Eye-popping paydays come to sprint car racing but this Wisconsin stop still has a place
WILMOT – With all due respect to Wilmot Raceway and the dozens of dirt bullrings that make up the bulk of the World of Outlaws schedule, it can be a little tough to stay motivated through the grind.
It’s not a track thing. It’s not a fan thing. It’s an industry thing.
Two weeks ago, David Gravel claimed his biggest paycheck as a racer: a quarter million dollars for winning a 40-lap feature at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, South Dakota.
In a few days he’ll race for a $1 million at Tony Stewart’s Eldora Raceway in Ohio.
“I try to treat all of them the same,” Gravel said before racing for $10,000 Saturday night in the Larry Hillerud Memorial Badger 40. He finished sixth in the feature won by Carson Macedo.
“Obviously you’re going to have a little bit extra for the big, big money races. But yeah, it’s hard to stay motivated when you go race for 250 (thousand) and then the next race will pay $10,000. You gotta win 25 races to do the same as that one 250.
“It sucks. It really does. And that’s not even our Super Bowl event. Honestly, hopefully we race less for more money. To me it makes more sense for everybody. But we’ll see how our sport unfolds here the next few years.”
Gravel isn’t complaining, just being honest.
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A nine-month schedule includes 87 races, after racing last weekend at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, the Outlaws travelers were in Iowa on Friday night only to get rained out.
From the Kenosha County Fairgrounds they were headed to Attica, Ohio, for a race Tuesday and then Rossburg, Ohio, for the $1 million-to-win two-night show at Eldora Raceway. That is a non-sanctioned event promoted by the NASCAR Hall of Famer Stewart, who also owns the All-Star Circuit of Champions sprint-car series (which visited Wilmot last month).
Outlaws regulars in line to collect bonus money for supporting every event are limited to four outside events. Eldora will count as two of those, and then they’ll have one of their series’ crown jewels at the same track, the two-night Kings Royal, which pays $175,000 to win the 50-lap feature.
Maybe he’s biased, but Gravel likes the trend of six-figure top prizes.
“It’s been a long time coming,” the 31-year-old from Watertown, Connecticut, said. “Eldora paid $50,000 and Williams Grove (in Pennsylvania) paid $50,000 for a long time. Knoxville (Nationals in Iowa) paid $150 (thousand) for a long time.
“I just think 50 grand today is not what it was in the ’90s. It’s cool to see what Eldora is doing with the million, what Huset’s is doing, two added races we’ve never had before.
“So it’s really cool to see it. Nowadays paying $50,000, it’s good but it’s not as big of a deal as it was back then. Times change, and it’s cool to see. Our sport’s growing. The biggest change has been the streaming services. The revenue from that is what’s making these big purses happen.”
The Outlaws races are available via DirtVision and the All Stars – plus the Eldora Million – are on FloRacing.
Gravel’s car owner Tod Quiring also owns Huset’s, so the big win there was good for his businesses overall. But it’s more of a game changer for Gravel and crew chief Cody Jacobs, who get a percentage.
“We’ve surpassed our earnings that we did last year already,” Gravel said. “That’s huge. And we honestly have a chance of being the richest sprint car season in the history of the sport.
“That’s kind of what I’m focused on. You win one big one, but why not win them all. Our goal is to keep our foot on the pedal and keep winning all the big races.”
Ironically, there’s not much more a driver or his crew can do to try to win a quarter-million- or million-dollar show than they can a race like Saturday night’s, given the schedule.
“Really all our stuff is the same,” Gravel said. “You just put in a motor that doesn’t have a lot of nights on it maybe and running gear that doesn’t have a lot of nights on it and just roll with it.
“We’re on the road. It’s not like we’re at our race shop. This is what we’ve got. Whatever is in the trailer, and we’ve got to work in the parking lot to make it go.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: World of Outaws race at Wilmot with 1 million payday ahead at Eldora
