An unprecedented amount of money is flowing into winged sprint car racing this season.
Several series have increased their points funds and numerous tracks have stepped up their payouts. Marquee events are both growing and being created. It is a great year to be a competitor.
Huset’s Speedway officials announced last summer during the inaugural Huset’s High Bank Nationals that the 2023 version would pay a record $250,000 to win the finale of the event that was run June 21-24. It was the most a driver has earned in a single race in 410 winged sprint car history.
If that wasn’t jaw dropping enough, last December Tony Stewart and his staff at Eldora Speedway released news of the Eldora Million — the first sprint car race to pay $1 million to win — $1,002,023 to be exact.
The half-mile dirt track near Rossburg, Ohio, will showcase the Eldora Million on July 12-13 as the opening half of a four-night weekend capped by the famed Kings Royal on July 14-15.
Drivers will be split into two groups during the opening night, which concludes with a pair of $12,000-to-win main events. Eldora Speedway officials hadn’t released the complete Eldora Million format as of Memorial Day weekend, but stated in the original announcement that drivers will accrue points throughout the opener that will play into the finale.
“It’s awesome,” said World of Outlaws driver David Gravel, who will use two of his four races allotted outside of series competition to compete in the Eldora Million. “Late model guys got an opportunity twice in their sport. For winged sprint car racing to have an opportunity to race for a million is awesome. I think everyone is looking forward to it. So many people are talking about it.”
Four-time and defending World of Outlaws champion Brad Sweet is also using the Eldora Million for half of his allotted non-Outlaws races.
“It’s so neat to have an opportunity to race for a million for one,” he said. “To see how much the sport has grown to race for such a legit amount of money. It’s life-changing for the person who wins that race. You can race seasons and never make that amount of money.
“There’s not a lot of races in the world that pay $1 million to win. It shows you where the sport is at and the potential.”
Sweet said the most he and his Kasey Kahne Racing team have made in a single season is a little more than $700,000, which included the World of Outlaws points-fund money.
“I’ve been in the $600,000 to $700,000 for a few years,” he said. “That’s just one race out of 90. It’s an added race. We’re still doing the Kings Royal, Knoxville Nationals. Huset’s is still paying $250,000 to win. It’s a huge opportunity to make money racing dirt.”
Spencer Bayston, who captured the World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year Award in 2022, is another driver who circled the Eldora Million as half of his “bonus” races this year.
“Whoever wins that million will easily make twice as much as the next guy,” he said. “It’s that big of a payout.
“It definitely raises the pressure. It’s not a points race for us and not one where you have to balance the risk versus reward in terms of what it means for the rest of your season. Everyone there will be full send, doing everything they can to advance to lead laps and be there at the end. When you talk about the aggressiveness and how hard guys will race, it’ll definably be a step up.”
The consensus from a half dozen drivers surveyed about the event is that respect will still be an important factor.
“The late model guys seemed to race with a ton of respect,” Bayston noted. “I don’t remember who was second, but he could have used (Jonathan Davenport) up there and didn’t. I think it’ll depend on who is in the top three. Certain guys are willing to push more than others. I won’t say you all of a sudden lose respect for others.”
Sweet stated that because of the stakes of a bad crash at a high-speed track like Eldora Speedway a certain amount of decorum is necessary.
“I don’t want to say you’d wipe someone out, but certainly there’s more intensity and more on the line,” he said. “You might be willing to take a few chances. I don’t think racing dirty is acceptable and in sprint car racing it’s not the way we do things because of the open wheel. But you’ll have to be up on the wheel and make moves to win that race.”