Jerry Bowersock had a hunch a few locals would be among the 48 drivers invited to compete in June 4-6’s Dirt Late Model Stream Invitational at Eldora Speedway. He was far from certain, however, if he’d be one of them.

Few active Dirt Late Model drivers have as much experience at Eldora as Bowersock, who has been competing at the famed half-mile oval for more than three decades. It’s likely for that very reason that Bowersock, of nearby Wapakoneta, Ohio, was indeed among invitees.

Watch the Eldora Dirt Late Model Stream Invitational June 4-6 on FloRacing

“I definitely believe that played a huge factor in it,” said Bowersock on Monday, a day after the invitations were announced. “Between the modified and Late Model deal, I’ve rarely missed any races over there in quite a long time. I consider it my home track and I was pretty honored to be included with it. We’re pretty excited.

“It’s big you know. It’s a limited number of people. I’ve been racing there for the past 35 years. I can’t even … I was trying to think earlier … I can’t even remember the last time I missed a Late Model race at Eldora. It’s probably been some time in the ’90s possibly. We just like racing there and it’s close. It’s only a 40-minute drive for me to get there. So any time you get to race at Eldora, it’s a big deal to me.”

The invitation-only event featuring three nights of racing that will be streamed live on FloRacing, kicks off on Thursday. Bowersock understands he wasn’t at the top of the list, but that hardly matters. He’s in now and he’s just eager to get back to the track he loves. He’s been attending races at the Big E since he was a toddler. 

“I grew up there, probably since I was 5 or 6 years old sitting in the grandstands when my dad helped some of the local guys in our area race,” Bowersock said. “My dad’s cousin was Larry Dixon, he was a USAC sprint car champion back in the day, so we used to go watch him, follow USAC deal when he’d race Eldora and stuff. So it’s just been part of my childhood, my adult life, so for me, any time I can go there to watch or to race or whatever it may be, it’s just a big deal to me.

“I kinda figured that they were gonna pick some of us guys that, you know, had been pretty regular drivers at Eldora. I realize they’ve got to have their Scott Bloomquists, Tyler Erbs, Jonathan Davenport-type guys to draw the pay-per-view crowd. But I figured they needed to include some of the guys who were the pretty regular people who raced at Eldora also.”

Being an Eldora regular, Bowersock said he has competed at the Tony Stewart-owned facility under almost every circumstance.

“I’ve been there when there’s not been very big crowds at all and I’ve been there when there’s been the biggest crowds,” Bowersock said. “I always come in from the east and when you top that hill there, there’d just be a city of campers. It’s pretty cool when you climb that hill with all the people there. I’ve been there too when there’s not a lot of cars. I’ve ran features there at 5:30 or 6 in the morning before when there were maybe five people still in the grandstands.

“So I’ve kinda seen a little bit of everything there over the years, but this will definitely be a little bit different not seeing anyone at all. I think once you get racing you don’t notice it quite as much, but when you’re there during the day prepping to get ready and you don’t see the people mingling around and stuff that’ll be a different feeling for sure.”

Now that he’s officially entered, he hopes he doesn’t disappoint. Bowersock has solid results to show for his past efforts in Eldora specials, including four starts in the World 100 with a best finish of 13th in 2012. He has four Sunoco American Late Model Series victories there, tied for the sixth-most series wins at Eldora. He won the Late Model track championship in 2001 and found victory lane in the annual Johnny Appleseed Classic in 2003. He’s also a multitime track champ in the modified division, winning the title for open wheels in 2011, ’13 and ’17.

In the offseason he upgraded his equipment, purchasing a used Rocket XR1 machine from Tyler Erb and an engine from Best Performance Motorsports, the Ohio-based team that Erb drives for. Having yet to turn a lap in 2020, he’s looking forward to seeing how the combination feels on Eldora’s high banks.

“We’ve got a newer car from what we had ran in year’s past and we bought one of Best Performance Motorsports last wide-bore Chevy motors that they had over the winter,” Bowersock said. “We haven’t been able to get out and race yet this year, so we’re kind of excited to get there and get out there with this motor and see what we can do. There’s a lot of heavy hitters there. Any of your Dreams or World 100s when you’re getting 90 to 100 cars, there’s always a tough crowd. So you just line up and do what you can.

“We’ve been an underdog at a lot of these races and managed to work our way into quite a few of them. We probably haven’t had the success at the Dream per say. We’ve been a lot better at the World 100 over the years for whatever reason. I guess the only down thing for me right now is that I haven’t raced and most of those guys all have. And we’re dealing with a different car, so we might be behind a little bit, but hopefully we can (make Saturday’s feature lineup). You know, I’ve got some good people I can lean on just with Tyler Erb and the guys at Best Performance. And Keith Berner at Accu-Force has always had my back, so hopefully we can get up to speed pretty quick.”