WEEKEND SCHEDULE
Friday
Eldora Speedway: World of Outlaws, USAC sprints. Gates open at 2 p.m., racing at 7:30.
Kil-Kare Dragway: Friday Night Lightz. Gates open at 6 p.m.
Saturday
Edgewater Sports Park: United Manual Stick Racing, NHRA Summit Series. Gates open at 2 p.m., racing at 6:30.
Eldora Speedway: World of Outlaws, USAC sprints. Gates open at 2 p.m., racing at 7:30.
Kil-Kare Dragway: Xtreme Outlaw Series. Gates open at 10 a.m.
Shadybowl Speedway: Late models, modifieds, street stocks, dwarfs, compacts, pure stocks. Gates open at 4 p.m., racing at 7.
Waynesfield Raceway Park: Non-wing sprints, modifieds, mini sprints, trucks, compacts. Gates open at 5 p.m., racing at 7.
Even if he wasn’t driving in both divisions at Eldora Speedway this weekend, you’d likely still find Oklahoma’s Brady Bacon in attendance at the half-mile dirt oval in Darke County.
Drivers aren’t the only ones excited about the historic sprint car event at Eldora. For the first time, the winged World of Outlaws sprint cars and the non-wing USAC sprints will be at the same track on the same night (but not competing against each other).
The hyped “Mother of All Sprint Car Weekends” brings the two popular sprint cars series and their passionate fans — many who fiercely defend their favorite series as better than the other — together for a two-day show today and Saturday.
“It’s an opportunity for fans of each division to kind of be forced to open their eyes to the other one,” Bacon said. “Some people say they like only wing racing and some people say they like only non-wing racing. Hopefully both divisions put on a good show and it helps sprint car racing in general.”
That’s the goal for Bacon — to put on a good show for both divisions. His best shot comes in USAC. The 2014 USAC sprint car champion visited Eldora’s victory lane stage during the 4-Crown Nationals in September. The Cincinnati-based Hoffman Auto Racing team, which fields Bacon’s No. 69 Mean Green ride, holds the USAC record for most national victories with 88.
Bacon drives the No. 99 with the World of Outlaws. He’s raced four winged events this season but hasn’t wheeled a WoO sprint around Eldora since the spring of 2013.
“At Eldora I’ve kind of struggled with the Outlaws in the past,” Bacon said. “USAC with the Hoffmans, they know how to get around Eldora. I don’t have to worry about anything. I just get in and drive it.
“Eldora with the Outlaws is really tough because those guys have such nice equipment and that track magnifies that as big as it is. For the non-wing, experience is probably the biggest factor. People who have raced at Eldora have a big advantage over everybody else.”
Though he’s from Oklahoma, the Mother’s Day weekend extravaganza is more of a home race for Bacon. His wife is from Winchester, Ind., and his winged sprint car shop is in Union City. Toss in racing for Hoffman and he’ll have plenty of local support.
Bacon wouldn’t mind taking a show like this on the road, too. Eldora is one of the few places able to hold an event like this and it’s appropriate it’s happening there first. It’s the kind of event the late Earl Baltes, the man who founded Eldora in 1954, would have promoted and pulled off.
“It would have to be at a big place like Knoxville (Iowa) or something,” Bacon said. “This is the area of the country where non-wing sprints are popular so that helps out a lot. I’m hoping the Outlaws fans have their eyes opened to this. We always put on a good show with USAC at Eldora and everywhere else. It’s going to be a unique event.”
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