Eldora Speedway
World 100: Stewart glad to join his own party
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com chief writer
Earl Pearson Jr. blazed to quick time. (mikerueferphotos.photoreflect.com)
ROSSBURG, Ohio (Sept. 6) — Was there anybody happier than Tony Stewart to be at Eldora Speedway on Friday night? Well, maybe Earl Pearson Jr., the fast qualifier for the 38th annual World 100, but the speedway owner had to be a close second after Tropical Storm Hanna closed Richmond (Va.) International Raceway and allowed the NASCAR driver to slip back home and enjoy Dirt Late Model racing's most prestigious event.
"It's probably the first World 100 I've probably been to in 16 or 17 years, so I'm probably more excited than most of the fans to be back here tonight."
Typically, Richmond's Saturday night NASCAR Sprint Cup event prevents Stewart from enjoying one of the biggest nights at the track he bought from Earl Baltes in 2004, but with heavy winds and rain pelting Virginia, races were pushed back until Sunday. The giddy Stewart was glad to fly back to Eldora, even if he didn't arrive until all 175 entrants had taken both their qualifying laps.
"I was calling Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne and a bunch of the guys to see what their plans were. I said, 'I'm going to Eldora tonight, so if anyone wants to go, we're going.' It lets us be here tonight and lets us be here tomorrow night, so I'm excited to be able to watch this, and then we'll fly back to Richmond, get a good night's sleep, and get up Sunday. The only difference will be running in the day instead of running at night. Today's practice was all in the daytime anyway, so it won't be that big of deal."
Stewart got to catch the action of the non-qualifiers' races won by Dusty Moore, Tim Isenberg and Justin Rattliff, then grabbed binoculars to check out other sites around the track. One thing that impressed him? The mode of transportation that many campers use to get around the grounds.
"Driving in was a site to see," he said. "I don't think I've ever seen so many golf carts in on spot in my life. Maybe we need to have a World 100 for golf carts one of these days around here."
For this time, though, Stewart's just glad to see Dirt Late Models do their thing on his racetrack. "This is one of those events that, I don't care what you're doing or where you're at, if you can get there, you've gotta come see this."
Pearson's first-heat challenge
Fast qualifiers at Eldora take the good with the bad for the World 100. Setting fast time guarantees a 10th-row provisional, but it also means running the first heat race on a sometimes unpredictable, water-soaked racing surface that makes the first lap a doozy.
"I really didn't want to be in the first heat race, but the good thing of it is, we're in the World 100, so we'll just have to bide our time tomorrow and make sure we don't make a mistake and try to get in (through the heat)," said Earl Pearson Jr., whose quick lap of 15.350 seconds lowered the World 100 qualifying mark. "If it's extremely wet or something like that, it's going to make it a little bit tougher, but if its racy, I think the car's good enough to go up through there and pass some good cars. The biggest thing is to not get in a wreck."
Pearson, of Jacksonville, Fla., was the 12th fastest qualifier in 2006 when he won the World 100 in an exciting late-race duel with Jeep Van Wormer, Shannon Babb and Josh Richards.
McCreadie just a tick off
Second-fast qualifier Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., is also glad to have the cushion of a fast-qualifier provisional, but he was mostly wondering how to make his car just a little bit faster on a smooth, slick surface where being overaggressive sent drivers skittering toward the wall.
"I don't know what I could've done to be a little bit better. I said after we got out of the car, if I had two engines under the hood, maybe I could've gotten a little bit better than Earl. But their program is good. They were good when they come for the (World of Outlaws) show and it showed again here tonight.
"We made some changes for the second round," McCreadie told pitside announcer Bret Emrick following time trials. "A (15.6-second lap) I thought was OK until Scott (Bloomquist) went out a (15.5), Man, I need that 10th (of a second). I don't know how to get it. If anybody knows how to give me one more 10th, come on down, because I need one 10th, and hopefully I'd be a lot better."
Francis salvages second lap
Steve Francis knew exactly who to blame for his first qualifying lap that sent the Beitler Enterprises No. 19 into the turn-four wall: Steve Francis. The Ashland, Ky., driver and 1999 World 100 winner was appreciative of car owner Dale Beitler, crew chief Kevin Miller and car consultant Robby Allen for helping make sure the car was ready for a second lap that helped him earn a starting spot inside the second row for the sixth heat.
"It takes a good group of guys like that. You gotta give Dale and Kevin and Robby all a lot of credit, they give me excellent stuff every time I go on the racetrack. It makes my job easy," Francis said. "I just made their job hard tonight by driving into the fence. It was just driver brain fade. Instead of trying to run that lap that was going to be a (15.5 to 15-7 second lap), somewhere in there, we tried to run a (15.1-15.3) lap.
"We're real happy with our car, real, real comfortable with it, and it's been good lately, so we'll see what happens."
Gloomy day, sunny fans
While skies were overcast and rain spit down a few times on Friday, a healthy crowd still came out to watch the two rounds of qualifying and three non-qualifiers' races that precede Saturday's flood of action. Tim McCreadie was impressed how many come out to watch single cars tour the half-mile oval about 350 times.
"I've never seen, for qualifying, to have a crowd like this, that's amazing. It's cool that everybody's here and I just hope we'll have a good time, and tomorrow, put on a show for everybody here, because that's what it's all about," McCreadie said.
Fast qualifier Earl Pearson Jr. also thanked "all these fans sticking it out here. I know the economy's not that great now, but there are plenty if people here. Hopefully they'll see a great race tomorrow."
All's well that ends well
Last year's winner, Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., wasn't that crazy about his qualifying laps. But with a six-car inversion for heat races, he'll be starting outside the front row of the sixth heat and, with a victory, can earn the pole position in pursuit of trying to become the first back-to-back race winner since Donnie Moran in 1996-'97.
"I messed up in (turns) three and four in the first round," Owens said, "then in the second round I killed a ton of speed coming off turn four there."
But he'll take a good starting spot in an event that draws the sport's best. "Just to be on the front of a heat against this caliber of guys, that's a pretty good deal," Owens said.
Missing the 200-car mark
Car counts for the early years of the World 100 weren't available, but dipping below 200 is rare. The 175 cars is lowest since 195 in 2006. The biggest car count came in 2000 when the race drew 261 cars. That was the year the World 100 preceded the Eldora Million and Arkansas driver Bill Frye joked that "we've taken the biggest race in the country and turned it into hot laps for the Million."
Odds and ends
UMP DIRTcar Series officials are aggressively checking tires for irregularities, including using the handheld "sniffer," a lunchbox-sized device with a protruding tube that checks for chemical softeners. ... The toughest luck in qualifying might belong to Chris Madden of Gray Court, S.C. The team dropped a new powerplant in for Friday's time trials, and it went up in smoke on his first qualifying lap. After the engine swap, Madden's second lap came when the track surface allowed far slower qualifying times, and he narrowly made the 120-car cutoff for heat races, posting the 117th best time. ... Ronny Lee Hollingsworth of Northport, Ala., was the only driver among the top 20 qualifiers who hasn't competed in a 100-lapper at Eldora.
Correction: In an earlier version of this story, Tropical Storm Hanna was misspelled.
