Fan Notes from All Stars at Eldora Four Crown

Eldora Speedway ( Tom Myers ) Rossburg, Ohio – The 2023 edition of the Four Crown Nationals once again featured the USAC sprints, midgets, and Silver Crown cars as well as the All Star Circuit of Champions winged sprint cars. On the line for the All Stars was the car owner’s championship and the $80,000 that goes with it, since this race is the final point race for the All Stars this year. The only remaining event is the Tuscarora 50 paying $60,000 to the winner, but it is now not a points event because of the rainout on the original race date. Zeb Wise had already clinched the driver’s title, but the Zeb Wise Rudeen Racing team and the Tyler Courtney Clausen Marshall Racing team were locked in an epic car owner’s battle with the points practically even. The prize money at the banquet goes to the team owners, so this was the big deal.

It was a beautiful day once again, low to mid 70’s, plenty of sunshine with a mild breeze. It was a beautiful drive from Rittman, as the trees in some places are starting to turn color and the soybeans are getting yellow in the fields. We were heading to Clyde for our stay this year, for the first time. Usually, we go to Sidney and stay over, but our friends, who are up from Missouri, suggested we try something different. I am glad we did, because Clyde, Ohio is pretty cool. The really cool thing was the big lake there fittingly called Grand Lake. Grand Lake is a manmade lake that was created as a reservoir to feed the Miami and Erie canal system for shipping goods. The lake was excavated starting in 1837 and took 8 years to finish, being completed in 1845! I guess 1,700 men worked on it and the average depth is 5-7 feet. The area of this thing is humungous, taking up 13,500 acres of space. After the railroads took over most of the shipping, the lake’s importance waned until in the 1890s, oil was discovered in the area, and oil derricks were set up in the lake sometime around 1891. This made Grand Lake the location for the first off shore oil drilling to take place. The lake became one of Ohio's first state parks in 1949 with recreational facilities built in the following years. We ended up staying in a hotel right by the shore of this big lake that faced the east. The sunrise was amazing! It was like staying on the shore of Lake Erie or being at the ocean. It was really cool! And Clyde is closer to the track than Sidney…. so it’s a no brainer to stay here the next time we head to the races at Eldora.

Kasey Kahne There were 42 winged sprint cars in the pits, along with all the USAC cars. It was cool seeing Jade Avedision, who is the real deal, and also Justin Grant and Brady Bacon fighting it out for the USAC sprints points lead. The track was watered plenty, but with the lack of recent rain and the use the track received the previous evening, some drivers were prepared for a dry, dusty, slick surface for the duration. And that, without surprise, is what it ended up being. But the racing was good with the bravest flirting with the Eldora concrete wall and others finessing their cars around the bottom looking for moisture.

Many notable competitors were on hand with the All Stars. The previous evening’s World of Outlaws winner Rico Abreu was back and ready to try for another $10,000 tonight. Rico was also piloting a midget for the first time in awhile. Others on hand were Austin McCarl, Kasey Kahne, Cory Eliason, Parker Price Miller, Brian Brown, Justin Peck, Ryan Timms, J.J. Hickle, Chase Randall, Aaron Reutzel, Sye Lynch and Brady Bacon.

Logan Seavey was also racing a winged sprinter tonight, in his effort to win all 4 races, just like Jack Hewitt did here, some 25 years ago. I don’t believe anyone else was trying to race in all 4 events, other than Logan.

During hot laps for the All Stars, Conner Morrell had engine problems and they stayed with him the whole night, as he never got back on the track. The crew was working on the motor, and he pushed off a few times….but they never got it sorted out. Kerry Madsen also dumped some oil on the back stretch during hot laps and I thought he blew an engine, but it was just an oil line that came loose, so he was off and running again in time trials. The fast timer for the All Stars was Chase Randall, who was also the first timer out on the track. The track seemed okay for time trials, as the All Stars were the first group to time. After they were done, they had a lengthy wait because the USAC Sprints had to hot lap and time trial as well as the midgets hot lapping. Seavey qualified 31st, but after that he didn’t participate in the winged car for the rest of the evening.

Tyler Courtney There were 5 All Star heats, 8 laps each, with the first 4 finishers transferring to the A main. In the first heat, 3rd starting Tyler Courtney raced to the front and raced away from the field. He was followed by Sye Lynch, Chase Randall and Brady Bacon. First starting Zach Hampton faded to 5th and the B-main. In heat 2 the finish was pole sitter Cory Eliason taking the win, followed by Peck, Kahne, and Timms. 4th starting Reutzel faded to 5th and the B main. In the 3rd heat the winner was Cale Thomas, who was surprising me with the speed he was showing. He is currently driving the Jay Kiser 23 car which is more of a local Fremont, Attica car. The Kiser car started the season following the All Star series with Seth Zabo, but that didn’t last very long. But boy, were they fast tonight with Cale Thomas behind the wheel! The finish in heat 3 was Thomas, Brown, PPM and Kraig Kinser up from 6th. #rd staring Madsen and 5th starting Reinhardt faded to 5th and 6th and to the B main. In the 4th heat the winner was 4th starting Zeb Wise, who just flew away from everyone else. Hickle finished 2nd followed by Garet Williamson and Kevin Thomas Jr.. in the final heat, Rico flew to the win, followed by McCarl, Windom and Wilson. 3rd starting Bryce Lucious faded to 5th and the B main.

The All Stars had a C main scheduled but they scratched that as the night wore on and the show needed to move along. The 12 lap B main got us Reutzel coming home first, followed by Zach Hampton, 6th staring Kyle Reinhardt and Aryton Gennetton, who was up from 10th. 3rd starter Madsen faded to fifth and missed the feature. Usually Kerry is pretty good here so that was disappointing.

After the USAC sprint and midget features were over, the All Stars were ready to roll. Logan Seavey won the USAC sprint feature AND the midget feature. Too bad he didn’t have a top notch winged ride for this race. It would have been interesting to see what he could have done.

Zeb Wise By this time, the track was dry and slick and was throwing off that powdery dust. The track crew had watered the top and bottom a few times, but not enough to make a huge difference. After the dash, the All Star feature lineup was PPM on the pole, followed by Courtney, Thomas, Abreu, Wise, Timms, Eliason and Randall. Zeb needed to have a good run because if these guys finished in this order, the team owner title would go to Clausen Marshall racing.

When the feature started, Courtney raced around PPM for the lead and Abreu immediately came up from 4th and chased after PPM. Courtney raced away and held the lead for 8 laps, cruising up high around the wall. However, Abreu quickly passed PPM for 2nd and chased down Courtney, passing him for the lead on lap 9. Wise had started moving up, having passed PPM around lap 6 or 7. Wise then chased Courtney as Abreu stretched his lead to almost a straightaway and looked to be unbeatable. Wise stalked Courtney, both cars flying around Eldora up around the wall. On lap 16 Wise worked his way around Courtney by moving low entering turn 1 and sliding up in front at the exit of turn 2. After a few laps, Wise cleared Courtney and set sail for Abreu, but Rico was flying and looked to have an insurmountable lead. Wise was gaining on Rico as the laps dwindled down,…. so much so, that I thought Zeb had a chance to catch Rico. Passing him would be another story altogether. But then, with 4 laps to go, and Wise getting ever closer, with both cars running inches from the wall, Abreu’s right rear caught the wall too much at the middle of turn 3 and it sucked him into the wall and that ended Rico’s run. Wise almost hit Rico and had to take evasive action but luckily managed to avoid the rapidly slowing and damaged 24 car. At the restart, 2nd running Courtney, who had just got back around Sye Lynch for 2nd, chased Wise but didn’t have enough to get close for a try at a pass. Wise was able to race away and get the win…and the car owner title! The finish was Wise, Courtney, Lynch, PPM, Thomas, Peck, McCarl, Eliason, Wilson and Timms. Greg Wilson was your hard charger, coming up to 9th from 20th.

That was exciting and a really good race and a nice evening. Thank you All Stars and Thank you Eldora Speedway. Hope to see you next season!