Eldora Speedway - Earl Baltes Promotion

Earl Baltes Promotion

Eldora Speedway was built in 1954 by Earl Baltes, a prominent area bandleader with no previous racing experience. Baltes, who was born on April 27, 1921 in nearby Versailles, Ohio, had stumbled onto a race at New Bremen Speedway and was so impressed by the big, enthusiastic crowd that he decided to build his own race track.

Baltes had purchased the Eldora Ballroom from "Ma" Shoes two years earlier, offering weekly dances and musical performances. Eventually Baltes curtailed the musical performances as the track grew more successful.

The track was constructed as a quarter-mile as it opened in 1954. Two years later Baltes expanded the track to a three-eighths mile, and in 1958 the track was expanded to the present half-mile length.

The track hosted the sprint cars of the United States Auto Club for the first time in 1962 and quickly became one of the favorite venues for the series.

In August 1965 Orville Yeadon won the first Eldora 500, featuring 33 sprint cars running 500 laps. One year later Larry Cannon won the Eldora 500, and in 1967 Don Nordhorn won the Eldora 500, the last time the race was contested. By this time Baltes was promoting several other tracks, and the 500-lap race fell by the wayside.

In 1971 Baltes shocked the racing fraternity when he held the inaugural World 100, offering an unprecedented purse of $4,000 to the winner. Bruce Gould ultimately won the race, and the event is widely considered to be the birth of the modern "dirt late model" type of racing, which today is one of the most popular forms of racing on America's short tracks.

When the World of Outlaws sprint car series was launched in 1978, Baltes recognized the promotional potential of the group and quickly booked several events at Eldora. It was a key partnership for the fledgling series, giving them much-needed credibility and momentum. Eldora hosted the season finale in October, where Steve Kinser captured the inaugural WoO championship and was proclaimed "King of the Outlaws." In the years that have followed Eldora has remained a mainstay venue on the WoO circuit and annual Kings Royal race.

In 2001 Baltes held the "Eldora Million," his defining achievement as a race promoter. Offering a $1 million prize to the winner, the race remains by far the richest short track race in history. Donnie Moran captured the event and the top money, and was christened "The Million Dollar Man."

Upon the sale of Eldora to Tony Stewart, Baltes retired from race promoting, living a short distance from the track with his wife Berneice. Upon his retirement the state of Ohio honored Baltes by renaming Hwy. 118 "Earl Baltes Highway" from Ansonia to the south to St. Henry to the north.