time Sprint Cup champ Tony Stewart now owns Eldora didn’t hurt the track’s chances of landing NASCAR’s first dirt race in decades.
“It’s really a dream come true for us as not only a promoter, but I don’t think any of us really thought — like we mentioned since 1970 — the national series have never been to a dirt track. To imagine that 42 years later we’re going to be taking a national NASCAR series back to a dirt track is a huge honor for us, something that everybody, including Roger Slack, Larry Kemp, Larry Boos, everybody at Eldora, are extremely excited,” Stewart said.
How good will the show be?
As the saying goes: Dirt’s for racing. Asphalt’s for getting there.
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