(Indy Racing Images Photo)
By Richie Murray
Rossburg, Ohio (September 18, 2024)………Where else can you experience the best of four worlds all on one weekend and at one legendary venue?
The answer can be found nowhere else other than Rossburg, Ohio’s Eldora Speedway for the 42nd running of the 4-Crown Nationals Presented By NKTELCO on Friday-Saturday night, September 20-21.
The pits inside the 1/2-mile dirt oval will be filled to the brim with open wheel machinery from USAC’s stable of NOS Energy Drink National Midget, AMSOIL National Sprint Car and Silver Crown divisions to the winged variety of the Kubota High Limit Racing Sprint Cars.
Each division will be racing for $15,000-to-win in their respective features during Saturday night’s program in what is undoubtedly the greatest racing smorgasbord of them all at The Big E.
Let’s dig into the storylines for each of the three USAC national divisions this weekend!
A 4-PEAT ON THE LINE IN SILVER CROWN
The USAC Silver Crown storyline entering Eldora is based on whether Logan Seavey can do it again. After all, he remains an undefeated 3-for-3 at the 4-Crown Nationals in USAC Silver Crown competition, winning in 2021-2022-2023. A win on Saturday would be a huge boon for Seavey as it would be his first of the USAC Silver Crown season.
While Seavey stands third in Silver Crown points, a distant 67 markers behind the leader, the battle between the top-two is at fever pitch. Kody Swanson leads Justin Grant by 12 points at the top entering the event with three races remaining. Neither Swanson nor Grant have won a USAC Silver Crown race at Eldora yet. However, Grant and Swanson have run first and second, in that order, in each of the past two dirt Silver Crown races at Springfield and Du Quoin.
Four past Eldora USAC Silver Crown winners are in this Saturday’s 27-car field, featuring Logan Seavey (2021-2022-2023), C.J. Leary (2018) and Brady Bacon (2019). Amazingly, all three drivers are vying for their first USAC Silver Crown win of the year. All three have led laps this season and been in contention to win. Perhaps this is the weekend for their breakthrough.
This Saturday night’s 50-lap main event marks the 100th USAC Silver Crown race held on a 1/2-mile dirt track. Eldora Speedway has hosted nearly half of them, 42 to be exact. The very first of those 100 came at Pennsylvania’s Williams Grove Speedway in 1980, won by Sheldon Kinser. Jack Hewitt is the all-time leader in USAC Silver Crown 1/2-mile dirt wins with nine.
ELDORA SPEEDWAY – HOME OF THE SPRINT
With more than 40 cars and drivers expected for this Saturday’s USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship portion of the 4-Crown Nationals, it’s all up for grabs with a slew of drivers gunning for Big E success.
Five past 4-Crown Nationals USAC Sprint Car winners are featured in this year’s lineup. Among them are Robert Ballou (2007) and Justin Grant (2016 & 2022), each of whom were victorious with the series at Eldora earlier this year on back-to-back nights in May during #LetsRaceTwo.
Additional former Eldora USAC Sprint winners who’ll be on hand include past series champions Brady Bacon (2014) and C.J. Leary (2017), plus Logan Seavey (2023) who doesn’t own a USAC National Sprint Car title as of yet but remains in the cat bird seat at the moment with a 74-point lead over Bacon in the current standings with just five races on the docket.
A long running USAC record is on the line this weekend. All 11 previous drivers who’ve won 10+ USAC National Sprint Car races in a single season have also won at Eldora that same year. Seavey, a 13-time USAC Sprint winner in 2024, currently stands one triumph shy of Tom Bigelow’s 1977 record of 14 victories. Seavey, however, has not yet won at Eldora. Saturday’s 30-lap feature remains his final shot of the year to continue this statistic.
Furthermore, the event is also the penultimate event of the 10-race Bubby Jones Master of Going Faster Presented By Spire Sports + Entertainment season. Brady Bacon retains a 22-point lead over Kevin Thomas Jr. heading into this weekend’s ninth round of the miniseries as he looks to become the first-two-time Master of Going Faster titlist after also scoring the inaugural edition in 2022. C.J. Leary was the champion in 2023 and currently resides third, 37 points out of the lead. The title prize is a $10,000 check for the driver and $2,500 for the champion crew chief. Only one Master of Going Faster race remains afterward on October 12 at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway.
DOUBLE THE MIDGET RACING FUN AT ELDORA
There’s nothing quite like watching a 25-lap USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature at Eldora. It’s a non-stop hornet’s nest of activity with drivers putting it all on the line up top, on the bottom and through the middle lap-after-lap, from one set of turns to the next. Then rinse and repeat until you’re completely absent of breath.
The best part is that this weekend presents back-to-back nights of 25-lap main events for the midgets on Friday and Saturday. With around 20 cars expected, the field is mighty and features each of the past three years’ worth of winners: Chris Windom (2021 & 2022) as well as Logan Seavey (2023).
Windom also scored the win during the 2023 opening night, which doesn’t officially count toward the 4-Crown record books. That’s reserved for Saturday night.
Three past winning teams are in this weekend’s midget field, including CB Industries, which has been victorious in four of the past five Eldora midget races. The CBI team will sport a three-car lineup this year for Windom, series point leader Daison Pursley and Rookie Zach Wigal. Abacus Racing broke CBI’s Eldora reign in 2023 via a with Logan Seavey, who returns this year.
Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, meanwhile, owns nine Eldora USAC Midget wins, tied with Steve Lewis for number one all-time. KKM has won with Jay Drake (2001-2002), Dave Darland (2004), Kyle Larson (2011-2012), Rico Abreu (2013-2016), Christopher Bell (2015) and the team’s most recent, Spencer Bayston (2017). The team returns with five entries for this weekend: Ryan Timms, Jade Avedisian, Cannon McIntosh, Gavin Miller and Kale Drake.
SWEEPING SEAVEY RETURNS FOR ALL 4 CROWN
At press time, Logan Seavey is the lone driver to announce his intentions to compete in all four crowns of this weekend’s 4-Crown Nationals.
Seavey will wheel Abacus Racing’s No. 57 midget and sprint car, plus the Rice Motorsports-Abacus Racing #22 Silver Crown ride along with the Landon Simon Racing No. 24s sprinter for the High Limit portion.
Of course, Seavey’s memorable sweep of the 2023 4-Crown was monumental as he joined Jack Hewitt (1998) and Kyle Larson (2011) as just the third driver to pull off the feat. However, Hewitt remains the only driver to win all four crowns in a single night when he added a UMP Modified triumph in addition to his USAC success in 1998.
Only seven previous drivers have started all four 4-Crown features in a single night. Jack Hewitt did it eight times (1986-1987-1990-1991-1992-1996-1997-1998). Dave Darland ran all four on three occasions (1999-2000-2002). Brady Bacon did it twice (2016 & 2018) as did Tracy Hines (2001 & 2002) and Tyler Courtney (2016 & 2021). Tony Stewart (1995) successfully started all four divisions’ main events as did Logan Seavey (2022).
A number of other drivers have attempted all four over the years but missed out on transferring into one or more of the four features: Larry Rice (1981), Tom Bigelow (1986), Jack Hewitt (1988-1993-1994-1999), Tony Elliott (1992), Tony Stewart (1994), A.J. Fike (2002), Dave Darland (2006), Chris Windom (2022) and Logan Seavey (2023).
TRIPLE THREATS
Four drivers, meanwhile, are planning to do work in at least three of the USAC national divisions this weekend at Eldora with Silver Crown, Sprints and Midgets.
The aforementioned Logan Seavey has his slate full with work in all four divisions in Abacus Racing’s No. 57 midget and sprint car, plus the Rice Motorsports-Abacus Racing #22 Silver Crown ride along with the Landon Simon Racing No. 24s sprinter for the High Limit portion.
Additionally, Justin Grant will perform triple-duty in the RMS Racing No. 2 midget, the TOPP Motorsports No. 4 sprint car and the Hemelgarn Racing No. 91 Silver Crown car.
Daison Pursley is in the same boat with his work schedule set in the Team AZ Racing #21AZ sprint car and #21 Silver Crown ride as well as the CB Industries No. 86 midget.
Matt Goodnight is also trying his hand at the quest of performing in all three in his own No. 39G sprint car, the John Haggenbottom No. 24 Silver Crown machine and he’ll also be making his series debut with the midgets aboard the Simon Racing No. 74.
RACE DETAILS
This Friday night’s BeFour the Crowns event on September 20 at Eldora Speedway features the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, USAC Silver Crown Qualifying and the Kubota High Limit Racing Sprint Cars. Pits open at 1:30pm. Front gates open at 2pm. Hot laps begin at 6pm, followed by qualifying and racing. General admission tickets are $35 for ages 14 & up and free for ages 13 and under. Reserved tickets are $40 for ages 14 & up and $10 for ages 13 and under. Pit passes are $50. It’s $85 for a two-day pit pass.
This Saturday night’s 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKTELCO at Eldora Speedway features the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Kubota High Limit Racing Sprint Cars and the USAC Silver Crown National Championship. Front gates and pit gates open at Noon Eastern. A drivers autograph session will take place in the Fan Zone from 3-4pm. Hot laps begin at 6pm, followed by qualifying and racing.
General admission tickets are $40 for ages 14 & up and free for ages 13 and under. Reserved tickets are $45 for ages 14 & up and $10 for ages 13 and under. Pit passes are $50. It’s $85 for a two-day pit pass.
Advance tickets are on sale now at https://www.eldoraspeedway.com/event/42nd-4crown/
All four divisions at the 4-Crown will be shown LIVE and uninterrupted on FloRacing at https://flosports.link/usac.
USAC Media
