Earl Baltes, the hardworking genius behind Eldora Speedway, died yesterday. He built and maintained the absolute best dirt racing surface in the world. Eldora is the mecca of dirt ovals, with only one or two dirt tracks coming close to the prestige. Oval track racing is popular across the USA, with lots of spectators and (not much) cash purses.
Why didn't road course racing become popular like this? Imagine full grandstands at Putnam Park road course every Friday night. Imagine the Spec Miata winner winning $300 along with his trophy that night. Imagine racing 20 nights a year at your local track, instead of driving hundreds of miles five weekends a year to follow your regional SCCA schedule.
Earl was a genius. GRM, I'd like an article on this man and what he did for racing.
This is a track that I need to visit before I leave the earth.
From ESPN:
Eldora Speedway founder Earl Baltes, who took the land that came with the Eldora Ballroom he purchased and turned it into one of the most well-known and prestigious dirt tracks in the country, died Monday morning at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio. He was 93.
Baltes built a quarter-mile dirt track on the rural site in Rossburg, Ohio, in 1954 and four years later had turned it into the banked half-mile dirt track that fans still go to today. One of his first big events was the World 100 dirt late model race that paid $4,000 to the winner in 1971 and remains one of its biggest events.
Gingerman Raceway in Michigan isn't a huge spectator track, but its my home track and I always liked the story line. It was built in the 90's by a guy from Chicago that had the money to build a race track. He bought the land and built a track in the middle of nowhere outside of beautiful South Haven, MI.
