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Tony Stewart on the Million, Eldora
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Tony Stewart has no shortage of valuable partners at Eldora Speedway but concedes the upcoming inaugural Sprint Car million and Kings Royal doubleheader do not make a tremendous amount of business sense.
Instead, it’s about making history.
The 50-lap main event, which is expected to draw roughly 80 cars, will pay more per mile than the Indianapolis 500 on Thursday, July 13. Specifically, the winner will earn $1,002,023 from a total purse of $1.4 million.
That’s to say nothing of the Wednesday night prelims, which itself boasts a purse in excess of $115,000, or the Kings Royal with its $175,000 winner’s share of a $383,000 purse. In total, drivers will be competing for $2,000,023 over four nights of racing in Rossburg, Ohio.
Certainly, a broadcast partner in FloRacing contributed to the purse across the first two nights as does the World of Outlaws for the Knight Before and Kings Royal, but Stewart says next week is more about growing the discipline than anything else.
"It's more for the history," Stewart said on Wednesday during a teleconference to promote the event. "Hopefully, the weather is great next week, and we don't have to worry about that element of it, but it's a big financial commitment. We're going to pay out over $2 million over four days. That is a huge financial burden."
"DIRTVision kicks in on the Kings Royal side because it's their sanctioning and the All Stars, we're doing that with Flo, and they've been a huge asset with the broadcast and their partners, but really we're setting out to make history at this point."
It's the second year in a row that Stewart has paid a million dollars to the winner of a race at the track he's owned since 2004, bringing back the Million race concept for the late models last year, and now Sprint Cars this year.
In a conversation with DIRTRACKR last month, Stewart said it still remains an open question what will become of the Million beyond next week.
"It's a lot of money," Stewart said. "You have to generate the money to do it. We're excited that we can provide the teams a chance to race for that kind of money. The success of it will determine if and when it happens down the road. I don't think any of us in our group has sat down and looked at it as a one-and-done deal."
"Obviously, we did it with the Late Models and brought it back for a reason that we thought it needed to happen, so depending on the success of this event, we'll see down the road. We're excited just to do it this year, regardless of what it means down the road."
Measures for success, of course, are the front gate attendees, Flo streaming numbers and how the number of eyeballs will result in advertising rates for future broadcasts. Stewart also has a healthy number of track partners who all stand to gain from a healthy front gate under blue skies and ideal weather conditions.
The last key is the racing product with a unique format called ‘Every Lap Matters’ that Stewart hopes generates constant action on both days of the Million.
The Wednesday format features inverted heat races and two qualifying groups that lead to a pair of 25-lap twin features. Thursday night heat races will be lined up based on 'Every Lap Matters' inversion passing points.
"World of Outlaws has a format where if you're quick time, win your heat and get a good draw, you may never have to pass a car all night," Stewart said. "That's not going to happen on Wednesday night. You're going to have to pass cars and earn passing points."
"I don't know that it favors any one driver, but it's going to reward the guys who are the most aggressive, and I don't think anyone can afford to be passive that night. They know that every time they get on the racetrack, there are points on the line, and that's going to play into Thursday.
"It's going to be exciting, and then you dangle a million-dollar carrot in front of race car drivers, and they're going to take some chances to get to it."
Lastly, with Stewart spending extracurricular time in NHRA and SRX this summer, it has produced a growing sentiment that ‘Smoke’ isn’t as invested in Sprint Car racing or dirt in general, and he says that’s not true when looking at his future plans for Eldora.
"We're in the early stages, getting ready to reconstruct the ballroom, a place where Earl and Berniece (Baltes) were very passionate about," Stewart said. "We haven't done much with it in recent years but we're aiming for a multi-million-dollar renovation on the inside for fans and for racers. I have some larger, really expansive plans for the future that I can't wait to share, so I'm going to be here for a long time."
"I'm fully invested."
And should next week go well, like last year before it, perhaps that includes a rotation of the Million across Sprint Cars and Late Models for years to come.
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DID YOU KNOW: Bobby Pierce has climbed to the top of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series championship with a series best, and career best five victories so far. His average finish over the past ten features is an incredible 3.7. He's currently got a 52 point lead on Chris Madden, which equates to around 26 feature positions on track.
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