If at some point last week those who follow dirt racing closely had made out a list of drivers they expected to contend for strong finishes in the Dirt Late Model Dream at Eldora Speedway the names of Chris Madden and Brandon Overton would almost certainly have appeared on those lists. As it turned out, one of those drivers did in fact contend for the $129,000 first prize in the 29th running of this crown jewel event while the other experienced disappointment.
Chris Madden
Chris Madden’s record at the famed Rossburg, Ohio track is one of bitter/sweet results. As far as the sweet is concerned, few, if any, can match the solid record of consistency the driver of the No. 44 car has compiled over the past few years. The Gray Court, SC native has ended his night on the podium five times since 2021 in the big races held at this facility. Those remarkable results include second place finishes in three Dream features as well as in the Eldora Million held last year.
Using the same car in most of those races, Madden also placed third in the 2022 World 100. But on the bitter side, none of those great runs has led to a win.
The 48-year-old driver lamented the fact that he had come so close once again to victory at Eldora during his post-race interview with FloRacing.com. The leader in the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Late Model Series standings did offer praise to his team for their work at improving the car throughout the weekend following finishes of sixth and tenth in their Thursday and Friday preliminary features.
“Another second-place for us,” Madden declared. “You know, it just one-laned on us, rubbered up around the bottom. We couldn’t do anything, couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything. Before the rubber came, I feel like we had the car to get it done tonight, we had an awesome race car. Hats off to my guys, we’ve struggled this week. We stayed together and kept working at it and working at it and finally found a balance right there today in the heat race.”
Much of the race’s second half was spent with drivers riding in single-file formation around the bottom grove of the half-mile track.
“Like I say, we had a great race car but circumstances put us on one lane and all we could do is ride around like a freight train and follow the leader,” Madden pointed out. “It is what it is, we’ll take it home and get ready for the World and hopefully they’ll give us a better race track and get all these whoopie-dos cut out of this thing and maybe we can use some of the race track. We can’t use the race track because it’s so rough in three and four. We’ll get us one here someday, second is better than third.”
Podium finishes in big races are not to be discounted but to be so close to a win so many times brings a certain degree of disappointment as well.
Brandon Overton came into the weekend having won three consecutive Dirt Late Model Dream features along with one of the two World 100 races held back in 2021. But things would not go nearly so well in this year’s version of the first of Eldora’s two crown jewels.
Brandon Overton
The weekend started off in an un-Brandon Overton sort of way during the preliminary action held on Thursday night at Eldora when the Evans, Georgia racer had to make his way into the Group B feature via a B-main. He then went on to finish that particular event in the 9th position.
Things took a turn for the worse for the 32-year-old on Friday. Overton appeared to be on his way to victory in the third heat race for the Group A field until he crashed hard into the turn one wall with just two laps remaining. Even though the No. 76 made it back onto the track for a B-main race, Overton was unable to transfer to the feature.
However, Overton looked as if he could move into position to grab a transfer spot for the feature in Saturday’s second heat race until Joseph Joiner crashed right in front of him leaving the three-time Dream winner with no place to go but into the prone No. 10 car.
The damage done in that accident was extensive enough to end Overton’s hopes of winning a fourth consecutive Dream before the main event ever even began.
While Overton’s 2023 Dream did not go as well as he would have liked, few can match his recent success on the sport’s most prolific track.
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