Defending champ Moyer facing a fast field in Dirt Late Model Dream

ROSSBURG — If dirt late model driver Billy Moyer needs a nickname for the trophy room at his Arkansas race shop, then Dream World might apply.

Moyer owns a record six World 100 titles and two Dirt Late Model Dream championships, including the one he attempts to defend today at Eldora Speedway.

On Friday, Moyer attempted to keep pace with a fast field that blistered the track in record-setting time.

Jimmy Owens posted Eldora’s first sub-15-second lap with his 14.968 in the first round of qualifying from the 91-car field. The Tennessee driver’s time topped Rick Eckert’s track record 15.215 that stood since June 12, 2004.

Chris Madden (15.027), Jonathan Davenport (15.131), Wayne Chamberlain (15.204) and John Mason (15.209) also qualified under Eckert’s time.

In the second and final round of qualifying, 23 of 52 cars had bettered their first-round times before rains halted the action.

Moyer, meanwhile, was 36th fastest at 15.671 after the first round.

He’s still in the hunt for another Dream title, and his wife Joyce knows just what to do with it. She’s assembled an impressive trophy room in their Batesville race shop that often draws tourists.

“She’s pretty proud of it. I probably never would have kept up with it the way she did. She’s got quite a museum in there,” Moyer said. “We just let people walk around on their own. I’ve got one guy that works for me and I think he gets a bang out of showing people around if he’s not too busy. He’ll give them a 5-cent tour.”

The winner of the Dream can afford quite a few tours at that price. Up for grabs in dirt late model’s richest race is a $100,000 payday. Racing starts at 7 p.m.

The Dream pays the bills, but the World delivers the most prestige. Which does Moyer want to win most?

“Probably the World. I don’t know I’d say we try harder at the World because we try hard at both of them, for sure,” said the Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer who currently holds both titles with his World 100 win last September. “If I had my preference I’d say the World is the neatest one to get. ... The Dream pays more, but the World is the Cat Daddy of all of them. It’s definitely great to win both of them.”

Moyer has qualified for 11 Dream features with titles in 1998 and 2010, joining Scott Bloomquist (five) and Freddy Smith (two) as the only drivers with multiple wins.

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