There’s a reason Eldora Speedway is called “The World’s Greatest Dirt Track.”
The historic half mile located in Rossburg, OH gave the Sprint Car world a Kings Royal they’ll never forget on Saturday night. A driver at the top of his game hungry for his first crown. A legend of Sprint Car Racing charging through the field in search of a record-tying seventh. And the two coming together to clash with racing royalty and $175,000 on the line.
David Gravel entered Saturday’s 41st running of the Kings Royal with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars as one of the clear favorites. When he earned the pole for the 40-lap Feature, it felt like even more of a foregone conclusion. But it was anything but easy for the Watertown, CT native to become King.
First, he had to contend with Logan Schuchart, and then Schatz came charging. The 10-time Series champion roared all the way from 20th to take the lead from Gravel with eight laps remaining. But Gravel wouldn’t let it slip away. He simply refused. The 32-year-old got his elbows up and drove the Big Game Motorsports No. 2 as hard as he could right next to the Eldora fence to get back by. A tap on the wall with only a few laps to go nearly cost him, but he regrouped and held on to become King David XLI.
“Why is Donny Schatz so damn good? Damn,” Gravel said. “You can’t put that guy away no matter where he starts. I saw he was eighth on the open red, and I was like, ‘I know he’s going to be a factor.’ And when I looked down, I thought maybe it was Logan, and there he is – Donny Schatz again. I just had to drive my a** off, do my best Haud line impression, and just run the s**t out of it.
“I’ve let it be known I don’t like to ride the wall, but it’s Kings Royal and you’re in the lead and you see Donny Schatz. I always try to save a little bit of a second gear and was able to hit that second gear and plugged it in the wall, rode the wall for a little while, and luckily got out of it and didn’t hurt too much. I thought those lapped cars were going to mess with me a little bit and kind of did. Hats off to Donny for racing the right way. I try to race as clean as good as he does. Just a lot of respect for him.
“Like I said earlier, this is the coolest celebration for winning a crown jewel event, and to get that third crown jewel is just amazing.”
With the victory, Gravel secured his missing piece to complete the trio of Sprint Car Racing’s three most prestigious crown jewel events. He already owned a Knoxville Nationals and two National Opens and added the Kings Royal. He pushed his career win total with the World of Outlaws to 99 and looks destined to become the eighth to reach triple digits soon. The Kings Royal has now crowned 22 different Kings through 41 editions.
- Gravel got the jump on the initial start, but a red flag for a flipping Parker Price-Miller necessitated a restart. Outside pole-sitter, Tyler Courtney, pulled ahead with the second attempt and led the opening lap.
It didn’t take Gravel long to begin searching around the wide half mile for speed as Courtney remained committed to the cushion. Sure enough, Gravel got the bottom rolling and pulled alongside and slid ahead to lead Lap 7.
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