Earl
Baltes, the founder and longtime promoter of Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio,
passed away this morning at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, Ohio at the age of
93.
Baltes
is survived by his wife of 67 years, Berneice; daughter Starr and her husband,
Joe Schmitmeyer; son Terry and his wife, Dee; one sister, Susie Barga, six
grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
Born
in Versailles, Ohio, Baltes served in the
U.S. Army during World War II. Before getting his start in racing, he was heavily
involved in the music business. Prior to WWII, he formed
and led the Melody Makers, a 16-piece band that rose to regional prominence. In
the late 1940s, he built and operated the Crystal Ballroom near Versailles,
while still continuing to perform.
He
eventually purchased the Ma Shoe’s Dance Hall, and one day attended an auto
race at the nearby New Bremen Speedway. Despite having no prior knowledge of
the sport, Baltes decided to build a track of his own in the natural
amphitheatre that separated his dance hall from the Wabash River. The Dance
Hall -- now known as the Eldora Ballroom -- is still there, while the racetrack
has grown into a national treasure.
Earle and Berneice Baltes |
Baltes
built Eldora in 1954 as a quarter-mile dirt oval, before reshaping the track
into its current high-banked, half-mile oval configuration in 1958. Since then,
it has become the premier dirt track in the United States. Under Baltes, the
facility hosted the highly successful World 100 for dirt Late Models, now the
largest dirt race in the world. He also created the Dirt Late Model Dream, the
richest dirt Late Model race in the world. A fan of Sprint Car racing, Baltes
took great pride in his fabled Kings Royal Weekend for World of Outlaws Sprint
Cars and many United States Auto Club (USAC) events, including the Four Crown
Nationals.
Races
at Eldora were shown on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” with Keith Jackson and Al
Michaels as broadcasters. ESPN, CBS and TNN also televised events that helped
put Eldora on the map. Despite the track’s growing popularity, Baltes kept
ticket prices affordable and concessions costs low, which continued to attract
fans from around the world.
Baltes
built the track, nestled in rural west-central Ohio off Route 118, into a
showplace for dirt motorsports, increasing the seating capacity to more than
20,000. He was beloved by many fans and seemed to know everyone by name. He
also was a great storyteller, who always had a joke to tell.
Baltes with a young Steve Kinser |
Fond
of saying, “If we could sell just one more hot dog, we’d break even,” Baltes
also promoted other speedways in Ohio, including Dayton,
New Bremen, Limaland, Millstream, Mansfield, Pleasant Hill and Powell, while
also promoting one in Salem, Indiana. He promoted World of Outlaws events in
Florida and founded Ohio Sprint Speedweek for the All Star Circuit of
Champions.
A
steady stream of innovative (and often wild) ideas kept observers wondering,
“What will Earl do next?” He hosted a trio of 500-lap Sprint Car races in the
1960s that featured 33 cars in each event. He also presented a season-long series
of skits featuring a family of apes, who eventually were married in a ceremony
presided over by legendary driver Duane “Pancho” Carter.
In
2001, Baltes posted a remarkable $1 million payout to the winner of the “Eldora
Million” Dirt Late Model race. He followed that with the “Mopar Million” in
2003, which had a purse of $1 million and paid $200,000 to the winner of a
non-winged Sprint Car race.
The
legendary promoter developed a relationship with the late Bill France Sr.,
assisting the founder of NASCAR with recruiting cars for the inaugural event at
Talladega Superspeedway. Baltes and Eldora also maintained close ties with the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Indy Car legends, whose barnstorming schedules at
fearsome tracks like Eldora earned them their shot at the Brickyard, and Tony George,
former Speedway president and CEO, were frequent visitors during Baltes’
tenure.
He
was inducted into many Halls of Fame, including National Sprint Car, National
Dirt Late Model, USAC, Dayton Auto Racing Fans and Hoosier Auto Racing Fans,
and was named USAC Race Organizer of the Year in 1984 and 1997. He was named
Auto Racing Promoter of the Year in 1993, and fellow iconic promoter H.A.
“Humpy” Wheeler recognized him with the Charlotte Motor Speedway Promoter of
the Year Award in 2001. The state of Ohio named Route 118 “Earl Baltes Highway”
from Ansonia to the south to St. Henry to the
north.
Stewart has maintained Eldora's luster |
In
2004, Baltes sold his legendary Eldora oval to three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
champion -- and former Eldora driver -- Tony Stewart. He continued attending
Eldora events with Berneice, often receiving the loudest ovation of the evening
when introduced to the crowd. Thanks to Stewart, there is a life-size statue of
the two founders at the entrance of the facility.
“Earl was the yardstick other track promoters
measured themselves by. He constantly raised the bar, and he did it by
creating events everyone else was afraid to promote. He did them himself, too.
Not as a fair board, or a public company, or with major sponsors or
millions of dollars in TV money. He put it all on the line with the
support of his family. He and his wife, Berneice, created a happening at
Eldora. They turned Eldora into more than just a racetrack. They made it a
place to be. They were integral to the evolution of dirt-track racing and
the sport as a whole. Earl will be missed, but he won’t ever be forgotten
because of his devotion to auto racing.”
Baltes
and author Dave Argabright published his autobiography, “Earl!” in 2004.
Some people just love auto racing . R I P Earl Bates .
ReplyDelete