Dirt Late Model Dream marks first double major week at Eldora

Eldora Speedway nearly got shut out of racing at all during the 2020 season due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

Sorry to bring that up again, but it’s important to the context of what the track is doing this season with its racing schedule.

The track saw its return to action during a two-day invite only sprint car event last Fall, and then hosted the popular #LetsRaceTwo doubleheader between the World of Outlaws and USAC sprint cars in May.

Both events were special and marked big returns in their own ways, but this week’s Dirt Late Model Dreams – yes, with an S – are the most ambitious of them all.

The track usually hosts three major races on the season – two big late model shows in the Dream and the World 100 as well as the crown jewel sprint car race in the Kings Royal.

Rather than canceling any of those in 2020, the track moved each of them to 2021, doubling up each weekend, and keeping the payouts the same as they had planned at the beginning of last year.

It’s like hosting two Masters at Augusta during the same week. Then two more Masters in July and another two Masters in September.

The commitment to teams, drivers, and fans is remarkable.

Now it might look a little confusing on the service as the double Dream week gets started on Wednesday. The first of the two main event shows will be dubbed as the 27^th running of the dream, while Saturday’s will mark the 26^th running.

This is because the races were originally just pushed back on the schedule. It wasn’t until the off-season when Eldora officially announced the bonanza of big ones.

Nonetheless, Wednesday will kick things off with a pair of $10,000-to-win preliminary features that will help decide the starting lineup for Thursday’s $127,000 Dirt Late Model Dream. Friday will then mirror Wednesday’s format leading into the $126,000 payday going to the winner on Saturday.

On top of what the format pays to win, every starter in each Dream will earn $2,500.

There’s a lot of intrigue already with how much the event pays out – drawing the best late model teams from around the country – but one driver will stick out among the rest.

Kyle Larson will be competing in his first crown jewel late model event. The NASCAR and dirt track star has won in virtually every car – including the late model.

The California native earned a victory in the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series season opener earlier this year and is back in the Rumley No. 6 car for his first late model crown jewel of his career.

Another non-series affiliated driver to watch will be Bobby Pierce in the No. 32 entry.

The 24-year-old is having his best start to a season that we’ve seen and he’s not afraid of spoiling the show at a big track.

Meanwhile, Hudson O’Neil looks to build on what has been a strong season to say the least. The Double Down Motorsports driver is the only wheel man on the Lucas tour with three wins in the series this season.

Speaking of the series, Tim McCreadie comes into the event as the points leader in the series, having never won a Dirt Late Model Dream in his career.

On the other side of things, 2019 and defending Dirt Late Model Dream champion Brandon Sheppard has just one official World of Outlaws win this season, but its an easy bet to say that the Rocket 1 team will have something special of a car ready to go.

All of the action gets started on Wednesday night, with each of the four nights streaming live on FloRacing. Hot laps on each night of action are scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. CT with racing action commencing at 7:00 p.m.

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