I followed up a day at my Dad's with a drive to the old home town. That's Ansonia, OH, where the Whistle Stop's claim of being the "LAST STOP BEFORE ELDORA" may not be 100% technically correct but you do have to be pretty observant to find another from there north. Or maybe they mean the last stop for autographed copies of "Earl!". That, it probably is. I picked up my copy of Earl Baltes' autobiography and decided to drive by his track. Yeah, I know he sold it a couple of years back but Eldora will always be "Earl's track". I was surprised to see a crowd there and stopped to learn that Family Fun Night, rained out in May, was happening now. I grew up less than ten miles from the "Big E" but had not attended a race here for over thirty years. I've been in the ballroom for high school reunions but not inside the track. This was a perfect opportunity. $8 general admission, not too crowded, and I was already there! The track has changed some in three decades but the basics are still the same and roaming around the old oval brought back plenty of memories. One of the biggest was just how much fun watching dirt track racing can be. The whole 1/2 mile track is in sight and every inch of it is a potential pass point on just about every lap. But darkness and the thought of the two hour drive home prompted a departure well ahead of the feature. Great fun & I'll be back!

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