This is my recap of the 2010 running of the World 100, ran of Friday and Saturday, September 11 and 12 at Eldora Speedway. This was the 40th annual running of this dirt late model crown jewel known as "The Granddaddy of Them All." This is the weekend where many in the racing world from the top to the lowest end of the spectrum all convene for the same reason. They are at the track to have a good time and take some racing in as well.
My weekend began when I, along with my grandpa, left from their house in Decatur at the break of dawn to make the near 5 hour journey to Western Ohio. We arrived at Eldora Speedway at a little after 2 PM EST. The first thing we did, as we always do when we arrive, was to upgrade our tickets to pit passes for the $5 fee. It really is worth it for those who have never done it. As we were told jokingly by one of the workers in the pit pass building the very first time we went to Eldora for the 14th Annual Dirt Late Model Dream in 2007 , "You can go anywhere on the grounds except the women's restrooms. If no one says anything, you can go there too." One of those things that was definitely worth a few laughs for sure. After getting our pit passes, we walked around the pit area to see where everyone was pitted and see some of the special schemes that various drivers and their graphics people had come up with.
The next thing on the agenda was sit into the first part of the Dirt on Dirt pre-race show sponsored by ApplianceZone.com. Below are a couple of photos I took from the first 2 segments of the show. For those who didn't get to see the show, go to http://www.dirtondirt.com and you can watch the pre-race show for FREE. Both segments in their entirety are posted. Those links are: PART 1-http://dirtondirt.com/video.php?watch=2479 and PART 2-http://dirtondirt.com/video.php?watch=2483 I even posed a question to Steve Casebolt about his experiences driving for others and himself, and what the $70,000 ApplianceZone.com sponsorship, a deal in partnership with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, would mean to him as a driver/owner.
The first photo has (from left to right), Chris Stepan (announcer and Dirt on Dirt contributor), driver Matt Miller of Whitehouse, Ohio, and Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series announcer James Essex. In the 2nd photo, (from left to right), Brasstown, North Carolina driver Ray Cook, Newport, Tennessee driver Jimmy Owens, and James Essex.
After this I walked through the pits some more, talking to numerous people I know, until it was time for round 1 of qualifying to begin. Qualifying seemed to go a LOT quicker than years past, but with 134 cars in attendance compared to 160-200 cars, it will make a world of difference. Austin Dillon would lay down a lap of 15.390 within the first 25 cars to go out. Josh Richards, the 2nd quickest car, didn't turn his fast lap until early in the 2nd round. Richards turned a time of 15.591 around the high banks of Eldora. Dillion skipped 2nd round but the time was enough to hold up. The next big thing to happen after qualifications ended was the the spin of the wheel to determine the invert for the heat races on Saturday night.
The first picture is while the wheel was rolling. Eldora Speedway announcer "DJ" Dustin Jarrett was interviewing 2nd quick qualifier Josh Richards. The 2nd picture is of the wheel when it quit turning. The invert was one that was popular overall with the fans, but not with the drivers. There is a straight up, 3 3's, 4 4's, 5 5's and 6 6's. Dillon rolled the # drivers dread, 6.
After this, there was only one event left on Friday night, the non-qualifiers event. Before it started, no one had anticipated on witnessing history take place. However, we all were witness. We seen the first female driver EVER to win a race at Eldora Speedway in it's history. This goes for ANY class. April Farmer of Livingston, Tennessee, dubbed the Rocket Mom, won the Non-Qualifiers feature Friday night to wrap up the on track activities for the evening. Below are some victory lane photos I got of this historic moment. You can click on them or any other photo to see them in a larger view.
Just because the racing had ended for the evening didn't mean the action around Eldora Speedway had stopped. Quite the contrary. Jeep Van Wormer along with his wife Angie, put together this year a group called A Head For a Cure. The website is http://ahead4acure.com/index.html Their big fundraiser was Brave The Shave.
It got started at Eldora Speedway at this year's Dirt Late Model Dream, and wrapped up with the shavings happening on Friday night and Saturday before the racing began. A total of 21 drivers, including names such as Jeep Van Wormer, Shannon Babb, Jason Feger, Jimmy Owens, Steve Francis, Brian Birkhofer, Jack Sullivan, Brandon Kinzer, Tim McCreadie among many more other notable names as well all raised money from then until right up until Friday, some making money right before they were shaved. They had a goal of $40,000 to raise, and they surpassed it thanks to generous fans, sponsors, and other contributors. I am proud to say I kicked in over the course of their fund raising for a few drivers and helped the cause. Below I have some pictures from Friday night. Sorry but they aren't the best quality.
After this and talking to a few people I roamed the hallowed grounds of the speedway, then walked through the Speedy Campgrounds across the street from the track to see what all was going on there. This is strictly what I saw. It was pretty tame, with the exception of a golf cart with about 6 guys on it pulling a wheelie. It was dangerous but you couldn't help but laugh and maybe even cheer a bit since no one got hurt.
After some much needed sleep in the car, it was time to get up. I didn't end up going to St. Henry Night Club for their breakfast buffet as usual since nothing was posted at the track and nothing was mentioned about it. Kind of disappointing, but I digress. One thing I have ALWAYS found to be cool was that when you walk into the main grandstands on Saturday morning, for either big Late Model Event, right at the base of the tower, one of the trophies is sitting there on display.
That trophy is one if you ask almost ANY dirt late model driver, that is THE trophy they want. This race is maybe the hardest to win in the country, and has been through the years because of stellar fields of quality cars from across the country and the vast amounts of LUCK it takes to qualify well, hit the invert, and then race well in the 100 lapper.
After having some lunch, the rains hit. The pits became an utter mess. I walked through them a few times to see what was going on, and ended up a bit muddy, but hey it's a dirt track. I don't expect to stay clean all of the time.
At 2, we started shaving those who had raised more money than those on Friday night. I got some great pictures from Saturday's shaving, and they pretty much tell the story.
After everyone braved the shave, the rest of the pre-race festivities, including interviews and whatnot, carried on. After walking around, talking to a lot of people, and taking everything in, I seen the clock and started getting goosebumps. The atmosphere was becoming electric. It was just 20 minutes before 7. Mother nature did dump moisture on the surface, so I knew the traditional 7 PM start of heat racing wouldn't happen. At 8:15, the push trucks came off and opening ceremonies began. One very cool thing done by the staff at Eldora was a sign they put up for our nation's troops.
This may seem simple to some, but this gesture shows that we care and we haven't forgotten who helps to fight for our freedom and give us ALL the ability to go to the races, wherever we happen to go.
At 8:24 PM, one of the most electric moments of the year happened. The first heat for the World 100 hit the famed Eldora Speedway highbanks. The track was very wet and heavy and stayed that way throughout the heats. Some incredibly fast laps were being turned by the drivers. The heats were fast and furious. Heat winners were, in order of heats: Chris Madden, Scott Bloomquist, John Blankenship, Jimmy Owens, Don O'Neal, and Bart Hartman (the defending winner of the event).
For the B-Mains, I went down to the infield. For someone going there for the first time, I HIGHLY recommend doing this and going right up by the fence in either turns 1 and 2, the back stretch, or turns 3 and 4 where you can. The sensation is absolutely incredible. While in the stands I could feel dampness and the occasional rain drop. However, when down in the infield, I noticed something a lot worse happening. A thick fog was developing and moving in, covering the speedway. There was a pileup in B-Main 2 in turn 4. I was in turn 1 at the time, and it almost looked like someone had sprayed fire extinguishers on a car. It was that hard to see.
As I walked back up, the fog was clearing off and as I got to my seat, it had pretty well cleared off. The time we had been anticipating the entire weekend was upon us. It was time to run the 40th Annual World 100 at Eldora Speedway. The green flag dropped, and defending winner and polesitter Bart Hartman jumped out to the early race lead with "The Real Deal" Don O'Neal and "The Newport Nightmare" Jimmy Owens in tow. Early on, these three broke away from the rest of the field. The first yellow flew on lap 11 for "Squirrel" Brian Shirley. His Jayco Construction, Skateland South, Kim's Autobody Bob Pierce #3s came up lame in turn 1. The race would restart only to see a caution again for "The One Man Band" Dennis Erb Jr. His Petroff Towing, Thomason Express, C&J Excevating Barry Wright #28 had issues in the rear end of his car, and he broke in turn 3. Yellow #3 would fly on lap 15 for the #7 machine of Matt Miller. At 25 laps in, 2 drivers had made a visual charge through the field. Those 2 drivers, former World 100 winners, were Dale McDowell and Billy Moyer. They were showing that they were going to make some noise and be in contention when it mattered most.
The 4th yellow flew on lap 28 for the 15B machine of Brian Birkhofer. By lap 33 McDowell was up to 4th, and Moyer was 5th. They both looked to have cars that could very well win the race. Leader Bart Hartman broke on lap 41. This gave Dale McDowell, who started 17th in the feature, the lead. McDowell would lead for a good 20 laps or so until 5 time World 100 champion Billy Moyer really started turning up the pressure. Lap 66 was a turning point as Moyer took the lead from Dale McDowell. With 15 to go I started to head to the infield so I could get in place to get pictures in victory lane. I sprinted from the frontstretch to the Love Tunnel. I watched on the backstretch, in turn 3, turn 4, and the frontstretch. I got there with about 9 to go. Bloomquist was starting to make a late move and Moyer's pace had slowed some. The view looking up at the stands was entertaining as well. The Bloomer fans were rooting as hard as they could for their driver, as Moyer fans and others were rooting for the other perennial powerhouse. I would say there were more people rooting for Moyer. He had come from 23rd to lead the feature. Some were rooting for him because he is considered one of the nice guys (there are more of those than people think). It was nice to see someone who not just a couple of years ago had been written off as done by many lead. Moyer has had a decade of bad luck at Eldora as well, but he finally shook that in June at the Dirt Late Model Dream. This was September though, and this race, as much as it's about money, was about the globe trophies.
After stopping, Moyer got out, and it was very obvious this win was as meaningful as any he had captured over his illustrious career.
Moyer had actually climbed up on the roof to show his joy, something Moyer RARELY does to that extent. Moyer was then interviewed by Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series announcer James Essex.
After the usual questions about the track, car, and race, one of the trophy queens brought over the hardware so many others had shown up to win.
Billy would then hold the trophy high and proud.
The trophy for the owner, who was Moyer, as well as the check, were brought over next.
Moyer would then do some pictures with the Ms. Eldora's.
Then, the pictures with friends and crew were taken.
Next, Billy's wife Joyce would join the others in victory lane for the group pictures.
Moyer then did a couple of pictures with just himself and the hardware.
Finally, a photo opportunity I personally asked for. These featured just the Moyers (Billy, Joyce, and Billy Jr.).
This was the last request before Moyer had to go to the tower to do his media press conference. With these last couple of pictures, I headed back up to the stands, and talked to a couple of people I knew. It was then off to the car where grandpa was waiting, and we were on the road home from another great weekend at Eldora Speedway. This weekend was filled with history. I am just glad I was able to witness it all, especially with my grandpa.
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