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Eldora
Speedway...
Initial
Six
‘Feed the Children’ Prelude to the Dream Drivers Announced
Another
Star-Studded Field to Participate in June 6 Charity Event
March 3, 2012
ROSSBURG,
OH (March 1) – Fresh off the green flag to the 2012 North American
motorsports
calendar, Tony Stewart’s Eldora Speedway is excited to announce the
first round
of drivers confirmed for the 8th Annual Feed The Children Prelude to
the
Dream. Defending
champion Clint Bowyer
leads superstars Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, Dave Blaney, Tony Kanaan and
Ron
Capps as the first six entrants into the charity-driven event.
The process
of unveiling some of the world’s greatest known drivers from NASCAR,
IndyCar
and NHRA to the Wednesday, June 6 contest will span four weeks as
drivers begin
to prepare for their once-a-year encounter with the famed high-banked
half-mile
clay oval.
Defending
Feed the Children Prelude to the Dream champion Clint Bowyer’s exciting
run in
last year’s Prelude cemented him as the most consistent driver in the
seven-year history of the race.
His
initial Prelude appearance in 2007 resulted in a fifth place finish. He backed that up with a
third place run the
following year (2008), before registering a pair of runner-up finishes
in 2009
and 2010, and then stepped up the pace even more with last year’s
victory. Bowyer is
coming off an 11th place finish in
this year’s Daytona 500.
Returning
after a five-year absence, Busch will bring to the Darke (OH) County
speed
plant a hype that only Kurt Busch can create.
Known for his prowess in many levels of NASCAR
racing, his racing career
remains rooted in grassroots racing, including on the dirt surface of
the
original Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Legends Cars where he began his
career. His only
previous Prelude
appearance in 2006 netted him the 15th position in the main event.
Blaney and
Kahne are no strangers to Eldora Speedway.
Each of them return with impressive Eldora
credentials and countless
laps of competition in multiple forms of the sport, most notably the
open wheel
variety – both winged and non-winged.
The move to the heavier Dirt Late Models has
required little adapting
for the pair. Both
have competed in five
previous Prelude events, with the versatile Blaney, a former World of
Outlaws
Champion and veteran of Super DIRT Week at Syracuse, having earned the
highest
finish of runner-up in 2006.
Of this
elite group of six drivers, Capps is the senior member, with
appearances in
each of the previous seven Preludes.
Ironically Capps is not an oval track racer. His vocation is focused on
the straight-lined
drag strips; with 33 career wins under his belt.
He is no stranger to speed, as testified by
his career-best run of 4.023 seconds in a quarter-mile run, with a top
speed of
315.27 MPH. He
attacks the clay oval
with that same vengeance, including a Prelude best finish of 4th in
2006.
Kanaan
enters the Prelude field as a representative of the IndyCar and
international
world. The
Brazilian captured the 2004
IndyCar title and has set on the pole of the renown Indianapolis 500,
but the
transition to dirt grassroots racing has presented Kanaan with a new
learning
curve. With
the last two years of
Prelude racing on his resume (his only short track appearances), Kanaan
has
finished 24th and 27th. He
looks at 2012
in anticipation of improving upon those marks.
Tickets and
campsites for the Feed The Children Prelude to the Dream and all other
2012
Eldora Speedway Major Events including the $100,000-to-win Dirt Late
Model
Dream presented by Ferris Commercial Mowers, $50,000-to-win World of
Outlaws
Kings Royal and 42th Annual World 100 are available through the
speedway box
office (937) 338-3815 or online 24 hours a day at
www.EldoraSpeedway.com. Like
us at www.Facebook.com/EldoraSpeedway.
Catch
all the behind-the-scenes preparation
for the event by following the track, event, charity, drivers and
officials on
Twitter: @EldoraSpeedway,
@PreludetoDream @FeedTheChildren, @KaseyKahne, @KurtBusch, @TonyKanaan,
@NAPARonCapps
and @RogerSlack.
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