East Bay grand finale to pay $50,000
GIBSONTON, Fla. — Track owner Al Varnadore and the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series plan to send East Bay Raceway Park out in style.
The historic Florida Speedweeks track, which announced in September 2019 that it will close in 2024 after agreeing to sell the track property to a neighboring fertilizer producer, has scheduled a grand finale weekend for Oct. 12-14, 2024 with a pair of $5,000-to-win events and a track-richest $50,000-to-win finale that will mark the third-mile oval's last-ever major Super Late Model event. | Complete Speedweeks coverage
The announcement was made Friday evening before the $12,000-to-win fifth round of the 47th annual Wieland Winternationals on the Lucas Oil Series.
The addition of the three events at the Clay by the Bay means that, counting Saturday's 2023 Winternationals finale and tentatively six Winternationals races from Feb. 5-10, 2024, 10 major Super Late Model events remain at the beloved track.
The grand finale at East Bay would mark a rare visit by Super Late Models to East Bay outside of Speedweeks events. The track hosted the Renegade STARS Racing Series for three November 2000 events and the Lucas Oil Series, amid a Covid-shuffled schedules, ran three May 2020 events at the Tampa-area track.
East Bay's finale event will set the final four drivers in the tour's Big River Steel Chase for the Championship, according to series officials.
Mosaic Co., a Fortune 500 company that mines potash and phosphate that it processes into crop nutrients, is poised to complete its purchase of the property following the 2024 season.
