Eldora Speedway
J.D. leaves namesake Eldora car at shop
By Kevin Kovac
DirtonDirt senior writer
Jonathan Davenport (49) works through the pack. (Zach Yost)
ROSSBURG, Ohio (Sept. 10) — Jonathan Davenport did it. He actually did it.
The 42-year-old superstar from Blairsville, Ga., and his Double L Motorsports team entered Thursday’s opening night of the 56th World 100 weekend at Eldora Speedway with the Longhorn Chassis that Davenport drove to a $50,000 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory on Aug. 29 at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway — not the car they’ve used so successfully for every crown jewel event at Tony Stewart’s famed half-mile oval oval since the 2021 World 100 that the vehicle affectionately carries the nickname “Eldora.”
Davenport said after his convincing triumph in Port Royal’s Rumble by the River finale that he would seriously entertain the possibility of ending his five-year stretch running just one machine at Eldora. His strength at the big, fast Pennsylvania track gave him “something to think about” rather than instinctively taking his tried-and-true car into World 100 battle.
There was some deliberation among Davenport and his Cory Fostvedt-led crew. But Davenport remarked that by “Monday or Tuesday” after Port Royal they had made the decision to park “Eldora” — and they fully committed to it by putting the car’s old body back on it, effectively making it a show car.
“That way we wouldn’t even bring it here,” Davenport said in Eldora’s pit area following Thursday’s drivers’ meeting. “I couldn’t have second thoughts and want to unload it.”
The team hauled from its headquarters in Batesville, Ark., to Eldora with the victorious Port Royal car — a machine Davenport had raced just five times this season — and a backup car that’s been quiet stout in its own right with J.D. piloting it summer podium finishes in the Silver Dollar Nationals, North-South 100 and Topless 100.
“I’m confident with either one of them,” said Davenport, who is running Eldora with the same Vic Hill-built engine he utilized at Port Royal.
That’s a notable statement from Davenport, who has only had eyes for one car when it comes to tackling the Big E. He took the mount that would become “Eldora” to the track for the first time to contest the double World 100s in 2021 and promptly finished fifth in the first race and won the second, starting his love affair with the 2021-vintage chassis.
Davenport’s performance record at Eldora with the car has been extraordinary. Six of his 10 crown jewel wins at the track (excluding his victory in 2020’s Covid-year Dirt Late Model Stream Invitational) have come with the car: three Dreams (2023-25), two World 100s (he also captured the ’22 edition) and 2022’s Eldora Million. He also steered it to seven preliminary-feature checkered flags with four coming at the World 100, two at the Dream and one at the Million. What’s more, he won a FloRacing Night in America feature in’24.
Overall Davenport counts 14 wins and 25 top-five finishes with the car at Eldora. And the money he’s earned with the machine is awe-inspiring at more than $1.5 million.
Davenport is riding a three-race crown jewel winless streak with the car — tying the longest major-race drought at Eldora since he won his first crown jewel with the 2015 Dream — but he’s not blaming the skid (last year’s World 100 and Dirt Track World Championship and this year’s Dream) on “Eldora.” Last year, it should be noted, he swept the World 100 semifeatures and this year he won a Dream prelim, so there’s plenty of speed still in that battle-tested piece.
It’s not like Davenport deemed the car to be worn out. He just decided it was time to try something else at Eldora.
Ironically, Davenport brings a car to Eldora this weekend coming off a win at Port Royal, which happens to be the same track where he made his last start with the car that would become his exclusive machine for the Eldora’s crown jewels. He maintained that his victory at Port Royal didn’t factor into his call to run the at Eldora.
“Not really, but I mean, it is just weird how it works out that way,” Davenport said. “I didn’t really think about that. I just think it’ll be good here. Everything’s fresh on it and everything was good, so I think we'll be OK.”
Davenport sure seemed fine when he began Thursday’s program by recording the third-fastest lap in his group’s qualifying session. Things didn’t go well after that, however, as he was involved in a first-lap scramble during the third shootout and sustained race-ending damage to his car’s right-rear corner, including a broken birdcage and shock mount. After repairs were made, Davenport started 25th in the night’s first 25-lap semifeature thanks to a fast-time provisional and quietly moved forward to finish 11th.
As for the future of Davenport’s highly-decorated “Eldora” car, he said it’s currently sitting in the team’s shop. It had been on display in the showroom of his car owner Lance Landers’s Ford dealership in Batesville for fans to check out during the recent Topless 100 at Batesville Motor Speedway in nearby Locust Grove, Ark., but was removed so the crew could put its old body back on.
“We still actually have the original motor that was in it,” Davenport said. “It blowed up a couple times while we was leading here, so I don’t know if we’re going to put that back in it yet or not. I'll have to talk Lance on that part and then maybe we’ll put it back in the showroom the way it was.”
Which would be a fitting final resting place for the car if it has indeed seen its last action at Eldora.
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