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Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Rain doesn’t dampen spirits at Eldora
The rain fell at Eldora Speedway most of the morning and afternoon on Wednesday, June 3, sweeping the Prelude to the Dream down the calendar to September 9.
But even though the charity event putting NASCAR, NHRA and other racing professionals in dirt late models was postponed, it didn’t dampen the spirits of Bill Johnston. The Jefferson Township resident sat at his campground site with his brother and two nephews watching trucks slide through the mud, sharing laughs, stories, chili and a few drinks.
“It’s just a wet day at Eldora, that’s what you come to a dirt track for,” said Johnston. “If the race ain’t going on it’s party time and mud sliding.”
Not long ago Johnston might have duplicated those trucks throwing mud with a belly slide of his own. But Johnston said his dog, a Chihuahua named Diamond, “ain’t big enough to pull me.” Looking at Diamond it wasn’t hard to see who he was rooting for: The nails on two paws were painted orange — the same color Tony Stewart made popular driving the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet. The other two paws were painted pink.
Johnston was sharing the campsite with brother Larry Johnston Sr., his sons Larry Johnston Jr. — both of West Carrollton — and Jason Johnston of Piqua. All were rooting for Stewart, who on this day stayed in Indianapolis to wait out the rain. Though they missed out on the Prelude, they were staying through the weekend to watch the $100,000-to-win Dirt Late Model Dream.
Bill Johnston will also return in September for the Prelude and the World 100. He’s missed just one of the 38 races. That came in 1976 when a son was born.
“(My wife) told me if I wasn’t there while the baby was born to just stay at the race track,” Johnston said, laughing. “But no, she don’t have a problem with me coming up for a week at a time. I’ve had a great time coming up here. And we’ve been through it all, the mud and the storms.”
The campgrounds providing a temporary home to thousands of other racing fans were unusually quiet Wednesday. A few games of corn hole broke out once the rain slowed to a drizzle, then stopped around 4 p.m. A few others started their campfires, visited the souvenir trailers that remained open or treated themselves to the Race 2 Taste that featured Darke County restaurants. But most retreated to their campers or RVs to get out of the chilly, damp weather.
Eldora Speedway general manager Larry Kemp said they waited as long as they could to try and race, but with the drivers awaiting word in Charlotte, N.C., it had to be postponed.
“We had a tight schedule keeping in touch with the pilots and the guys in Charlotte about what time they would have to leave,” Kemp said. “That time was about 1 p.m. We did extend it a little bit but looking at the radar it was green all the way into Illinois. It’s an unfortunate thing but we’ll try again in September.”
Most racing fans understood the decision, but it will make for a long trip home for some.
“I know Tony was not wanting to cancel it. Tony is probably just as excited about it as everyone else was,” said Roberta Wilber, who took vacation, drove 11 hours one-way from Wisconsin and already knows she has a conflict with the Sept. 9 date. “But still, look at all the people that came from far away and just to come here to shop at his freakin’ tent.”
Jerry Lauer left Pittsburgh, Pa., with friends and family around 9 a.m. and arrived at his hotel at 2 p.m. That’s when he heard the race was postponed. They decided to visit the track anyway.
“We’re just going to walk around and check it out,” said Lauer, also hoping to see a Stewart victory. “We’ve never been here.”
And then there was Ken Walker. The race fan from Halifax, Nova Scotia, was finishing up a trip that started in Orlando, Fla., went to Charlotte, N.C., then Richmond, Va., and finally concluded at Eldora. Along the way there were three rainouts — counting the race-shortened Coca-Cola 600 — a bad starter fixed among the puddles in a Wal-Mart parking lot, a faulty RV bathroom and that muddy hole the RV’s back tire was resting in.
“I haven’t even seen the track. … I’ve read about it in magazines, things like that, and I knew it was a good track and had a good reputation so we came down to see her,” Walker said. “But the rain got us. Now the mud man got us. We’re stuck here. We may be here until October.”
Walker won’t be able to return in September, but he was sticking around for the Dream on Friday and Saturday.
“We’ll see something hopefully on Friday and Saturday. We’re staying here until Sunday, or possibly October,” Walker said. “We try hard to have a good time. We’d drink harder too if we could find a drink around this place. We’re going to lay low. We expected that. It’s not the hub of anything except a dirt track.”
The wine from the Winery at Versailles was flowing at Eldora’s multi-purpose building. The Race 2 Taste featuring restaurants from Darke County had about 1,000 people stop by said Deanna York, the executive director of the Darke County Visitors Bureau.
“The crowd has been wonderful for us,” she said.
And the favorite crowd pleaser?
“The barbeque ribs from Michael Anthony’s at the Inn are very good,” York said.
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Prelude is POSTPONED
This just in from Eldora Speedway: Persistent rain has forced officials at Eldora Speedway to postpone the fifth annual Prelude to the Dream. The all-star dirt late model race has been rescheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 9. A decision regarding the broadcast of the event will be made at a later date.
The wet weather made it impossible to run the event that was slated to benefit four military-themed charities - Wounded Warrior Project, Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, Operation Homefront and Fisher House.
“We worked really hard to make sure everything was right for the drivers, fans and viewers at home on HBO Pay-Per-View, but the weather was the one element we couldn’t control,” said Tony Stewart, two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion and owner of Eldora Speedway.
Those who have already purchased the Prelude to the Dream on HBO Pay-Per-View, which was slated to begin today at 7 p.m. EDT, will be refunded.
Those who purchased a ticket to the event can apply the value of their Prelude to the Dream ticket toward any remaining event on the 2009 Eldora Speedway schedule. To view the schedule, please visit www.EldoraSpeedway.com http://www.eldoraspeedway.com/ or call the track office (937) 338-3815.
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