“Cody turned around told Earl, ‘Don’t worry about it. My daddy knows Earl Baltes,’” Hewitt recalled Monday afternoon. “Earl said he had to bite his lip and turn around so he wouldn’t start laughing.”
Talk to those who knew him best and that was Baltes. Tough and demanding, but with that grandfatherly soft side.
Baltes died Monday at Miami Valley Hospital. He was 93.
Larry Boos, director of operations at Eldora, was hired with a handshake in 1991. He fondly recalled butting heads with Baltes during the weekly race preparations — “we were two bull-headed Tauruses clashing,” Boos recalled — and sharing laughs after working together to produce some of dirt racing’s greatest events.
“The biggest thing he taught me was go for respect and not friendship,” Boos said. “You draw a straight line and as long as you follow that straight line, don’t waiver either way, and you’ll be a success. I’ll always remember those lessons he taught me.”
Baltes opened Eldora Speedway in 1954 and sold the famous half-mile, high-banked dirt oval to three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart in the fall of 2004.
Baltes started the World 100 in 1971, still considered the most coveted victory (and trophy) among dirt late model drivers. The Dirt Late Model Dream first turned laps in 1994 as dirt late model racing’s richest event to win at $100,000.
The United States Auto Club (USAC) made its Eldora debut in 1962 and has raced every year since, including a crown jewel 4-Crown Nationals event. The Kings Royal and all its pageantry is one of the country’s most popular events.
“Without Earl Baltes USAC wouldn’t be where we are,” USAC vice president Dick Jordan said. “His contributions to USAC are innumerable. … It’s a huge loss for the entire motorsports community. He can’t be replaced.
“He had to work awful hard to make it work. And he did. He was tireless. He worked on that track all the time to make it good for the competitors. He was a promoter in the true sense of the word. He did things other promoters never even thought about to try and put on a show for the fans.”
Racing legend Pancho Carter’s favorite memory involved one of Eldora’s most unique promotions. He officiated as two gorillas — well, two people dressed in gorilla suits to the delight of the crowd — married on Eldora’s victory lane stage.
“He came up and said, ‘Hey I want you to marry a couple gorillas.’ Earl was a good guy so if he asked you do to something you were more than happy to help him out,” Carter said. “It’s a shame. You hate to see some of the old guys passing away like they are.”
Carter’s earliest memories of Baltes involved two of the Eldora founder’s staples: track prep equipment and his trademark hat with the bill flipped up so he could “see all the pretty girls.”
“Here’s this goofy guy driving around on a tractor with his hat on with the bill flipped up,” Carter said. “He was definitely a character.”
When he owned the track Baltes could often be found driving the grader or water truck around the historic half-mile. Drivers said Baltes would sometimes take a little more time to prepare the track so the concession stand could sell more hot dogs.
“If we’d just sold one more hot dog we’d broke even,” Baltes was famous for saying.
Dave Argabright, who helped Baltes pen his autobiography “Earl!” retweeted one of the most appriate ways to honor Baltes’ memory. It was how Eldora general manager and promoter Roger Slack planned to do it Monday night: “Great idea @RogerSlack — Dinner tonight will be a Budweiser and a hot dog in honor of Earl Baltes. He would love it.”
“To watch how hard he worked at Eldora all them years,” said 20-time World of Outlaws champion Steve Kinser. “It’s amazing how many laps he took around that track getting it ready. … Just how much he did with the race fans and the time he spent with them. Quite a man, quite a man.
“There’s never going to be another Earl Baltes, I can tell you that. I don’t know if anybody would put that much effort into making it work.”
Stewart purchased the track in the fall of 2004 and faced the unenviable task of taking over Eldora Speedway after Baltes, considered by many to be the godfather of dirt track racing.
“Earl Baltes was the yardstick other track promoters measured themselves by,” Stewart said in a statement. “He constantly raised the bar, and he did it by creating events everyone else was afraid to promote. He did them himself, too. Not as a fair board, or a public company, or with major sponsors or millions of dollars in TV money. He put it all on the line with the support of his family. He and his wife, Berneice, created a happening at Eldora. They turned Eldora into more than just a racetrack. They made it a place to be. They were integral to the evolution of dirt-track racing and the sport as a whole. Earl will be missed, but he won’t ever be forgotten because of his devotion to auto racing.”
As for Hewitt, he’ll long remember the days of growing up at the track watching his late dad, Don, race. Hewitt remembers one promotion where Baltes had a car, household appliances, a go-kart, a jar full of pennies and other items on display. One person each week drew a ticket and received the prize that matched the winning number. Hewitt’s mother won the go-kart.
“It only took us a couple weeks to tear it up,” Hewitt said. “That was a pretty good memory growing up. The things he did to get a crowd in there and get them fired up, he did it. … It’s sad that he passed away, but to me it’s all about quality of life. It’s not how long you lived, it’s the living you did while you were here. He’s in a better place and he lived a good life.
“We’re sad for the family but the memories will live on forever. He’s a legend like A.J. Foyt and Richard Petty, they’ll talk about him forever.”
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