33rd Eldora Speedway Four Crown This Weekend
3 min read
ROSSBURG, OH (Sept. 16) – ‘Smorgasbord of Racing’ may well be the best description for this weekend’s 33rd annual Four Crown Nationals (September 19 & 20) at Eldora Speedway. Over the course of two days, the historic one-half mile clay oval will host multiple open-wheeled divisions beginning with the winged World of Outlaws (WoO) STP Sprint Car Series and the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds on Friday. Saturday will see the three National non-winged series of the United States Auto Club (USAC) – Midget, Sprint Car and Silver Crown divisions in their only same-day appearance together on the 2014 schedule. As if all that isn’t enough, members of the Vintage Auto Racing Club (VARC) will host a display and on-track exhibition, while the USAC .25 Midgets will be competing on Little Eldora Speedway.
Coming into Friday’s chase, four different WoO winners have found their way to Eldora’s victory lane in as many contests this year. With this being the final 2014 WoO showing at Eldora, the balance of the field is hoping to keep that streak going and make it five different winners.
Among the hopefuls is 20-time WoO champion Steve Kinser. The Bloomington, IN veteran is making his final Eldora appearance as a full-time WoO point follower and would like nothing better than to close out that campaign with his 36th WoO win at Eldora. The travelling Outlaws have completed 149 races at Eldora and Kinser’s 35 victories sets him high atop the all-time win list.
Shane Stewart (Tulsa, OK) and David Gravel (Watertown, CT) captured their first-ever Eldora WoO wins when the tour invaded in May, while the recently retired Sammy Swindell (Germantown, TN) captured the final checkered flag of his storied career on July 11. The next night saw Kerry Madsen (St. Marys, NSW, Australia) increasing his Eldora win total to three with a convincing $50,000 Kings Royal victory.
For the Modifieds, it will be their final tune-up before the three-day UMP Fall Nationals (October 2, 3 & 4). Earlier in the season, teammates Jeff Babcock (Wayne, OH) and Matt Westfall (Ludlow Falls, OH) traded wins with three apiece before Jacob Hawkins (Fairmont, WV) and Jonathan Taylor (Saltsburg, PA) moved in to end that streak with their recent ventures into victory lane.
When Dave Darland (Lincoln, IN) captured April’s USAC Sprint Car main event at Eldora, it inched him closer to August’s historic moment when he moved past veteran Tom Bigelow (Whitewater, WI) to become USAC’s all-time leading feature winner with 53 checkered flags. Darland is hoping to retain that momentum Saturday night as he comes into the event only three points behind Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, OK) in the cumulative 2014 USAC National Sprint Car Series point chase. Bacon has yet to score an Eldora USAC Sprint win while Darland has amassed five.
Rico Abreu (Rutherford, CA) turned the trick in the USAC Midget portion of the Four Crown last year and rides into Saturday as the current point leader with a comfortable margin over veteran charger Tracy Hines (New Castle, IN) and young upstart Christopher Bell (Norman, OK).
Closing out Saturday’s tripleheader will be the time-honored Silver Crown division. Kody Swanson (Kingsburg, CA), winless in Eldora action thus far, leads the point chase over Hines, Bobby East (Brownsburg, IN) and last year’s Four Crown winner Chris Windom (Canton, IL).
Each night’s card will include full racing programs of Heat Races, B-Features as needed and the concluding A-Features.
During the daytime, the future stars of racing will be honing their .25 Midget racing skills on the adjoining Little Eldora Speedway and the VARC members will be on hand with their biggest display of the year to bench race and retell the history of their restored race cars.
Fans can purchase remaining race tickets for the Four Crown Nationals — or any other exciting Eldora event — by going online to www.EldoraSpeedway.com. Tickets may also be purchased through the Eldora offices during normal business hours by calling (937) 338-3815.
Additionally, race fans and race teams can get behind-the-scenes access by following @EldoraSpeedway on Twitter, hitting ‘Like’ at Facebook.com/EldoraSpeedway and viewing video highlights at YouTube.com/EldoraSpeedwayInc. Mobile device users can access the Eldora Speedway app for the iPhone, iPad and Android, which are available for download via iTunes and Google Play.
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