Eldora Speedway On Track for Sell-Out of June 9 Gillette Fusion ProGlide Prelude to the Dream
Get Your Seats Now or Prepare to Order the LIVE Telecast of the
All-Star Dirt Late Model Race on HBO Pay-Per-View®
ROSSBURG, Ohio (June 6, 2010) – Less than a thousand tickets remain to see the June 9 Gillette Fusion ProGlide Prelude to the Dream in person at the legendary Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
The remaining tickets are available online at www.EldoraSpeedway.com or by calling the track office (937) 338-3815. Act fast – the race has sold out in each of its five previous years.
“Despite the tough economic times, our fans at Eldora are incredibly loyal,” said Tony Stewart, owner of Eldora Speedway. “In fact, we’ve actually seen better ticket sales this year than we did last year at this time.
“Obviously, we’ve got some of the best fans in the country, and once again, tickets are going fast for this year’s Prelude. We’ll put on a great show for the fans and they’ll help us raise money for an even better cause.”
For those who aren’t able to join the expected 20,000 fans at Eldora Speedway for Wednesday night’s race, the only place they’ll be able to catch it is via the HBO Pay-Per-View® telecast. The live, commercial-free telecast will begin at 7 p.m. EDT (4 p.m. PDT) with an immediate replay. There will be NO free delayed airings of the event on any outlet.
HBO Pay-Per-View’s racing telecast has a suggested retail price of $24.95 and is available to more than 71 million pay-per-view homes. HBO Pay-Per-View is the leading supplier of event programming in the pay-per-view industry. Ordering information and up-to-the minute racing information is available at either www.PreludeToTheDream.org or www.HBO.com.
Net proceeds from the telecast will support four of the nation’s top children’s hospitals:
• Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis: www.RileyChildrensHospital.com
• Cincinnati Children’s: www.CincinnatiChildrens.org
• Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, N.C.: www.LevineChildrensHospital.org
• St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.: www.StJude.org
The event is headlined by the Gillette Young Guns: Clint Bowyer, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards and Joey Logano. All will join Stewart and many others, including fellow Sprint Cup champions Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Bobby Labonte and Bill Elliott. Action sports legends Travis Pastrana and Ricky Carmichael, along with 2004 IZOD IndyCar Series champion Tony Kanaan, will also participate. All will pilot 2,300-pound dirt Late Model stock cars capable of putting out more than 800 horsepower.
Beyond the charity element, this year’s Gillette Fusion ProGlide Prelude to the Dream is a team event. There will still be an individual race winner, but there will now be a race within the race, with the field broken up into four teams, each representing a children’s hospital:
• Team Riley: Bowyer (captain), Ryan Newman, Gordon, A.J. Allmendinger, Justin Allgaier, Kenny Wallace and Ron Capps.
• Team Cincinnati: Kahne (captain), Logano, Stewart, Labonte, Elliott and Cruz Pedregon.
• Team Levine: Busch (captain), Johnson, Kenseth, David Reutimann, Dave Blaney, Marcos Ambrose and Pastrana.
• Team St. Jude: Hamlin (captain), Edwards, Schrader, Aric Almirola, Carmichael, Kanaan and Ray Evernham.
Each hospital will receive a donation, with the payout breakdown as follows:
• Winning team receives 45 percent of net money raised.
• Second-place team receives 25 percent of net money raised.
• Third- and fourth-place teams each receive 15 percent of net money raised.
The lowest team score wins, and only the top-five drivers from each team will be scored. For example, if Team Riley has finishes of first, fourth, seventh, 11th and 18th, respectively, from its top-five drivers, its score will be 41. In the event of a tie, the sixth driver will be scored.
“We plan to raise a lot of money for all of these hospitals, no matter where their teams finish,” Stewart said. “Since HBO Pay-Per-View began televising the Prelude in 2007, we’ve been able to help a lot of deserving charities, and helping children has always been a part of that mission. With this format, we feel we can raise more money than ever before. We’ve always set a goal to raise $1 million. We haven’t been able to reach that goal yet, but with this year’s Prelude where we have a race within a race and perhaps our deepest driver lineup, I think we have our best shot to reach that magic number.”
The four charities – Riley Hospital for Children, Cincinnati Children’s, Levine Children’s Hospital and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – all cater to the medical needs of children.
The five previous Prelude to the Dreams have collectively raised more than $2.5 million. With each year’s event gaining significant stature and mainstream interest, Stewart’s goal is to have the Gillette Fusion ProGlide Prelude to the Dream raise $1 million, with the proceeds impacting the four charities.
“It’s an ambitious goal, especially in this economy,” Stewart admits. “But if we don’t shoot for a number that is a true difference-maker, we’re not ever going to reach it. That’s our goal, and me and everybody else associated with this event is going to do everything we can to meet that goal. Now, we just need everyone out there to purchase the event, enjoy all the action going on at Eldora, and know that their dollars are going to a very worthy cause.”
Drivers from all types of disciplines, some with lots of dirt track experience and others with hardly any, will participate in hot laps, qualifying, heat races and a 30-lap feature, all of which will be televised live on HBO Pay-Per-View.
With no points and no pressure, the Gillette Fusion ProGlide Prelude to the Dream is a throwback race, allowing drivers to step back in time and compete for the reasons they all went racing in the first place – pride and a trophy. And they’ll do it on the same surface that racing legends A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti competed on throughout the last 56 years.
Complete event information can be found in the Gillette Fusion ProGlide Prelude to the Dream online media kit at www.TrueSpeedMedia.com.
