Fan Notes from Eldora All Stars at the Four Crown

(Tom Myers) 9/24/2022 - The 40th annual 4 Crown race was held at Eldora Speedway on Saturday Sept 24th this year and it was a good one. The crowd was nice, the weather was pleasant and the field of cars and drivers was stout. Most of my review will focus on the All Stars, although I will have a few snippets from the USAC divisions as well.

I was telling my friend that this is one of the best shows to come see because it is a big event…and there are 4 open wheel divisions…. and it’s one of the nicest facilities in the country….and you get to see the best wingless sprint and midget drivers…. and the speeds are high….and the crowd, although large, is not too wild and crazy…compared with the Kings Royal or something like that.

In the concession line, I got to talking with a gentleman and he said the exact same thing back to me that I was telling my buddy about this race. This fellow was telling me about the World 100 and the Kings Royal, and about many of the rowdy race fans carrying on and…well, let’s just leave it there! I will say, back many years ago, that during the Kings Royal, like when it was in the first few years of it….Pops and I were sitting on the turn one bank on lawn chairs. There were not stands there at that time. Between the B main and the A main, two fellows, who were sitting close by us, had been drinking a lot and when the B main was over, they climbed the fence and navigated down onto the track!

Not safe for push trucks at Eldora Saturday We had a great drive from Medina, and it only took about 2 ½ hours! Route 30 has been a pleasure to drive, compared to the one lane road it used to be not too long ago. And at 70 miles per hour most of the way, it was a speedy jaunt. We grabbed some food in Sidney at Smokey Joe’s Barbecue and then headed out to the track.

We got to the track around 4 o’clock and made a speedy entrance. Soon we were hoofing it down to the pits. I was hoping to see Cap Henry there but he ended up racing at Fremont in the 29 Farmer car…and finished 2nd in the A main. Sye Lynch was driving the 4 car that Cap had put into third place in the All Star point standings this year. After the All Star this evening, and as a result of not being here, Cap had dropped back to 4th in the standings.

The track was smooth and tacky and looked like it would hold up all evening. My friend and I positioned ourselves by the turn 3 pit access opening, to get a good view of the cars flashing by us. When the midgets started pushing off, a push truck ended up running into one of the race cars on the backstretch. In the maneuvering to avoid the race car, the pace truck was carried by momentum into the inside turn 3 wall and smacked it good, crushing a fender and popping a front tire! Yikes, excitement already! Don’t get too close and keep your head on a pivot!

So in addition to the All Star guys, other top racers in attendance included Rico Abreu, Travis Philo, Aaron Reutzel, Buddy Kofoid, Kasey Kahne, Sam Hafertepe, Ayrton Gennetton, Brady Bacon, Cole Macedo in the Alex Bowman 55 car, Ryan Timms, Trey Jacobs, Greg Wilson, and Logan Seavey, the later making his first All Star start aboard the 11 car that Parker Price Miller usually drives.

Logan Seavey The 11 cars, Seavey and Kofoid, took turns as fast timers until Peck, who was the next to last car out, turned the fast time. Balog came out to time but pulled off with a mechanical issue and never turned a qualifying lap. The heats would be 8 laps taking the top 5 to the feature and the winner and fastest timers who transfer to the dash. Hafertepe won heat 1 with Philo taking the 2 spot, followed by Lynch, Schurenburg and Haase. The groove was through the middle and down low. In heat 2, the winner was Bacon who streaked away from the field. He was followed by Reinhardt, Macedo, Westbrook and Windom. The heat 3 finish was Reutzel, Courtney, Wise, Timms and Jacobs. Balag came from the back and had a good shot at the last transfer spot but couldn’t quite get there. In heat 4, the winner was Logan Seavey, who held off Abreu, who was followed by Kofoid, Peck and Kasey Kahne. Wilson, who started 7th, finished 7th and was headed for the B main.

The dash was won by Courtney as 2nd starting Seavey fell back to fith. The starting 4 rows of the A main would be Courtney on the pole with bacon alongside. The next rows were Reutzel and Peck, Seavey and Lynch, Reunhardt and Hafertepe.

The Midget race was really entertaining, although there were two grinding wrecks. Mitchell Moles took a big tumble in turn 4 and was uninjured, but his car was toast. Then, 2nd running Kofoid peeled a right rear off at the turn 1 cushion and went nose first into the wall. With nowhere to go, 3rd running Chance Crum plowed into Kofoid who then barreled in the air violently before coming to a rest. Buddy took awhile to get out of the car but was okay. Both drivers were okay, but Kofoid did not return to run his winged sprint car in the All Star feature.

It was nice to see Chris Windom win the midget feature. Up around the wall, Windom pulled away from the field after Kofoid and Crum were retired. Windom is a good driver and hopefully he can get some confidence back, after struggling with the wing on this year.

Tyler Courtney In the USAC sprint feature, Justin Grant rode the rim and raced away from the field and was too much for Brady Bacon and at the end held off a charging C. J. Leary to take the win. Robert Ballou and Dallas Hewitt got together and crashed pretty hard in turn 4 early on in the race but both were okay. Ballou, who landed upside down, immediately climbed out from under his car to look at the damage….kind of like Jack Hewitt would have done. I like Robert Ballou.

The All Star feature would pay $10,000 this year and that’s a good upgrade for this event me thinks. Tyler Courtney raced out to the lead but was closely followed by Brady Bacon. The groove was up at the top but some were making up ground in the middle or down low.

Eventually Bacon faded and Justin Peck came up to challenge. Actually, Peck got by Courtney and held the top spot for 2 circuits but then Tyler seemed to find another gear and sped away. Courtney wins the 30 lapper, his 7th All Star win of the year, followed by Peck, Reutzel, Abreu, Philo, and Greg Wilson, who came up 17 positions to finish 6th, riding around the bottom. Wilson had started 8th in the B main and finished 4th in that race to barely get into the A main.

It was now 11:30 and we didn’t win the 50/50, which was above $27,000, and the ladies were ready to go. So we didn’t see the Silver Crown race but left with a smile on our faces!

Thank you Eldora Speedway for a great evening and thank you All Stars and thank you USAC for a great show. We hope to see you again next year!