Kings Royal

The Kings Royal is a major sprint car racing event held annually at Eldora Speedway near New Weston, Ohio, U.S. Regarded as one of the world's most prestigious sprint car races, it awarded a $175,000 USD winner's prize in its most recent running in 2019.
History.
First run in 1984, the Kings Royal saw Eldora Speedway promoter Earl Baltes offering $50,000 to the winner of a 40-lap event. Steve Kinser won the inaugural race, which sees the winner seated on a throne in victory lane while adorned with a crown and robe and carrying a scepter. Kinser leads all drivers with seven Kings Royal victories.
The event is considered to be one of the most prestigious sprint car events held worldwide, and is considered to be a "Crown Jewel" event. From its inaugural running through 2018, there was a standard $50,000 winner's purse; the 2019 running saw a boost to $175,000 for the winner's prize. Excepting the NASCAR-sanctioned Eldora Dirt Derby, the Kings Royal is Eldora's largest event each season, drawing over 30,000 spectators.
In 2014, Kerry Madsen became the first Australian to win the Kings Royal. Beginning in 2016, a preliminary full feature, the "Joker's Wild", was held on the Thursday before the Saturday Kings Royal; on the Friday of race week an additional event, "The Knight Before the Kings Royal", is held. No driver won back-to-back Kings Royals for the first 33 years of the event, until Donny Schatz did so in 2017; in 2018 Schatz won again to become the first driver to win three Kings Royals in a row.
After the 37th annual event in 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was rescheduled to 2021 to run two days after the 38th annual, regularly scheduled event, marking the first time two Kings Royal events had run in a single year.
The 2021 event saw the start of a nine-year sanctioning agreement with World Racing Group, promoters of the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series.