Crown Jewels

[dirtracing62]

I have been reading this forum and I see lots of references to the "Crown Jewels". Specifically what races are included in this category?

[Pennsboro32]

You won’t get a set answer. In my opinion only, you have the World and Dream at the top. The next few are interchangeable (DTWC, Knoxville, North South, Silver Dollar Nats, PDC, USA Nats).

Some people include the Topless, Show Me, Hillbilly, and Firecracker in their list as well. Those 4 are below those mentioned above in my opinion.

[thexfactor0210]

Pretty good list by Pennsboro. Only others I have seen mentioned, and I don't believe should be included, are the WoO Finals and Jackson 100. They don't pay enough to be up there in my opinion. Dixie Shootout used to be when it paid big bucks.

[Lennylinda]

Need a few drivers to tell us what races they think are most win for their resume.

[Rajflyboy]

Crown Jewels? Those usually come in pairs of 2. 😜

[4Barrel]

The World 100, the Dream 100, the North/South 100, and the Dirt Track World Championship. All others are really cool, big time races. But they aren't Crown Jewels.

[Josh Bayko]

The World and DTWC are at the top of the mountain, everything else is on a tier or two below.

[TerryM]

The World 100, the Dream 100, the North/South 100, and the Dirt Track World Championship. All others are really cool, big time races. But they aren't Crown Jewels.

The first three are automatic. The DTWC should be #3, but it’s lost its home and it’s luster. It’s just another Lucas race now.

[mccreadiefan39]

How I look at "Crown Jewels"

1.) Minimum 30K to win
2.) The race has to have a good amount of history. The World 100, Dream, N-S 100, DTWC, Topless, Show-Me, USA Natl's are the obvious races. Knoxville, I-80, PDC(current version) and the Firecracker have all built enough history for me to consider them "Crown Jewels". I think it's time for the Show-Me and Firecracker to get a purse increase.

[Lennylinda]

I do not think the purse is a consideration. A crown jewel is a race all drives dream of winning. Their career would not be complete without those wins.

[brsteg]

A crown jewel in any form of motorsport is ear marked by: 1) Money, 2) History, 3) Unique Format, 4) Driver desire to win.

[MRM]

I agree with Lennylinda. You look at some high paying races, like the Topless, and they don't have the cache the others do. I bet if you polled 150 drivers, races like the Topless would rarely get a mention as to one of those they'd really want to win. I would also put in a qualifier a crown jewel is where most of the top names show up for that race. I can name a few that people call crown jewels where that is the case.

[Mopar DLM]

These days just money can't make it a crown jewel race. The race needs to have been around long enough and built up some prestige. Take the supernationals at boone for the modified guys, it pays 2000 to win but most all of them would pick that race as the one they want to win the most. Late models have a very limited few events that if it was announced that the purse was going to be peanuts the big names would still show up just to say they won that race.

[dirtracing62]

A simple question with many complex answers. LOLSeriously thank you for the responses. Now I understand why I never knew the answer.

[NeedforLMspeed]

Hillbilly has some history. Been around longer than the World also. No specific order. World, Dream, North/South, DTWC and Hillbilly.

Next group Topless, Firecracker, USA Nationals, Pittsburgher, National 100

[fryefan]

The two at Eldora, Show-Me 100, Silver Dollar Nationals, USA Nationals and the Knoxville Late Model Nationals are definitely crown jewels.

[NeedforLMspeed]

Knoxville is getting close but Silver Dollar Nationals hasn't even been around for 10 yrs yet

[fryefan]

Knoxville is getting close but Silver Dollar Nationals hasn't even been around for 10 yrs yet

That doesn't matter. It is CLEARLY a crown jewel.

[NeedforLMspeed]

Because it pays $50k. The Colossal paid $50k was that a crown jewel?

[CIRF]

In reality, at this point in time there are only 3 true crown jewels in all of dirt racing. They are the World Hundred, the Knoxville Sprint Car Nationals and The Chili Bowl, in no particular order. Those 3 events are the most sought after victories in all of dirt racing. Everything else on dirt is below them in prestige and importance. Knoxville has been around the longest of the 3 (1961) with the World and The Chili Bowl coming along a decade later and 26 years later respectively.

Prior to the demolition of the New York State Fairgounds Mile Super Dirt Week might could be ranked in that top echelon group but no more.

Crown jewels of dirt racing have evolved over the years. There was a time when the Hoosier Hundred Champ Car race was the most prestigious dirt race of any kind and the purse was second only to the Indy 500. Not a crown jewel anymore and hasn't been since in the 1970's. Turkey Night Grand Prix, when it was contested at Ascot Park, was a crown jewel and a hugely sought after resume' maker but it's significance has diminished greatly since Ascot closed forever.