Eldora Speedway
Notes: Miller giving it another whirl at Eldora
By Bryan Ault
Special to DirtonDirt
Matt Miller tours Eldora Speedway. (Mike Campbell)
ROSSBURG, Ohio (Aug. 31) — Matt Miller did everything he could to turn back the clock on Sunday at the Valvoline American Iron-Man Series-sanctioned Baltes Classic at Eldora Speedway.
Securing the third-place starting spot after winning a heat race, Miller appeared to be on the verge of wowing the Eldora crowd by contending for his third Baltes Classic victory. The 54-year-old Whitehouse, Ohio, driver of the Rick DeLong-owned No. 3 knows his way around the hallowed-half mile oval in western Ohio. He's a 12-time World 100 starter (his best finish is fourth in 2008) and an 11-time Dirt Late Model Dream starter, a crown jewel he won in 2005. | RaceWire
Tire choices and setups, though, set back the veteran driver in the first of twin 25-lappers, a race won by Ricky Thornton Jr. of Chandler, Ariz.
Miller settled for eighth, but it wasn’t a bad run for a driver who hasn’t raced much since 2021.
“We've been this year just kind of dabbling,” Miller said. “So, I don't know. We just figured what the heck. See if we can still get around a circle, I guess. I did a little modified racing last year and kind of put a little spark, and so we came down here to just see how things go.”
And Miller was well-aware of the stiff competition he faced Sunday ahead of the annual World 100. Sixty-five Super Late Models were signed in at the annual event honoring Eldora founders Earl and Berniece Baltes.
“When you don't do it full time, it gets — and I really, honestly, obviously, sports and everything isn’t cheaper — but (Dirt Late Model racing) kind of went to an evolution, you know in ‘18, ’19. The money part of it, the engineering part of it, is expensive. So little teams like this, the driver can’t make that up, and now it really is an uphill battle.”
Sitting in his team’s rig, Miller was reflective on his decision to retire from racing while optimistic that he can still get around Eldora at a quick pace. His start on Sunday was just his fifth attempt in a Super Late Model in 2025 after racing a modified at Volusia Speedway Park during Georgia-Florida Speedweeks last winter.
“The new version of the Rocket, we never found our footing, that XR1,” Miller said. “We always had a pretty good baseline down here, and it felt like we could, you know, compete with anybody. So, we kind of lost our baseline, and then my life got busy with my kids' travel sports and then high school sports. And obviously I don't do it full time anymore. So when you don't do that and you're competing against these guys, it gets tough. And my (crew help) is all part-time, so obviously they get busy, so it's just that's part of it.”
“This is the place I feel like I can get around here in a blindfold,” he added. “The whole key these days getting qualified get up front and obviously that's half the battle. I know a lot of guys don't like this place. I love this place.”
Bronson finds footing
Kyle Bronson’s victory in the second Baltes Classic 25-lapper was a positive run for the Brandon, Fla., driver and multitime national touring regular, who earlier this season abandoned a run on the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series for an independent schedule.
Rounding turn four on the 11th lap, the 35-year-old powered his way around Tanner English of Benton, Ky., and led the remaining circuits to capture first career victory at Eldora and his first Iron-Man tour race. Bronson is hopeful the victory provides momentum heading to Saturday’s World 100, a race where his best finish was ninth in 2021.
“This place eluded me for a long time,” said Bronson, who notched his third victory of the season. “You know, I run second (in) prelims here a few times and stuff and I’ve always been unable to get it done here. The first half today was way tougher than the second half. I felt like it was still some good cars in the second half, but, you know, hell, anytime you go in Eldora, you’re pumped about it.”
Bronson’s only hiccup was contact with Clint Keenan on lap 17, the only caution of the race that caused Keenan to spin in turn three which also collected English.
“I had a good car there,” Bronson said in victory lane. “I just got a little too impatient there and I got behind him and got aero-tight and got the spoiler knocked off of it. After (the contact with Keenan), I kind of just had to run a lot higher on the race track than I wanted to.”
The win was reminiscent of Bronson’s days of riding the high side of Eldora’s high banks, often pounding the wall and searching any traction on the cushion to reach victory lane.
“That's what we're trying to get back to doing, you know? We just ain't really had the balance there in the last couple of years to be able to do that, but we need to be able to do that to where I can race my best,” Bronson said. “So, you know, we're working on a car and we’ve come a long way in a short time here. We've been getting our ass kicked up here lately. I’m hoping we got something for the rest of the week here.”
Rice salvages night
Josh Rice’s night at the Baltes Classic started off about as rough as possible.
Rice initially thought contact with Todd Brennan of Zanesville, Ohio in the first lap of his heat race destroyed his new Rocket Chassis. Rice was dejected and believed his night was over.
“I really don't have anything against Todd,” Rice said. “This thing was destroyed, honestly. It ripped everything off the right-front. Whole deck was off of it, spoiler was off of it, right side doorbar. I mean, it destroyed it, honestly. And I was done. I went and changed” out of his firesuit.
But Rice’s crew had other plans. Realizing they were stuck in Eldora’s infield until the completion of both 25-lap features, they got to work. Lengthy heat race action with two support classes gave Rice enough time to fix his mangled machine, an older-style Rocket that Rice prefers.
“And we started working on it,” Rice said. “We realized the frame was fine. It wasn't hurt at all. We started working on it, and I told these guys, ‘There's a lot of heat racing left to do.’ I'm like, we might be able to get this. And everybody was kind of standing around at that point. I'm like, ‘Hey, y'all want to try to race?’ And we got it back together.”
Rice started in the back of his consolation race, yet charged forward to finish second and transfer into the 25-lapper. Starting 22nd, he powered his way through the field to post a sixth-place run behind Brandon Overton of Evans, Ga., and is hopeful the performance is a sign of things to come during World 100 action this week.
“I know it's only five-grand, but it was good to get the car back out to make sure the rack wasn't screwed up because everything on the right front was killed,” said Rice, who recently competed at Richmond (Ky.) Raceway’s Butterball Wooldridge Memorial. “Obviously, it was pretty good. We kind of went off, like, our Butterball stuff, really. We had a lot of traction there. That was the main reason we come tonight was to try that stuff.”
“I got back to Overton there and I was in a good pack of cars and could race a little bit,” he added. “I got a lot of traction. I just got to figure out how to steer, and I think we're going to be good.”
