Next week's once-in-a-generation event at Eldora Speedway will give the current generation of Dirt Late Model youngsters a chance to race for a $1 million paycheck.

While 26 drivers got a crack at the first Eldora Million in 2001 — fewer than 10 of them still regularly compete — many of the entrants in the second version of the mindbogglingly rich event were studying fourth-grade math, wearing diapers or, in a few cases, weren't even born for the first running of the event 21 years ago at the historic track Rossburg, Ohio.

For 25-year-old Bobby Pierce, whose father Bob Pierce was among 235 drivers who entered the original Eldora Million, it almost feels like such a big race has never happened.

“It’s not one of those races where it’s just about the prestige, not your typical (World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series) race or your typical Lucas (Oil Series) race, $15,000-to-win or $10,000-to-win” Pierce said. “It’s a decent chunk of change and you want to win some of those races for prestige. You want to win the Dream 100 for the prestige. But, the Million ... You can be the second guy.”

The first guy was a 38-year-old Donnie Moran of Dresden, Ohio, who held up the $1 million check June 9, 2001, after overtaking Don O’Neal on lap 26 and led the rest of the 100-lapper for a generational triumph. In November, Eldora owner Tony Stewart announced a new generation of drivers — including Moran’s 27-year-old son, Devin — will get their shot with June 8-9's second Eldora Million paying an even richer $1,002,022 to the winner.

“The first thing that catches everybody’s eyes is the money,” said 22-year-old Ashton Winger of Hampton, Ga. “You’re probably going to have to race the same guys to win, but the stakes are much higher. I’m excited to have the opportunity. I’ve heard all my life talking about Donnie Moran – that’s the race he’s known for. It’s definitely a race that can change somebody’s life and I hope we’re competitive for it.”

Ricky Thornton Jr. of Chandler, Ariz., had a huge paycheck in winning last season's Dirt Track World Championship at Portsmouth (Ohio) Raceway Park, but "we don’t really get to race for that much money very often," the 31-year-old said. "I was lucky enough to win $100,000, so to be able to win ten times that would be pretty awesome.”

Some drivers, like 32-year-old Max Blair of Centerville, Pa., were shocked when they heard the announcement.

“I never thought there’d be another million-dollar-to-win race,” Blair said. “It’s crazy. Winning any race is a big deal against these guys. When you come to Eldora your first goal needs to be to make the race. Making these races are about as hard as winning them. There is so much competition here.”

Tyler Erb of New Waverly, Texas, when competing at Eldora's Castrol FloRacing Night in America event in April, sat on his four-wheeler and pondered what it would mean — and require — to win the event.

“It’d be pretty cool. It’d be a lot of money. It’d make my car owner happy,” said the 25-year-old Erb, who drives for Eric Brock-owned Best Performance Motorsports. “It’s a lot of money to win in one night of racing. The problem is there’s going to be a lot of people that’d like to win it and only one person can.”

VIDEO: Tyler Erb discusses his chances of winning the Eldora Million. 

To this day, the O’Neal family still watches replays of the 2001 race and wonders what could have been. Don O'Neal retired a few years ago, but his 21-year-old son Hudson peppers his dad with questions when the video rolls.

“I asked my dad: ‘What were you thinking whenever you were leading this thing? Because you’re not leading it for $100,000 — you’re leading it for $1 million?’ ” Hudson O’Neal said. “He said ‘I wasn’t really thinking about how I was going to win that thing.’ It didn’t happen but it’s still a memory that he was able to lead some laps in what was the biggest Late Model race ever until this year. Hopefully we can have the same success, just pull it off a little bit longer.”

The Martinsville, Ind.'s driver has aspirations of being the second million-dollar winner after his dad settled for the eighth in the original event.

“You want to bring the best thing you can possibly bring and that’s what we’ll do, whether it be making sure the body is all we can get out of it or just making sure we’re testing, trying to do what we can,” said O'Neal, who drives for Tennessee-based Double Down Motorsports. “You can’t get caught up in it too much because at the end of the day it’s just one race out of the 70 you’re going to run (all season long), but at the end of the day it means something.”

Winger's Team 22 Inc. plans to bring a new car to what's one of richest auto racing prizes of the year in any form of motorsports.

“We’re assembling it to have all the bells and whistles and nicest stuff,” Winger said. “I think it goes to show how big everybody is taking this race. If you look at the payout through the field, there’s going to be a lot of cars here and only one will walk away north of a million.”

Many young drivers used "life-changing" to describe the event. With higher prices of race cars, parts, and diesel fuel, Blair said, winning the race would “take a lot of pressure” off finances. Pierce told his crew that he could “go on a monthlong vacation and have a whole lot of fun for a while.”

“You can go win $50,000 or $100,000 and that’s going to benefit your season,” Pierce said. “That can turn someone’s season around. You can go buy an entire new engine for $50,000 and still have enough left over. A million dollars, in a sense, is life-changing since you can do so much with it to help out your whole racing career for years to come and your lifestyle. “

If he wins the Eldora Million, Pierce, a 2016 winner of the World 100, said he would use the money to build a nice race shop.

“It’s definitely one of those races that deserves all the hype it’s going to get,” Pierce said. “Everyone is going to be giving it their all to try to win.”

Winger joked that he would use the money to bail himself out of jail.

“It would definitely mean a lot to me,” Winger said. “You can have a crappy year and win that race, and man, you could do whatever you want the rest of the year and it not matter how you run.”

While plenty of drivers old enough to compete in the original Eldora Million are contenders to win, a victory for a twentysomething could help usher in a new era in Dirt Late Model racing.

“I think it’s going to be a cool event,” O’Neal said. “A million dollars, that’s a whole lot of money to take out of one (race). There’s been some people who have knocked on the door of million-dollar seasons lately. Just to be able to top that in just one night would be pretty special.”