Eldora Speedway
A prelim win is one thing ... the Dream another
By Bryan Ault
Special to DirtonDirt
Mason Zeigler won a 2017 Dream prelim. (heathlawsonphotos.com)
ROSSBURG, Ohio (June 3) — Landing on Eldora Speedway’s victory stage during for a Thursday or Friday preliminary feature is a challenge. It’s quite an accomplishment to take home a checkered flag at the hallowed half-mile oval founded by Earl Baltes. | Complete Dream coverage
But winning an Eldora crown jewel — such as Saturday night’s $100,000-to-win Dream XXXII — is another notch above and presents a different set of challenges even for drivers who’ve won Dream prelims.
Mike Marlar of Winfield, Tenn., believes the biggest difference between a win on a weekday and a win on the weekend is having a 100-lap suspension setup.
“There’s certain drivers who have done really good here, but I think they just know how to tune the car good here,” said Mike Marlar, winner of a 2023 Dream preliminary. “I've been on both ends of that one, winning, or running second, third in the features, but in the big races I just never really felt like I got a good car to win. If your car’s good, you could just drive easily and win. If your car's bad, you have to drive hard and then that kills the tires and everything kind of just falls apart.”
Marlar is among a group of Dream preliminary winners trying to take the next step for Saturday’s six-figure payday. They know multiple-time Eldora crown jewel winners Jonathan Davenport and Bobby Pierce are among the favorites in Saturday’s betting pools, but previous preliminary winners have the ability to play spoiler and reach the next level of Eldora fame.
Josh Rice of Crittenden, Ky., who took home a $30,000 preliminary feature win at last year’s Dream, is hopeful heading into the weekend. Rice, in his rookie season on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, says he wants to win one for the Bluegrass State drivers who haven’t reached Eldora’s big stage.
“It would be awesome,” Rice said. “I feel like nobody in my area has really won, like, a big one, besides Darrell (Lanigan). All of our local guys, I almost want to do it for them, where we can all say, ‘This boy came from Florence and he's won one,’ so it would be huge.”
Rice is well aware of what an Eldora crown jewel victory can do for a career. The JRR Motorsports driver felt, though, last year’s Dream prelim victory over Pierce was long overdue.
“It was badass,” Rice said. “I mean, so many times that we've tried to win it and have had a prelim won, and lost them on the last couple of laps or broke a motor. It just felt like it was never going to happen. And it was it was awesome for it to finally pay off.”
Mason Zeigler of Chalk Hill, Pa. captured his preliminary event in the Dream’s 2017 show, but finished 23rd in the 100-lapper won by the late Hall of Famer Scott Bloomquist. The 33-year-old started on the pole of the Dream in 2023 and finished fourth, and is hopeful he can recapture that magic Saturday.
“We always have had such a roller coaster of emotions here,” Zeigler said. “I mean, sometimes we're lights out, incredibly good, and then other times we're just like, you know, not very good. I don't know what it is. We come back with the same notebook every time. We don't race as much as these guys, but it’s the same dirt, same car, same shock, same spring. So, I don't know what it is, but sometimes the car is just really good and it comes down to just keeping up with the racetrack throughout the night.”
Zeigler is hoping Saturday is one of those nights. He has three victories in 10 starts this season, including a World of Outlaws Late Model Series victory at Bedford (Pa.) Speedway. None of his wins, though, have come in long-distance races. The longer the race, the more tires come into play.
“Everyone tells you, ‘You just gotta ride, you gotta ride, you gotta a ride,’ and they say that, but there really is no riding, even in a 100-lapper,” Zeigler said. “I guess that's true to a point, but everyone's so fast, everyone's so good nowadays that you can't give up anything, you know what I mean? You’ve got to be smart at the same time and not blow your tires off, but you definitely can't ever give anything up either.
“I don't race here as much, obviously, as J.D. and them do,” he added. “I've gotten to the point now that there's a transition point in the racetrack where I seem to struggle here. And it's like when it gets that dirty, dusty condition, you know? Early, it's wet and you can get going and then it gets that dirty, dusty condition, and that's where my cars aren't very good. And then when it gets black again, I'm good. It's just that in-between middle stage is where my cars seem to struggle.”
If the conditions are right, Zeigler thinks he has the car capable of winning the big show, no matter where he starts, as long as he saves his tires for the end and chooses the right line. In 2014’s World 100 at Eldora, Zeigler started 21st and rallied to second before a turn-three spin knocked him from contention.
Making the tires last requires “not pushing off the right front, (not) overdriving the car, trying to not slide the right rear, obviously just not wheelspinning,” Zeigler said. “Just trying to find a nice line. And that's probably different for everybody. Some guys, it might be a lot harder to save their tires because their cars. go through and push the entire corner, you know, all night long, or some guy's cars might arc the corner and come down and leave in the bottom. That's how I feel J.D.’s car is, and he's able to drive it aggressively and keep it straight and his car still diamonds the corner. For me, it's just keeping it straight, not wheelspinning, and trying to keep the wheels under me.”
